Latest / Classic Science Fiction Book Collection / Journey to the Center of the Earth Part 2 - Jules Verne

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Journey to the Center of the Earth Part 2 - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Book Collection

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Must surely be able to hear be Help, I cried
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: at the top of my voice, Help, I am dying.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I then listened, with scarcely a breath. I panted with
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the slightest sound in the darkness, a cry, a sigh,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a question. But silence reigned supreme. No answer came in
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: this way. Some minutes passed, A whole flood of ideas
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: flashed through my mind. I began to fear that my voice,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: weakened by sickness and suffering, could not reach my companions,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: who were in search for me. It must be, they said,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I cried, Who else could, by any possible ability, be
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: buried one hundred miles below the level of the earth.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The mere supposition was preposterous. I began therefore to listen
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: again with the most breathless attention. As I moved my
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: ears along the side of the place I was in,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I found a mathematical point, as it were, where the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: voices appeared to attain their maximum of intensity. The word
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: for lorad again distinctly reached my ear. Then came again
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: that rolling noise like thunder, which had awakened me out
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of my torpur. I begin to understand, I said to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: myself after some little time devoted to reflection. It is
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: not through the solid mass that the sound reaches. My
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: ears of my cavernous retreat are of solid granite, and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the most fearful explosion would not make uproar enough to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: penetrate them. The sound must come along the gallery itself.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: The place I was in must possess some peculiar acoustic
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: properties of its own. Again I listened, and this time, yes,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: this time I heard my name distinctly pronounced cast as
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: it were into space. It was my uncle, the professor,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: who was speaking. He was in conversation with the guide,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and the word which had so often reached my ear,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: for lurad was a Danish word. Then I understood it all.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: In order to make myself heard, I too must speak
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: as it were, along the side of the gallery, which
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: would carry the sound of my voice, just as the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: wire carries the electric fluid from point to point. But
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: there was no time to lose. If my companions were
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: only to remove a few feet from where they stood,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the acoustic effect would be over. My whispering gallery would
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: be destroyed. I again, therefore crawled towards the wall and
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: said as clearly and distinctly as I could, Uncle Hardwig,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I then awaited a reply. Sound does not possess the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: property of traveling with such extreme rapidity. Besides, the density
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: of the air at that depth from light and motion
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: was very far from adding to the rapidity of circulation.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Several seconds elapsed, which, to my excited imagination appeared ages,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and these words reached my eager ears and moved my
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: wildly beating heart. Harry, my boy, is that you a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: short delay between question and answer? Yes?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Where are you lost? And your lamp out? But the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: guiding stream is lost? Keep your carriage, Harry, We will
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: do our best. One moment, my uncle, I cried, I
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: have no longer strength to answer your questions. But for
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Heaven's sake, do you continue to speak to me? Absolute silence,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I felt would be annihilation. Keep up your courage, said
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: my uncle. As you are so weak, do not speak.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: We have been searching for you in all directions, but
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: by going upwards and downwards in the gallery, my dear boy,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I had begun to give over all hope. And you
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: can never know what bitter tears of sorrow and regret
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I have shed at last, supposing you to be still
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: on the road beside Hansbach. We again descended firing off
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: guns as signals. Now, however, we have found you, and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that our voices reach each other, it may be a
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: long time before we actually meet. We are conversing by
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: means of some extraordinary acoustic arrangement of the labyrinthe But
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: do not despair, my dear boy. It is something gained
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: even to hear each other. While he was speaking, my
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: brain was at work reflecting a certain undefined hope, vague
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and shapeless as yet made my heart beat wildly. In
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the first place, it was absolutely necessary for me to
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: know one thing. I once more therefore leaned my head
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: against the wall, which I almost touched with my lips,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and again spoke, Uncle, my boy, was his answer, after
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: a few moments. Is it the utmost consequence that we
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: should know how far we are asunder? That is not difficult.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: You have your chronometer at hand, I asked, certainly. Well,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: take it into your hand, pronounced by dame, noting exactly
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the second at which you speak. I will reply as
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: soon as I hear your words, and you will then
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: note exactly the moment at which my reply reaches you.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Very good, and the mean time between my question and
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: your answer will be the time occupied by my voice
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in reaching you. That is exactly what I mean, Uncle,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: was my eager reply. Are you ready? Yes, well, make ready.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I am about to pronounce your name, said the professor.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I applied my ear close to the sides of the
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: cavernous gallery, and as soon as the word Harry reached
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: my ear, I turned round, and, placing my lips to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the wall, repeated the sound forty seconds, said my uncle.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: There has elapsed forty seconds between the two words. The
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: sound therefore takes twenty seconds to ascend. Now, allowing a
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: one thousand and twenty feet for every second, we have
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: twenty thousand, four hundred feet, a league and a half
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and one eighth. These were words fell on my soul
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: like a kind of death knell. A league and a half,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I'm muttered in a low and despairing voice. It shall
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: be got over, my boy, cried my uncle in a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: cheery tone. Depend on us. But do you know whether
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to ascend or descend? I asked faintly enough. We have
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: to discend, and I will tell you why. You have
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: reached a vast open space, a kind of bare crossroad
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: from which galleries diverge in every direction. That in which
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you are now lying must necessarily bring you to this point.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: For that all these.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Mighty visures, these fractures of the globe's interior, radiate from
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: the vast cavern which we at this moment occupy. Rouse yourself,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: then have courage and continue your out well if you can,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: If not, drag yourself along slide. If nothing else, it's possible.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: The slope must be rather rapid.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: And you will find strong arms to receive you at
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the end of your journey. Make us start like a
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: good fellow. These words serve to rouse some kind of
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: courage in my sinking frame. Farewell for the present, good uncle,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I am about to take my departure. As soon as
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I start, our voices will cease to commingle. Farewell then
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: until we meet again. I do harry until we say welcome.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Sure were the last words which reached my anxious ears
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: before I commenced my weary and almost hopeless journey. This
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: wonderful and surprising conversation which took place through the vast
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: mass of the Earth's labyrinth. These words exchanged the speakers,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: being about five miles apart, ended with hopeful and pleasant expressions.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I breathed one more prayer to Heaven. I sent up
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: words of thanksgiving, believing in my inmost heart that he
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: had led me to the only place where the voices
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of my friends could reach my ears. This apparently astounding
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: acoustic mystery is easily explainable by simple natural laws. It
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: aroused from the conductibility of the rock. There are many
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: instances of this singular propagation of sound which are not
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: perceptible in its less mediate positions. In the interior gallery
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: of Saint Paul's and amid the curious caverns in Sicily,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: these phenomena are observable. The most marvelous of them all
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: is known as the ear of Dionysius. These memories of
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the past, of my early reading and studies came fresh
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: to my thoughts. Moreover, I began to reason that if
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: my uncle and I could communicate at such great a distance,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: no serious obstacle could exist between us. All I had
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to do was to follow the direction whence the sound
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: had reached me, and logically putting it, I must reach
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: him if my strength did not fail, I accordingly rose
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: to my feet. I soon found, however, that I could
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: not walk that I must drag myself along the slope
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: as I expected, was very rapid, but I allowed myself
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to slip down. Soon, the rapidity of the descent began
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: to assume frightful proportions, and menaced a fearful fall. I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: clutched at the sides, I grasped at projections of rocks.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I threw myself backwards, all in vain. My weakness was
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: so great I could do nothing to save myself. Suddenly
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Earth failed me. I was first launched into a dark
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and gloomy void. I then struck against the projecting asperities
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of a vertical gallery, a perfect well. My head bounded
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: against a pointed rack, and I lost all knowledge of existence.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: As far as I was concerned, death had claimed me
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: for his own. End of Chapter twenty five.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Chapter twenty six a rapid recovery. When I returned to
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: the consciousness of existence, I found myself surrounded by a
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: kind of semi obscurity, lying on some thick and soft coverlets.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: My uncle was watching, his eyes fixed intently on my countenance,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: a grave expression on his face, a tear in his eye.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: At the first sigh which struggled from my bosom, he
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: took hold of my hand. When he saw my eyes
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: open and fixed themselves upon his, he uttered a loud
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: cry of joy. He leaves, he leaves. Yes, my good uncle,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: I whispered, My dear boy, continued the grim professor, clasping
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: me to his heart, You're saved. I was deeply and
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: unaffectedly touched by the tone in which these words were uttered,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: and even more by the kindly care which accompanied them.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: The professor, however, was one of those men who must
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: be severely tried in order to induce any display of
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: affection or gentle emotion. At this moment, our friend Hans
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: the Guide joined us. He saw my hand in that
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: of my uncle, and I venture to say that taciturn
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: as he was. His eyes beamed with lively satisfaction. Kodag,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: he said, Good day, Hans, Good day, I replied, in
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: as hearty a tone as I could assume. And now, Uncle,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: that we are together, tell me where we are. I
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: have lost all idea of our position, as of everything else.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: To morrow, hurry to morrow, he replied. To day, you
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: are far too weak. Your head is surrounded with bandages
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: and poultices that must not be touched. Sleep, my boy,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Sleep and to morrow you will know all that you require.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: But I cried, let me know what o'clock it is,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: what day it is? It is now eleven o'clock at night,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: and this is once more Sunday. It is now the
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: ninth of the month of August. And I distinctly prohibit
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: you from asking any more questions until the tenth of
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: the same. I was, if the truth were told, very
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: weak indeed, and my eyes soon closed involuntarily. I did
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: require a good night's rest, and I went off, reflecting
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: at the last moment that my perilous adventure in the
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: interior of the earth in total darkness had lasted four days.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: On the morning or the next day, at my awakening,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: I began to look around me. My sleeping place, made
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: of all our traveling bedding, was in a charming grotto,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: adorned with magnificent stalagmites glittering in all the colors of
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the rainbow. The floor of soft and silvery sand. A
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: dim obscurity prevailed, no torch, no lamp was lighted, and
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: yet certain unexplained beams of light penetrated from without and
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: made their way through the opening of the beautiful grotto.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I moreoverheard a vague and indefinite murmur, like the ebb
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: and flow of waves upon a strand, And sometimes I
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: verily believed I could hear the sighing of the wind.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I began to believe that instead of being awake, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: must be dreaming. Surely my brain had not been effected
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: by my fall, and all that occurred during the last
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: twenty four hours was not the frenzied visions of madness.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: And yet, after some reflection, a trial of my faculties,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I came to the conclusion that I could not be mistaken.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Eyes and ears could not surely both deceive me. It
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: is a ray of the blessed daylight, I said to myself,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: which has penetrated through some mighty fissure in the rocks.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: But what is the meaning of this murmur of waves,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: this unmistakable moaning of the salt sea? Belows I can
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: hear too plainly enough the whistling of the wind. But
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: can I be altogether mistaken? If my uncle, during my
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: illness has but carried me back to the service of
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: the earth, has he, on my account given up his
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: wondrous expedition, or in some strange manner, has it come
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: to an end? I was puzzling my brain over these
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and other questions when the professor joined me. Good day, hurry,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: he cried in a joyous tone. I fancy you are
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: quite well. I'm very much better, I replied, actually sitting
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: up in my bed. I knew that would be the
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: end of it, as you slept both soundly and tranquility.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Hans and I have each taken turn to watch, and
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: every hour we have seen visible signs of amelioration. You
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: must be right, uncle, was my reply, for I feel
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: as if I could do justice to any meal you
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: could put before me. You shall eat, my boy, you
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: shall eat. The fever has left you. Our excellent friend
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Hans has rubbed your wounds and bruises with I know
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: not what ointment of which the Icelanders alone possesses the secret,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: and they have healed your bruises in the most marvelous manner. Ah.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: He's a wise fellow, is Master Hans. While he was speaking,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: my uncle was played, using before me several articles of food, which,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: despite his earnest injunctions, I readily devoured. As soon as
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: the first rage of hunger was appeased, I overwhelmed him
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: with questions to which he now no longer hesitated to
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: give answers. I then learned for the first time that
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: my providential fall had brought me to the bottom of
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: an almost perpendicular gallery. As I came down amidst the
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: perfect shower of stones, the least of which, falling on me,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: would have crushed me to death, they came to the
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: conclusion that I had carried with me an entire dislocated rock,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Riding as it were, on this terrible chariot. I was
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: cast headlong into my uncle's arms, and into them. I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: felt insensible and covered with blood. It is, indeed a miracle,
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: was the professor's final remark, that you were not killed
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: a thousand times over. But let us take care never
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: to separate, for surely we should risk never meeting again.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Let us take care never again to separate. These words
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: fell with a sort of chill upon my heart. The
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: journey then was not over. I looked at my uncle
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: with surprise and astonishment. My uncle, after an instant's examination
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: of my countenance, said, what is the mutter hurry? I
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: want to ask you a very serious question. You say
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: that I am all right in health, certainly you are,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: and all my limbs are sound and capable of new exertion,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I asked, most undoubtedly. But what about my head? Was
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: my next anxious question. Well, your head, except that you
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: have one or two contusions, is exactly where it ought
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: to be on your shoulders, said my uncle, laughing. Well,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: my own opinion is that my head is not exactly right.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: In fact, I believe myself slightly delirious. What makes you
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: think so I will explain? Why I fancy I have
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: lost my senses, I cried, Have we not returned to
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: the surface of mother Earth? Certainly not? Then, truly I
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: must be mad. For do I not see the light
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: of day? Do I not hear the whistling of the wind?
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: And can I not distinguish the wash of a great sea?
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: And that is all that makes you uneasy, said my
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: uncle with a smile. Can you explain? I will not
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: make any attempt to explain, for the whole matter is
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: utterly inexplicable. But you shall see and judge for yourself.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: You will then find that geological silence is as yet
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: in its infancy, and that we are doomed to enlighten
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: the world. Let us advance, then, I cried eagerly, No
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: longer able to restrain my curiosity. Wait a moment, my
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: dear ray, he responded, you must take precautions after your
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: illness before going into the open air. The open air, Yes,
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: my boy, I have to warn you that the wind
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: is rather violent, and I have no wish for you
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: to expose yourself without necessary precautions. But I beg to
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: show you that I am perfectly recovered from my illness.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I have just a little patience, my boy. A relapse
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: would be inconvenient to all parties. We have no time
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: to lose, as our approaching sea voyage may be of
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: long duration sea voyage. I cried, more bewildered than ever. Yes,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you must take another day's rest and we shall be
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: ready to go on board by to morrow, replied my uncle,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: with a peculiar smile. Go on board The words utterly
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: astonished me. Go on board? And what and how had
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: we come upon a river a lake? Had we discovered
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: some inlancy was a vessel line at anchor in some
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: part of the interior of the earth. My curiosity was
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: worked up to the very highest pitch. My uncle made
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: vain attempts to restrain me, when at last, however, he
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: discovered that my feverish impatience would do more harm than good,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: and that the satisfaction of my wishes could alone restore
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: me to a calm state of mind. He gave way.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: I dressed myself rapidly, and then, taking the precaution to
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: please my uncle of wrapping myself in one of the coverlets,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I rushed out of the grotto. End of Chapter twenty six,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Chapter twenty seven. The Central Sea. At first I saw
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: absolutely nothing. My eyes, fully unused to the effulgence of light,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: could not bear the sudden brightness, and I was compelled
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: to close them. When I was able to reopen them,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I stood still, far more more stupefied than astonished. Not
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: all the wildest effects of imagination could have conjured up
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: such a scene. The sea, The Sea, I cried, yes,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: replied my uncle, in a tone of pardonable pride, The
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Central Sea. No future navigator will deny the fact of
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: my having discovered it, and hence of acquiring a right
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: of giving it a name. It was quite true. A vast,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: limitless expanse of water, the end of a lake, if
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: not of an ocean, spread before us until it was
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: lost in the distance. The shore, which was very much
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: indented consisted of a beautiful, soft, golden sand mixed with
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: small shells, the long deserted home of some of the
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: creatures of a past age. The waves broke incessantly, and
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: with a peculiarly sonorous murmur to be found in underground localities.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: A slight, frothy flake arose as the wind blew along
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: the pellucid waters, and many a dash of spray was
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: blown into my face. The mighty superstructure of rock, which
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: rose about to an inconceivable height, left only a narrow opening.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: But where we stood there was a large margin of
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: strand on all sides were caves of promontories and enormous cliffs,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: partially worn by the eternal breaking of the waves through
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: countless ages. And as I gazed from side to side,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the mighty rocks faded away like a fleecy film of cloud.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: It was in reality and ocean with the usual characteristics
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: of an inland sea, only horribly wild, so rigid, cold
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: and savage. One thing startled and passed me greatly. How
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: was it that I was able to look upon that
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: vast sheet of water instead of being plunged into utter darkness.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: The vast landscape before me was lit up like day,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: but there was wanting, the dazzling brilliancy, the splendid irradiation
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of the sun, the pale, cold illumination of the moon,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the brightness of the stars, the illuminating power in this
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: subterranean region. From its trembling and rickering character is clear
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: dry whiteness, the very slight elevation of its temperature, its
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: great superiority to that of the Moon, was evidently electric,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: something in the nature of the Aurora borealis, only that
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: its phenomena were constant and able to light up the
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: whole of the ocean cavern. The tremendous vault above our heads,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: the sky, so to speak, appeared to be composed of
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: a conglomeration of nebulous vapors in constant motion. I should
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: originally have supposed that under such an atmospheric pressure as
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: must exist in the place, the evaporation of water could
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: not really take place. And yet, from the action of
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: some physical law which escaped my memory, there were heavy
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: and dense clouds rolling along that mighty vault, partially concealing
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: the roof electric currents produced astonishing play of light and
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: shade in the distance, especially around the heavier clouds, deep
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: shadows were cast beneath, and then suddenly between two clouds
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: there would come a ray of unusual beauty and remarkable intensity.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: And yet it was not like the sun, for it
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: game no heat. The effect was sad and excruciatingly melancholy.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Instead of a noble firmament of blue studded with stars,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: there was about me a heavy, rooful granite, which seemed
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: to crush me. Gazing around, I began to think of
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: the theory of the English captain who compared the Earth
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: to vast hollows, where in the interior of which the
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: air is retained in a luminous state by means of
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: atmospheric pressure, while two stars Pluto and Proserpine, circled there
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: in their mysterious orbits. After all, suppose the old fellow
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: was right. In truth, we were imprisoned, wound, as it were,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: in a vast excavation. Its width it was impossible to
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: make out the shore on either hand, widening rapidly until
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: lost to sight, while its length was equally uncertain. A
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: haze on the distant horizon bounded our view. As to
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: its height. We could see that it must be many
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: miles to the roof. Looking upward, it was impossible to
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: discover where the stupendous roof began. The lowest of the
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: clouds must have been floating at an elevation of two
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: thousand yards, a height greater than that of terrestrial vapors,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: which circus tance was doubtless owing to the extreme density
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: of the air. I used the word cavern in order
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: to give an idea of the place. I cannot describe
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: its awful grandeur. Human language fails to convey an idea
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: of its savage sublimity. Whether this singular vacuum had or
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: had not been caused by the sudden cooling of the
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: earth when in a state of fusion, I could not say.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: I had read of most wonderful and gigantic caverns, but
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: none in any way like this. The great Crotty of
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Guachara in Colombia, visited by the learned Humboldt, the vast
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: and partially explored Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. What were these
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: holes in the earth to that in which I stood
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: in speechless admiration, with its vapory clouds, its electric light,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: and the mighty ocean slumbering in its bosom. Imagination, not description,
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: can alone give an idea of the splendor and vastness
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: of the cave. I gazed at these marvels in profound silence.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Words were utterly wanting to indicate the sensations of wonder
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I experienced. I seemed as I stood upon that mysterious shore,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: as if I were some wandering inhabitant of a distant planet,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: present for the first time at the spectacle of some
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: terrestrial phenomena belonging to another existence. To give body an
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: existence to such new sensations would have required the coinage
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: of new words. And here my feeble brain found itself
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: fully at fault. I looked on, I thought, I reflected,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: I admired in a state of stupefaction, not altogether unmingled
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: with fear. The unexpected spectacle restored some color to my
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: pallid cheeks. I seemed to be actually getting better under
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: the influence of this novelty. Moreover, the vivacity of the
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: dense atmosphere reanimated my body by inflating my lungs with
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: unaccustomed oxygen. It will be readily conceived that, after an
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: imprisonment of forty seven days in a dark and miserable tunnel.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: It was with infinite delight that I breathed this sellin air.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: It was like the genial, reviving influence of the salt
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: sea waves. My uncle had already got over the first
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: surprise with the Latin poet Horrace. His idea was that
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: not to admire is all the art I know to
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: make man happy and to keep him so well. He said,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: after giving me time thoroughly to appreciate the marvels of
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: this underground sea, do you feel strong enough to walk
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: up and down? Certainly was my ready answer. Nothing would
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: give me greater pleasure. Well, then, my boy, he said,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: lean on my arm, and we will stroll along the beach.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: I accepted his offer eagerly, and we began to walk
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: along the shores of this extraordinary lake. To our left,
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: where abrupt rocks piled one upon the other, a stupendous
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: titanic pile down their side sleeped innumerable cascades, which, at last,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: becoming limpid and murmuring, streams, were lost in the waters
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: of the lake. Light vapors, which rose here and there
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: and floated in fleecy clouds from rock to rock, indicated
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: hot springs, which also poured their superfluity into the vast
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: reservoir at our feet. Among them, I recognized our old
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: and faithful stream, the Hansbach, which lost in that wild basin,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: seemed as if it had been flowing since the creation
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: of the world. We shall miss our excellent friend, I remarked,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: with a deep sigh. Bah, said my uncle testily, What
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: matters it that or not? It is all the same.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I thought the remark ungrateful, and felt almost inclined to
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: say so, But I forebore. At this moment my attention
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: was attracted by an unexpected spectacle. After we had gone
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: about five hundred yards, we suddenly turned a steep promontory
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: and found ourselves close to a lofty forest. It consisted
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: of straight trunks with tufty tops in shapes like parasols.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: The air seemed to have no effect upon these trees, which,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: in spite of a tolerable breeze, remained as still and
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: motionless as if they had been petrified. I hastened forward.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: I could find no name for these singular formations. Did
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: they not belong to the two thousand and more known trees?
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Or were we to make the discovery of a new
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: growth by no means. When we at last reached the
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: forest and stood beneath the trees, my surprise gave way
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: to admiration. In truth, I was simply in the presence
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: of very ordinary product of the earth, of singular and
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: gigantic proportions. My uncle unhesitatingly called them by their real names.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: It is only, he said, in his coolest manner, a
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: forest of mushrooms. On close examination I found that he
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: was not mistaken judge of the development attained by the
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: product of damp, hot soils. I had heard that the
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: lecoperdon giganteum reaches nine feet in circumference. But here were
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: white mushrooms nearly forty feet high, and with tops of
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: equal dimensions. They grew in countless thousands. The light could
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: not make its way through their massive substance, and beneath
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: them grained a gloomy and mystic darkness. Still, I wished
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: to go forward the cold in the shades, so this
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: singular forest was intense. For nearly an hour we wandered
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: about in this visible darkness. At length I left the
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: spot and once more returned to the shores of the
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: lake to light and comparative warmth. But the amazing vegetation
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: of subterraneous land was not confined to gigantic mushrooms. New
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: wonders awaited us at every step. We had not gone
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: many hundred yards when we came upon a mighty group
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: of other trees with discolored leaves, the common humble trees
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: on mother Earth, of an exorbitant and phenomenal size, liquopods
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: a hundred feet high, flowering ferns as tall as pines,
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: gigantic grasses, Astonishing, magnificent, splendid, cried my uncle. Here we
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: have before us the whole flora of the second period
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: of the world, that of transition. Behold the humble plants
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: of our gardens, which in the first ages of the
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: world were mighty trees. Look round you, my dear Harry,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: no boat onest ever before gazed on such a sight.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: My uncle's enthusiasm, always a little more than was required,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: was now excusable. Your right uncle, I remarked, Providence appears
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: to have designed the preservation in this vast and mysterious
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: hothouse of antediluvian plants to prove the sagacity of learned
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: men in figuring them so marvelously on paper. Well, said
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: my boy very well, said, it is indeed a mighty hothouse.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: But you would also be within the bounds of reason
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: and common sense if you added that it is also
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: a vast menagerie. I looked rather anxiously around. If the
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: animals were as exaggerated as the plants, the matter would
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: certainly be serious. A menagerie, doubtless. Look at the dust
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: we are treading underfoot. Behold the bones with which the
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: whole soil of the sea shore is covered. Bones, I replied, yes,
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: certainly the bones of antediluvian animals. I stooped down as
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: I spoke, and picked up one or two singular remains,
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: relics of a bygone age. It was easy to give
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: a name to these gigantic bones, in some instances, as
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: big as trunks of trees. Here is clearly the lower
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: jawbone of a mastodon, I cried, almost as warmly and
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: enthusiastically as my uncle. Here are the molars of the dinotherium.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Here is a leg bone which belonged to the megatherium.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: You are right, uncle, it is indeed a menagerie. For
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: the mighty animals to which these bones once belonged, have
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: lived and died on the shores of this subterranean sea.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: Under the shadow of these plants, look yonder are hold skeletons.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: And yet, and yet, nephew, said my uncle, noticing that
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: I suddenly came to a full stop. I do not
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: understand the presence of such beasts in granite caverns. However,
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: vast and prodigious, was my reply. Why not, said my uncle,
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: with very much of his old professional impatience, because it
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: is well known that animal life only existed on Earth
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: during the secondary period, when the sedimentary soil was formed
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: by the alluviums and thus replaced the hot and burning
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: rocks of the primitive age. I have listened to you
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: earnestly and with patience, Harry, and I have a simple
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: and clear answer to your objections, and that is that
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: this itself is a sedimentary soil. How can that be
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: at such enormous depth from the surface of the Earth.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: The fact can be explained both simply and geologically. At
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: a certain period, the Earth consisted only of an elastic
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: crust liable to alternative upward and downward movements. In virtue
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: of the law of attraction, it is very probable that
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: many a landslip took place in those days, and that
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: large portions of sedimentary soil were cast into huge and
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: mighty chasps. Quite possible, I dryly remarked, But Uncle, if
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: these antediluvian animals formerly lived in these subterranean regions, what
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: more likely than that one of these monsters may at
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: this moment be concealed behind one of yonder mighty rocks.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: As I spoke, I looked keenly round, examining with care
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: every point of the horizon. But nothing alive appeared to
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: exist on these deserted shores. I now felt rather fatitude,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: and told my uncle so the walk and excitement were
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: too much for me in my weak state. I therefore
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: seated myself at the end of a promontory, at the
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: foot of which the waves broke in incessant rolls. I
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: looked round the bay, formed by projections of vast granity crocks.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: At the extreme end was a little port protected by
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: huge pyramids of stones. A brig or three or four
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: schooners might have lain there with perfect ease. So natural
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: did it seem that every minute my imagination induced me
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: to expect a vessel coming out under all sail and
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: making for the open sea. Under the influence of a
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: warm southerly breeze. But the fantastic illusion never lasted more
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: than a minute. We were the only living creatures in
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: this subterranean world. During certain periods, there was an utter
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: cessation of wind, when a silence deeper, more terrible than
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: the silence of the desert, fell upon these solitary and
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: arid rocks, and seemed to hang like a leaden weight
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: upon the waters of this singular ocean. I sought, amid
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: the awful stillness, to penetrate through the distant fog, to
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: tear down the veil which concealed the mysterious distance. What
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: unspoken words were murmured by my trembling lips. What questions
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: did I wish to ask? And did not? Where did
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: this sea end to? What did it lead? Should we
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: ever be able to examine its distant shores? But my
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: uncle had no doubts about the matter. He was convinced
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: that our enterprise would, in the end be successful. For
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: my part, I was in a state of painful indecision.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: I desired to embark on the journey and to succeed,
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: and still I feared the result. After we had passed
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: an hour or more in silent contemplation of the wonder spectacle.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: We rose and went down towards the bank on our
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: way to the grotto, which I was not sorry again.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: After a slight repast, I sought refuge in slumber, and
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: at length, after many antedious struggles, sleep came over my
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: weary eyes. End of chapter twenty seven, Chapter twenty eight,
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: launching the raft. On the morning of the next day,
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: to my great surprise, I awoke completely restored. I thought
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: a bath would be delightful after my long illness and sufferings.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: So soon after rising, I went and plunged into the
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: waters of this new Mediterranean. The bath was cool, fresh
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: and inviduating. I came back to breakfast with an excellent appetite. Hans,
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: our worthy guide, thoroughly understood how to cook such eatables
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: as we were able to provide. He had both fire
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: and water a discretion, so that he was enabled slightly
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: the weary monotony of our ordinary repast. Our morning meal
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: was like a capital English breakfast, with coffee by way
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: of a wind up. And never had this delicious bever,
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: which been so welcome and refreshing. My uncle had sufficient
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: regard for my state of health, not to interrupt me
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: in the enjoyment of the meal, But he was evidently
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: delighted when I had finished. Now, then said he come
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: with me. It is the height of the tide, and
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: I am anxious to study its curious phenomenon. What I cried,
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: rising in astonishment. Did you say the tide? Uncle, certainly
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: I did. You do not mean to say, I replied,
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: in a tone of respectful doubt, that the influence of
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: the Sun and moon is felt here below. And pray,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: why not are not all bodies influenced by the law
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: of universal attraction? Why should this vast underground see be
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: exempt from the general law? The rule of the universe sides,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: There is nothing like that which is proved and demonstrated.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Despite the great atmospheric pressure down here, you will notice
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: that this inland sea rises and falls with as much
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: regularity as the Atlantic itself. As my uncle spoke, we
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: reached the sandy shore and so and heard the waves
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: breaking monotonously on the beach. They were evidently rising. This
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: is truly the flood, I cried, looking at the water
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: at my feet. Yes, my excellent nephew, replied my uncle,
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: rubbing his hands with the gusto of a philosopher, And
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: you see by these several streaks of foam that the
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: tide rises at least ten or twelve feet. It is
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: indeed marvelous by no means, he responded. On the contrary,
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: it is quite natural. It may appear so in your eyes,
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: my dear uncle, was my reply. But all the phenomena
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: of the place appeared to me to partake of the marvelous.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: It is almost impossible to believe that which I see.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: Who in his wildest dreams could have imagined that beneath
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: the crust of our earth that could exist a real ocean,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: with ebbing and flowing tides, with its changes of winds,
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: and even its storms, I, for one, should have left
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: the suggestion to scorn. But hurry, my boy, why not,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: inquired my uncle with a pitying smile. Is there any
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: physical reason in opposition to it? Well, if we give
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: up the great theory of the central heat of the earth,
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: I certainly can offer no reasons why anything should be
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: looked upon as impossible. Then you will own He added,
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: that the system of Sir Humphrey Davy is fully justified
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: by what we have seen. I allow that it is,
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: and that point once granted, I certainly can see no
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: reason for doubting the existence of seas and other one
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: even countries in the interior of the globe. That is so,
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: But of course these varied countries are uninhabited. Well, I
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: grant that it is more likely than not. Still, I
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: do not see why this sea should not have given
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: shelter to some species of unknown fish. Hitherto we have
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: not discovered any, and the probabilities are rather against our
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: ever doing so, observed the professor, I was losing my
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: skepticism in the presence of these wonders. Well, I am
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: determined to solve the question. It is my intention to
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: try my luck with my fishing line and hook. Certainly
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: make the experiment, said my uncle, pleased with my enthusiasm,
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: while we are about it, it will certainly be only
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: proper to discover all the secrets of this extraordinary region.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: But after all, where are we now? I asked, All
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: this time, I have quite forgotten to ask you a
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: question which, doubtless your philosophical instruments have long since answered. Well,
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: replied the professor, examining the situation from only one point
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: of view, We are now distant three hundred and fifty
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: leagues from Iceland. So much was my exclamation. I have
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: gone over the matter several times, and I am sure
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: not to have made a mistake of five hundred yards,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: replied my uncle positively. And as to the direction, are
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: we still going to the southeast? Yes, with the western
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: declination of nineteen degrees forty two minutes, just as it
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: is above. The declination is the variation of the needle
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: from the true meridian of a place. As for the inclination,
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: I have discovered a very curious fact. Inclination is the
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: dip of the magnetic needle with a tendency to incline
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: towards the earth. What may that, p Uncle? Your information
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: interests me? Why that the needle, instead of dipping towards
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: the pole as it tut on Earth in the northern hemisphere,
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: has an upward tendency. This proves, I cried, that the
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: great point of magnetic attraction lies somewhere between the surface
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: of the Earth and the spot. We have succeeded in
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: reaching exactly, my observant nephew, exclaimed my uncle, elated and delighted.
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: And it is quite probable that if we succeed in
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: getting toward the polar regions, somewhere near the seventy third
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: degree of latitude where Sir James Ross discovered the magnetic pole,
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: we shad behold the needle point directly upward. We have
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: therefore discovered by analogy that this great center of attraction
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: is not situated at a very great depth. Well, said I,
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: rather surprised. This discovery will astonish experimental philosophers. It was
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: never suspected science great might. And in the end, honoring
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: replied my uncle dogmatically, science has fallen into many errors,
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: errors which have been fortunate and useful, rather than otherwise,
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: for they have been the stepping stones to truth. After
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: some further discussion, I turned to another matter. Have you
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: any idea of the depth we have reached? We are, now,
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: continued the professor, exactly thirty five leagues above a hundred
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: miles down into the interior of the earth, So said I,
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: after measuring the distance on the map, we are now
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: beneath the Scottish Highlands and have over our heads the
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: lofty Grampian hills. You are quite right, said the professor, laughing.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: It sounds very alarming, the weight being heavy, but the
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: vault which supports this vast mass of earth and rock
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: is solid and safe. The mighty architect of the universe
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: has constructed it of solid materials. Man, even in his
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: highest flights of vivid and poetic imagination, never thought of
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: such things. What are the finest arches of our bridges,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: What the vaulted roofs of our cathedrals? To that mighty
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: dome above us and beneath which floats an ocean with
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: its storms and calms and tides. I admire it all
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: as much as you can, uncle, and have no fear
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: that our granite sky will fall upon our heads. But
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: now that we have discussed matters of science and discovery,
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: what are your future intentions? Are you not thinking of
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: getting back to the surface of our beautiful earth? This
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: was said more as a feeler than with any hope
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: of success. Go back, nephew, cried my uncle, in a
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: tone of alarm. You are not truly thinking of anything
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: so absurd or cowardly. No, my intention is to advance
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: and continue our journey. We have as yet been singularly fortunate,
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: and henceforth I hope we shall be more so. But
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: said I, how are we to cross yonder liquid plain?
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: It is not my intention to leap into it head foremost,
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: or even to swim across it, likely under over the Hellespont.
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: But as oceans are after all only great lakes inasmuch
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: as they are surrounded by land, so does it stand
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: to reason that this central sea is circumscribed by granite surroundings?
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: Doubtless was my natural reply. Well, then, do you not
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: think that when once we reach the other end, we
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: shall find some means of continuing our journey? Probably, But
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: what extent do you allow to this internal lotion? Well,
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: I should fancy it to extend about forty or fifty
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: leagues more or less. But even supposing this approximation to
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: be a correct one, what, then, I asked, my dear boy.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: We have no time for further discussion. We shall embark tomorrow.
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: I looked around with surprise and incredulity. I could see
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: nothing in the shape of boat or vessel. What, I cried,
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: We are about to launch out upon an unknown sea.
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: And where, if I may ask, is the vessel to
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: carry us? Well, my dear boy, it will not be
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: exactly what you would call a vessel. For the present,
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: we must be content with a good and solid raft,
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: A raft, I cried, incredulously. But down here a raft
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: is as impossible a construction as a vessel. And I
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: am at last to imagine, my good Harry, if you
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: were to listen instead of talking so much, you would hear,
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: said my uncle, waxing a little impatient, I should hear, Yes,
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: certain knocks with the hammer which Hans is now employing
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: to make the raft. He has been at work for
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: many hours making a raft. Yes, yes, but where has
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: he found trees suitable for such a construction. He found
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: the trees already to his hand. Come and you shall
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: see our excellent guide at work. More and more amazed
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: at what I heard and saw, I followed my uncle
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: like one in a dream. After a walk of about
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: a quarter of an hour, I saw hands at work
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: on the other side of the promontory which formed our
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: natural port. A few minutes more and I was beside him.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: To my great surprise, on the sandy shore lay half
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: finished raft. It was made from beams of a very
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: peculiar wood, and a great number of limbs, joins, bows
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: and pieces lay about, sufficient to have constructed the fleet
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: of ships and boats. I turned to my uncle, silent
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: with astonishment, and ave where did all this wood come from,
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: I cried, what wood is it? Well, there is pine wood, fir,
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: and the palms of the northern regions mineralized by the
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: action of the sea, he replied sententiously. Can it be possible, Yes,
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: said the learned professor. What you see is called fossil wood.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: But then cried I, after reflecting for a moment, like
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: the lignites, it must be as hard and as heavy
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: as iron, and therefore will certainly not float. Sometimes that
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: is the case. Many of these woods have become true untracites.
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: But others, again, like those you see before, you have
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: only undergone one face of fossil transformation. But there is
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: no proof like demonstration, added my uncle, picking one or
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: two of these precious waves and casting them into the sea.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: The piece of wood, after having disappeared for a moment,
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: came to the surface and floated about with the oscillation
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: produced by wind and tide. Are you con vinced, said
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: my uncle, with a self satisfied smile. I am convinced,
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: I cried that what I see is incredible. The fact
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: was that my journey into the interior of the earth
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: was rapidly changing all preconceived notions, and day by day
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: preparing me for the marvelous I should not have been
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: surprised to have seen a fleet of native canoes afloat
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: upon that silent sea. The very next evening, thanks to
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: the industry and ability of hands, the raft was finished.
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: It was about ten feet long and five feet wide.
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: The beams, bound together with stout ropes, were solid and firm,
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: and once launched by our united efforts, the improvised vessel
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: floated tranquility upon the waters for what the Professor had
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: well named the Central Sea end of Chapter twenty eight,
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: Chapter twenty nine on the Waters a raft voyage. On
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: the thirteenth of August, we were up betimes. There was
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: no time to be lost. We now had to inaugurate
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: a new kind of lock of motion, which would have
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: the advantage of being rapid and not fatiguing. A mast
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: made of two pieces of wood fastened together to give
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: additional strength, a yard made from another one, the sail
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: a linen sheet from our bed. We were fortunately in
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: a want of cordage, and the whole on trial appeared
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: solid and seaworthy. At six o'clock in the morning, when
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: the eager and enthusiastic Professor gave the signal to embark
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: the victors. The luggage, all our instruments, our weapons, and
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: a goodly supply of sweet water, which we had collected
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: from springs in the rocks were placed on the raft.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: Hans had, with considerable ingenuity, contrived a rudder which enabled
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: him to guide the floating apparatus with ease. He took
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: the tiller as a matter of course, the worthy man
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: was as good a sailor as he was a guide
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: and duck hunter, and then let go the painter which
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: held us to the shore. The sail was brought to
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: the wind, and we made a rapid offing. Our sea
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: voyage had at length commenced, and once more we were
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: making for distant and unknown regions. Just as we were
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: about to leave the little port where the raft had
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: been constructed, my uncle, who was very strong as to
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: geographic domenclature, wanted to give it a name, and, among others,
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: suggested mine. Well, said I, before you decide, I have
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: another to propose. Well out with it, I should like
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: to call it Gretchen. Port Gretchen will sound very well
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: on our future map. Well, then, Port Gretchen let it be,
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: said the professor, And thus it was that the memory
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: of my dear girl was attached to our adventurous and
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: memorable expedition. When we left the shore, the wind was
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: blowing from the northward and eastward. We went directly before
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: the wind, at a much greater speed than might have
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: been expected from a raft. The dense layers of atmosphere
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: at that depth had great propelling power and acted upon
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: the sail with considerable force. At the end of an hour,
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: my uncle, who had been taking careful observations, was enabled
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: to judge of the rapidity with which we moved. It
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: was far beyond anything seen in the upper world. If
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: he said, we continue to advance at our present rate,
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: we shall have traveled at least thirty leagues in twenty
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: four hours with a mere raft. This is an almost
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: incredible velocity. I certainly was surprised, and without making any reply,
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: went forward upon the raft. Already the northern shore was
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: fading away. On the edge of the horizon. The two
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: shores appeared to separate more and more, leaving a wide
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: and open space for our departure. Before me, I could
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: see nothing but the vast and apparently limitless sea upon
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: which we floated. The only living objects in sight. Deute
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: and dark clouds cast their gray shadows below, shadows which
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: seemed to crush that colorless and sullen water by their weight.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: Anything more suggestive of gloom and of regions of nether darkness.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: I never beheld silvery raids of electric light reflected here,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: and there upon some small spots of water brought up
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: luminous sparkles in the long wake of our Cumbrau spark
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: Presently we were folly out of sight of land. Not
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: a vestiag could be seen, nor any indication of where
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: we were going. So still and motionless did we seem,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: without any distant point to fix our eyes on that
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: but for the phosphoric light at the wake of the raft,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: I should have fancied that we were still and motionless.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: But I knew that we were advancing at a very
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: rapid rate. About twelve o'clock in the day, vast collections
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: of seaweed were discovered surrounding us on all sides. I
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: was aware of the extraordinary vegetive power of these plants,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: which have been known to creep along the bottom of
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: the Great Ocean and stop the advance of large ships.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: But never were seaweeds ever seen so gigantic and wonderful
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: as those of the Central Sea. I could well imagine how,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: seen at a distance, tossing and heaving on the summit
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: of the billows, the long lines of algae have been
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: taken for living things, and thus have been fertile sources
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: of the beliefs in sea serpents. Our rafts were past
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: great specimens of fucus and sea wrack, from three to
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: four thousand feet in length, immense incredibly long, looking like
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: snakes that stretched out far beyond our horizon. It afforded
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: me great amusement to gaze on their variegated ribbon like
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: endless lengths hour after our past, without her coming to
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: the termination of these floating weeds. If my astonishment increased,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: my patience was well nigh exhausted. What natural force could
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: possibly have produced such abnormal and extraordinary plants. What must
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: have been the aspect of the globe during the first
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: centuries of its formation, when under the combined action of
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: heat and humidity, the vegetable kingdom occupied its vast surface
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: to the exclusion of everything else. These were considerations of
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: never ending interest for the geologist and the philosopher. All
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: this while we were advancing on our journey, and at
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: LEAs length night came. But as I had remarked the
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: evening before, the luminous state of the atmosphere was in
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: nothing diminished. Whatever was the cause, it was a phenomenon
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: upon the duration of which we could calculate with certainty.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: As soon as our supper had been disposed of, and
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: some little speculative conversation indulged in, I stretched myself at
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: the foot of the mast and presently went to sleep.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: Hans remained motionless at the tiller, allowing the raft to
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: rise and fall on the waves. The wind being aft
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 2: and the sail square, all he had to do was
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: to keep his oar in the center. Ever since we
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: had taken our departure from the newly named Port Gretchen,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: my worthy uncle had directed me to keep a regular
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: log of our day's navigation, with instructions to put down
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: even the most minute particulars, every interesting and curious phenomenon,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: the direction of the wind, our rate of sailing, the
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: distance we went, in a word, every incident of our
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: extraordinary voyage from our log. Therefore I tell the story
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: of our voyage on the Central Sea. Friday, August fourteenth,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: a steady breeze from the northwest, raft progressing with extreme
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: rapidity and going perfectly straight. Coasts still dimly visible about
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: thirty leagues to leeward. Nothing to be seen beyond the
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: horizon in front. The extraordinary intensity of the light neither
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 2: increases nor diminishes. It is singularly stationary. The weather remarkably fine.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: That is to say, the clouds have ascended very high,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: and are light and fleecy, and surrounded by an atmosphere
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: resembling silver infusion thermometer plus thirty two degrees centigrade. About
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: twelve o'clock in the day, our guide hands, having prepared
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: and baited a hawk, cast his line into the subterranean waters.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: The bait he used was a small piece of meat,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: by means of which she concealed his hawk. Anxious as
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: I was, I was for a long time doomed to disappointment.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: Were these waters supplied with fish or not? That was
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 2: the important question. No, was my decided answer. Then there
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: came a sudden and rather hard hug. Hans coolly drew
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: it in, and with it a fish, which struggled violently
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: to escape. A fish cried, my uncle, it's a sturgeon,
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: I cried, certainly a small sturgeon. The professor examined the
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: fish carefully, noting every characteristic, and he did not coincide
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: in my opinion. The fish had a flat head, round body,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: and the lower extreme discovered with bony scales. Its mouth
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: was fully without teeth. The pectoral fins, which were highly developed,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: sprouted direct from the body, which properly speaking, had no tail.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: The animals certainly belonged to the order in which naturalists
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: classed the sturgeon, but it differed from that fish in
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: many essential particulars. My uncle, after all, was not mistaken.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: After a long and patient examination, he said, this fish,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: my dear boy, belongs to a family which has been
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: extinct for ages, and of which no trace has ever
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: been found on Earth, except fossil remains in the Devonian strata.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: You do not mean to say, I cried, that we
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: have captured a live specimen of a fish belonging to
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: the primitive stock that existed before the deluge. We have
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: said the professor, who all this time was continuing his observations,
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: And you may see by careful examination that these fossil
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: fish have no identity with existing species. To hold in
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: one's hand. Therefore, a living specimen of the order is
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: enough to make a naturalist happy for life. But cried I,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: to what family does it belong to? The order of ganoids,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: an order of fish having angular scales covered with bright
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: animal forming one of the family of the Cephaluspiedes, of
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: the genus Sir Well, Sir, I remarked, as I noticed
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: my uncle hesitated to conclude, to the genus derychtis. Yes,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: I'm certain of it. Still, though I'm confident of the
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: correctness of my surmise, this fish offers star notice a
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: remarkable peculiarity, never known to exist in any other fish,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: but those which are the natives of subterranean waters, wells, lakes,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: in caverns and such like hidden poles. And what may
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: that be? It is blind blind, I cried, much surprised.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: Not only blind, continued the professor, but absolutely without organs
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 2: of sight. I now examined our discovery for myself. It
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: was singular, to be sure, but it was really a fact. This, however,
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: might be a solitary instance. I suggested. The hook was
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: painted again and once more thrown into the water. This
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: subterranean ocean must have been tolerably well supplied with fish.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: For in two hours we took a large number of pterichtys,
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: as well as other fish belonging to another supposed extinct family,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: the Dipteridis, a genius of fish furnished with two fins only,
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: whence the name. Though my uncle could not class it exactly,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: all without exception, however, were blind. This unexpected capture enabled
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: us to renew our stock of provisions in a very
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: satisfactory way. We were now convinced that this subterranean sea
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: contained only fish known to us as fossil specimens, and
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: fish and reptiles alike were all the more perfect the
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: farther back they dated their origin. We began to hope
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: that we should find some of those saurians which science
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: has succeeded in reconstructing from bits of bone and cartilage.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: I took up the telescope and carefully examined the horizon,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: looked over the whole sea. It was utterly and entirely deserted. Doubtless,
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: we were still too near the coast. After an examination
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 2: of the ocean, I looked upward towards the strange and
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: mysterious sky. Why should not one of the birds reconstructed
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: by the immortal Cuvier, flappy stupendous wings aloft in the
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: dull strata of subterranean air, it would of course find
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: quite sufficient food from the fish in the sea. I
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 2: gazed for some time upon the void abow It was
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: as silent and as deserted as the shores we had
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: but lately left. Nevertheless, though I could neither see nor
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: discover anything, my imagination carried me away into wild hypothesis.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: I was in a kind of waking dream. I thought
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: I saw on the surface of the water, those enormous
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: antediluvian turtles, as big as floating islands. Upon those dull
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 2: and somber shores. Passed the spectral row of the mammiferes
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: of early days, the great Liptotherium found in the cavernous
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: hollow of the Brazilian Hills, the Mexicotherium, a native of
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: the glacial regions of Siberia. Farther on, the Pachydermatus loprodon,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: the gigantic tapir, which concealed selt behind rocks, ready to
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: do battle for its prey with the annul them. A
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: singular animal partaking of the nature of the rhinocerous, the horse,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 2: the hippopotamus, and the camel. There was the giant mastodon,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: twisting and turning his horrid trunk with which he crushed
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: the rocks of the shore to powder, while the megatherium
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 2: his back raised like a cat in a passion, his
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: enormous claw stretched out dug into the earth for food,
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: at the same time that he awoke the sonorous echos
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 2: of the whole place with its terrible roar. Higher up still,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: the first monkey ever seen on the face of the
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: globe clambered, gamboling and playing up the granite hills. Still
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: farther away ran the pterodactyl with the winged hand, gliding
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: or rather sailing through the dense and compressed air like
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: a huge pat Above all, near the leaden granitic sky
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 2: were immense birds, more powerful than the cassowari and the ostrich,
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 2: which spread their mighty wings and fluttered against the huge
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: stone vault of the inland sea. I thought, such was
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 2: the effect of my imagination, that I saw this whole
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: tribe of antediluvian creatures. I carried myself back to far
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: ages long before man existed, when in fact the earth
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 2: was in too imperfect a state for him to live
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 2: upon it. My dream was of countless ages before the
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: existence of man. The mammifers first disappeared, then the mighty birds,
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: then the reptiles of the Secondary period, presently the fish,
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: the crustacea, the mollusks, and finally the vertebrata, the sophiths
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 2: of the period of Transition, in their turn sank into annihilation.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 2: The whole panorama of the world's life before the historic
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 2: period seemed to be borne over again, and mine was
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 2: the only human heart that beat in this unpeopled world.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: There were no more seasons, there were no more climates.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 2: The natural heat of the world increased unceasingly and neutralized
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: that of the great radiant sun. Vegetation was exaggerated in
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: an extraordinary manner. I passed like a shadow in the
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: midst of brushwood as lofty as the giant trees of California,
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 2: and trod underfoot the moist and humid soil, reeking with
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: the rank and varied vegetation. I leaned against the huge
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 2: column like trunks of giant trees, to which those of
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 2: Canada were as ferns. Whole ages passed hundreds upon hundreds
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 2: of years, were concentrated into a single day. Next, unrolled
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: before me like a panorama, came the great and wondrous
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 2: series of terrestrial transformations. Plants disappeared, the granity, rocks lost
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 2: all trace of solidity. The liquid state was suddenly substituted
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 2: for that which had before existed. This was caused by
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: intense heat acting on the organic matter of the Earth.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 2: The waters flowed over the whole surface of the globe.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 2: They boiled, they were volatilized, or turned into vapor. A
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 2: kind of steam cloud wrapped the whole Earth, the globe
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 2: itself becoming at last nothing but one huge square of gas,
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 2: indescribable in color between white, heat and red, as big
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: and as brilliant as the sun. In the very center
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 2: of this prodigious mass fourteen hundred thousand times as large
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: as our globe, I was whirled round in space and
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 2: brought into close conjunction with a planets. My body was subtilized,
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 2: or rather become volatile and commingled in a state of
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: atomic vapor with the prodigious clouds, which rushed forward like
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 2: a mighty comet into infinite space. What an extraordinary dream.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 2: Where would it finally take me? My feverish hand began
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 2: to write down the marvelous details, details more like the
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 2: imaginings of a lunatic than anything sober and real. I had,
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 2: during this period of hallucination forgotten everything, the Professor, the guide,
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: and the raft on which we were floating. My mind
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: was in a state of semi oblivion. What is the murder? Hurry,
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: said my uncle. Suddenly my eyes, which were wide opened
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: like those of a somnambulist, were fixed upon him. But
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 2: I did not see him, nor could I clearly make
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: out anything around me. Take care, my boy, again, cried
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 2: my uncle. You will fall into the sea. Has he
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: uttered these words, I felt myself seized on the other
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: side by the firm hand of our devoted guide. Had
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: it not been for the presence of mind of Hans,
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 2: I must infallibly have fallen into the waves and been drowned.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 2: Have you gone mad? Cried my uncle, shaking me on
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: the other side. What what is the matter? I said,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 2: at last, coming to myself. Are you ill, henry, continued
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 2: the professor in an anxious tone. No, no, but I
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 2: have had an extraordinary dream. It, however, has passed away
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 2: all now since, While I added, looking around, me with
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 2: the strangely puzzled eyes. All right, said my uncle, A
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: beautiful breeze, a splendid sea. We are going along at
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 2: a rapid rate, and if I am not out in
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 2: my calculations, we shall soon see land. I shall not
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 2: be sorry to exchange the narrow limits of our raft
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 2: for the mysterious strand of the subterranean ocean. Has my
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 2: uncle uttered these words? I rose and carefully scanned the horizon,
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 2: But the line of water was still confounded with the
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: lowering clouds that hang aloft, and in the distance appeared
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: to touch the edge of the water. End of Chapter
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 2: twenty nine, Chapter thirty Terrific Saurian Combat, Saturday, August fifteenth.
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 2: The sea still retains its uniform monotony, the same lead
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 2: and new, the same eternal glare from about, no indication
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: of land being in sight. The horizon appears to retreat
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 2: before us, more and more as we advance. My head
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 2: still dull and heavy from the effects of my extraordinary dream,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 2: which I cannot as yet banish from my mind. The professor,
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 2: who has not dreamt, is, however, in one of his
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 2: morose and unaccountable humors, spends his time in scanning the
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 2: horizon at every point of the compass. His telescope is
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 2: raised every moment to his eyes, and when he finds
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: nothing to give any clue to our whereabouts, he assumes
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: an napoleonic attitude and walks anxiously. I remarked that my
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 2: uncle the Professor had a strong tendency to resume his
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 2: old impatient character, and I could not but make a
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 2: note of this disagreeable circumstance in my journal. I so
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 2: clearly that it had required all the influence of my
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 2: danger and suffering to extract from him one scintillation of
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: human feeling. Now that I was quite recovered, his original
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 2: nature had conquered and obtained the upper hand. And after all,
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: what had he to be angry and annoyed about now
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 2: more than at any other time? Was not the journey
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 2: being accomplished under the most favorable circumstances. Was not the
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 2: raught progressing with a most marvelous rapidity, What then could
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 2: be the matter? After one or two preliminary hymns, I
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 2: determined to inquire you seem uneasy, uncle, said I, When
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 2: for about the hundredth time he put down his telescope
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 2: and walked up and down, muttering to himself. No, I'm
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 2: not uneasy, he replied, in a dry, harsh tone. By
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 2: no means, perhaps I should have said impatient, I replied,
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 2: softening the force of my remark enough to make me so,
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 2: I think. And yet we are advancing at the rate
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 2: seldom attained by raft, I remarked, What mutters that, cried
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: my uncle. I am not vexed at the rate we
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 2: go at, but I am annoyed to find the sea
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 2: so much vaster than I expected. I then recollected that
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 2: the Professor, before our departure, had estimated the length of
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 2: this subterranean ocean as at most about thirty leagues. Now
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 2: we had traveled at least over thrice that distance, without
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 2: discovering any trace of the distant shore. I began to
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 2: understand my uncle's anger. We are not going down, suddenly
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 2: exclaimed the professor. We are not progressing with our great discoveries.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 2: All this is utter loss of time. After all, I
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 2: did not come from home to undertake a party of pleasure,
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 2: this voyage on a raft over upon a noise, and
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 2: wheres me? He called this adventurous journey a party of pleasure,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 2: And this great inlancy a pond, but argued I, if
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 2: we have followed the route indicated by the great Sacknosum,
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 2: we cannot be in going far wrong. That is the question,
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 2: as the great immortal Shakespeare has it. Are we following
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 2: the route indicated by that wondrous sage? Did sacnossm ever
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 2: fall in with this great sheet of water? If he did,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 2: did he cross it? I begin to fear that the
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 2: rivulet we adopted for a guide has led us wrong.
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 2: In any case, we can never regret having come thus far.
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 2: It is worth the whole journey to have enjoyed this
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 2: magnificent spectacle. It is something to have seen. I care
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 2: nothing about seeing, nor about magnificent spectacles. I came down
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 2: into the interior of the earth with an object, and
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 2: that object I mean to attain. Don't talk to me
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 2: about admiring scenery or any other sense sentimental thrush. After this,
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 2: I thought it well to hold my tongue and allow
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 2: the professor to bite his lips until the blood came.
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 2: Without further remark. At six o'clock in the evening, our
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 2: matter of fact guide Hans asked for its weak's salary,
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 2: and receiving his three ricks, dollars, put them carefully in
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 2: his pocket. He was perfectly contented and satisfied. Sunday, August sixteenth,
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 2: nothing new to record. The same weather as before. The
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 2: wind has a slight tendency to freshen up with signs
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 2: of an approaching gale. When I awoke, my first observation
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 2: was in regard to the intensity of the light. I
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 2: keep on fearing day after day that the extraordinary electric
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 2: phenomenon should become first obscured and then go fully out,
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 2: leaving us in total darkness. Nothing, however, of the kind, occurs.
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 2: The shadow of the raft, its mast and sails, is
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 2: clearly distinguished on the surface of the water. This wondrous
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 2: sea is, after all infinite in its extent. It must
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 2: be quite as wide as the Mediterranean, or perhaps even
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 2: as the Great Atlantic Ocean. Why, after all, should it
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 2: not be so. My uncle has, on more than one
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 2: occasion tried deep sea soundings. He tied the cross of
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 2: one of our heaviest crowbars to the extremity of a cord,
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 2: which he allowed to run out to the extent of
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 2: two hundred fathoms. We had the greatest difficulty in hoisting
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 2: in our novel kind of lead. When the crowbar was
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 2: finally dragged on board, Hans called my attention to some
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 2: singular marks upon its surface. The piece of iron looked
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 2: as if it had been crushed between two very hard substances.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 2: I looked at our worthy guide with an inquiring glance.
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 2: Tender said he, of course, I was at a loss
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 2: to understand. I turned round towards my uncle, absorbed in
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 2: gloomy reflections. I had little wish to disturb him from
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 2: his reverie. I accordingly turned once more towards our worthy icelander.
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 2: Hans very quietly and significantly opened his mouth once or twice,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 2: as if in the act of biting, and in this
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 2: way made me understand his meaning. Teeth, cried I with stupefaction,
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 2: as I examined the bar of iron with more attention. Yes,
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 2: there can be no doubt about the matter. The indentations
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 2: on the bar of iron are the marks of teeth.
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 2: What yours must the owner of such molars be possessed of?
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 2: Have we then come upon a monster of unknown species
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 2: which still exists within the vast waste of waters. A
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 2: monster more borascous than a shark, more more terrible and
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 2: bulky than the whale, I am unable to withdraw my
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 2: eyes from the bar of iron actually half crushed. Is
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 2: then my dream about to come true? A breed and
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 2: terrible reality. All day my thoughts were bent upon these speculations,
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 2: and my imagination scarcely regained a degree of calmness and
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 2: power of reflection, until after a sleep of many hours.
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 2: This day, as on other Sundays, we observed as a
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 2: day of rest and pious meditation. Monday, August seventeenth. I
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 2: have been trying to realize from memory the particular instincts
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 2: of those antediluvian animals of the Secondary period, which, succeeding
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 2: to the mollusca, to the crustacea, and to the fish,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 2: preceded the appearance of the race of mammifares. The generation
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 2: of reptiles then rang in supreme upon the earth. These
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 2: hideous monsters ruled everything in the seas of the Secondary period,
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 2: which formed the strata of which the Jura Mountains are composed.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 2: Nature had endowed them with perfect organization. What a gigantic
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 2: structure was theirs, What vast and prodigious strength they possessed.
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 2: The existing saurians, which include all such reptiles as lizards,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 2: crocodiles and alligators, even the largest and most formidable of
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 2: their class, are but feeble imitations of their mighty sires,
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 2: the animals of ages long ago. If there were giants
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 2: in the days of old, there were also gigantic animals.
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 2: I shuddered as I evolved from my mind the idea
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 2: and recollection of these awful monsters. No I of man
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 2: had seen them in the flesh. They took their walks
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 2: abroad upon the face of the earth thousands of ages
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 2: before man came into existence, and their fossil bones discovered
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 2: in the limestone have allowed us to reconstruct them anatomically,
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 2: and thus to get some faint idea of their colossal formation.
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 2: I recollect one, seeing in the Great Museum of Hamburg
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 2: the skeleton of one of these wonderful saurians. It measured
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 2: no less than thirty feet from the nose to the tail.
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 2: Am I, then, an inhabitant of the earth of the
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 2: present day, destined to find myself face to face with
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 2: the representative of this antediluvian family. I can scarcely believe
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 2: it possible. I can hardly believe it true. And yet
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 2: these marks of powerful teeth upon the bar of iron
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 2: can there be a doubt from their shape that the
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 2: bite is the bite of a crocodile. My eyes stare
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 2: wildly and with terror upon the subterranean sea. Every moment
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 2: I expect one of these monsters to rise from its vast,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 2: cavernous depth. I fancy that the worthy professor, in some
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 2: measure shares my notions, if not my fears. For after
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 2: an attentive examination of the crowbar, he cast his eyes
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 2: rapidly over the mighty and mysterious ocean. What could possess
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 2: him to leave the land? I thought, as if the
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 2: depth of this water was of any importance to us.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 2: No doubt he has disturbed some terrible monster in his
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 2: watery home, and perhaps we may pay dearly for our temerity.
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 2: Anxious to be prepared for the worst, I examined our
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 2: weapons and saw that they were in a fit state
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 2: for use. My uncle looked on at me and nodded
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 2: his head approvingly. He too, has noticed what we have
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 2: to fear already. The uplifting of the waters on the
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 2: surface indicates that something is in motion below. The danger approaches,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 2: it comes nearer and nearer. It bohooves us to be
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 2: on the watch Tuesday, August eighteenth, evening came at last
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 2: the hour when the desire for sleep caused our eyelids
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 2: to be heavy. Night. There is not, properly speaking, in
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 2: this place any more than there is in summer in
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 2: the Arctic regions. Hans, however, is immovable at the rudder
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 2: when he snatches a moment of rest. I really cannot
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 2: say I take advantage of his vigilance to take some
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 2: little repose. But two hours after I was awakened from
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 2: a heavy sleep by an awful shock, the raft appeared
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 2: to have struck upon a sunken rock. It was lifted
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 2: right out of the water by some wonders and mista power,
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 2: and then started off twenty fathoms distant. Eh, what is it,
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 2: cried my uncle, starting up. Are we shipwrecked or what?
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 2: Hans raised his hand and pointed to where about two
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 2: hundred yards of a large black mass was moving up
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 2: and down. I looked with ave. My worst fears were realized.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 2: It is a colossal monster, I cried, clasping my hands. Yes,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 2: cried the agitated professor. And there yonder is a huge
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 2: sea lizard of terrible size and shape, and farther on
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 2: behold a prodigious crocodile. Look at his hideous jaws and
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 2: that row of monstrous teeth. Ha, he has gone A wail,
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 2: A wail, shouted the professor. I can see her enormous fince.
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 2: See see how she blows air and water. Two liquid
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 2: columns rose to a vast height above the level of
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 2: the sea, into which they fell with a terrific crash,
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 2: waking up the echoes of that awful place. We stood still, surprised, stupefied, terror,
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 2: stricken at the sight of this group of fearful marine monsters,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 2: more hideous in the reality than in my dream. They
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 2: were of supernatural dimensions. The very smallest of the whole
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 2: party could with ease have crushed our raft and ourselves
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 2: with a single bite. Hans, seizing the rudder which had
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 2: flown out of his hand, puts it hard weather in
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 2: order to escape from such dangerous vicinity. But no sooner
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 2: does he do so than he finds his flying from
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 2: Scilla to Carrigdis to Leeward. Is a turtle about forty
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 2: feet wide, and a serpent quite as long, with an
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 2: enormous and hideous head peering from out of the waters.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 2: Look which way we will it is impossible for us
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 2: to fly. The fearful reptiles advanced upon us. They turned
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 2: and twisted about the raft with awful rapidity. They formed
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 2: around our devoted vessel a series of concentric circles. I
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 2: took up my rifle in desperation. But what effect can
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 2: a rifle ball produce upon the armor scales with which
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 2: these bodies of these horrid monsters are covered. We remain
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 2: still and dumb from utter horror. They advance upon us
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 2: nearer and nearer. Our fate appears certain, fearful and terrible.
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 2: On one side, the mighty crocodile, on the other, the
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 2: great sea serpent. The rest of the fearful crowd of
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 2: marine prodigies have plunged beneath the briny waves and disappeared.
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 2: I am about to fire at any risk and try
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 2: the effect of a shot. Hence the guide, however, interfered
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 2: by a sign to check me. The two hidgeous and
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 2: ravenous monsters passed within fifty fathoms of the raft, and
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 2: then made a rush at one another, their fury enrage
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 2: preventing them from seeing us. The combat commenced. We distinctly
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 2: made out every action of the two hideous monsters. But
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 2: to my excited imagination, the other animals appeared about to
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 2: take part in the fierce and deadly struggle. The monster,
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 2: the wail, the lizard, and the turtle. I distinctly saw
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 2: them every moment. I pointed them out to the icelander,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 2: but he only shook his head two he said, what too?
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 2: Only does he say, surely he is mistaken, I cried,
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 2: in a tone of wonder. He is quite right, replied
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 2: my uncle, coolly and philosophically, examining the terrible duel with
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 2: his telescope, speaking as if he were in a lecture room.
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 2: How can that be? Yes, it is so. The first
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 2: of these hideous monsters has the snout of a porpois,
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 2: the head of a lizard, the teeth of a crocodile,
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 2: And it is this that has deceived us. It is
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 2: the most fearful of all Antediluvian reptiles, the world renowned
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 2: Ichthiosaurus or great fish lizard, and the other the other
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 2: is a monstrous serpent concealed under the hard vaulted shell
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 2: of the turtle, the terrible enemy of its fearful rival,
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 2: that Plasiosaurus or sea crocodile Hans was quite right. The
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 2: two monsters only disturbed the surface of the sea. At last,
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 2: have mortal eyes gazed upon two reptiles of the great
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 2: primitive ocean. I see the flaming red eyes of the Ichthiosaurus,
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 2: each as or bigger than a man's head. Nature, in
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 2: its infinite wisdom, had gifted this wondrous marine animal with
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 2: an optical apparatus of extreme power, capable of resisting the
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 2: pressure of the heavy layers of water which rolled over
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 2: him in the depths of the ocean where he usually fed.
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 2: It has, by some authors truly been called the wail
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 2: of the Saurian race, for it is as big and
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 2: quick in its motions as our king of the seas.
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 2: This one measures not less than one hundred feet in length,
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 2: and I can form some idea of his girth when
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 2: I see him lift his prodigious tail out of the waters.
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 2: His jaw is of awful size and strength, and according
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 2: to the best informed naturalists, it does not contain less
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 2: than one hundred and eighty two teeth. The other was
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 2: the mighty Plesiosaurus, a serpent with a cylindrical trunk with
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 2: a short, stumpy tail, with fins like a bank of
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 2: oars in a Roman galley, its whole body covered by
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 2: a caravas or shell, and its neck as flexible as
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 2: that of a swan. Rose more than thirty feet above
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 2: the waves. A tower of animated flesh. These animals attacked
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 2: one another with inconceivable fury. Such a combat was never
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 2: seen before by mortal eyes, and to us who did
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 2: see it, it appeared more like the phantasmogoric creation of
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 2: a dream than anything else. They raised mountains of water,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 2: which dashed in spray over the raft, already tossed to
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 2: and fro by the waves. Twenty times we seemed on
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 2: the point of being upset, and hurled headlong into the waves.
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 2: Hideous hisses appeared to shake the gloomy granite roof of
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 2: that mighty cavern, hisses which carried terror to our hearts.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 2: The awful combatants held each other in a tight embrace.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 2: I could not make out one from the other. Still,
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 2: the combat could not last forever, and woe unto us
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 2: whichsoever became the victor. One hour, two hours, three hours
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 2: passed away without any decisive result. The struggle continued with
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 2: the same deadly tenacity, but without apparent result. The deadly
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 2: opponents now approached, now drew away from the raft once
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 2: or twice. We fancied they were about to leave us altogether.
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 2: But instead of that, they came nearer and nearer. We
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 2: crouched on the raft, ready to fire at them at
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 2: a moment's notice. Poor as the prospect of hurting or
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 2: terrifying them was still, we were determined not to perish
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 2: without a struggle. Suddenly, the Irtiosaurus and the Plesiosaurus disappeared
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 2: beneath the waves, leaving behind them a maelstrom in the
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 2: midst of the sea. We were nearly drawn down by
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 2: the indraft of the water. Several minutes elapsed before anything
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 2: was again seen. Was this wonderful combat to end in
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 2: the depth of the ocean? Was the last act of
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 2: this terrible drama? To take place? Without spectators, it was
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 2: impossible for us to say. Suddenly, at no great distance
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 2: from us, an enormous mass rises out of the waters,
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 2: the head of the great Plesiosaurus, the terrible monster, is
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 2: now wounded unto death. I can see nothing now of
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 2: his enormous body. All that could be distinguished was his
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 2: serpent like neck, which he twisted and curled in all
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 2: the agonies of death. Now he struck the walls with
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 2: it as if it had been a gigantic whip, and
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 2: then again wriggled like a worn cut in two. The
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 2: water was spurted up to a great distance in all directions.
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 2: A great portion of it swept over our raft and
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 2: nearly blinded us. But soon the end of the beast
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 2: approached nearer and nearer, his movements slackened visibly, his contortions
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 2: almost ceased, and at last the body of the mighty
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 2: snake lay an inert, dead mass on the surface of
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 2: the now calm and placid waters. As for the Ecosaurus,
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 2: had he gone down to his mighty cavern under the
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 2: sea to rest or, will he reappear to destroy us?
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 2: This question remained unanswered, and we had breathing time. End
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 2: of Chap thirty, Chapter thirty one, The Sea Monster, Wednesday,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 2: August nineteenth. Fortunately, the wind, which for the present blows
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 2: with some violence, has allowed us to escape from the
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 2: scene of the unparalleled and extraordinary struggle. Hence, with this
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 2: usual imperturbable calm remained at the helm. My uncle, who
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 2: for a short time had been withdrawn from his absorbing
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 2: reveries by the novel incidents of this sea fight fell
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 2: back again, apparently into a brown study. His eyes were
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 2: fixed impatiently on the widespread ocean. Our voyage now became
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 2: monotonous and uniform dull. As it has become, I have
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 2: no desire to have it broken by any repetition of
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 2: the perils and adventures of yesterday. Thursday, August the twentieth.
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 2: The wind is now north northeast and blows very irregularly.
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 2: It has changed to fitful gusts. The temperature is exceedingly high.
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 2: We are now progressing at the average rate of about
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 2: ten miles and a half per hour. About twelve o'clock
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 2: a distant sound, as of thunder fell upon our ears.
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 2: I make a note of the fact, without even venturing
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 2: a suggestion as to its course. It was one continued roar,
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 2: as of a sea falling over mighty rocks far off
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 2: in the distance. Said the professor dogmatically, there is some
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 2: rock or some island against which the sea, lashed to
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 2: fury by the wind, is breaking violently. Hence, without saying
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 2: a word, clambered to the top of the mast, but
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 2: could make out nothing. The ocean was level in every
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 2: direction as far as the eye could reach. Three hours
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 2: passed away, without any time to indicate what might be
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 2: before us. The sound began to assume that of a
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 2: mighty cataract. I expressed my opinion on this point strongly
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 2: to my uncle. He merely shook his head. I, however,
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 2: am strongly impressed by a conviction that I am not wrong.
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 2: Are we advancing towards some mighty waterfall which shall cast
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 2: us into the abyss? Probably this mode of descending into
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 2: the Abyss may be agreeable to the professor, because it
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 2: would be something like the vertical descent. He is so
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 2: eager to make I entertain a very different opinion. Whatever
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 2: be the truth, it is certain that, not many leagues distant,
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 2: there must be some very extraordinary phenomenon. For as we advance,
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 2: the roar becomes something mighty and stupendous. Is it in
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 2: the water or in the air? I cast hasty glances
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 2: aloft at the suspended vapors, and I seek to penetrate
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 2: them mighty depths. But the vault above is tranquil. The clouds,
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 2: which are now elevated to the very summit, appear utterly
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 2: still and motionless, and completely lost in the irradiation of
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 2: electric light. It is necessary therefore to seek for the
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 2: cause of this phenomenon elsewhere. I examine the horizon, now
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 2: perfectly calm, pure and free from all haze. Its aspect
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 2: still remains unchanged. But if this awful noise proceeds from
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 2: a cataract, if so to speak in plain English, this
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 2: vast interior ocean is precipitated into a lower basin. If
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 2: these tremendous roars are produced by the noise of falling waters,
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 2: the current would increase in activity, and its increasing swiftness
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 2: would give me some idea of the extent of the
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 2: perilel with which we are menaced. I consult the current.
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 2: It simply does not exist. There is no such thing.
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 2: An empty bottle cast into the water, lies to leeward
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 2: without motion. About four o'clock Hans rises, clambers up the
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 2: mast and reaches the truck itself. From this elevated position,
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 2: his looks are cast around. They take in a vast
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 2: circumference of the ocean. At last, his eyes remain fixed.
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 2: His face expresses no astonishment, but his eyes slightly delayed.
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 2: He has seen something, at last, cried my uncle. I
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 2: think so, I replied. Hans came down, stood beside us,
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 2: and pointed with his right hand to the south. There nearer,
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 2: he said, There, replied my uncle, and seizing his telescope,
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 2: he looked at it with great attention for about a minute,
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 2: which to me appeared an age. I knew not what
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 2: to think or expect. Yes, yes, he cried, in a
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 2: tone of considerable surprise. There it is, what I asked,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 2: A tremendous burt of water rising out of the waves,
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 2: some other marine monster, I cried, already alarm. Perhaps, then
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 2: let us steer more to the westward, for we know
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 2: what we have to expect from antediluvian animals, was my
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 2: eager reply. Go ahead, said my uncle. I turned towards hands.
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 2: Hans was at the tiller, staring with his usual imperturbable calm. Nevertheless,
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 2: it from the distance which separated us from this creature,
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 2: a distance which must be estimated, had no less than
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 2: a dozen leagues, one could see the column of water
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 2: spurting from the blowhole of the great animal. His dimensions
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 2: must be something preternatural. To fly is therefore the course
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 2: to be suggested by ordinary prudence. But we have not
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 2: come into that part of the world to be prudent.
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 2: Such is my uncle's determination. We accordingly continued to advance.
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 2: The nearer we come. The loftier is the spouting water.
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 2: What monster can fill himself with such huge volumes of
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 2: water and then unceasingly spout them out in such lofty jets.
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 2: At eight o'clock in the evening, reckoning as above ground,
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 2: where there is day and night, we are not more
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 2: than two leagues from the mighty beast. Its long, black, enormous,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 2: mountainous body lies on the top of the water like
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 2: an island. But then sailors have been said to have
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 2: gone ashore on sleeping whales, mistaking them for land. Is
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 2: it illusion or is it fair? Its length cannot be
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 2: less than a thousand fathoms? What then, is this cretaceous
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 2: monster of which noquvyer ever thought? It is quite motionless
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 2: and presents the appearance of sleep. The sea seems unable
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 2: to lift him upwards. It is rather the waves which
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 2: break on his huge and gigantic frame. The water spot,
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 2: rising to a height of five hundred feet, breaks in
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 2: spray with a dull, sullen roar. We advance, like senseless
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 2: lunatics towards this mighty mass. I honestly confess that I
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 2: was abjectly afraid. I declare that I would go no farther.
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 2: I threatened, in my terror to cut the sheet of
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 2: the sail. I attacked the professor with considerable acrimony, calling
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 2: him foolhardy mad I know not what He made no answer.
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 2: Suddenly the imperturbable hands once more pointed his finger to
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 2: the menacing object. Holmer an island, cried my uncle, an island,
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 2: I replied, shrugging my shoulders at this poor attempt at deception.
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 2: Of course, it is, cried my uncle, bursting into a
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 2: loud and joyous laugh. But the water spout gazeir, said Hans, Yes,
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 2: of coarse A gazer, replied my uncle, still laughing, A
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 2: gazer like those common in Iceland. Yet like this are
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 2: the great wonders of the country. At first I would
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 2: not allow that I had been so grossly deceived. What
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 2: could be more ridiculous than to have taken an island
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 2: for a marine monster. But kick as one may, one
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 2: must yield to evidence, and I was finally convinced of
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 2: my error. It was nothing, after all, but a natural phenomenon.
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 2: As we approached nearer and nearer the dimensions of the
• 1:48:57
  Speaker 2: liquid sheaf of waters became truly grand and stupendous. The
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 2: island had, at a distance presented the appearance of an
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 2: enormous whale, whose head grows high above the waters. The
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 2: gazer a where the Icelanders pronounced gazer and which signifies fury,
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 2: rose majestically from its summit. Dull detonations are heard every
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 2: now and then, and the enormous jet, taken as it
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 2: were with sudden fury, shakes its plume of vapor and
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 2: bounds into the first layer of the clouds. It is alone.
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 2: Neither spurts of vapor nor hot spring surround it, and
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 2: the whole volcanic power of that region is concentrated in
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 2: one sublime column. The rays of electric light mixed with
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 2: this dazzling sheath every drop as it falls, assuming the
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 2: prismatic colors of the rainbow, Let us go on shore,
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 2: said the profet, after some minutes of silence. It is necessary, however,
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 2: to take great precaution in order to avoid the weight
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 2: of falling waters, which would cause the raft to founder
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 2: in an instant. Hans, however, steers admirably and brings us
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 2: to the other extremity of the island. I was the
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 2: first to leap on the rock. My uncle followed, while
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 2: the aider duck Hunter remained still, like a man above
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 2: any childish sources of astonishment. We were now walking on
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 2: granite mixed with silicious sandstone. The soil shivered under our feet,
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 2: like the sides of boilers, in which overheated steam is
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 2: forcibly confined it is burning. We soon came in sight
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 2: of the little central basin from which rose the gazer.
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 2: I plunged a thermometer into the water which ran bubbling
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 2: from the center, and it marked a heat of one
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty three degrees. This water, therefore came from
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 2: some place where the heat was intense. This was singularly
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 2: in contradiction with the theories of Professor Hartwig. I could
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 2: not help telling him my opinion on the subject. Well,
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 2: said he sharply, and what does this prove against my doctrine? Nothing,
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 2: replied I dryly, seeing that I was running my head
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 2: against a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, I am compelled to confess
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 2: that until now we had been most remarkably fortunate, and
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 2: that this voyage is being accomplished in most favorable conditions
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 2: of temperature. But it appears evident, in fact certain, that
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 2: we shall sooner or later arrive at one of those
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 2: regions where the central heat will reach its utmost limits,
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 2: and will go far beyond all the possible gradations of thermometers.
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 2: Visions of the hades of the ancients believe to be
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 2: in the center of the earth floated through my imagination.
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 2: We shall, however, see what we shall see, that is
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 2: the professor's favorite phrase. Now, having christened the volcanic island
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 2: by the name of his nephew, the leader of the
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 2: expedition turned away and gave the signal for embarkation. I
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 2: stood still, however, for some minutes, gazing upon the magnificent gaser.
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 2: I soon was able to perceive that the upward tendency
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 2: of the water was irregular. Now it diminished in intensity,
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 2: and then suddenly regained new vigor, which I attributed to
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 2: the variation of the pressure of the accumulated vapors in
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 2: its reservoir. At last, we took our departure, going carefully
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 2: round the protecting and rather dangerous rocks of the southern side.
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 2: Hans had taken advantage of this brief halt to repair
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 2: the raft before we took our final departure from the island. However,
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 2: I made some observations to calculate the distance we had
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 2: gone over, and I put them down in my journal.
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 2: Since we left Port Gretchen, we had traveled two hundred
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 2: and seventy leagues more than eight hundred miles on this
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 2: great Indian Sea. We were therefore six hundred and twenty
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 2: leagues from Iceland and exactly under England. End of Chapter
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 2: thirty one, Chapter thirty two, The Battle of the Elements, Friday,
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 2: August twenty first. This morning, the magnificent Gaser had fully disappeared,
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 2: the wind had freshened up, and we were fast leaving
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 2: the neighborhood of Henry's Island. Even the roaring sound of
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 2: the Mighty Column was lost to the air. The weather,
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 2: if under the circumstances we may use such an express,
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 2: is about to change very suddenly. The atmosphere is being
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 2: gradually loaded with vapors which carry with them the electricity
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 2: formed by the constant evaporation of the Sellin waters. The
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 2: clouds are slowly but sensibly falling towards the sea and
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 2: are assuming a dark olive texture. The electric race can
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 2: scarcely pierce through the opaque curtain, which has fallen like
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 2: a drop seen before this wondrous theater, on the stage
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 2: of which another and terrible drama is soon to be enacted.
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 2: This time it is no fight of animals. It is
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 2: the fearful battle of the elements. I feel that I
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 2: am very peculiarly influenced, as all creatures are on land.
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 2: When a deluge is about to take place, the cumuli,
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 2: a perfectly oval kind of cloud piled upon the south,
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 2: presented a most awful and sinister appearance, with a pitiless suspect,
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 2: often seen before a storm. The air is extremely heavy,
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 2: the sea is comparatively calm. In the distance, the clouds
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 2: have assumed the appearance of enormous balls of cotton, or
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 2: rather pods, piled one above the other in picturesque confusion.
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 2: By degrees. They appear to swell out break, and gain
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 2: in number what they lose in grandeur. Their heaveness is
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 2: so great that they are unable to lift themselves from
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 2: the horizon. But under the influence of the upper currents
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 2: of air, they are gradually broken up, become much darker,
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 2: and then present the appearance of one single layer of
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 2: a formidable character now and then a lighter cloud still
• 1:55:47
  Speaker 2: it up from above, rebounds upon this gray carpet, and
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 2: is lost in the opaque mass. There can be no
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 2: doubt that the entire atmosphere is saturated with the leg
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 2: chick fluid. I myself fully impregnated. My hairs literally stand
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 2: on end, as if under the influence of a galvanic battery.
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 2: If one of my companions ventured to touch me, I think
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 2: he would receive rather a violent and unpleasant shock. About
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 2: ten o'clock in the morning, the symptoms of the storm
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 2: became more thorough and decisive. The wind appeared to soften down,
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 2: as if to take breath for a renewed attack. The
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 2: vast funeral pall above us looked like a huge bag,
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 2: like the cave of Aeolus, in which the storm was
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 2: collecting its forces for the attack. I tried all I
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 2: could not to believe in the menacing signs of the sky,
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 2: and yet I could not avoid saying, as it were, involuntarily,
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 2: I believe we are going to have bad weather. The
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 2: professor made me no answer. He was in a horrible,
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 2: in a detestable hume. More to see the ocean stretching
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 2: interminably before his eyes. On hearing my words, he simply
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 2: shrugged his shoulders. We shall have a tremendous storm, I
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 2: said again, pointing to the horizon. These clouds are falling
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 2: lower and lower upon the sea, as if to crush it.
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 2: Her great silence prevailed, the wind folly ceased, Nature assumed
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 2: a dead calm, and ceased to breathe upon the mast,
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 2: where I noticed a sort of slight ignis fatus. The
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 2: sail hangs in loose, heavy folds. The raft is motionless
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 2: in the midst of a dark, heavy sea, without undulation,
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 2: without motion, it is as still as glass. But as
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 2: we are making no progress, what is the use of
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 2: keeping up the sail, which may be the cause of
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 2: our perdition? If the tempest should suddenly strike us without warning,
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 2: let us lower the sail, I said it. It is
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 2: only an act of common prudence. No, no, cried my
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 2: uncle in an exasperated tone. A hundred times. Now, let
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 2: the wind strike us and do its worst. Let the
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 2: storm sweep us away where it will only let me
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 2: see the glimmer of some coast, of some rocky cliffs.
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 2: Even if they dash our raft into a thousand pieces. No,
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 2: keep up the sail, no matter what happens. These words
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 2: were scarcely uttered when the southern horizon underwent a sudden
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 2: and violent change. The long accumulated vapors were resolved into water,
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 2: and the air required to fill up the void produced
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 2: became a wild and raging tempest. It came from the
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 2: most distant corners of the mighty cavern. It ranged from
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 2: every point of the compass. It roared, its yell, did
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 2: shrieked with glee as of demons, let loose. The darkness
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 2: increased and became indeed darkness visible. The raft rose and
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 2: fell with a storm, and bounded over the waves. My
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 2: uncle was cast headlong upon the deck. I, with great difficulty,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 2: dragged myself towards him. He was holding on with might
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 2: and maine to the end of a cable, and appeared
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 2: to gaze with pleasure and delight at the spectacle of
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 2: the unchained elements. Hans never moved a muscle. His long head,
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 2: driven hither and thither by the tempest, and scattered wildly
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 2: over His motionless face gave him a most extraordinary appearance,
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 2: for every single hair was illuminated by little sparkling spriggs.
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 2: His countenance presents the extraordinary appearance of an antediluvian man,
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 2: a true contemporary of the megatharium. Still, the mast holds
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 2: good against the storm. The sail spreads out and feels
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 2: like a soap bubble about to burn. The raft rushes
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 2: on at a pace impossible to estimate, but still less
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 2: swiftly than the body of water displaced beneath it, the
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 2: rapidity of which may be seen by the lines which
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 2: fly right and left in the wake the sail. The sail,
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 2: I cried, making a trumpet on my hands, and then
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 2: endeavoring to lower it. Let it alone, said my uncle,
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 2: more exasperated than ever. Nay, said Hans, gently, shaking his head. Nevertheless,
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 2: the rain formed a roaring cataract before this horizon of
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 2: which we were in search, and to which we were
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 2: rushing like madmen. But before this wilderness of waters reached us,
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 2: the mighty veil of cloud was torn in twain. The
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 2: sea began to foam wildly, and the electricity produced by
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 2: some vast and extraordinary chemical action in the upper layer
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 2: of cloud is brought into play. To the fearful claps
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 2: of thunder are added dazzling flashes of lightning such as
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 2: I had never seen. The flashes crossed one another, hurled
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 2: from every side, while the thunder came peeling like an echo.
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 2: The mass of vapor becomes incandescent. The hailstones which strike
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 2: the metal of our boots and our weapons are actually luminous.
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 2: The waves, as they rise appear to be fire eating monsters,
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 2: beneath which seethes an intense fire, their crests surmounted by
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 2: combs of flame. My eyes are dazzled, blinded by the
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 2: intensity of light. My ears are deafened by the awful
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 2: roar of the elements. I am compelled to hold on
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 2: to the mast, which bends like your reed, beneath the
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 2: violence of the storm, to which none ever before seen
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 2: by mariners bore any resemblance. Here my traveling notes become
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 2: very incomplete, loose and vague. I have only been able
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 2: to make out one or two fugitive observations, dotted down
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 2: in a mere mechanical way. But even their brevity, even
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 2: their obscurity, showed the emotions which overcame me. Sunday, August
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 2: twenty third. Where have we got to? In what region
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 2: are we wandering? We are still carried forward with inconceivable rapidity.
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 2: The night has been fearful, something not to be described.
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 2: The storm shows no signs of cessation. We exist in
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 2: the midst of an uproar which has no name. The
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 2: detonations as of artillery, are incessant. Our ears literally bleed.
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 2: We are unable to exchange a word or hear each
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 2: other speak. The lightning never ceases to flash for a
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 2: single instant. I can see the sick sax after a
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 2: rapid dart strike the arched roof of the mightiest of
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 2: mighty walls. If it were to give way and fall
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 2: upon us. Other lightnings plunge their forked streaks in every
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 2: direction and take the form of globes of fire, which
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 2: explode like bomb shells over a beleaguered city. The general
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 2: crash and roar do not apparently increase. It has already
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 2: gone far beyond what human air can appreciate. If all
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 2: the powder magazines in the world were to explode together,
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 2: it would be impossible for us to hear worse noise.
• 2:03:42
  Speaker 2: There is a constant emission of light from the storm clouds.
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 2: The electric matter is incessantly released. Evidently, the gaseous principles
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 2: of the air are out of order. Innumerable columns of
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 2: water rush up like water spots, and fall back upon
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 2: the surface of the ocean in foam. Whither are we going?
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 2: My uncle still lies at full length upon the raft,
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 2: without speaking, without taking any note of time. The heat increases.
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 2: I look at the thermometer. To my surprise, it indicates
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 2: the exact figure is here rubbed out in my manuscript Monday,
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 2: August twenty fourth. This terrible storm will never end. Why
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 2: should not this state of the atmosphere, so dense and murky,
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 2: once modified again, remain definitive. We are utterly broken and
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 2: harassed by fatigue. Hence remains just as usual. The raft
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 2: runs to the southeast invariably. We have now already run
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 2: two hundred leagues from the newly discovered island. About twelve
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 2: o'clock the storm became worse than ever. We are obliged
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 2: now to fasten ever every bit of cargo tightly on
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 2: the deck of the raft, or everything would be swept away.
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 2: We make ourselves fast too, each man lashing the other.
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 2: The waves drive over us, so that several times we
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 2: are actually under water. We had been under the painful
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 2: necessity of abstaining from speech for three days and three nights.
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 2: We opened our mouths, we moved our lips, but no
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 2: sound came. Even when we placed our mouths to each
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 2: other's ears, it was the same. The wind carried the
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 2: voice away. My uncle once contrived to get his head
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 2: close to mine. After several almost vain endeavors, he appeared
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 2: to my nearly exhausted senses to articulate some word. I
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 2: had a notion, more from intuition than anything else, that
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 2: he said to me, We are lost. I took out
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 2: my note book, from which under the most desperate circumstances
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 2: I never parted, and wrote a few words as legibly
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 2: as I could take in sail. With a deep sigh,
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 2: he nodded his head and acquiesced. His head had scarcely
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 2: time to fall back in the position from which he
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 2: had momentarily raised it than a disk or ball of
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 2: fire appeared on the very edge of the raft, our devoted,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 2: our doomed craft. The mast and sail are carried away bodily,
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 2: and I see them swept away to a prodigious height
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 2: like a kite. We were frozen, actually shivered with terror.
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 2: The ball of fire, half white, half aszre, colored about
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 2: the size of a ten inch bomb shell, moved along,
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 2: turning with prodigious rapidity to leeward of the storm. It
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 2: ran about here, there, and everywhere. It clambered up one
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 2: of the bulwarks of the raft. It leaped upon the
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 2: sack of provisions, and then finally descended lightly, fell like
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 2: a football, and landed on our powder barrel. Horrible situation.
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 2: An explosion, of course, was now inevitable. By Heaven's mercy,
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 2: it was not so. The dazzling disc moved on one side.
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 2: It approached Hans, who looked at it with singular fixity.
• 2:07:23
  Speaker 2: Then it approached my uncle, who cast himself on his
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 2: knees to avoid it. It came towards me. As I
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 2: stood pale and shuddering in the dazzling light and heat,
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 2: it pirouetted round my feet, which I endeavored to withdraw.
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 2: An odor of nitrous gas filled the whole air. It
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 2: penetrated to the throat, to the lungs. I felt ready
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 2: to choke. Why is it that I cannot withdraw my feet?
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 2: Are they riveted to the flooring of the raft? No,
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 2: the fall of the electric globe has turned all the
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 2: iron on board into loadstones. The instruments, the tools, the
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 2: arms are clanging together with awful and horrible noise. The
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 2: nails of my heavy boots adure closely to the plate
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 2: of iron incrustated in the wood. I cannot withdraw my foot.
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 2: It is the old story again of the Mountain of Adamant.
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 2: At last, by a violent and almost superhuman effort, I
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 2: tear it away, just as the ball, which is still
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 2: executing its garritory emotions, is about to run round it
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 2: and drag me with it. If oh, what intense stupendeous
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 2: light the globe of fire bursts. We are enveloped in
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 2: cascades of living fire, which flood the space around voluminous matter.
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 2: Then all went out, and darkness once more fell upon
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 2: the deep. I had just time to see my uncle,
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 2: once more cast, apparently senseless, on the flooring of the raft,
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 2: hands at the helm, spitting fire under the influence of
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 2: the electricity which seemed to have gone through him. Whither
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 2: are we going? I ask, and echo answers Whither Thursday,
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 2: August twenty fifth, I have just come out of a
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 2: long fainting fit. The awful and hideous storm still continues.
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 2: The lightning has increased in vividness and pours out its
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 2: fiery wrath like a brood of serpents let loose in
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 2: the atmosphere. Are we still upon the sea? Yes, and
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 2: being carried along with incredible velocity. We have passed under England,
• 2:09:49
  Speaker 2: under the Channel, under France, probably under the whole extent
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 2: of Europe. Another awful clamor in the distance. This time
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 2: it is certain that the sea is breaking upon the
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 2: rocks at no great distance. Then end of chapter thirty two,
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 2: Chapter thirty three, our route reversed. Here ends what I
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 2: call my journal of our voyage on board the raft,
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 2: which journal was happily saved from the wreck. I proceed
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 2: with my narrative as I did before I commenced my
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 2: daily notes. What happened when the terrible shock took place
• 2:10:34
  Speaker 2: when the raft was cast upon the rocky shore. It
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 2: would be impossible for me now to say I felt
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 2: myself precipitated violently into the boiling waves, and if I
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 2: escaped from a certain and cruel death, it was folly,
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 2: owing to the determination of the faithful hands, who, clutching
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 2: me by the arm, saved me from the yawning abyss.
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 2: The courageous I slander, then carried me in his powerful
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 2: arms far out of the reach of the waves, and
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 2: laid me down upon a burning expanse of sand, where
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 2: I found myself some time afterwards in the company of
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 2: my uncle, the Professor. Then he quietly returned towards the
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 2: fatal rocks against which the furious waves were beating, in
• 2:11:21
  Speaker 2: order to save any stray waves from the wreck. This
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 2: man was always practical and thoughtful. I could not utter
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 2: a word. I was quite overcome with emotion. My whole
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 2: body was broken and bruised with fatigue. He took hours
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 2: before I was anything like myself. Meanwhile, there fell a
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 2: fearful deluge of rain, drenching us to the skin. Its
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 2: very violence, however, proclaimed the approaching end of the storm.
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 2: Some overhanging rocks afforded us a slight protection from the torrents.
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 2: Under this shelter, Hans prepared some which, however, I was
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 2: unable to touch. And exhausted by the three weary days
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 2: and nights of watching, we fell into a deep and
• 2:12:09
  Speaker 2: painful sleep. My dreams were fearful, but at last, exhausted
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 2: Nature asserted her supremacy, and I slumbered. Next day. When
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 2: I awoke, the change was magical. The weather was magnificent,
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 2: air and sea, as if by mutual consent had regained
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 2: their serenity. Every trace of the storm, even the faintest,
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 2: had disappeared. I was saluted on my awakening by the
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 2: first joyous tones I had heard from the Professor for
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 2: many a day. His gayety, indeed was something terrible. Well,
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 2: my lad, he cried, rubbing his hands together. Have you
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 2: slept so? Only might it not have been supposed that
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 2: we were in the old house on the Kernigstrasse, that
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 2: I had just come down quietly to my breakfast, and
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 2: that my marriage with Gretchen was to take place that
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 2: very day. My uncle's coolness was exasperating, alas considering how
• 2:13:13
  Speaker 2: the tempest had driven us in an easterly direction. We
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 2: had passed under the whole of Germany, under the city
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 2: of Hamburg, where I had been so happy, under the
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 2: very street which contained all I loved and cared for
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 2: in the world. It was a positive fact that I
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 2: was only separated from her by distance of forty leagues.
• 2:13:35
  Speaker 2: But these forty leagues were of hard, impenetrable granite. All
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 2: these dreary and miserable reflections passed through my mind. Before
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 2: I attempted to answer my uncle's question. Why what is
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 2: the matter, he cried, Cannot you say whether you have
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 2: slept well or not? I have slept very well, was
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 2: my reply. But every bow in my body aches. I
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 2: suppose that will lead to nothing, nothing at all, my boy.
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 2: It is only the result of the fatigue of the
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 2: last few days. That is all you appear, if I
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 2: may be allowed to say so, to be very jolly
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 2: this morning, I said. Delighted, my dear boy. Delighted. Was
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 2: never happier in my life. We have at last reached
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 2: the wished for port the end of our expedition, cried I,
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 2: in a tone of considerable surprise. No, but to the
• 2:14:32
  Speaker 2: confines of that sea, which I began to fear would
• 2:14:35
  Speaker 2: never end, but go round the whole world. We will,
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 2: now tranquility resume our journey by land, and once again
• 2:14:42
  Speaker 2: endeavor to dive into the center of the earth. My
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 2: dear uncle, I began, in a hesitating kind of way,
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 2: Allow me to ask you one question. Certainly, hurry a
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 2: dozen if you think proper one will suffice. How about
• 2:14:59
  Speaker 2: getting back? I asked, How about getting back? What a
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 2: question to ask? We have as not yet reached the
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 2: end of our journey. I know that all I want
• 2:15:12
  Speaker 2: to know is how you propose we shall manage the
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 2: return voyage In the most simple manner in the world,
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 2: said the imperturbable professor. Once we reached the exact center
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 2: of this square, either we shall find a new road
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 2: by which to ascend to the surface, or we shall
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 2: simply turn round and go back by the way we came.
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 2: I have every reason to believe that while we are
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 2: traveling forward, it will not close behind us. Then one
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 2: of the first matters to see to will be to
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 2: repair the raft, was my rather melancholy response. Of course,
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 2: we must attend to that above all things, continued the professor.
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 2: Then comes the all important question of provisions. I urged,
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 2: have we anything like enough left to enable us to
• 2:16:02
  Speaker 2: accomplish such great, such amazing designs as you contemplate carrying out.
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 2: I have seen into the matter, and my answer is
• 2:16:12
  Speaker 2: in the affirmative. Hans is a very clever fellow, and
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 2: I have reason to believe that he has saved the
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 2: greater part of the cargo. But the best way to
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 2: satisfy your scruples is to come and judge for yourself.
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 2: Saying which he led the way out of the kind
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 2: of open grotto in which we had taken shelter. I
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 2: had almost begun to hope that which I should rather
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 2: have feared. And this was the impossibility of such a shipwrecked,
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 2: leaving even the slightest signs of what it had carried
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 2: as freight. I was, however, thoroughly mistaken. As soon as
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 2: I reached the shores of this inland sea, I found
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 2: hands standing gravely in the midst of a large number
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 2: of things, laid out in complete order. Uncle wrung his
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 2: hands with deep and silent gratitude. His heart was too
• 2:17:05
  Speaker 2: full for speech. This man, whose superhuman devotion to his
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 2: employers I not only never saw surpassed nor even equalled,
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 2: had been hard at work all the time we slept, and,
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 2: at the risk of his life, had succeeded in saving
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 2: the most precious articles of our cargo. Of course, under
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 2: the circumstances we necessarily experienced several severe losses. Our weapons
• 2:17:32
  Speaker 2: had fully vanished, but experience had taught us to do
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 2: without them. The provision of powder had, however, remained intact,
• 2:17:41
  Speaker 2: after having narrowly escaped, blowing us all to atoms in
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 2: the storm, well, said the professor, who was now ready
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 2: to make the best of everything. As we have no guns,
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 2: all we have to do is to give up all
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 2: idea of hunting. Yes, my dear sir, we can do
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 2: without them. But what about all our instruments. Here is
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 2: the manometer, the most useful of all, and which I
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 2: gladly accept in lieu of the rest. With it alone,
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 2: I can calculate the depth as we proceed. By its means. Alone,
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 2: I shall be able to decide when we have reached
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 2: the center of the earth. Ha ha. But for this
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 2: little instrument we might make a mistake and run the
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 2: risk of coming out at the antipodes. All this was
• 2:18:30
  Speaker 2: said amid bursts of unnatural laughter. But the compass, I cried,
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 2: without that, what can we do here? It is safe
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 2: and sound, he cried, with real joy. Ah ha ha.
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 2: And here we have the chronometer and the thermometers. Hans,
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 2: the hunter is indeed an invaluable man. It was impossible
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 2: to deny this fact. As far as the nautical and
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 2: other instruments were concerned, nothing was wanting. Then, on further
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 2: examination I found ladders, cords, pickaxes, crowbars, and shovels. All
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 2: scattered about on the shore. There was, however, finally the
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 2: most important question of all, and that was provisions. But
• 2:19:17
  Speaker 2: what are we to do for food? I asked, Let
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 2: us see to the commissary department, replied my uncle gravely.
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 2: The boxes which contained our supply of food for the
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 2: voyage were placed in a row along the strand, and
• 2:19:32
  Speaker 2: were in a capital state of preservation. The sea had
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 2: in every case respected their contents. And to sum up
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 2: in one sentence, taking into consideration biscuits, salt meat, sheedam
• 2:19:46
  Speaker 2: and dried fish, we could still calculate on having about
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 2: four months supply, if used with prudence and caution. Four months,
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 2: cried the sanguine professor in high Gli. Then we shall
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 2: have plenty of time. I am both to go and come,
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 2: and with what remains I undertake to give a grand
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 2: dinner to my colleagues of the Johanneum, I sighed, I
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 2: should by this time have become used to the temperament
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 2: of my uncle. And yet this man astonished me more
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 2: and more every day. He was the greatest human enigma
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 2: I ever had known. Now, he said, before we do
• 2:20:27
  Speaker 2: anything else, we must lay in a stock of fresh water.
• 2:20:31
  Speaker 2: The rain has fallen in abundance and filled the hollows
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 2: of the granite. There is a rich supply of water,
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 2: and we have no fear of suffering from thirst, which
• 2:20:41
  Speaker 2: in our circumstances is of the last importance. As for
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 2: the raft, I shall recommend hands to repair it to
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 2: the best of his abilities, though I have every reason
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 2: to believe we shall not require it again. How is
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 2: that I cried more amazed than ever at my uncle's
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 2: style of reasoning. I have an idea, my dear boy.
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 2: It is none other than this simple fact. We shall
• 2:21:05
  Speaker 2: not come out by the same opening as that by
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 2: which we entered. I began to look at my uncle
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 2: with vague suspicion. An idea had more than once taken
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 2: possession of me, and this was that he was going mad.
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 2: And yet little did I think how true and prophetic
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 2: his words were doomed to be. And now he said,
• 2:21:28
  Speaker 2: having seen to all these matters of detail, to breakfast.
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 2: I followed him to a sort of projecting cape, after
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 2: he had given his last instructions to our guide. In
• 2:21:40
  Speaker 2: this original position, with dried meat, biscuit, and a delicious
• 2:21:45
  Speaker 2: cup of tea, we made a satisfactory meal I may
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 2: say one of the most welcome and pleasant I ever remember, exhorution,
• 2:21:55
  Speaker 2: the keen atmosphere, the state of calm after so much
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 2: agitation or a, contributed to give me an excellent appetite. Indeed,
• 2:22:04
  Speaker 2: it contributed very much to producing a pleasant and cheerful
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 2: state of mind. While breakfast was in hand, and between
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 2: the SIPs of worn tea, I asked my uncle if
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 2: he had any idea of how we now stood in
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 2: relation to the world above. For my part, I added,
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 2: I think it will be rather difficult to determine, well,
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 2: if we were compelled to fix the exact spot, said
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 2: my uncle, it might be difficult, since during the three
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 2: days of that awful tempest, I could keep no account
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 2: either of the quickness of our pace or of the
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 2: direction in which the raft was going. Still, we will
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 2: endeavor to approximate to the truth. We shall not, I believe,
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 2: be so very far out. Well, if I recollect rightly,
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 2: I replied, Our last observation was made at the geyser Island.
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 2: Harris I Island, My boy, Harris Island, do not decline
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 2: the honor of having named it. Given your name to
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 2: an island discovered by us the first human beings so
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 2: trodd it since the creation of the world. Let it
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 2: be so. Then at Harris Island we had already gone
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 2: over two hundred and seventy leagues of sea, and we
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 2: were I believe about six hundred leagues more or less
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 2: from Iceland. God, I am glad to see that you
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 2: remember so well. Let us start from that point, and
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 2: let us count four days of storm, during which our
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 2: rate of traveling must have been very great. I should
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 2: say that our velocity must have been about eighty leagues
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 2: to the twenty four hours. I agreed that I thought
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 2: this affair calculation. There were then three hundred leagues to
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 2: be added to the grand total. Yes, and the central
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 2: sea must extend at least six hundred leagues from side
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 2: to side. Do you know, my boy Harry, that we
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 2: have discovered an inland lake larger than the Mediterranean? Certainly,
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 2: and we only know of its extent in one way,
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 2: it may be hundreds of miles in length. Very likely, then,
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 2: said I, after calculating for some minutes, if your provisions
• 2:24:19
  Speaker 2: are right, we are at this moment exactly under the
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 2: Mediterranean itself. Do you think so, Yes, I'm always certain
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 2: of it. Are we not nine hundred leagues distant from Rayekavik.
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 2: That is perfectly true, and a famous bit of road
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 2: we have traveled, my boy. But why we should be
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 2: under the Mediterranean more than under Turkey or the Atlantic
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 2: Ocean can only be known when we are sure of
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 2: not having deviated from our course, and of this we
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 2: know nothing. I do not think we were driven very
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 2: far from our course. The wind appears to me to
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 2: have been always about the same. My opinion is that
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 2: this shore must be situated to the southeast of Port
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 2: Gretchen God I hope so. It will, however, be easy
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 2: to decide the matter by taking the bearings from our
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 2: departure by means of the compass. Come along, and we
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 2: will consult that invaluable invention. The professor now walked eagerly
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 2: in the direction of the rock, where the indefatigable hands
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 2: had placed the instruments in safety. My uncle was gay
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 2: and light hearted. He rubbed his hands and assumed all
• 2:25:31
  Speaker 2: sorts of attitudes. He was, to all appearance once more
• 2:25:35
  Speaker 2: a young man. Since I had known him, never had
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 2: he been so aimable and pleasant. I followed him, rather
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 2: curious to know whether I had made any mistake in
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 2: my estimation of our position. As soon as we had
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 2: reached the rock, my uncle took the compass, placed it
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 2: horizontally before him, and looked keenly at the needle. As
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 2: he had at first shaken it to give it vivacity.
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 2: It oscillated considerably, and then slowly assumed its right position
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 2: under the influence of the magnetic power. The professor bent
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 2: his eyes curiously over the wondrous instrument. A violent start
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 2: immediately showed the extent of his emotion. He closed his eyes,
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 2: rubbed them, and took another and a keener survey. Then
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 2: he turned slowly round to me. Stupefaction depicted on his countenance.
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 2: What is the matter, said I, beginning to be alarmed.
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 2: He could not speak, he was too overwhelmed for words.
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 2: He simply pointed to the instrument. I examined it eagerly
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 2: according to his mute directions, and a loud cry of
• 2:26:46
  Speaker 2: surprise escaped my lips. The needle of the compass pointed
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 2: due north, in the direction we expected was the south.
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 2: It pointed to the shore instead of to the high seas.
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 2: I shook the compass. I examined it with a curious
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 2: and anxious eye. It was in a state of perfection,
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 2: no blemish in any way explained the phenomenon. Whatever position
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 2: we forced the needle into, it returned invariably to the
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 2: same unexpected point. It was useless attempting to conceal from
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 2: ourselves the fatal truth. There could be no doubt about it. Unwelcome,
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 2: as was the fact that during the tempest there had
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 2: been a sudden slant of wind of which we had
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 2: been unable to take any account, and thus the raft
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 2: had carried us back to the shores we had left
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 2: apparently for ever so many days before end of chapter
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 2: thirty three Chapter thirty four, A Voyage of Discovery. It
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 2: would be altogether impossible for me to give any idea
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 2: of the utter astonishment which overcame the Professor on making
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 2: this extraordinary discovery. Amazement, incredulity, and rage were blended in
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 2: such a way as to alarm me. During the whole
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 2: course of my life, I had never seen a man
• 2:28:20
  Speaker 2: at first so chap fallen and then so furiously indignant.
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 2: The terrible fatigues of our sea voyage, the fearful dangers
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 2: we had passed through, had all all gone for nothing.
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 2: We had to begin them all over again. Instead of
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 2: progressing as we fondly expected during a voyage of so
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 2: many days, we had retreated. Every hour of our expedition
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 2: on the raft had been so much lost time. Presently, however,
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 2: the indomitable energy of my uncle overcame every other consider
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 2: So he said between his set teeth, fatality will play
• 2:29:06
  Speaker 2: me these terrible tricks. The elements themselves conspire to overwhelm me,
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 2: with modification, air, fire, and water, combined their united efforts
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 2: to oppose my passage. Well, they shall see what the
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 2: earnest will of a determined man can do. I will
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 2: not yield, I will not retreat even one inch, And
• 2:29:29
  Speaker 2: we shall see who shall triumph in this great contest,
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 2: Man or nature. Standing upright on a rock, irritated and menacing,
• 2:29:40
  Speaker 2: Professor Hartwig, like the ferocious Ayaks, seemed to defy the fates. I, however,
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 2: took upon myself to interfere and to impose some sort
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 2: of check upon such insensate enthusiasm. Listen to me, Uncle,
• 2:29:56
  Speaker 2: I said, in a firm but temperate tone of voice.
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 2: There must we be some limit to ambition here below.
• 2:30:02
  Speaker 2: It is utterly useless to struggle against the impossible, pray,
• 2:30:07
  Speaker 2: listen to reason. We are utterly unprepared for a sea voyage.
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 2: It is simply madness to think of performing a journey
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 2: of five hundred leagues upon a wretched pile of beams,
• 2:30:19
  Speaker 2: with a counterpane for a sail, a paltry stick for
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 2: a mast, and attempest to contend with as we are
• 2:30:27
  Speaker 2: totally incapable of steering our frail craft, which have become
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 2: the mere plaything of the storm. And it is acting
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 2: the part of madmen if we a second time run
• 2:30:39
  Speaker 2: any risk upon this dangerous and treacherous central sea. These
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 2: are only a few of the reasons and arguments I
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 2: put together, reasons and arguments which to me appeared unanswerable.
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 2: I was allowed to go on without interruption for about
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 2: ten minutes the explanation to this I soon discovered the
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 2: professor was not even listening, and did not hear a
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 2: word of all my eloquence to the raft. He cried
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 2: in a hoarse voice when I paused for a reply.
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 2: Such was the result of my strenuous effort to resist
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 2: his iron will. I tried again, I begged and implored him.
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 2: I got into a passion, but I had to deal
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 2: with a will more determined than my own. I seemed
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 2: to feel like the waves which fought and battled against
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 2: the huge mass of granite at our feet, which had
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 2: smiled grimly for so many ages at their puny efforts. Hans, meanwhile,
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 2: without taking part in our discussion, had been repairing the raft.
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 2: One would have supposed that he instinctively guessed at the
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 2: further projects of my uncle. By means of some fragments
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 2: of cordage, he had again then made the raft seaworthy.
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 2: While I had been speaking, he had hoisted a new
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 2: mast and sail, the latter already fluttering and waving in
• 2:32:09
  Speaker 2: the breeze. The worthy professor spoke a few words to
• 2:32:13
  Speaker 2: our imperturbable guide, who immediately began to put our baggage
• 2:32:18
  Speaker 2: on board and to prepare for our departure. The atmosphere
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 2: was now tolerably clear and pure, and the northeast wind
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 2: blew steadily and serenely. It appeared likely to last for
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 2: some time. What then, could I do? Could I undertake
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 2: to resist the iron will of two men? It was
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 2: simply impossible. If even I could have hoped for the
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 2: support of hands. This, however, was out of the question.
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 2: It appeared to me that the Icelander had set aside
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 2: all personal will and identity. He was a picture of abnegation.
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 2: I could hope for nothing from one so infatuated with
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 2: and devoted to his master. All I could do, therefore,
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 2: was to swim with a stream in a mood of
• 2:33:10
  Speaker 2: stolid and sullen resignation. I was about to take my
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 2: accustomed place on the route when my uncle placed his
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 2: hand upon my shoulder. There is no hurry, my boy,
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 2: he said, we shall not start until to morrow. I
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 2: looked a picture of resignation to the dire will of fate.
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 2: Under the circumstances, he said, I ought to neglect no precautions.
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 2: As fate has cast me upon these shores, I shall
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 2: not leave without having completely examined them. In order to
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 2: understand this remark, I must explain that though we had
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 2: been driven back to the northern shore, we had landed
• 2:33:52
  Speaker 2: at a very different spot from that which had been
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 2: our starting point for Gretchen. Must we calculated me very
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 2: much much to the westward. Nothing therefore was more natural
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 2: and reasonable than that we should reconnot this new shore
• 2:34:07
  Speaker 2: upon which we had so unexpectedly landed. Let us go
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 2: on a journey of discovery. I cried, and, leaving hands
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 2: to its important operation, we started on our expedition. The
• 2:34:20
  Speaker 2: distance between the foreshore at higher water and the foot
• 2:34:23
  Speaker 2: of the rocks was considerable. It would take about half
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 2: an hour's walking to get from one to the other.
• 2:34:32
  Speaker 2: As we trudged along, our feet crushed innumerable shells of
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 2: every shape and size. Once the dwelling place of animals
• 2:34:40
  Speaker 2: of every period of creation, I particularly noticed some enormous
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 2: shells carapasses turtle and tortwis species, the diameter of which
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 2: exceeded fifteen feet. They had, in past ages belonged to
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 2: those gigantic klptodons of the pliocen period, of which the
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 2: modern turtle is but a minute specimen. In addition, the
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 2: whole soil was covered by a vast quantity of stony relics,
• 2:35:11
  Speaker 2: having the appearance of flints worn by the action of
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 2: the waves, and lying in successive layers, one above the other.
• 2:35:20
  Speaker 2: I came to the conclusion that in past ages the
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 2: sea must have covered the whole district upon the scattered
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 2: rocks now laying far beyond its reach. The mighty waves
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 2: of ages had left evident marks of their passage. On reflection,
• 2:35:36
  Speaker 2: this appeared to me partially to explain the existence of
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 2: this remarkable ocean forty leagues below the surface of the
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 2: Earth's crust. According to my new and perhaps fanciful theory,
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 2: this liquid mass must be gradually lost in the deep
• 2:35:52
  Speaker 2: bowels of the Earth. I had also no doubt that
• 2:35:55
  Speaker 2: this mysterious sea was fed by infiltration of the ocean
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 2: above through imperceptible fissures. Nevertheless, it was impossible not to
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 2: admit that these fissures must now be nearly choked up,
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 2: for if not the cavern, or rather the immense stupendous reservoir,
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 2: would have been completely filled in a short space of time.
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 2: Perhaps even this water, having to contend against the accumulated
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 2: subterraneous fires of the interior of the Earth, had become
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 2: partially vaporized. Hence the explanation of those heavy clouds suspended
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 2: over our heads, and the superabundant display of that electricity
• 2:36:38
  Speaker 2: which occasioned such terrible storms in this deep and cavernous sea.
• 2:36:45
  Speaker 2: This lucid explanation of the phenomena we had witnessed appeared
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 2: to be quite satisfactory. However, great and Mighty. The marvels
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 2: of nature may seem to us, they are always to
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 2: be explained by physical reasons. Everything is subordinate to some
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 2: great law of nature. It now appeared clear that we
• 2:37:06
  Speaker 2: were walking upon a kind of sedimentary soil, formed like
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 2: all the soils of that period, so frequent on the
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 2: surface of the globe by the subsidence of the waters.
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 2: The professor, who was now in his element, carefully examined
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 2: every rock officicure let him only find an opening, and
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 2: it directly became important to him to examine its depth.
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 2: For a whole mile we followed the windings of the
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 2: Central Sea, when suddenly an important change took place in
• 2:37:39
  Speaker 2: the aspect of the soil. It seemed to have been
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 2: rudely cast up, convulsionized, as it were, by a violent
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 2: upheaving of the lower strata. In many places. Hollows here,
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 2: and he looks there attested great dislocations at some other
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 2: period of the terrestrial mass. We advanced with great difficulty
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 2: over the broken masses of granite mixed with flint, quartz,
• 2:38:05
  Speaker 2: and alluvial deposits. When a large field, more even than
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 2: a field a plain of bones, appeared suddenly before our eyes.
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 2: It looked like an immense cemetery, where generation after generation
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 2: had mingled their mortal dust. Lofty barrels of early remains
• 2:38:26
  Speaker 2: rose at intervals, they undulated away to the limits of
• 2:38:30
  Speaker 2: the distant horizon, and were lost in a thick and
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 2: brown fog. On that spot, some three square miles in extent,
• 2:38:39
  Speaker 2: was accumulated the whole history of animal life. Scarcely one
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 2: creature upon the comparatively modern soil of the upper and
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 2: inhabited world had not there existed. Nevertheless, we were drawn
• 2:38:53
  Speaker 2: forward by an all absorbing and impatient curiosity. Our feet
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 2: crushed with a dry and crackling sound, the remains of
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 2: those prehistoric fossils for which the museums of great city squarrel,
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 2: even when they obtained only rare and curious morsels. A
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 2: thousand such naturalists as Cuvier would not have sufficed to
• 2:39:16
  Speaker 2: recompose the skeletons of the organic beings which lay in
• 2:39:20
  Speaker 2: this magnificent osseous collection. I was utterly confounded. My uncle
• 2:39:27
  Speaker 2: stood for some minutes with his arms raised on high
• 2:39:30
  Speaker 2: towards the thick granite vault which served us for a sky.
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 2: His mouth was wide open, his eyes sparkled wildly behind
• 2:39:40
  Speaker 2: his spectacles, which he had fortunately saved. His head bobbed
• 2:39:44
  Speaker 2: up and down and from side to side, while his
• 2:39:47
  Speaker 2: whole attitude and mean expressed unbounded astonishment. He stood in
• 2:39:54
  Speaker 2: the presence of an endless, wondrous and inexhaustible, rich collection
• 2:39:59
  Speaker 2: of until del Luvian monsters, piled up for his own
• 2:40:02
  Speaker 2: private and peculiar satisfaction. Fancy, an enthusiastic lover of books
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 2: carried suddenly into the very midst of the famous library
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 2: of Alexandria, burned by the sacrilegious omer, and which some
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 2: miracle had restored to its pristine splendor. Such was something
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 2: of the state of mind in which Uncle Hartwig was
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 2: now placed. For some time he stood thus literally aghast
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 2: at the magnitude of his discovery. But it was even
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 2: a greater excitement when darting wildly over this mass of
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 2: organic dust, he put up a naked skull and addressed
• 2:40:44
  Speaker 2: me in a quivering voice, Hurry, my boy, hurry, this
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 2: is a human head. A human head, Uncle I said,
• 2:40:56
  Speaker 2: no less amazed and stupefied than himself. Yes, nephew, ah,
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 2: mister Milne Edwards, Ah, mister de quadra fags why are
• 2:41:09
  Speaker 2: you not here? Where I am? I? Professor Hartwig end
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 2: of Chapter thirty four, Chapter thirty five, Discovery upon Discovery.
• 2:41:25
  Speaker 2: In order to fully understand the exclamation made by my
• 2:41:28
  Speaker 2: uncle and his allusions to these illustrious and learned men,
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 2: it will be necessary to enter into certain explanations in
• 2:41:36
  Speaker 2: regard to a circumstance of the highest importance to paleontology
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 2: or the science of fossis life, which had taken place
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 2: a short time before our departure from the upper regions
• 2:41:48
  Speaker 2: of the Earth. On the twenty eight of March eighteen
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 2: sixty three, some navigators, under the direction of Monsieur Bouchet
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 2: de Parties, were at work in the great quarries of Moulenqoignon,
• 2:42:01
  Speaker 2: near Abville, in the department of Somme in France. While
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 2: at work, they unexpectedly came upon a human yaw bone
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 2: buried fourteen feet below the surface of the soil. It
• 2:42:14
  Speaker 2: was the first fossil of the kind that had ever
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 2: been brought to light of day. Near this unexpected human
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 2: relic were found stone, hatchets and carved flints, colored and
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 2: clothed by time. In one uniform brilliant tint of their degree.
• 2:42:31
  Speaker 2: The report of this extraordinary and unexpected discovery spread not
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 2: only all over France, but over England and Germany. Many
• 2:42:41
  Speaker 2: learned men, belonging to very scientific bodies, and noteworthy among others,
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 2: Mesos Milne, Edwards and de Catrefarts, took the affair very
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 2: much to heart, demonstrated the incontestable authenticity of the bone
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 2: in question, and became to use the phrase then recognized
• 2:42:59
  Speaker 2: in England. The most ardent supporters of the jawbone question.
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 2: To the eminent geologists of the United Kingdom, who looked
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 2: upon the fact as certain. Messus, Falconer, Buck, Carpenter and others,
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 2: were soon united the learned men of Germany, and among
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 2: those in the first rank, the most eager, the most enthusiastic,
• 2:43:23
  Speaker 2: was my worthy uncle, Professor Hartwig. The authenticity of a
• 2:43:28
  Speaker 2: human fossil of the Quaternary period seemed then to be
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 2: incontestably demonstrated, and even to be admitted by the most
• 2:43:37
  Speaker 2: skeptical this system or theory, call it what you will,
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 2: had it is true a bitter adversary in Monsieur Elie
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 2: de Beaumont, this learned man, who holds such a high
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 2: place in the scientific world holds that the soil of
• 2:43:53
  Speaker 2: Molanquoignon does not belong to the diluvium, but to a
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 2: much less ancient stratum, and in accordance with Cuvier in
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 2: this respect, he would by no means admit that the
• 2:44:05
  Speaker 2: human species was contemporary with the animals of the Quaternary epoch.
• 2:44:11
  Speaker 2: My worthy uncle, Professor Hartwig, in concert with the great
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 2: majority of geologists, had held firm had disputed, discussed, and finally,
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 2: after considerable talking and writing, Monsieur le de Beaumont had
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 2: been pretty well left alone in his opinions. We were
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 2: familiar with all the details of this discussion, but were
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 2: far from being aware then that since our departure the
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 2: matter had entered upon a new face. Other similar jawbones,
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 2: though belonging to individuals of very types and very different natures,
• 2:44:45
  Speaker 2: had been found in the movable gray sands of certain
• 2:44:49
  Speaker 2: grottos in France, Switzerland and Belgium, together with arms, utencils, tools,
• 2:44:56
  Speaker 2: bones of children of men in the prime of life
• 2:45:00
  Speaker 2: and of old men. The existence of men in the
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 2: Quaternary period became therefore more positive every day. But this
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 2: was far from being all new. Remains dug up from
• 2:45:13
  Speaker 2: the Pliocene or tertiary deposits had enabled the more far
• 2:45:18
  Speaker 2: seeing or audacious among learned men to sign even a
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 2: far greater degree of antiquity to the human race. These remains,
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 2: it is true, were not those of men, that is,
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 2: were not the bones of men, but objects decidedly having
• 2:45:35
  Speaker 2: served the human race, shin bones, thigh bones of fossil animals,
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 2: regularly scooped out and in fact sculptured, bearing the unmistakable
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 2: signs of human handiwork. By means of these wondrous and
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 2: unexpected discoveries, Man ascended endless centuries in the scale of time.
• 2:45:56
  Speaker 2: He in fact preceded the mastodon came the contemporary of
• 2:46:01
  Speaker 2: the Eliphas meridionalis the southern elephant acquired an antiquity of
• 2:46:08
  Speaker 2: over a hundred thousand years, since that is the date
• 2:46:12
  Speaker 2: given by the most eminent geologists to the Pliocine period
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 2: of the Earth. Such was then the state of paleontologic science,
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 2: and what we moreover new suffice to explain our attitude
• 2:46:24
  Speaker 2: before this great cemetery of the plains of the Hartwig Ocean.
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 2: It will now be easy to understand the professor's mingled
• 2:46:33
  Speaker 2: astonishment and joy, when on advancing about twenty yards, he
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 2: found himself in the presence of, I may say, face
• 2:46:42
  Speaker 2: to face with a specimen of the human race actually
• 2:46:45
  Speaker 2: belonging to the Quaternary period. It was, indeed a human skull,
• 2:46:50
  Speaker 2: perfectly recognizable, had a soil of very peculiar nature, like
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 2: that of the cemetery of Saint Michael at bordoorpre Surdic
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 2: during countless ages. This was the question I asked myself,
• 2:47:05
  Speaker 2: but which I was fully unable to answer. But this head,
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 2: with stretched and parchment of skin, with the teeth whole,
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 2: the hair abundant, was before our eyes. As in life.
• 2:47:17
  Speaker 2: I stood mute, almost paralyzed with wonder and aide before
• 2:47:22
  Speaker 2: this dreed apparition of another age. My uncle, who on
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 2: almost every occasion was a great talker, remained for a
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 2: time completely dumbfounded. He was too full of emotion for
• 2:47:35
  Speaker 2: speech to be possible. After a while, however, we raised
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 2: up the body to which the skull belonged. We stood
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 2: it on end. It seemed to our excited imaginations to
• 2:47:47
  Speaker 2: look at us with its terrible hollow eyes. After some
• 2:47:52
  Speaker 2: minutes of silence, the man was vanquished by the Professor
• 2:47:56
  Speaker 2: human instincts succumbed to scientific pride and excel. Professor Hartwick,
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 2: carried away by his enthusiasts, forgot all the circumstances of
• 2:48:06
  Speaker 2: our journey, the extraordinary position in which we were placed,
• 2:48:11
  Speaker 2: the immense cabin which stretched far away over our heads.
• 2:48:15
  Speaker 2: There can be no doubt that he thought himself at
• 2:48:18
  Speaker 2: the institution addressing his attentive pupils, for he put on
• 2:48:22
  Speaker 2: his most doctorial style, waved his hand, and began, gentlemen,
• 2:48:29
  Speaker 2: I have the honor, on this suspicious occasion to present
• 2:48:32
  Speaker 2: to you a man of the quaternary period of our globe.
• 2:48:36
  Speaker 2: Many learned men have denied his very existence, while other
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 2: able persons, perhaps of even higher authority, have affirmed their
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 2: belief in the reality of his life. If the sanctomasis
• 2:48:48
  Speaker 2: of paleontology were present, they would reverently touch him with
• 2:48:53
  Speaker 2: their fingers and believe in his existence, thus acknowledging their
• 2:48:57
  Speaker 2: obstinate heresy. I know that science should be careful in
• 2:49:02
  Speaker 2: relation to all discoveries of this nature. I am not
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 2: without having heard of the many Barnums and other quacks
• 2:49:10
  Speaker 2: who have made a trade of such like pretended discoveries.
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 2: I have, of course heard of the discovery of the
• 2:49:17
  Speaker 2: nebons of Ayaks, or the pretended finding of the body
• 2:49:21
  Speaker 2: of Orestes by the Spartiates, and of the body of
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 2: Austerius ten spans long fifteen feet, of which we read
• 2:49:29
  Speaker 2: in Pausanias I have read everything in relation to the
• 2:49:34
  Speaker 2: skeleton of Trapani, discovered in the fourteenth century and which
• 2:49:38
  Speaker 2: many persons chose to regard as that of Polyphemus, and
• 2:49:42
  Speaker 2: the history of the giant dug up during the sixteenth
• 2:49:46
  Speaker 2: century in the environs of Palmyra. You are well aware,
• 2:49:50
  Speaker 2: as I am, gentlemen, of the existence of the celebrated
• 2:49:54
  Speaker 2: analysis made near Lucerne in fifteen seventy seven of the
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 2: great bones, which the celebrated doctor Felix Plotter declared belonged
• 2:50:03
  Speaker 2: to a giant about nineteen feet high. I have devoured
• 2:50:08
  Speaker 2: all the treatises of Kasanyon, and all those memoirs, pamphlets,
• 2:50:13
  Speaker 2: speeches and replies published in reference to the skeleton of
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 2: Thepto Baucus, king of the Kimbrim, the invader of Gaul,
• 2:50:22
  Speaker 2: dug out of a gravel pitt Indophin in sixteen thirteen.
• 2:50:27
  Speaker 2: In the eighteenth century, I should have denied with Peter
• 2:50:30
  Speaker 2: Campett the existence of the preadamites of Choist Sir, I
• 2:50:35
  Speaker 2: have had in my hands the writing called gegans. Here.
• 2:50:40
  Speaker 2: My uncle was afflicted by the natural infirmity which prevented
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 2: him from pronouncing difficult words in public. It was not
• 2:50:48
  Speaker 2: exactly stuttering, but a strange sort of constitutional hesitation. The
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 2: writing named gegans, he repeated. He, however, could get no
• 2:51:00
  Speaker 2: further giganteu impossible. The unfortunate word would not come out.
• 2:51:07
  Speaker 2: There would have been great laughter at the institution had
• 2:51:11
  Speaker 2: the mistake happened there guy Gan toss theology at last,
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 2: exclaimed Professor Hartwick, between two savage growls, having got over
• 2:51:22
  Speaker 2: our difficulty and getting more and more excited. Just, gentlemen,
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 2: I am well acquainted with all these matters, and know
• 2:51:30
  Speaker 2: also that Kavi and Blumenbach fully recognized in these posts
• 2:51:35
  Speaker 2: the undeniable remains of mammos of the Quaternary period. But
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 2: after what we now see, to allow a doubt is
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 2: to insult scientific inquiry. There is the body. You can
• 2:51:49
  Speaker 2: see it, you can touch it. It is not a skeleton.
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 2: It is a complete and uninjured body preserved with an
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 2: anthropological object. I did not attempt to con travert this
• 2:52:00
  Speaker 2: singular and astounding assertion. If I could but wash this
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 2: corpse in a solution of sulfric acid, continued my uncle,
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 2: I would undertake to remove all the earthy particles and
• 2:52:14
  Speaker 2: these resplendent shells which are encrusted all over this body.
• 2:52:19
  Speaker 2: But I am without this precious dissolving medium. Nevertheless, such
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 2: as it is, this body will tell its own history.
• 2:52:28
  Speaker 2: Here the professor held up the fossil body and exhibited
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 2: it with rare dexterity. No professional showman could have shown
• 2:52:37
  Speaker 2: more activity. As on examination you will see, my uncle continued,
• 2:52:43
  Speaker 2: it is only about six feet in length, which is
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 2: a long way from the pretended giants of early days.
• 2:52:50
  Speaker 2: As to the particular race to which it belonged, it
• 2:52:53
  Speaker 2: is incontestably Caucasian. It is of the white race, that
• 2:52:57
  Speaker 2: is of our own. The skull of this fossil being
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 2: is a perfect ovid, without any remarkable or prominent development
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 2: of the cheekbones, and without any prediction of the jaw.
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 2: It presents no indication of the prognathism which modifies the
• 2:53:15
  Speaker 2: facial angle. Note the facial angle is formed by two planes,
• 2:53:21
  Speaker 2: one more or less vertical which is in a straight
• 2:53:24
  Speaker 2: line with the forehead and the incissors, the other horizontal,
• 2:53:28
  Speaker 2: which passes through the organs of hearing and the lower
• 2:53:31
  Speaker 2: nasal bone. Prognathism in anthropological language means that particular protection
• 2:53:38
  Speaker 2: of the jaw which modifies the facial angle. End of note.
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 2: Measure the angle for yourselves, and you will find that
• 2:53:47
  Speaker 2: it is just ninety degrees. But I will advance still
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 2: farther on the road of inquiry and deduction, and I
• 2:53:55
  Speaker 2: dare venture to say that this human sample or specimen
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 2: belongs to the paphetic family, which spread over the world,
• 2:54:02
  Speaker 2: from India to the uttermost limits of western Europe. There
• 2:54:06
  Speaker 2: is no occasion, gentlemen, to smile at my remarks. Of course,
• 2:54:12
  Speaker 2: nobody smiled. But the excellent professor was so accustomed to
• 2:54:16
  Speaker 2: beaming countenances at his lectures that he believed he saw
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 2: all his audience laughing during the delivery of his learned dissertation. Yes,
• 2:54:26
  Speaker 2: he continued with renewed animation. This is a fossil man,
• 2:54:31
  Speaker 2: a contemporary of the mastodons, with the bones of which
• 2:54:35
  Speaker 2: this whole amphitheater is covered. But if I am called
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 2: on to explain how he came to this place. How
• 2:54:43
  Speaker 2: these various strata by which he is covered have fallen
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 2: into this vast cavity I can undertake to give you
• 2:54:50
  Speaker 2: no explanation. Doubtless, if we carry ourselves back to the
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 2: Quaternary epoch, we shall find that great and mighty convulsions
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 2: took place the crust of the earth. The continually cooling
• 2:55:02
  Speaker 2: operation through which the earth had to pass produced viziers, landslips,
• 2:55:08
  Speaker 2: and chass, through which a large portion of the earth
• 2:55:11
  Speaker 2: made its way. I come to no absolute conclusion. But
• 2:55:16
  Speaker 2: there is the man surrounded by the works of his hands,
• 2:55:19
  Speaker 2: his hatchets, and his card flints, which belonged to the
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 2: stony period. And the only rational supposition is that, like myself,
• 2:55:28
  Speaker 2: he visited the center of the earth as a traveling tourist,
• 2:55:32
  Speaker 2: a pioneer of science. At all events, there can be
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 2: no doubt of his great age and of his being
• 2:55:39
  Speaker 2: one of the oldest rays of human beings. The professor
• 2:55:44
  Speaker 2: with these words ceased his oration, and I burst forth
• 2:55:48
  Speaker 2: into loud and unanimous applause. Besides, after all, my uncle
• 2:55:53
  Speaker 2: was right, much more learned men than his nephew would
• 2:55:57
  Speaker 2: have found it rather hard to refute his facts. Arguments.
• 2:56:02
  Speaker 2: Another circumstance soon presented itself. This fossilized body was not
• 2:56:07
  Speaker 2: the only one in this vast plain of bones, the
• 2:56:11
  Speaker 2: cemetery of an extinct world. Other bodies were found as
• 2:56:16
  Speaker 2: we trod the dusty plane, and my uncle was able
• 2:56:20
  Speaker 2: to choose the most marvelous of these specimens in order
• 2:56:24
  Speaker 2: to convince the most incredulous. In truth. It was a
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 2: surprising spectacle, the successive remains of generations and generations of
• 2:56:34
  Speaker 2: men and animals confounded together in one vast cemetery. But
• 2:56:40
  Speaker 2: a great question now presented itself to our notice, and
• 2:56:44
  Speaker 2: one we were actually afraid to contemplate in all its bearings.
• 2:56:49
  Speaker 2: Had these once animated beings been buried so far beneath
• 2:56:54
  Speaker 2: the soil by some tremendous convulsion of nature after they
• 2:56:58
  Speaker 2: had been earth to earth, ashes to ashes, Or had
• 2:57:02
  Speaker 2: they lived here below in this subterranean world under this
• 2:57:07
  Speaker 2: factitious sky born, married and given in marriage, and died
• 2:57:11
  Speaker 2: at last, just like ordinary inhabitants of the earth. Up
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 2: to the present moment, marine monsters, fish, and such like
• 2:57:20
  Speaker 2: animals had alone been seen alive. The question, which render
• 2:57:25
  Speaker 2: us rather uneasy, was a pertinent one. Were any of
• 2:57:30
  Speaker 2: these men of the abyss wandering about the deserted shores
• 2:57:34
  Speaker 2: of this wondrous sea of the center of the earth.
• 2:57:38
  Speaker 2: This was a question which rendered me very uneasy and uncomfortable.
• 2:57:44
  Speaker 2: How should they really be in existence? Would they receive
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 2: us men from above? End of Chapter thirty five, Chapter
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 2: thirty six. What is it? For a long and weary hour?
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 2: We tramped over this great bed of bones? We advanced
• 2:58:05
  Speaker 2: regardless of everything, drawn on by ardent curiosity. What other
• 2:58:11
  Speaker 2: marbles did this great cavern contain? What other wondrous treasures
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 2: for the scientific man? My eyes were quite prepared for
• 2:58:21
  Speaker 2: any number of surprises. My imagination lived in expectation of
• 2:58:26
  Speaker 2: something new and wonderful. The borders of the great Central
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 2: Ocean had for some time disappeared behind the hills that
• 2:58:34
  Speaker 2: were scattered over the ground occupied by the plain of bones.
• 2:58:39
  Speaker 2: The imprudent and enthusiastic professor, who did not care whether
• 2:58:43
  Speaker 2: he lost himself or not, hurried me forward. We advanced, silently,
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 2: bathed in waves of electric fluid by reason of a
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 2: phenomenon which I cannot explain, and thanks to its extreme diffusion,
• 2:58:58
  Speaker 2: now complete, the light illumined equally the sides of every
• 2:59:03
  Speaker 2: hill and rock. Its seat appeared to be nowhere in
• 2:59:08
  Speaker 2: no determined force, and produced no shade. Whatever. The appearance
• 2:59:13
  Speaker 2: presented was that of a tropical country at mid day
• 2:59:17
  Speaker 2: in summer, in the midst of the equatorial regions, and
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 2: under the vertical rays of the sun, all signs of
• 2:59:26
  Speaker 2: vapor had disappeared. The rocks, the distant mountains, some confused
• 2:59:31
  Speaker 2: masses of far off forests assumed a weird and mysterious aspect.
• 2:59:36
  Speaker 2: Under this equal distribution of the luminous fluid, we resembled,
• 2:59:42
  Speaker 2: to a certain extent the mysterious personage in one of
• 2:59:46
  Speaker 2: Hoffmann's fantastic tales, the man who Lost his shadow. After
• 2:59:52
  Speaker 2: we had walked about a mile farther, we came to
• 2:59:55
  Speaker 2: the edge of a vast forest, not, however, one of
• 2:59:59
  Speaker 2: the vast mush room forests we had discovered near Port Gretchen.
• 3:00:03
  Speaker 2: It was the glorious and wild vegetation of the Tertia
• 3:00:07
  Speaker 2: period in all its superb magnificence. Huge palms of a
• 3:00:12
  Speaker 2: species now unknown superb Permicites, a genus of fossil palms
• 3:00:18
  Speaker 2: from the coal formation. Pines used suppress and conifers or
• 3:00:23
  Speaker 2: cone bearing trees the whole bound together by an inextricable
• 3:00:28
  Speaker 2: and complicated mass of creeping plants. A beautiful carpet of
• 3:00:33
  Speaker 2: mosses and ferns grew beneath the trees. Pleasant brooks murmured
• 3:00:38
  Speaker 2: beneath umbrugious boughs, little worthy of this name, for no
• 3:00:43
  Speaker 2: shade did they give. Upon their borders, grew small tree
• 3:00:47
  Speaker 2: like shrubs, such as are seen in the hot countries
• 3:00:51
  Speaker 2: on our own inhabited globe. The one thing wanting in
• 3:00:56
  Speaker 2: these plants, these shrubs, these trees, was color. For ever
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 2: depreed of the vivifying warmth of the sun, they were
• 3:01:05
  Speaker 2: vapid and colorless. All shade was lost in one uniform
• 3:01:09
  Speaker 2: tin of a brown and faded character. The leaves were
• 3:01:14
  Speaker 2: folly devoid of verdure, and the flowers, so numerous during
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 2: the tersary period which gave them birth, were without color
• 3:01:23
  Speaker 2: and without perfume, something like paper discolored by long exposure
• 3:01:29
  Speaker 2: to the atmosphere. My uncle ventured beneath the gigantic proofs.
• 3:01:35
  Speaker 2: I followed him, though not without a certain amount of apprehension.
• 3:01:39
  Speaker 2: Since nature had shown herself capable of producing such stupendous
• 3:01:44
  Speaker 2: vegetable supplies, why might we not meet with mammals just
• 3:01:49
  Speaker 2: as large and therefore dangerous. I particularly remarked in the
• 3:01:54
  Speaker 2: clearings left by trees that had fallen and been partially
• 3:01:58
  Speaker 2: consumed by time, many leguminous beam like shrubs, such as
• 3:02:04
  Speaker 2: the maple and other eatable trees, dear to ruminating animals.
• 3:02:10
  Speaker 2: Then the repair confounded together and intermixed the trees of
• 3:02:15
  Speaker 2: such varied lands specimens of the vegetation of every part
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 2: of the globe. There was the oak near the palm tree,
• 3:02:23
  Speaker 2: the Australian eucalyptus, and interesting class of the order mirtasseir,
• 3:02:29
  Speaker 2: leaning against the tall Norwegian pine, the poplar of the north,
• 3:02:34
  Speaker 2: mixing its branches with those of the New Zealand coworris.
• 3:02:38
  Speaker 2: It was enough to drive the most ingenious classifier of
• 3:02:42
  Speaker 2: the upper regions out of his mind, and to upsept
• 3:02:46
  Speaker 2: all his received ideas about botany. Suddenly I stopped short
• 3:02:52
  Speaker 2: and restrained my uncle. The extreme diffuseness of the light
• 3:02:57
  Speaker 2: enabled me to see the smallest objects in the distant
• 3:03:00
  Speaker 2: corpses I thought I saw, No, I really did see
• 3:03:08
  Speaker 2: with my own eyes immense gigantic animals moving about under
• 3:03:14
  Speaker 2: the mighty trees. Yes, they were truly gigantic animals, a
• 3:03:20
  Speaker 2: whole herd of mastodons, not fossils, but living and exactly
• 3:03:28
  Speaker 2: like those discovered in eighteen o one on the marshy
• 3:03:31
  Speaker 2: banks of the Great Ohio in North America. Yes, I
• 3:03:37
  Speaker 2: could see these enormous elephants, whose trunks were tearing down
• 3:03:42
  Speaker 2: large bows and working in and out the trees like
• 3:03:47
  Speaker 2: a legion of serpents. I could hear the sounds of
• 3:03:51
  Speaker 2: the mighty tusks uprooting huge trees. The bows crackled, and
• 3:03:58
  Speaker 2: the whole masses of leaves and green branches went down
• 3:04:02
  Speaker 2: the capacious throats of these terrible monsters. That wondrous dream,
• 3:04:09
  Speaker 2: when I saw the antihistorical times revivified, when the Terrisary
• 3:04:15
  Speaker 2: and Quaternary periods passed before me, was now realized. And
• 3:04:22
  Speaker 2: there we were, alone, far down in the bowels of
• 3:04:26
  Speaker 2: the earth, at the mercy of its ferocious inhabitants. My
• 3:04:32
  Speaker 2: uncle paused, full of wonder and astonishment. Come, he said,
• 3:04:38
  Speaker 2: at last, when his first surprise was over come, Along,
• 3:04:42
  Speaker 2: my boy, and let us see them nearer, No, replied I,
• 3:04:46
  Speaker 2: restraining his efforts to drag me forward. We are fully
• 3:04:50
  Speaker 2: without arms. What should we do in the midst of
• 3:04:54
  Speaker 2: that flock of gigantic quadrupeds. Come away, Uncle, I implore you,
• 3:05:00
  Speaker 2: no human creature can, with impunity brave the ferocious anger
• 3:05:05
  Speaker 2: of these monsters. No human creature, said my uncle, suddenly
• 3:05:10
  Speaker 2: lowering his voice to a mysterious whisper. You are mistaken,
• 3:05:15
  Speaker 2: my dear Henry. Look look yonder. It seems to me
• 3:05:20
  Speaker 2: that I behold a human being, a being like ourselves,
• 3:05:25
  Speaker 2: A man. I looked, shrugging my shoulders, decided to push
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 2: incredulity to its very last limits. But whatever might have
• 3:05:35
  Speaker 2: been my wish, I was compelled to yield to the
• 3:05:39
  Speaker 2: weight of ocular demonstration. Yes, not more than a quarter
• 3:05:45
  Speaker 2: of a mile off, leaning against the trunk of an
• 3:05:48
  Speaker 2: enormous tree, was a human being, a portifs of these
• 3:05:54
  Speaker 2: subterranean regions, a new son of Neptun keeping this innumerable
• 3:06:00
  Speaker 2: heard of mastodons Immanis pcoris coustus imanior ipsen, the keeper
• 3:06:08
  Speaker 2: of gigantic cattle, himself still more gigantic. Yes, it was
• 3:06:14
  Speaker 2: no longer a fossil whose corpse we had raised from
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 2: the ground in the Great Cemetery, but a giant capable
• 3:06:21
  Speaker 2: of guiding and driving these prodigious monsters. His height was
• 3:06:26
  Speaker 2: about twelve feet, his head as big as the head
• 3:06:30
  Speaker 2: of a buffalo, was lost in a mane of matted hair.
• 3:06:34
  Speaker 2: It was indeed a juge man, like those which belonged
• 3:06:38
  Speaker 2: to the elephants of the earlier ages of the world.
• 3:06:43
  Speaker 2: In his hand was a branch of a tree, which
• 3:06:45
  Speaker 2: served as a crook. For this antediluvian shepherd. We remained profoundly,
• 3:06:52
  Speaker 2: still speechless with surprise, but we might at any moment
• 3:06:58
  Speaker 2: be seen by him. Nothing remained for us but instant flight. Come, Come,
• 3:07:06
  Speaker 2: I cried, dragging my uncle along, and for the first
• 3:07:10
  Speaker 2: time he made no resistance to my wishes. A quarter
• 3:07:14
  Speaker 2: of an hour later we were far away from that
• 3:07:17
  Speaker 2: terrible monster. Now that I think of the matter calmly,
• 3:07:23
  Speaker 2: and that I'd reflect upon it dispassionately, Now that months
• 3:07:27
  Speaker 2: years have passed since this strange and unnatural adventure befell us.
• 3:07:33
  Speaker 2: What am I to think? What am I to believe? No,
• 3:07:38
  Speaker 2: it is utterly impossible. Our ears must have deceived us,
• 3:07:43
  Speaker 2: and our eyes have cheated us. We have not seen
• 3:07:47
  Speaker 2: what we believed we had seen. No human being could,
• 3:07:52
  Speaker 2: by any possibility have existed in that subterranean world. No
• 3:07:57
  Speaker 2: generation of men could inhabit the lower caverns of the
• 3:08:01
  Speaker 2: globe without taking note of those who peopled the surface,
• 3:08:06
  Speaker 2: without communication with them. It was fully folly, folly, nothing else.
• 3:08:14
  Speaker 2: I am rather inclined to admit the existence of some
• 3:08:17
  Speaker 2: animal resembling in structure the human race of some monkey
• 3:08:22
  Speaker 2: of the first geological epochs, like that discovered by Monsieur
• 3:08:27
  Speaker 2: l'arte in the ossiferous deposit of San San. But this animal,
• 3:08:34
  Speaker 2: or being, which soever it was, surpassed in height all
• 3:08:38
  Speaker 2: things known to modern science. Never Mind, however unlikely it
• 3:08:44
  Speaker 2: may be. It might have been a monkey, but a man,
• 3:08:49
  Speaker 2: a living man, and with him a whole generation of
• 3:08:53
  Speaker 2: gigantic animals buried in the entrails of the earth. It
• 3:08:58
  Speaker 2: was too monstrous to be believed. End of Chapter thirty six,
• 3:09:06
  Speaker 2: Chapter thirty seven, The Mysterious Dagger. During this time we
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 2: had left the bright and transparent forest far behind us.
• 3:09:18
  Speaker 2: We were mute with astonishment, overcome by a kind of
• 3:09:21
  Speaker 2: feeling which was next door to apathy. We kept running
• 3:09:25
  Speaker 2: in spite of ourselves. It was a perfect right, which
• 3:09:30
  Speaker 2: resembled one of those horrible sensations we sometimes meet in
• 3:09:34
  Speaker 2: our dreams. Instinctively we made our way towards the Central Sea,
• 3:09:40
  Speaker 2: and I cannot now tell what wild thoughts passed through
• 3:09:43
  Speaker 2: my mind, nor of what follies I might have been
• 3:09:47
  Speaker 2: guilty but for a very serious preoccupation which brought me
• 3:09:51
  Speaker 2: back to practical life. Though I was aware that we
• 3:09:55
  Speaker 2: were treading on a soil quite new to us. I, however,
• 3:10:00
  Speaker 2: every now and then noticed certain aggregations of rock, the
• 3:10:03
  Speaker 2: shape of which forcibly reminded me of those near Port Gretchen.
• 3:10:09
  Speaker 2: This confirmed moreover the indications of the compass, and our
• 3:10:13
  Speaker 2: extraordinary and unlooked for, as well as involuntary returned to
• 3:10:17
  Speaker 2: the north of this great Central Sea. It was so
• 3:10:21
  Speaker 2: like our starting point that I could scarcely doubt the
• 3:10:24
  Speaker 2: reality of our position. Streams and cascades fell in hundreds
• 3:10:29
  Speaker 2: over the numerous predictions of the rocks. I actually thought
• 3:10:34
  Speaker 2: I could see our faithful and monotonous hands, and the
• 3:10:38
  Speaker 2: wonderful grotto in which I had come back to life
• 3:10:41
  Speaker 2: after my tremendous fall. Then, as we advanced still farther
• 3:10:46
  Speaker 2: the position of the cliffs, the appearance of a stream
• 3:10:50
  Speaker 2: the unexpected profile of a rock threw me again into
• 3:10:53
  Speaker 2: a state of bewildering doubt. After some time I explained
• 3:10:58
  Speaker 2: my state of mental indecision to my uncle. He confessed
• 3:11:02
  Speaker 2: to a similar feeling of hesitation. He was totally unable
• 3:11:07
  Speaker 2: to make up his mind in the midst of this
• 3:11:09
  Speaker 2: extraordinary but uniform panorama. There can be no doubt, I
• 3:11:15
  Speaker 2: insisted that we have not landed exactly at the place
• 3:11:19
  Speaker 2: whence we first took our departure. But the tempest has
• 3:11:22
  Speaker 2: brought us above our starting point. I think therefore, that
• 3:11:26
  Speaker 2: if we follow the coast, we shall once more find
• 3:11:29
  Speaker 2: Port Gretchen. In that case, cried my uncle, it is
• 3:11:34
  Speaker 2: useless to continue our exploration. The very best thing we
• 3:11:38
  Speaker 2: can do is to make our way back to the raft.
• 3:11:41
  Speaker 2: Are you quite sure, hurry that you are not mistaken.
• 3:11:45
  Speaker 2: It is difficult, was my reply, to come to any decision,
• 3:11:50
  Speaker 2: For all these rocks are exactly alike. There is no
• 3:11:53
  Speaker 2: more difference between them. At the same time, the impression
• 3:11:57
  Speaker 2: on my mind is that I recognize the from montory
• 3:12:00
  Speaker 2: at the foot of which our worthy hands constructed the raft.
• 3:12:05
  Speaker 2: We are, I'm nearly convinced near the little porch. If
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 2: this be not it, I added carefully examining a creek
• 3:12:14
  Speaker 2: which appeared singularly familiar to my mind. My dear Harim,
• 3:12:20
  Speaker 2: if this were the case, we should find traces of
• 3:12:23
  Speaker 2: our own footsteps, some signs of our passage. And I
• 3:12:27
  Speaker 2: can really see nothing to indicate our having passed this way.
• 3:12:32
  Speaker 2: But I see something, I cried in an impetuous tone
• 3:12:36
  Speaker 2: a voice, as I rushed forward and eagerly picked up
• 3:12:40
  Speaker 2: something which shone in the sand under my feet. What
• 3:12:44
  Speaker 2: is it? Cried the astonished and bewildered professor. This was
• 3:12:49
  Speaker 2: my reply, and I handed to my startled relative a
• 3:12:53
  Speaker 2: rusty dagger of singular shape. What made you bring with
• 3:12:58
  Speaker 2: you so useless a weapon, he exclaimed, It was needlessly
• 3:13:02
  Speaker 2: hampering yourself. I bring it. It is quite new to me.
• 3:13:08
  Speaker 2: I never saw it before. Are you sure it's not
• 3:13:11
  Speaker 2: out of your collection, nor that I know of, said
• 3:13:15
  Speaker 2: the professor, puzzled. I have no recollection of the circumstance.
• 3:13:20
  Speaker 2: It was never my property. This is very extraordinary, I said,
• 3:13:25
  Speaker 2: musing over the novel and singular incident. Not at all.
• 3:13:30
  Speaker 2: There is a very simple explanation, Harry. The Icelanders are
• 3:13:34
  Speaker 2: known to keep up the use of these antiquated weapons
• 3:13:38
  Speaker 2: and This must have belonged to Hans, who has let
• 3:13:41
  Speaker 2: it fall without knowing it. I shook my head that
• 3:13:45
  Speaker 2: dagger had never been in the possession of the Pacific
• 3:13:48
  Speaker 2: and taciturn hands. I knew him and his habits too well.
• 3:13:53
  Speaker 2: Then what can it be unless it be the weapon
• 3:13:57
  Speaker 2: of some Antediluvian warrior. I continue, of some living man,
• 3:14:02
  Speaker 2: a contemporary of that mighty shepherd from whom we have
• 3:14:05
  Speaker 2: just escaped. But no mystery upon mystery. This is no
• 3:14:11
  Speaker 2: weapon of the Stony epoch, nor even of the Bronze period.
• 3:14:16
  Speaker 2: It is made of excellent steel. Ere I could finish
• 3:14:20
  Speaker 2: my sentence, my uncle stopped me short from entering upon
• 3:14:24
  Speaker 2: a whole train of theories, and spoke, in his most
• 3:14:27
  Speaker 2: cold and decided tone of voice, Calm yourself, my dear boy,
• 3:14:32
  Speaker 2: and endeavor to use your reason. This weapon upon which
• 3:14:36
  Speaker 2: we have fallen so unexpectedly is a true dug one
• 3:14:41
  Speaker 2: of those worn by gentlemen in their belts during the
• 3:14:43
  Speaker 2: sixteenth century. Its use was to give the coup de
• 3:14:47
  Speaker 2: grass the final blow to the foe who would not surrender.
• 3:14:52
  Speaker 2: It is clearly of Spanish workmanship. It belongs neither to you,
• 3:14:57
  Speaker 2: nor to me, nor to the ida down hunter, nor
• 3:15:00
  Speaker 2: to any of the living beings who may still exist
• 3:15:03
  Speaker 2: so marvelously in the interior of the earth. What can
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 2: you mean, uncle, I said, now lost in a host
• 3:15:11
  Speaker 2: of surmises, Look closely at it, he continued. These jagged
• 3:15:16
  Speaker 2: edges were never made by the resistance of human blood
• 3:15:20
  Speaker 2: and bone. The blade discovered with a regular coating of iron,
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 2: mold and rust, which is not a day old, not
• 3:15:28
  Speaker 2: a year old, nor a century old, but much more.
• 3:15:34
  Speaker 2: The professor began to get quite excited, according to custom,
• 3:15:38
  Speaker 2: and was allowing himself to be carried away by his
• 3:15:41
  Speaker 2: fertile imagination. I could have said something, He stopped me hurrying.
• 3:15:48
  Speaker 2: He cried, We are now on the verge of a
• 3:15:51
  Speaker 2: great discovery. This blade of a dagger you have so
• 3:15:54
  Speaker 2: marvelously discovered, after being abandoned upon the sand for more
• 3:15:58
  Speaker 2: than a hundred, two hundred, even three hundred years, has
• 3:16:02
  Speaker 2: been indented by someone endeavoring to carve an inscription on
• 3:16:06
  Speaker 2: these rocks. But this poniard never got here of itself,
• 3:16:12
  Speaker 2: I exclaimed, It could not have twisted itself. Someone therefore,
• 3:16:16
  Speaker 2: must have preceded us upon the shores of this extraordinary sea. Yes,
• 3:16:21
  Speaker 2: a man. But what man has been sufficiently desperate to
• 3:16:26
  Speaker 2: do such a thing, A man who has somewhere written
• 3:16:30
  Speaker 2: his name with this very dagger, A man who has
• 3:16:33
  Speaker 2: endeavored once more to indicate the right road to the
• 3:16:37
  Speaker 2: interior of the earth. Let us look around, my boy,
• 3:16:41
  Speaker 2: you know not the importance of your singular and happy discovery.
• 3:16:46
  Speaker 2: Prodigiously interested, we walked along the wall of rock, examining
• 3:16:51
  Speaker 2: the smallest fissures which might finally expand into the much
• 3:16:55
  Speaker 2: wished for gully or shaft. We at last reached a
• 3:17:00
  Speaker 2: spot where the shore became extremely narrow. The sea almost
• 3:17:04
  Speaker 2: bathed the foot of the rocks, which were here very
• 3:17:07
  Speaker 2: lofty and steep. There was scarcely a path wider than
• 3:17:11
  Speaker 2: two yards at any point. At last, under a huge,
• 3:17:15
  Speaker 2: overhanging rock, we discovered the entrance of a dark and
• 3:17:19
  Speaker 2: gloomy tunnel. There, on a square tablet of granite, which
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 2: had been smoothed by rubbing it with another stone, we
• 3:17:28
  Speaker 2: could see two mysterious and much worn letters, the two
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 2: initials of the bold and extraordinary traveler who had preceded
• 3:17:36
  Speaker 2: us on our adventurous journey. A s cried, my uncle,
• 3:17:43
  Speaker 2: You see I was right arn a sucknossom always arn
• 3:17:48
  Speaker 2: as sacknosssem end of Chapter thirty seven, Chapter thirty eight,
• 3:17:57
  Speaker 2: no outlet blasting the rock. Ever since the commencement of
• 3:18:04
  Speaker 2: our marvelous journey, I had experienced many surprises, had suffered
• 3:18:09
  Speaker 2: from many illusions. I thought that I was case hardened
• 3:18:13
  Speaker 2: against all surprises, and could neither see nor hear anything
• 3:18:18
  Speaker 2: to amaze me again. I was like a man who,
• 3:18:21
  Speaker 2: having been round the world, finds himself folly, blassy, and
• 3:18:24
  Speaker 2: proof against the marvelous. When, however, I saw these two letters,
• 3:18:29
  Speaker 2: which had been engraven three hundred years before, I stood
• 3:18:33
  Speaker 2: fixed in an attitude of mute surprise. Not only was
• 3:18:38
  Speaker 2: there the signature of the learned and enterprising alchemists written
• 3:18:42
  Speaker 2: in the rock, but I held in my hand the
• 3:18:45
  Speaker 2: very identical instrument with which he had laboriously engraded it.
• 3:18:50
  Speaker 2: It was impossible, without showing an amount of incredulity, scarcely
• 3:18:55
  Speaker 2: becoming a sane man, to deny the existence of the
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 2: traveler and the reality of that voyage, which I believed
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 2: all along to have been a myth, the mystification of
• 3:19:07
  Speaker 2: some fertile brain. While these reflections were passing through my mind,
• 3:19:13
  Speaker 2: my uncle the Professor, gave way to an excess of
• 3:19:17
  Speaker 2: feverish and poetical excitement. Wonderful and glorious genius, Great Sacknossem,
• 3:19:24
  Speaker 2: he cried, You have left no stone unturned, no resource omitted,
• 3:19:30
  Speaker 2: to show to other mortals the way into the interior
• 3:19:34
  Speaker 2: of our mighty globe. And your fellow creatures can find
• 3:19:37
  Speaker 2: the trail left by your illustrious footsteps three hundred years
• 3:19:42
  Speaker 2: ago at the bottom of these obscure subterranean abodes. You
• 3:19:47
  Speaker 2: have been careful to secure for others the contemplation of
• 3:19:52
  Speaker 2: these wonders and marvels of creation. Your name, engraved at
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 2: every important stage of our glory journey, leads the hopeful
• 3:20:02
  Speaker 2: traveler direct to the great and mighty discovery to which
• 3:20:06
  Speaker 2: you devoted such energy and courage. The audashous traveler, who
• 3:20:12
  Speaker 2: shall follow your footsteps to the last, will doubtless find
• 3:20:16
  Speaker 2: your initials ingrade with your own hand upon the center
• 3:20:20
  Speaker 2: of the earth. I will be that udashus traveler. I
• 3:20:25
  Speaker 2: too will sign my name upon the very same spot
• 3:20:29
  Speaker 2: upon the central granite stone of this wondrous work of
• 3:20:33
  Speaker 2: the Creator. But in justice to your devotion, to your courage,
• 3:20:39
  Speaker 2: and to your being the first to indicate the road.
• 3:20:43
  Speaker 2: Let escape seen by you upon the shores of the sea,
• 3:20:46
  Speaker 2: discovered by you, be called of all time cape Sucknossem.
• 3:20:54
  Speaker 2: This is what I heard, and I began to be
• 3:20:56
  Speaker 2: roused to the pitch of enthusiasm. Indicated by these words,
• 3:21:01
  Speaker 2: a fierce excitement roused me. I forgot everything. The dangers
• 3:21:06
  Speaker 2: of the voyage and the perils of the return journey
• 3:21:09
  Speaker 2: were now as nothing. What another man had done in
• 3:21:14
  Speaker 2: ages past could, I felt, be done again. I was
• 3:21:19
  Speaker 2: determined to do it myself, and now nothing that man
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 2: had accomplished appeared to me impossible. Forward Forward, I cried,
• 3:21:29
  Speaker 2: in a burst of genuine and hearty enthusiasm. I had
• 3:21:33
  Speaker 2: already started in the direction of the somber and gloomy
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 2: gallery when the professor stopped me. He, the man so
• 3:21:42
  Speaker 2: rash and hasty, He, the man so easily roused to
• 3:21:46
  Speaker 2: the highest pitch of enthusiasm, checked me and asked me
• 3:21:50
  Speaker 2: to be patient and show more calm. Let us return
• 3:21:55
  Speaker 2: to our good friend Hans, He said, we will then
• 3:21:58
  Speaker 2: bring the raft dye to this place. I must say
• 3:22:03
  Speaker 2: that though I at once yielded to my uncle's request,
• 3:22:06
  Speaker 2: it was not without dissatisfaction, and I hastened along the
• 3:22:11
  Speaker 2: rocks of that wonderful coast. Do you know, my dear uncle,
• 3:22:16
  Speaker 2: I said, as we walked along, that we have been
• 3:22:19
  Speaker 2: singularly helped by a concurrence of circumstances right up to
• 3:22:23
  Speaker 2: this very moment. So you begin to see it, do you? Hurry?
• 3:22:29
  Speaker 2: Said the professor with a smile. Doubtless, I responded, And
• 3:22:34
  Speaker 2: strangely enough, even the tempest has been the means of
• 3:22:37
  Speaker 2: putting us on the right road. Blessings on the tempest.
• 3:22:42
  Speaker 2: It brought us safely back to the very spot from
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 2: which fine weather would have driven us forever. Supposing we
• 3:22:49
  Speaker 2: had succeeded in reaching the southern and distant shores of
• 3:22:53
  Speaker 2: this extraordinary sea, what would have become of us? The
• 3:22:58
  Speaker 2: name of Sagnussem would never have appeared to us, And
• 3:23:02
  Speaker 2: at this moment we should have been cast away upon
• 3:23:05
  Speaker 2: an inhospitable coast, probably without an outlet. Yes, hurry, my boy,
• 3:23:12
  Speaker 2: there is certainly something providential in that. Wondering at the
• 3:23:15
  Speaker 2: mercy of wind and waves towards the south, we have
• 3:23:19
  Speaker 2: come back exactly north. And what is better still, we
• 3:23:23
  Speaker 2: fall upon this great discovery of Cape sugnussm. I mean
• 3:23:27
  Speaker 2: to say that it is more than surprising. There is
• 3:23:31
  Speaker 2: something in it which is far beyond my comprehension. The
• 3:23:35
  Speaker 2: coincidence is unheard of, marvelous. What matter, It is not
• 3:23:41
  Speaker 2: our duty to explain facts, but to make the best
• 3:23:44
  Speaker 2: possible use of them. Doubtless, my boy. But if you
• 3:23:48
  Speaker 2: will allow me, said the really delighted professor. Excuse me, sir,
• 3:23:54
  Speaker 2: but I see exactly how it will be. We shall
• 3:23:57
  Speaker 2: take the northern route. We shall pass under the nose
• 3:24:00
  Speaker 2: more regions of Europe, under Sweden, under Russia, under Siberia,
• 3:24:04
  Speaker 2: and who knows where, instead of burying ourselves under the
• 3:24:08
  Speaker 2: burning plains and deserts of Africa, or beneath the mighty
• 3:24:12
  Speaker 2: waves of the ocean. And that is all at this
• 3:24:16
  Speaker 2: stage of our journey that I care to know. Let
• 3:24:20
  Speaker 2: us advance, and Heaven will be our guide. Yes, hurry,
• 3:24:25
  Speaker 2: you are right, quite right. All is for the best.
• 3:24:29
  Speaker 2: Let us abandon this horizontal sea, which could never have
• 3:24:33
  Speaker 2: led to anything satisfactory. We shall descend, descend, and everlastingly descend.
• 3:24:41
  Speaker 2: Do you know, my dear boy, that to reach the
• 3:24:44
  Speaker 2: interior of the Earth, we have only five thousand miles
• 3:24:47
  Speaker 2: to travel. Bah I cried, carried away by burst of enthusiasts.
• 3:24:54
  Speaker 2: The disnesce is scarcely worth speaking about the thing is
• 3:24:58
  Speaker 2: to make a start. My wild, mad and incoherent speeches
• 3:25:03
  Speaker 2: continued until we rejoined our patient and phlegmatic guide. All
• 3:25:08
  Speaker 2: was we found prepared for an immediate departure. There was
• 3:25:12
  Speaker 2: not a single parcel, but what was in its proper place.
• 3:25:17
  Speaker 2: We all took up our posts on the raft, and
• 3:25:20
  Speaker 2: the sail being hoisted Hans received its directions and guided
• 3:25:24
  Speaker 2: the frail bark towards Cape Sagnussem, as we had definitely
• 3:25:29
  Speaker 2: named it. The wind was very unfavorable to a craft
• 3:25:34
  Speaker 2: that was unable to sail close to the wind. It
• 3:25:37
  Speaker 2: was constructed to go before the blast. We were continually
• 3:25:41
  Speaker 2: reduced to pushing ourselves forward by means of poles. On
• 3:25:46
  Speaker 2: several occasions the rocks ran far out into deep water,
• 3:25:50
  Speaker 2: and we were compelled to make a long round. At last,
• 3:25:54
  Speaker 2: after three long and weary hours some navigation, that is
• 3:25:58
  Speaker 2: to say, at six o'clock in the evening, we found
• 3:26:02
  Speaker 2: a place at which we could land. I jumped on
• 3:26:06
  Speaker 2: shore first, in my present state of excitement and enthusiast.
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 2: I was always first my uncle and the icelander followed.
• 3:26:17
  Speaker 2: The voyage from the port to this point of the
• 3:26:19
  Speaker 2: sea had by no means calmed me. It had rather
• 3:26:23
  Speaker 2: produced the opposite effect. I even proposed to burn our vessel,
• 3:26:28
  Speaker 2: that is, to destroy a raft, in order to completely
• 3:26:32
  Speaker 2: cut off our retreat. But my uncle sternly opposed this
• 3:26:37
  Speaker 2: wild project. I began to think in particularly lukewarm and unenthusiastic.
• 3:26:44
  Speaker 2: At any rate, my dear uncle, I said, let us
• 3:26:47
  Speaker 2: start without delay. Yes, my boy, I am quite as
• 3:26:51
  Speaker 2: eager to do so as you can be. But in
• 3:26:54
  Speaker 2: the first place, let us examine this mysterious gallery. In
• 3:26:58
  Speaker 2: order to find a we shall need to prepare and
• 3:27:01
  Speaker 2: mend our ladders. My uncle now began to see the
• 3:27:05
  Speaker 2: efficiency of our runkor of coil, which would doubtless soon
• 3:27:09
  Speaker 2: be needed. The raft, securely fastened to a rock, was
• 3:27:14
  Speaker 2: left alone. Moreover, the opening into the new gallery was
• 3:27:18
  Speaker 2: not twenty paces distant from the spot. Our little troop,
• 3:27:23
  Speaker 2: with myself at the head, advanced The orifice, which was
• 3:27:28
  Speaker 2: almost circular, presented a diameter of about five feet. The
• 3:27:33
  Speaker 2: somber tunnel was cut in the living rock and coated
• 3:27:37
  Speaker 2: on the inside by the different materials which had once
• 3:27:40
  Speaker 2: passed through it in a state of fusion. The lower
• 3:27:44
  Speaker 2: part was about level with the water, so that we
• 3:27:47
  Speaker 2: were able to penetrate to the interior without difficulty, which
• 3:27:52
  Speaker 2: followed enormost horizontal direction. When at the end of about
• 3:27:56
  Speaker 2: a dozen paces, our further advance was checked by the
• 3:28:00
  Speaker 2: interposition of an enormous block of granite rock, a cursed stone.
• 3:28:07
  Speaker 2: I cried furiously on perceiving that we were stopped by
• 3:28:10
  Speaker 2: what seemed an insurmountable obstacle. In vain, we looked to
• 3:28:16
  Speaker 2: the right, in vain, we looked to the left. In vain,
• 3:28:19
  Speaker 2: examined it above and below. There existed no passage, no
• 3:28:25
  Speaker 2: sign of any other tunnel. I experienced the most bitter
• 3:28:29
  Speaker 2: and painful disappointment. So enraged was I that I would
• 3:28:34
  Speaker 2: not admit the reality of any obstacle. I stooped to
• 3:28:38
  Speaker 2: my knees. I looked under the mass of stone, no hole,
• 3:28:43
  Speaker 2: no interstice. I then looked about the same barrier of granite. Hence,
• 3:28:51
  Speaker 2: with the lamp, examined the sides of the tunnel in
• 3:28:54
  Speaker 2: every direction, but all in vain. It was necessary to
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 2: renounce all hope of passing through. I had seated myself
• 3:29:03
  Speaker 2: upon the ground. My uncle walked angrily and hopelessly up
• 3:29:07
  Speaker 2: and down. He was evidently desperate. But I cried, after
• 3:29:13
  Speaker 2: some moments, thought what about na Sucknossem. You are right,
• 3:29:18
  Speaker 2: replied my uncle. He can never have been checked by
• 3:29:22
  Speaker 2: a lump of rock. No. Ten thousand times no, I
• 3:29:28
  Speaker 2: cried with extreme vivacity. This huge lump of rock, in
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 2: consequence of some singular concussion or process, one of those
• 3:29:38
  Speaker 2: magnetic phenomena which have so often shaken the terrestrial crust,
• 3:29:43
  Speaker 2: has in some unexpected way closed up the passage. Many
• 3:29:47
  Speaker 2: and many years have passed away since the return of
• 3:29:50
  Speaker 2: Sacknusssem and the fall of this huge block of granite.
• 3:29:55
  Speaker 2: Is it not quite evident that this gallery was formerly
• 3:29:58
  Speaker 2: the outlet for the pent up lava in the interior
• 3:30:01
  Speaker 2: of the earth, and that these eruptive matters then circulated freely.
• 3:30:06
  Speaker 2: Look at these recent fissures in the granite roof. It
• 3:30:10
  Speaker 2: is evidently formed of pieces of enormous stone, placed here
• 3:30:14
  Speaker 2: as if by the hand of a giant who had
• 3:30:17
  Speaker 2: worked to make a strong and substantial arch. One day
• 3:30:22
  Speaker 2: after an unusually strong shock, the vast rock which stands
• 3:30:26
  Speaker 2: in our way, and which was doubtless the key of
• 3:30:29
  Speaker 2: a kind of arch, fell through to a level with
• 3:30:32
  Speaker 2: the soil, and has barred our further progress. We are right, then,
• 3:30:37
  Speaker 2: in thinking that this is an unexpected obstacle with which
• 3:30:41
  Speaker 2: Sacnossem did not meet, and if we do not upset
• 3:30:45
  Speaker 2: it in some way, we are unworthy of following in
• 3:30:48
  Speaker 2: the footsteps of the great discoverer, and incapable of finding
• 3:30:53
  Speaker 2: our way to the center of the earth. In this
• 3:30:56
  Speaker 2: wild way, I addressed my uncle the seal of the Professor.
• 3:31:00
  Speaker 2: His earnest longing for success had become part and parcel
• 3:31:05
  Speaker 2: on my being. I folly forgot the past. I utterly
• 3:31:09
  Speaker 2: despised the future. Nothing existed for me upon the surface
• 3:31:13
  Speaker 2: of this sphair wied in the bosom of which I
• 3:31:16
  Speaker 2: was engulfed, No towns, no country, no Hamburg, no Kernigstrasse,
• 3:31:22
  Speaker 2: not even my poor Gretchen, who by this time would
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 2: believe me utterly lost in the interior of the earth. Well,
• 3:31:31
  Speaker 2: cried my uncle, roused to enthusiasm by my words, let
• 3:31:36
  Speaker 2: us go to work with pickaxes, with crowbars, with anything
• 3:31:40
  Speaker 2: that comes to hand, But down with these terrible walls.
• 3:31:44
  Speaker 2: It is far too tough and too big to be
• 3:31:47
  Speaker 2: destroyed by a pickaxe or crow bar. I replied, What then,
• 3:31:53
  Speaker 2: As I said, it is useless to think of overcoming
• 3:31:56
  Speaker 2: such a difficulty by means of ordinary tools. What then,
• 3:32:01
  Speaker 2: what else but gunpowder? A subterranean mine. Let us blow
• 3:32:06
  Speaker 2: up the obstacle that stands in our way. Gunpowder. Yes,
• 3:32:12
  Speaker 2: all we have to do is to get rid of
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 2: this paltry obstacle. To work, hands, to work, cried the professor.
• 3:32:20
  Speaker 2: The icelander went back to the raft, and soon returned
• 3:32:24
  Speaker 2: with a huge crowbar, with which she began to dig
• 3:32:27
  Speaker 2: a hole in the rock which was to serve as
• 3:32:29
  Speaker 2: a mine. It was, by no means a slight task.
• 3:32:33
  Speaker 2: It was necessary for our purpose to make a cavity
• 3:32:36
  Speaker 2: large enough to hold fifty pounds of fulminating gun cotton,
• 3:32:40
  Speaker 2: the expansive power of which is four times as great
• 3:32:44
  Speaker 2: as that of ordinary gunpowder. I had now roused myself
• 3:32:49
  Speaker 2: to an almost miraculous state of excitement. While Hans was
• 3:32:53
  Speaker 2: at work, I actively assisted my uncle to prepare a
• 3:32:57
  Speaker 2: long week made from damp gun powder, the mass of
• 3:33:01
  Speaker 2: which we finally enclosed in a bag of linen. We
• 3:33:05
  Speaker 2: are bound to go through, I cried enthusiastically. We are
• 3:33:10
  Speaker 2: bound to go through, responded the professor, tapping me on
• 3:33:14
  Speaker 2: the back. At midnight, our work as miners was completely finished.
• 3:33:20
  Speaker 2: The charge of fulminating cotton was thrust into the hollow,
• 3:33:25
  Speaker 2: and the match, which we had made of considerable length,
• 3:33:29
  Speaker 2: was ready. A spark was now sufficient to ignite this
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 2: formidable engine and to blow the rock to atoms. We
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 2: will now rest until to morrow. It was absolutely necessary
• 3:33:42
  Speaker 2: to resign myself to my fate and to consent to
• 3:33:46
  Speaker 2: wait for the explosion for six weary hours end of
• 3:33:53
  Speaker 2: Chapter thirty eight. Chapter thirty nine. The explosion and its
• 3:33:59
  Speaker 2: result The next day, which was the twenty seventh of August,
• 3:34:05
  Speaker 2: was a date celebrated in our wondrous subterranean journey. I
• 3:34:10
  Speaker 2: never think of it even now, but I shudder with horror.
• 3:34:14
  Speaker 2: My heart beats wildly at the very memory of that
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 2: awful day. From this time forward, our reason, our judgment,
• 3:34:22
  Speaker 2: our human ingenuity have nothing to do with the course
• 3:34:26
  Speaker 2: of events. We are about to become the plaything of
• 3:34:30
  Speaker 2: the great phenomena of the Earth. At six o'clock we
• 3:34:35
  Speaker 2: were all up and ready. The dreeded moment was arriving
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 2: when we were about to seek an opening into the
• 3:34:41
  Speaker 2: interior of the earth by means of gunpowder. What would
• 3:34:46
  Speaker 2: be the consequences of breaking through the crust of the earth?
• 3:34:51
  Speaker 2: I begged that it might be my duty to set
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 2: fire to the mine. I looked upon it as an
• 3:34:56
  Speaker 2: honor this task, once performed, I would rejoin my friends
• 3:35:01
  Speaker 2: upon the raft, which had not been unloaded, as soon
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 2: as we were already we were to sail away to
• 3:35:08
  Speaker 2: some distance to avoid the consequences of the explosion, the
• 3:35:12
  Speaker 2: effects of which would certainly not be concentrated in the
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 2: interior of the earth. The slow match we calculated to
• 3:35:21
  Speaker 2: burn for about ten minutes more or less before it
• 3:35:24
  Speaker 2: reached the chamber in which the great body of powder
• 3:35:27
  Speaker 2: was confined. I should therefore have plenty of time to
• 3:35:31
  Speaker 2: reach the raft and put off to a safe distance.
• 3:35:35
  Speaker 2: I prepared to execute myself a lotted task. Not it
• 3:35:38
  Speaker 2: must be confessed without considerable emotion. After a hearty repassed,
• 3:35:44
  Speaker 2: my uncle and the hunter guide embarked on board the raft,
• 3:35:49
  Speaker 2: while I remained alone upon the desolate shore. I was
• 3:35:53
  Speaker 2: provided with a lantern which was to enable me to
• 3:35:56
  Speaker 2: set fire to the wick of the infernal machine. Go,
• 3:36:00
  Speaker 2: my boy, said my uncle, and Heaven be with you.
• 3:36:04
  Speaker 2: But come back as soon as you can. I shall
• 3:36:06
  Speaker 2: be all impatience. Be easy on that matter, I replied,
• 3:36:11
  Speaker 2: there is no fear of my delaying on the road.
• 3:36:14
  Speaker 2: Having said this, I advanced toward the opening of the
• 3:36:17
  Speaker 2: somber gallery. My heart beat wildly. I opened my lantern
• 3:36:22
  Speaker 2: and ceased the extremity of the wick. The professor, who
• 3:36:27
  Speaker 2: was looking on, held his chronometer in his hand. Are
• 3:36:31
  Speaker 2: you ready, cried he quite ready? Well, then fire away.
• 3:36:37
  Speaker 2: I hastened to put the light to the wick, which
• 3:36:39
  Speaker 2: crackled and sparkled, he sing and spitting like a serpent. Then,
• 3:36:44
  Speaker 2: running as fast as I could, I returned to the shore.
• 3:36:49
  Speaker 2: Get on board, my lad and you, Hans, show off,
• 3:36:52
  Speaker 2: cried my uncle. My vigorous application of his pool, Hans
• 3:36:57
  Speaker 2: sent us flying over the water. The rout was quite
• 3:37:01
  Speaker 2: twenty fathoms distant. It was a moment of palpitating interest,
• 3:37:07
  Speaker 2: of deep anxiety, my uncle. The Professor never took his
• 3:37:11
  Speaker 2: eyes off the chronometer. Only five minutes more, he said,
• 3:37:17
  Speaker 2: in a low tone, only four, only three. My pulse
• 3:37:24
  Speaker 2: went a hundred to the minute. I could hear my
• 3:37:27
  Speaker 2: heart beating only two one now. Then mountains of granite
• 3:37:35
  Speaker 2: crumbled beneath the power of man. What happened after that?
• 3:37:40
  Speaker 2: As to the terrific roar of the explosion, I do
• 3:37:44
  Speaker 2: not think I heard it, but the form of the
• 3:37:47
  Speaker 2: rocks completely changed in my eyes. They seemed to be
• 3:37:51
  Speaker 2: drawn aside like a curtain. I saw a fathomless, bottomless
• 3:37:56
  Speaker 2: abyss which yawned beneath the turgid waves. The sea, which
• 3:38:02
  Speaker 2: seemed suddenly to have gone mad, then became one great
• 3:38:06
  Speaker 2: mountainous mass, upon the top of which the raft rose perpendicularly.
• 3:38:13
  Speaker 2: We were all thrown down in less than a second.
• 3:38:16
  Speaker 2: The light gave place to the most profound obscurity. Then
• 3:38:21
  Speaker 2: I felt all solid support give way, not to my feet,
• 3:38:25
  Speaker 2: but to the raft itself. I thought it was going
• 3:38:29
  Speaker 2: bodily down a tremendous well. I tried to speak to
• 3:38:34
  Speaker 2: question my uncle. Nothing could be heard but the roaring
• 3:38:38
  Speaker 2: of the mighty waves. We clung together in utter silence,
• 3:38:44
  Speaker 2: despite the awful darkness, despite the noise, the surprise, the emotion.
• 3:38:49
  Speaker 2: I thoroughly understood what had happened beyond the rock which
• 3:38:55
  Speaker 2: had been blown up. There existed a mighty abyss. The
• 3:38:59
  Speaker 2: explosion had caused a kind of earthquake in the soil,
• 3:39:03
  Speaker 2: broken by fissures and rents. The gulf, thus suddenly thrown open,
• 3:39:09
  Speaker 2: was about to swallow the inland sea, which transformed into
• 3:39:14
  Speaker 2: a mighty torrent, was dragging us with it. Only one
• 3:39:19
  Speaker 2: idea filled my mind. We were utterly and completely lost.
• 3:39:27
  Speaker 2: One hour, two hours, what more, I cannot say, passed
• 3:39:32
  Speaker 2: in this manner. We sat close together, elbow touching elbow,
• 3:39:38
  Speaker 2: knee touching knee. We held one another's hands. Not to
• 3:39:42
  Speaker 2: be thrown off the raft. We were subjected to the
• 3:39:46
  Speaker 2: most violent shocks whenever our soul dependence a frail wooden
• 3:39:51
  Speaker 2: raft struck against the rocky sides of the channel. Fortunately
• 3:39:56
  Speaker 2: for us, these concussions became less and less frequent, which
• 3:40:01
  Speaker 2: made me fancy that the gallery was getting wider and wider.
• 3:40:06
  Speaker 2: There could be now no doubt that we had chanced
• 3:40:09
  Speaker 2: upon the road once followed by Sacknussom, But instead of
• 3:40:13
  Speaker 2: going down in a proper manner, we had, through our
• 3:40:17
  Speaker 2: own imprudence, drawn a whole sea with us. These ideas
• 3:40:23
  Speaker 2: presented themselves to my mind in a very vague and
• 3:40:27
  Speaker 2: obscure manner, I felt, rather than reasoned. I put my
• 3:40:33
  Speaker 2: ideas together only confusedly, while spinning along like a man
• 3:40:38
  Speaker 2: going down a waterfall. To judge by the air which,
• 3:40:42
  Speaker 2: as it were, whipped my face, we must have been
• 3:40:45
  Speaker 2: rushing at a perfectly lightning rate. To attempt, under these
• 3:40:50
  Speaker 2: circumstances to light a torch was simply impossible, and the
• 3:40:55
  Speaker 2: last remains of our electric machine, of our Rumkorff coil,
• 3:41:00
  Speaker 2: had been destroyed during the fearful explosion. I was therefore
• 3:41:05
  Speaker 2: very much confused to see at last a bright light
• 3:41:09
  Speaker 2: shining close to me. The calm countenance of the guide
• 3:41:13
  Speaker 2: seemed to gleam upon me. The clever and patient hunter
• 3:41:18
  Speaker 2: had succeeded in lighting the lantern, and though in the
• 3:41:23
  Speaker 2: keen and thorough draft the flame flickered and vacillated and
• 3:41:28
  Speaker 2: was nearly put out, it served partially to dissipate the
• 3:41:32
  Speaker 2: awful obscurity. The gallery into which we had entered was
• 3:41:37
  Speaker 2: very wide. I was therefore quite right in that part
• 3:41:41
  Speaker 2: of my conjecture. The insufficient light did not allow us
• 3:41:45
  Speaker 2: to see both of the walls. At the same time.
• 3:41:49
  Speaker 2: The slope of waters which was carrying us away was
• 3:41:52
  Speaker 2: far greater than that of the most rapid river of America.
• 3:41:57
  Speaker 2: The whole surface of the stream seemed to be composed
• 3:42:00
  Speaker 2: of liquid arrows darted forward with extreme violence and power.
• 3:42:06
  Speaker 2: I can give no idea of the impression it made
• 3:42:09
  Speaker 2: upon me. The raft at times caught in certain whirlpools
• 3:42:14
  Speaker 2: and rushed forward, yet turned on itself all the time.
• 3:42:18
  Speaker 2: How it did not upset I shall never be able
• 3:42:21
  Speaker 2: to understand. When it approached the sides of the gallery,
• 3:42:26
  Speaker 2: I took care to throw upon them the light of
• 3:42:28
  Speaker 2: the lantern, and I was able to judge of the
• 3:42:31
  Speaker 2: rapidity of motion by looking at the projecting masses of rock, which,
• 3:42:36
  Speaker 2: as soon as seen, were again invisible. So rapid was
• 3:42:40
  Speaker 2: our progress that points of rock, at the considerable distance
• 3:42:44
  Speaker 2: one from the other, appeared like portions of transverse lines,
• 3:42:49
  Speaker 2: which enclosed us in a kind of net, like that
• 3:42:52
  Speaker 2: of a line of telegraphic wires. I believe we were
• 3:42:57
  Speaker 2: now going at the rate of not less than a
• 3:42:59
  Speaker 2: hundred miles an hour. My uncle and I looked at
• 3:43:03
  Speaker 2: one another with wild and haggard eyes. We clung convulsively
• 3:43:08
  Speaker 2: to the stump of the mast, which, at the moment
• 3:43:11
  Speaker 2: when the catastrophe took place, had snapped short off. We
• 3:43:15
  Speaker 2: turned our backs as much as possible to the wind
• 3:43:18
  Speaker 2: in order not to be stifled by a rapidity of
• 3:43:21
  Speaker 2: motion which nothing human could face and live. And still
• 3:43:27
  Speaker 2: the long, monotonous hours went on. The situation did not
• 3:43:31
  Speaker 2: change in the least, though a discovery I suddenly made
• 3:43:35
  Speaker 2: seemed to complicate it very much. When we had slightly
• 3:43:40
  Speaker 2: recovered our equilibrium, I proceeded to examine our cargo. I
• 3:43:45
  Speaker 2: then made the unsatisfactory discovery that the greater part of
• 3:43:49
  Speaker 2: it had utterly disappeared. I became alarmed and determined to
• 3:43:55
  Speaker 2: discover what were our resources. My heart beat at the idea,
• 3:44:00
  Speaker 2: but it was absolutely necessary to know on what we
• 3:44:04
  Speaker 2: had to depend. With this view, I took the lantern
• 3:44:09
  Speaker 2: and looked around. Of all our former collection of nautical
• 3:44:14
  Speaker 2: and philosophical instruments, there remained only the chronometer and the compass.
• 3:44:21
  Speaker 2: The ladders and ropes were reduced to a small piece
• 3:44:24
  Speaker 2: of rope fastened to the stump of the mast. Not
• 3:44:28
  Speaker 2: a pickaxe, not a crowbar, not a hammer, and far
• 3:44:34
  Speaker 2: worse than all, no food, not enough for one day.
• 3:44:42
  Speaker 2: This discovery was a prelude to a certain and horrible death.
• 3:44:47
  Speaker 2: Seated gloomily on the raft, clasping the stump of the
• 3:44:51
  Speaker 2: mast mechanically, I thought of all I had read as
• 3:44:54
  Speaker 2: to sufferings from starvation. I remembered everything that history had
• 3:45:00
  Speaker 2: taught me on the subject, and I shuddered at the
• 3:45:03
  Speaker 2: remembrance of the agonies to be endured. Maddened at the
• 3:45:07
  Speaker 2: prospects of enduring the miseries of starvation, I persuaded myself
• 3:45:12
  Speaker 2: that I must be mistaken. I examined the cracks in
• 3:45:16
  Speaker 2: the raft, I poked between the joints and beams. I
• 3:45:20
  Speaker 2: examined every possible hole and corner. The result was simply nothing.
• 3:45:31
  Speaker 2: Our stock of provisions consisted of nothing but a piece
• 3:45:34
  Speaker 2: of dry meat and some soaked and half moldy biscuits.
• 3:45:40
  Speaker 2: I gazed around me, scared and frightened. I could not
• 3:45:44
  Speaker 2: understand the awful truth. And yet of what consequence was
• 3:45:49
  Speaker 2: it in regard to any new danger. Supposing that we
• 3:45:54
  Speaker 2: had had provisions for months and even for years, how
• 3:45:59
  Speaker 2: could we ever get out of the awful abyss into
• 3:46:03
  Speaker 2: which we were being hurled by the irresistible torrent we
• 3:46:07
  Speaker 2: had let loose. Why should we trouble ourselves about the
• 3:46:12
  Speaker 2: sufferings and tortures to be endured from hunger. When death
• 3:46:17
  Speaker 2: stared us in the face under so many others, swifter
• 3:46:21
  Speaker 2: and perhaps even more horrid forms, it was very doubtful,
• 3:46:27
  Speaker 2: under the circumstances in which we were placed, if we
• 3:46:30
  Speaker 2: should have time to die of inanition, but the human
• 3:46:35
  Speaker 2: frame is singularly constituted. I know not how it was,
• 3:46:41
  Speaker 2: but from some singular hallucination of mind I forgot the real,
• 3:46:46
  Speaker 2: serious and immediate danger to which we were exposed. To
• 3:46:50
  Speaker 2: think of the menaces of the future which appeared before
• 3:46:54
  Speaker 2: us in all the naked terror. Besides, after all suggests,
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 2: did hope perhaps we might finally escape the fury of
• 3:47:04
  Speaker 2: the raging torrent and once more revisit the glimpses of
• 3:47:08
  Speaker 2: the moon on the surface of our dutiful mother Earth.
• 3:47:14
  Speaker 2: How was it to be done? I had not the
• 3:47:17
  Speaker 2: remotest idea where were we to come out, No matter
• 3:47:23
  Speaker 2: so that we did. One chance in a thousand is
• 3:47:28
  Speaker 2: always a chance. While death from hunger gave us not
• 3:47:32
  Speaker 2: even the faintest glimpse of hope, it left to the
• 3:47:37
  Speaker 2: imagination nothing but blank horror, without the faintest chance of escape.
• 3:47:44
  Speaker 2: I had the greatest mind to reveal all to my uncle,
• 3:47:48
  Speaker 2: to explain to him the extraordinary and wretched position to
• 3:47:53
  Speaker 2: which we were reduced, in order that between the two
• 3:47:57
  Speaker 2: we might make a calculation as to the exact space
• 3:48:01
  Speaker 2: of time which remained for us to live. It was,
• 3:48:06
  Speaker 2: it appeared to me, the only thing to be done,
• 3:48:09
  Speaker 2: But I had the courage to hold my tongue to
• 3:48:12
  Speaker 2: ignore at my entrails. Like the spartan boy, I wished
• 3:48:17
  Speaker 2: to leave him all his coolness. At this moment, the
• 3:48:22
  Speaker 2: light of the lantern slowly fell and at last went out.
• 3:48:29
  Speaker 2: The weik had fully burnt to an end. The obscurity
• 3:48:32
  Speaker 2: became absolute. It was no longer possible to see through
• 3:48:36
  Speaker 2: the impenetrable darkness. There was one torch left, but it
• 3:48:41
  Speaker 2: was impossible to keep it alight. Then, like a child,
• 3:48:46
  Speaker 2: I shut my eyes that I might not see the darkness.
• 3:48:51
  Speaker 2: After a great lapse of time, the rapidity of our
• 3:48:54
  Speaker 2: journey increased. I could feel it by the rush of
• 3:48:58
  Speaker 2: air upon my face. The slope of the waters was excessive.
• 3:49:03
  Speaker 2: I began to feel that we were no longer going
• 3:49:06
  Speaker 2: down a slope. We were falling. I felt, as one
• 3:49:11
  Speaker 2: does in a dream, going down, bodily, falling, falling, falling.
• 3:49:18
  Speaker 2: I felt that the hands of my uncle and Hans
• 3:49:21
  Speaker 2: were vigorously clasping my arms. Suddenly, after a lapse of
• 3:49:27
  Speaker 2: time scarcely appreciable, I felt something like a shock. The
• 3:49:32
  Speaker 2: raft had not struck a hard body, but had suddenly
• 3:49:36
  Speaker 2: been checked in its course a water spout. A liquid
• 3:49:40
  Speaker 2: column of water fell upon us. I felt suffocating. I
• 3:49:44
  Speaker 2: was being drowned. Still, the sudden inundation did not last.
• 3:49:51
  Speaker 2: In a few seconds, I felt myself once more able
• 3:49:54
  Speaker 2: to breathe. My uncle and Hans pressed my arms, and
• 3:49:59
  Speaker 2: the raft carried us all three away. End of chapter
• 3:50:06
  Speaker 2: thirty nine, Chapter forty, The ape gagants. It is difficult
• 3:50:13
  Speaker 2: for me to determine what was the real time, but
• 3:50:17
  Speaker 2: I should suppose, by after calculation, that it must have
• 3:50:20
  Speaker 2: been ten. At night, I lay in a stupor, a
• 3:50:24
  Speaker 2: half dream, during which I saw visions of astounding character
• 3:50:29
  Speaker 2: monsters of the deeper side by side with the mighty
• 3:50:32
  Speaker 2: Elephantine Shepherd, gigantic fish, and animals seemed to form strange conjunctions.
• 3:50:40
  Speaker 2: The raft took a sudden turn world round entered another tunnel,
• 3:50:44
  Speaker 2: this time illumined in a most singular manner. The roof
• 3:50:48
  Speaker 2: was formed of porous stalactite, through which a moonlit vapor
• 3:50:53
  Speaker 2: appeared to pass, casting its brilliant light upon our gaunt
• 3:50:57
  Speaker 2: and haggard figures. The lighting increased as we advanced, while
• 3:51:02
  Speaker 2: the roof ascended, until at last we were once more
• 3:51:05
  Speaker 2: in a kind of water cavern, the lofty dome of
• 3:51:09
  Speaker 2: which disappeared in a luminous cloud. A rugged cavern of
• 3:51:14
  Speaker 2: small extent appeared to offer a halting place to our
• 3:51:17
  Speaker 2: weary bodies. My uncle and the guide moved as men
• 3:51:21
  Speaker 2: in a dream. I was afraid to waken them, knowing
• 3:51:25
  Speaker 2: the danger of such a sudden start, I seated myself
• 3:51:29
  Speaker 2: beside them to watch. As I did so, I became
• 3:51:33
  Speaker 2: aware of something moving in the distance, which at once
• 3:51:37
  Speaker 2: fascinated my eyes. It was floating, apparently upon the surface
• 3:51:42
  Speaker 2: of the water, advancing by means of what at first
• 3:51:45
  Speaker 2: appeared paddles. I looked with glaring eyes. One glance told
• 3:51:50
  Speaker 2: me that it was something monstrous. But what it was?
• 3:51:56
  Speaker 2: The great sharp crocodile of the early Writeous on geology,
• 3:52:00
  Speaker 2: about the size of an ordinary wail, with hideous jaws
• 3:52:03
  Speaker 2: and two gigantic eyes. It advanced. Its eyes fixed on
• 3:52:08
  Speaker 2: me with terrible sternness. Some indefinite warning told me that
• 3:52:12
  Speaker 2: it had marked me for its own. I attempted to rise,
• 3:52:17
  Speaker 2: to escape no matter where, but my knees shook under me,
• 3:52:22
  Speaker 2: my limbs trembled violently. I almost lost my senses, and
• 3:52:27
  Speaker 2: still the mighty monster advanced. My uncle and the guide
• 3:52:32
  Speaker 2: made no effort to save themselves. With a strange noise
• 3:52:38
  Speaker 2: like none other I had ever heard, the beast came on.
• 3:52:42
  Speaker 2: His jaws were at least seven feet apart, and his
• 3:52:45
  Speaker 2: distended mouth looked large enough to have swallowed a boatful
• 3:52:49
  Speaker 2: of men. We were about ten feet distant when I
• 3:52:53
  Speaker 2: discovered that much as his body resembled that of a crocodile,
• 3:52:57
  Speaker 2: his mouth was fully that of a sharp His twofold
• 3:53:01
  Speaker 2: nature now became apparent to snatch us up at a mouthful.
• 3:53:06
  Speaker 2: It was necessary for him to turn on his back,
• 3:53:09
  Speaker 2: which motion necessarily caused his legs to kick up helplessly
• 3:53:13
  Speaker 2: in the air. I actually laughed, even in the very
• 3:53:17
  Speaker 2: jaws of death. But next minute, with a wild cry,
• 3:53:22
  Speaker 2: I darted away into the interior of the cave, leaving
• 3:53:25
  Speaker 2: my unhappy comrades to their fate. This cavern was deep
• 3:53:30
  Speaker 2: and dreary. After about a hundred yards, I paused and
• 3:53:34
  Speaker 2: looked around. The Whole floor, composed of sand and malachite,
• 3:53:39
  Speaker 2: was strewn with bones, freshly ignored bones of reptiles and fish,
• 3:53:44
  Speaker 2: with the mixture of mammalia. My very soul grew sick
• 3:53:49
  Speaker 2: as my body shuddered with horror. I had, truly, according
• 3:53:53
  Speaker 2: to the old proverb, fallen out of the frying pan
• 3:53:56
  Speaker 2: into the fire. Some beast, larger and more ferocious even
• 3:54:01
  Speaker 2: than the sharp crocodile, inhabited this sten. What could I do?
• 3:54:07
  Speaker 2: The mouth of the cave was guarded by one ferocious monster.
• 3:54:11
  Speaker 2: The interior was inhabited by something too hideous to contemplate.
• 3:54:16
  Speaker 2: Flight was impossible. Only one resource remained, and that was
• 3:54:22
  Speaker 2: to find some small hiding place to which the fearful
• 3:54:25
  Speaker 2: denizens of the cavern could not penetrate. I gazed wildly round,
• 3:54:31
  Speaker 2: and at last discovered a fissure in the rock, to
• 3:54:34
  Speaker 2: which I rushed in the hope of recovering my scattered senses.
• 3:54:38
  Speaker 2: Crouching down, I waited, shivering as in an egg fit.
• 3:54:44
  Speaker 2: No man is brave in presence of an earthquake, or
• 3:54:47
  Speaker 2: a bursting boiler, or an exploding torpedo. I could not
• 3:54:52
  Speaker 2: be expected to feel much courage in presence of the
• 3:54:55
  Speaker 2: fearful fate that appeared to await me. An hour passed,
• 3:55:00
  Speaker 2: I heard all the time strange rumbling outside the cave.
• 3:55:04
  Speaker 2: What was the fate of my unhappy companions? It was
• 3:55:08
  Speaker 2: impossible for me to pause to inquire. My own wretched
• 3:55:12
  Speaker 2: existence was all I could think of. Suddenly a groaning,
• 3:55:18
  Speaker 2: as of fifty bears in a fight fell upon my ears, hisses, spitting, moaning,
• 3:55:26
  Speaker 2: hideous to her, And then I saw never were ages
• 3:55:34
  Speaker 2: to pass over my head? Shall I forget the horrible apparition?
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 2: It was the ape Gagan's fourteen feet high, covered with
• 3:55:46
  Speaker 2: coarse hair of a blackish brown. The hair on the
• 3:55:50
  Speaker 2: arms from the shoulder to the elbow joints pointing downwards,
• 3:55:55
  Speaker 2: while that from the wrist to the elbow pointed upwards.
• 3:55:59
  Speaker 2: It its arms were as long as its body, while
• 3:56:04
  Speaker 2: its legs were prodigious. It had thick, long and sharply
• 3:56:08
  Speaker 2: pointed teeth like a mammoth sow. It struck its breast
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 2: as it came on, smelling and sniffing reminding me of
• 3:56:18
  Speaker 2: the stories we read in our early childhood of giants
• 3:56:22
  Speaker 2: who ate the flesh of men and little boys. Suddenly,
• 3:56:27
  Speaker 2: it stopped my heart beat wildly, for I was conscious
• 3:56:31
  Speaker 2: that somehow or other, the fearful monster had smelled me
• 3:56:35
  Speaker 2: out and was peering about with hiss hideous eyes to
• 3:56:39
  Speaker 2: try and discover my whereabouts. My reading, which as a
• 3:56:44
  Speaker 2: rule is a blessing, but which on this occasion seemed
• 3:56:47
  Speaker 2: momentarily to prove a curse, told me the real truth.
• 3:56:52
  Speaker 2: It was the ape Gagans, the antedeluvian gorilla. Yes, this
• 3:56:59
  Speaker 2: awful monster, confined by good fortune to the interior of
• 3:57:03
  Speaker 2: the earth, was the progenitor of the hidgeous monster of Africa.
• 3:57:09
  Speaker 2: He glared wildly about, seeking something doubtless myself. I gave
• 3:57:14
  Speaker 2: myself up for lost. No hope of safety or escape
• 3:57:18
  Speaker 2: seemed to remain at this moment. Just as my eyes
• 3:57:23
  Speaker 2: appeared to close in death, there came a strange noise
• 3:57:26
  Speaker 2: from the entrance of the cave, and turning the gorilla
• 3:57:30
  Speaker 2: evidently recognized some enemy more worthy of his prodigious size
• 3:57:35
  Speaker 2: and strength. It was the huge, sharp crocodile, which, perhaps
• 3:57:39
  Speaker 2: having disposed of my friends, was coming in search of
• 3:57:43
  Speaker 2: further prey. The gorilla placed himself on the defensive, and,
• 3:57:47
  Speaker 2: clutching a bone some seven or eight feet in length,
• 3:57:51
  Speaker 2: a perfect club, aimed a deadly blow at the hideous beast,
• 3:57:55
  Speaker 2: which reared upwards and fell with all its weight upon
• 3:57:59
  Speaker 2: its advert nursery. A terrible combat, the details of which
• 3:58:04
  Speaker 2: it is impossible to give now ensued. The struggle was
• 3:58:08
  Speaker 2: awful and ferocious. I, however, did not wait to witness
• 3:58:13
  Speaker 2: the result. Regarding myself as the object of contention, I
• 3:58:18
  Speaker 2: determined to remove from the presence of the victor. I
• 3:58:22
  Speaker 2: slid down from my hiding place, reached the ground, and,
• 3:58:26
  Speaker 2: gliding against the wall, strove to gain the open mouth
• 3:58:30
  Speaker 2: of the cavern. But I had not taken many steps
• 3:58:34
  Speaker 2: when the fearful clamor ceased to be followed by mumbling
• 3:58:37
  Speaker 2: and groaning, which appeared to be indicative of victory. I
• 3:58:43
  Speaker 2: looked back and saw the huge ape, gory with blood,
• 3:58:46
  Speaker 2: coming after me, with glaring eyes, with dilated nostrils that
• 3:58:51
  Speaker 2: gave forth two columns of heated vapor. I could feel
• 3:58:55
  Speaker 2: his hot and fetid breath on my neck, and, with
• 3:58:58
  Speaker 2: a horrid jump from my nightmare sleep, yes it was
• 3:59:04
  Speaker 2: all a dream. I was still on the raft with
• 3:59:07
  Speaker 2: my uncle and the guide. The relief was not instantaneous,
• 3:59:13
  Speaker 2: for under the influence of the hideous nightmare, my senses
• 3:59:17
  Speaker 2: had become numbed. After a while, however, my feelings were tranquilized.
• 3:59:24
  Speaker 2: The first of my perceptions which returned in full force
• 3:59:28
  Speaker 2: was that of hearing. I listened with acute and attentive airs.
• 3:59:34
  Speaker 2: All was still less death. All I comprehended was silence.
• 3:59:39
  Speaker 2: To the roaring of waters, which had filled the gallery
• 3:59:43
  Speaker 2: with awful reverberations, succeeded perfect peace. After some little time,
• 3:59:50
  Speaker 2: my uncle spoke in a low and scarcely audible tone.
• 3:59:55
  Speaker 2: Harry boy, where are you? I'm here? Was my faint rejoinder. Well,
• 4:00:02
  Speaker 2: don't you see what has happened? We are going upwards,
• 4:00:07
  Speaker 2: my dear uncle, What can you mean? Was my half
• 4:00:11
  Speaker 2: delirious reply. Yes, I tell you, We are ascending rapidly.
• 4:00:15
  Speaker 2: Our downward journey is quite checked. I held out my hand, and,
• 4:00:21
  Speaker 2: after some little difficulty, succeeded in touching the wall. My
• 4:00:25
  Speaker 2: hand was in an instant covered with blood. The skin
• 4:00:28
  Speaker 2: was torn from the flesh. We were ascending with extraordinary rapidity,
• 4:00:35
  Speaker 2: the torch. The torch, cried the professor wildly. It must
• 4:00:39
  Speaker 2: be lighted. Hence the guide, after many vain efforts, at
• 4:00:43
  Speaker 2: last succeeded in lighting it, and the flame, having now
• 4:00:46
  Speaker 2: nothing to prevent its burning, shed a tolerably clear light.
• 4:00:51
  Speaker 2: We were enabled to form an approximate idea of the truth.
• 4:00:56
  Speaker 2: It is just as I thought, said my uncle, after
• 4:00:59
  Speaker 2: a moment or two of silent attention. We are in
• 4:01:02
  Speaker 2: a narrow well, about four fathoms square. The waters of
• 4:01:07
  Speaker 2: the great Indan Sea, having reached the bottom of the gulf,
• 4:01:10
  Speaker 2: are now forcing themselves up the mighty shaft. As a
• 4:01:14
  Speaker 2: natural consequence, we are being cast upon the summit of
• 4:01:18
  Speaker 2: the waters that I can see, was my lugubrious reply.
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 2: But where will this shaft end? And to what fall
• 4:01:27
  Speaker 2: are we likely to be exposed? Oh that I am
• 4:01:31
  Speaker 2: as ignorant as yourself. All I know is that we
• 4:01:34
  Speaker 2: should be prepared for the worst. We are going up
• 4:01:37
  Speaker 2: at a fearfully rapid rate. As far as I can judge,
• 4:01:41
  Speaker 2: we are ascending at the rate of two fathoms a second,
• 4:01:45
  Speaker 2: of a hundred and twenty fathoms a minute, or rather
• 4:01:50
  Speaker 2: more than three and a half leagues an hour. At
• 4:01:53
  Speaker 2: this rate, our fate will soon be a matter of certainty,
• 4:01:57
  Speaker 2: no doubt of it, was my reply. The great concern
• 4:02:01
  Speaker 2: I have now, however, is to know whether this shaft
• 4:02:05
  Speaker 2: has any issue. It may end in a granite roof,
• 4:02:09
  Speaker 2: in which case we shall be suffocated by compressed air,
• 4:02:13
  Speaker 2: or dashed to atoms against the top. I fancy already
• 4:02:17
  Speaker 2: that the air is beginning to be close and condensed.
• 4:02:20
  Speaker 2: I have a difficulty in breathing. This might be fancy,
• 4:02:25
  Speaker 2: or it might be the effect of our rapid motion,
• 4:02:28
  Speaker 2: but I certainly felt the great oppression of the chest Henry,
• 4:02:34
  Speaker 2: said the professor. I do believe that the situation is,
• 4:02:37
  Speaker 2: to a certain extent desperate. There remain, however, many chances
• 4:02:42
  Speaker 2: of ultimate safety, and I have in my own mind
• 4:02:45
  Speaker 2: been revolving them over during your heavy but agitated sleep.
• 4:02:50
  Speaker 2: I have come to this logical conclusion. Whereas we may
• 4:02:54
  Speaker 2: at any moment perish, so at any moment we may
• 4:02:57
  Speaker 2: be saved. We need therefore prepare ourselves for whatever may
• 4:03:02
  Speaker 2: turn up in the great chapter of accidents. But what
• 4:03:06
  Speaker 2: would you have us do? I cried, Are we not
• 4:03:09
  Speaker 2: utterly helpless? No, while there is life, there is hope.
• 4:03:15
  Speaker 2: At all events, there is one thing we can do,
• 4:03:18
  Speaker 2: eat and thus obtain strength to face victory or death.
• 4:03:22
  Speaker 2: As he spoke, I looked at my uncle with a
• 4:03:25
  Speaker 2: haggard glance. I had put off the fatal communication as
• 4:03:29
  Speaker 2: long as possible. It was now forced upon me, and
• 4:03:33
  Speaker 2: I must tell him the truth. Still I hesitated. Eat,
• 4:03:38
  Speaker 2: I said, in a deprecating tone, as if there were
• 4:03:42
  Speaker 2: no hurry. Yes, and at once, I feel like a
• 4:03:46
  Speaker 2: starving prisoner, he said, rubbing his yellow and shivering hands
• 4:03:50
  Speaker 2: together and turning round to the guide. He spoke some hearty,
• 4:03:54
  Speaker 2: cheering words, as I judged from his tone in Danish,
• 4:04:00
  Speaker 2: and shook his head in a terribly significant manner. I
• 4:04:03
  Speaker 2: tried to look unconcerned. What, cried the professor. You do
• 4:04:08
  Speaker 2: not mean to say that all our provisions are lost, yes,
• 4:04:13
  Speaker 2: was my lowly spoken reply, as I held out something
• 4:04:17
  Speaker 2: in my hand. This morsel of dried meat is all
• 4:04:20
  Speaker 2: that remains for us free. My uncle gazed at me
• 4:04:25
  Speaker 2: as if he could not fully appreciate the meaning of
• 4:04:28
  Speaker 2: my words. The blow seemed to stun him by its severity.
• 4:04:32
  Speaker 2: I allowed him to reflect for some moments, well, said I,
• 4:04:37
  Speaker 2: after a short pause, what do you think now is
• 4:04:41
  Speaker 2: there any chance of our escaping from our horrible subterranean dangers?
• 4:04:46
  Speaker 2: Are we not doomed to perish in the great hollows
• 4:04:49
  Speaker 2: of the center of the earth. But my pertinent questions
• 4:04:53
  Speaker 2: brought no answer. My uncle either heard me not or
• 4:04:57
  Speaker 2: appeared not to do so. And in this way a
• 4:05:01
  Speaker 2: whole hour passed. Neither of us care to speak. For myself,
• 4:05:06
  Speaker 2: I began to feel the most fearful and devouring hunger.
• 4:05:10
  Speaker 2: My companions doubtless felt the same horrible tortures, but neither
• 4:05:15
  Speaker 2: of them would touch the wretched morsel or meat that remained.
• 4:05:19
  Speaker 2: It lay there, a last remnant of all our great
• 4:05:22
  Speaker 2: preparations for the mad and senseless journey. I look back
• 4:05:27
  Speaker 2: with wonderment to my own folly. Fully was I aware that,
• 4:05:32
  Speaker 2: despite his enthusiasm and the ever to be hated scrowl
• 4:05:36
  Speaker 2: of sucnsum, my uncle should never have started on his
• 4:05:40
  Speaker 2: perilous voyage. What memories of the happy past, What provisions
• 4:05:45
  Speaker 2: of the horrible future now filled my brain? End of
• 4:05:53
  Speaker 2: Chapter forty Chapter forty one. Hunger Hunger prolonged, longed it
• 4:06:00
  Speaker 2: temporary madness. The brain is at work without its required food,
• 4:06:05
  Speaker 2: and the most fantastic notions filled the mind. Hitherto, I
• 4:06:10
  Speaker 2: had never known what hunger really meant. I was likely
• 4:06:14
  Speaker 2: to understand it now, and yet three months before I
• 4:06:18
  Speaker 2: could tell my terrible story of starvation as I thought it.
• 4:06:22
  Speaker 2: As a boy, I used to make frequent excursions in
• 4:06:24
  Speaker 2: the neighborhood of the professor's house. My uncle always acted
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 2: on system, and he believed that in addition to the
• 4:06:33
  Speaker 2: day of rest and worship, there should be a day
• 4:06:36
  Speaker 2: of recreation. In consequence, I was always free to do
• 4:06:40
  Speaker 2: as I liked on a Wednesday, now as I had
• 4:06:44
  Speaker 2: a notion to combine the useful and agreeable. My favorite
• 4:06:48
  Speaker 2: pastime was birds nesting. I had one of the best
• 4:06:52
  Speaker 2: collections of eggs in all the town. They were classified
• 4:06:56
  Speaker 2: and under glass cases. There was a certain wood which,
• 4:07:00
  Speaker 2: by rising at early morn and taking the cheap train,
• 4:07:04
  Speaker 2: I could reach at eleven in the morning. Here I
• 4:07:07
  Speaker 2: would bought an eye orch you or logize at my will.
• 4:07:11
  Speaker 2: My uncle was all as glad as specimens for his
• 4:07:14
  Speaker 2: herbarium and stones to examine. When I had filled my wallet,
• 4:07:19
  Speaker 2: I proceeded to search for nests. After about two hours
• 4:07:24
  Speaker 2: of hard work, I one day, sat down by stream
• 4:07:27
  Speaker 2: to eat my humble but copious lunch. How the remembrance
• 4:07:32
  Speaker 2: of the spice sausage, the Weeden loaf, and the beer
• 4:07:36
  Speaker 2: made my mouth water. Now I would have given every
• 4:07:40
  Speaker 2: prospect of worldly wealth for such a meal, but to
• 4:07:44
  Speaker 2: my story. While seated thus at my leisure, I looked
• 4:07:48
  Speaker 2: up at the ruins of an old castle at no
• 4:07:51
  Speaker 2: great distance. It was the remains of an historical dwelling
• 4:07:56
  Speaker 2: I we clad and now falling to pieces. While looking,
• 4:08:01
  Speaker 2: I saw two eagles circling about the summit of a
• 4:08:04
  Speaker 2: lofty tower. I soon became satisfied that there was a nest.
• 4:08:10
  Speaker 2: Now in all my collection I lacked eggs of the
• 4:08:13
  Speaker 2: native eagle and the large owl. My mind was made up.
• 4:08:18
  Speaker 2: I would reach the summit of that tower, or perish
• 4:08:22
  Speaker 2: in the attempt. I went nearer and surveyed the ruins.
• 4:08:27
  Speaker 2: The old staircase, years before had fallen in. The outer
• 4:08:31
  Speaker 2: walls were, however intact. There was no change that way,
• 4:08:36
  Speaker 2: unless I looked to the ivy solely for support. This was,
• 4:08:40
  Speaker 2: as I soon found out, futile. There remained the chimney,
• 4:08:45
  Speaker 2: which still went up to the top and had once
• 4:08:48
  Speaker 2: served to carry off the smoke from every story of
• 4:08:52
  Speaker 2: the tower. Up this I determined to venture. It was narrow, rough,
• 4:08:58
  Speaker 2: and therefore the more easily clar I took off my
• 4:09:02
  Speaker 2: coat and crept into the chimney. Looking up, I saw
• 4:09:05
  Speaker 2: a small light opening, proclaiming the summit of the chimney.
• 4:09:10
  Speaker 2: Up Up I went for some time, using my hands
• 4:09:14
  Speaker 2: and knees after the fashion of a chimney sweep. It
• 4:09:18
  Speaker 2: was slow work, but there being continual predictions, the task
• 4:09:23
  Speaker 2: was comparatively easy. In this way I reached half way.
• 4:09:28
  Speaker 2: The chimney now became narrower, the atmosphere was close, and
• 4:09:33
  Speaker 2: at last, to end the matter, I stuck fast. I
• 4:09:37
  Speaker 2: could ascend no higher. There could be no doubt to this,
• 4:09:42
  Speaker 2: and there remained no resource but to descend and give
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 2: up my glorious prey. In despair, I yielded to fate
• 4:09:51
  Speaker 2: and endeavored to descend, But I could not move. Some
• 4:09:56
  Speaker 2: unseen and mysterious obstacle intervened and stopped me. In an instant,
• 4:10:01
  Speaker 2: the full horror of my situation seized me. I was
• 4:10:05
  Speaker 2: unable to move either way, and was doomed to a
• 4:10:09
  Speaker 2: terrible and horrible death, that of starvation in a boy's mind. However,
• 4:10:15
  Speaker 2: there is an extraordinary amount of elasticity and hope, and
• 4:10:20
  Speaker 2: I began to think of all sorts of plans to
• 4:10:23
  Speaker 2: escape my gloomy fate. In the first place, I required
• 4:10:28
  Speaker 2: no food just at present, having had an excellent meal,
• 4:10:32
  Speaker 2: and was therefore allowed time for reflection. My first thought
• 4:10:37
  Speaker 2: was to try and move the mortar with my hand.
• 4:10:40
  Speaker 2: Had I possessed a knife, something might have been done,
• 4:10:44
  Speaker 2: but that useful instrument I had left in my coat pocket.
• 4:10:48
  Speaker 2: I soon found that all efforts of this kind were
• 4:10:51
  Speaker 2: vain and useless, and that all I could hope to
• 4:10:55
  Speaker 2: do was to wriggle downwards. But though I jerked, a struggled,
• 4:11:00
  Speaker 2: and strode to turn, it was all in vain. I
• 4:11:04
  Speaker 2: could not move an inch one way or the other,
• 4:11:08
  Speaker 2: and time flew rapidly. My early rising probably contributed to
• 4:11:13
  Speaker 2: the fact that I felt sleepy and gradually gave way
• 4:11:17
  Speaker 2: to the sensation of drowsiness. I slept and awoke in darkness,
• 4:11:23
  Speaker 2: ravenuously hungry. Night had come, and still I could not move.
• 4:11:29
  Speaker 2: I was tight bound and did not succeed in changing
• 4:11:32
  Speaker 2: my position an inch. I groaned aloud. Never since the
• 4:11:38
  Speaker 2: days of my happy childhood, when it was a hardship
• 4:11:41
  Speaker 2: to go from meal to me without eating. Had I
• 4:11:44
  Speaker 2: really experienced hunger? The sensation was as novel as it
• 4:11:49
  Speaker 2: was painful. I began now to lose my head and
• 4:11:53
  Speaker 2: to scream and cry out in my agony. Something appeared
• 4:11:57
  Speaker 2: startled by my noise. It was a harmless lizard, but
• 4:12:01
  Speaker 2: it appeared to me a loath some reptile. Again I
• 4:12:05
  Speaker 2: made the old ruins resound with my cries, and finally
• 4:12:09
  Speaker 2: so exhausted myself that I fainted. How long I lay
• 4:12:15
  Speaker 2: in a kind of trance or sleep, I cannot say.
• 4:12:19
  Speaker 2: But when again I recovered consciousness, it was day. How
• 4:12:24
  Speaker 2: ill I felt, how hunger still ignored at me? It
• 4:12:28
  Speaker 2: would be hard to say. I was too weak to scream,
• 4:12:32
  Speaker 2: now far too weak to struggle. Suddenly I was startled
• 4:12:37
  Speaker 2: by a roar, Are you there? When Rea said the
• 4:12:42
  Speaker 2: voice of my uncle, are you there, my boy? I
• 4:12:46
  Speaker 2: could only faintly respond, But I also made a desperate
• 4:12:50
  Speaker 2: effort to turn some water fell. To this I owed
• 4:12:55
  Speaker 2: my being discovered. When the search took place, it was
• 4:12:58
  Speaker 2: easily seen the mortar and small pieces of stone had
• 4:13:02
  Speaker 2: recently fallen from above. Hence my uncle's cry. Be calm,
• 4:13:10
  Speaker 2: He cried, if we pull down the whole ruin, you
• 4:13:12
  Speaker 2: shall be saved. They were delicious words, but I had
• 4:13:17
  Speaker 2: little hope. Soon, however, about a quarter of an hour later,
• 4:13:22
  Speaker 2: I heard a voice about me at one of the
• 4:13:25
  Speaker 2: upper fireplaces. Are you below or above? Below? Was my reply?
• 4:13:33
  Speaker 2: In an instant, a basket was load with milk, a biscuit,
• 4:13:36
  Speaker 2: and an egg. My uncle was fearful to be too
• 4:13:39
  Speaker 2: ready with a supply of food. I drank the milk first,
• 4:13:44
  Speaker 2: for a thirst had nearly deadened hunger. I then much
• 4:13:48
  Speaker 2: refreshed ate my bread and hard egg. They were now
• 4:13:52
  Speaker 2: at work at the wall. I could hear a pickaxe.
• 4:13:56
  Speaker 2: Wishing to escape all danger from this terrible weapon, I
• 4:14:00
  Speaker 2: made a desperate struggle, and the belt which surrounded my
• 4:14:03
  Speaker 2: waist and which had been hitched on a stone, gave way.
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 2: I was free, and only escaped, falling down by a
• 4:14:10
  Speaker 2: rapid motion on my hands and knees. In ten minutes more,
• 4:14:15
  Speaker 2: I was in my uncle's arms. After being two days
• 4:14:18
  Speaker 2: and nights in that horrible prison. My occasional delirium prevented
• 4:14:23
  Speaker 2: me from counting time. I was weeks recovering from that
• 4:14:28
  Speaker 2: awful starvation adventure. And yet what was that to the
• 4:14:32
  Speaker 2: hideous sufferings I now endured. After dreaming for some time
• 4:14:38
  Speaker 2: and thinking of this and other matters, I once more
• 4:14:42
  Speaker 2: looked around me. We were still ascending with fearful rapidity.
• 4:14:48
  Speaker 2: Every now and then the air appeared to check our respiration,
• 4:14:52
  Speaker 2: as it does that of aeronauts when the ascension of
• 4:14:55
  Speaker 2: the balloon is too rapid. But if they feel a
• 4:14:59
  Speaker 2: degree of coal in proportion to the elevation they attained
• 4:15:02
  Speaker 2: in the atmosphere, we experienced quite a contrary effect. The
• 4:15:08
  Speaker 2: heat began to increase in a most threatening and exceptional manner.
• 4:15:13
  Speaker 2: I cannot tell exactly the mean, but I think it
• 4:15:16
  Speaker 2: must have reached one hundred twenty two degrees fahrenheight. What
• 4:15:21
  Speaker 2: was the meaning of this extraordinary change in the temperature?
• 4:15:25
  Speaker 2: As far as we had hitherto gone, facts had proved
• 4:15:29
  Speaker 2: the theories of Davy and of Liedenbrock to be correct.
• 4:15:34
  Speaker 2: Until now all the peculiar conditions of refractory rocks of
• 4:15:39
  Speaker 2: electricity of magnetis had modified the general laws of nature
• 4:15:44
  Speaker 2: and had created for us a moderate temperature. For the
• 4:15:48
  Speaker 2: theory of this central fire remained in my eyes the
• 4:15:51
  Speaker 2: only explainable one. Were we then going to reach a
• 4:15:56
  Speaker 2: position in which these phenomena were to be carried out
• 4:15:59
  Speaker 2: in all all the rigor, and in which the heat
• 4:16:03
  Speaker 2: would reduce the rocks to state a fusion. Such was
• 4:16:07
  Speaker 2: my not unnatural fear, and I did not conceal the
• 4:16:11
  Speaker 2: fact from my uncle. My way of doing so might
• 4:16:15
  Speaker 2: be cold and heartless, but I could not help it.
• 4:16:20
  Speaker 2: If we are not drowned or smashed into pancakes, and
• 4:16:23
  Speaker 2: if we do not die of starvation, we have the
• 4:16:26
  Speaker 2: satisfaction of knowing that we must be burnt alive. My uncle,
• 4:16:32
  Speaker 2: in presence of this brusque attack, simply shrugged his shoulders
• 4:16:36
  Speaker 2: and resumed his reflections, whatever they might be. An hour
• 4:16:41
  Speaker 2: passed away, and except that there was a slight increase
• 4:16:45
  Speaker 2: in the temperature, no incident modified the situation. My uncle,
• 4:16:51
  Speaker 2: at last, of his own accord, broke silence. Well, Henry,
• 4:16:56
  Speaker 2: my boy, he said, in a cheerful way. We must
• 4:16:59
  Speaker 2: make up or minds. Make up our minds to what
• 4:17:03
  Speaker 2: I asked, in considerable surprise, well, to something. We must,
• 4:17:09
  Speaker 2: at whatever risk, recruit our physical strength. If we make
• 4:17:13
  Speaker 2: the fatal mistake of husbanding our little remnant of food.
• 4:17:17
  Speaker 2: We may probably prolong our wretched existence a few hours,
• 4:17:21
  Speaker 2: but we shall remain weak to the end. Yes, I growled,
• 4:17:25
  Speaker 2: to the end that, however, will not give us slong waiting. Well,
• 4:17:32
  Speaker 2: only let a chance of safety present itself. Only allow
• 4:17:36
  Speaker 2: that the moment of action be necessary. Where shall we
• 4:17:39
  Speaker 2: find the means of action if we allow ourselves to
• 4:17:42
  Speaker 2: be reduced to physical weakness by inanition? When this piece
• 4:17:47
  Speaker 2: of meat is devoured, Uncle, what hope will there remain
• 4:17:51
  Speaker 2: unto us, none, my dear Henry, none? But will it
• 4:17:54
  Speaker 2: do you any good to devour it with your eyes?
• 4:17:58
  Speaker 2: You appear to me to reason like one without will
• 4:18:01
  Speaker 2: or decision, like a being without energy. Then, cried I
• 4:18:06
  Speaker 2: exasperated to a degree which is scarcely to be explained.
• 4:18:10
  Speaker 2: You do not mean to tell me that you that
• 4:18:14
  Speaker 2: you have not lost all hope? Certainly not, replied the
• 4:18:19
  Speaker 2: professor with consumed coolness. You mean to tell me, uncle,
• 4:18:24
  Speaker 2: that we shall get out of this monstrous subterranean shaft.
• 4:18:29
  Speaker 2: While there is life, there is hope. I beg tors,
• 4:18:32
  Speaker 2: sir Henry, that as long as a man's heart beats,
• 4:18:36
  Speaker 2: as long as a man's flesh quivers, I do not
• 4:18:39
  Speaker 2: allow that a being gifted with thought and will can
• 4:18:42
  Speaker 2: allow himself to despair. What a nerve. The man placed
• 4:18:48
  Speaker 2: in a position like that we occupied must have been
• 4:18:51
  Speaker 2: very brave to speak like this. Well, I cried, what
• 4:18:55
  Speaker 2: do you mean to do? Eat what remains of the
• 4:18:59
  Speaker 2: food we have in our hands. Let us swallow the
• 4:19:02
  Speaker 2: last crumb. It will be heaven willing our last repast. Well,
• 4:19:07
  Speaker 2: never mind, instead of being exhausted skeletons, we shall be men, true,
• 4:19:14
  Speaker 2: muttered I, in a despairing tone. Let us take our
• 4:19:18
  Speaker 2: fill we must, replied my uncle, with a deep sigh.
• 4:19:23
  Speaker 2: Call it what you will. My uncle took a piece
• 4:19:27
  Speaker 2: of the meat that remained, and some crusts of biscuit
• 4:19:30
  Speaker 2: which had escaped the wreck. He divided the whole into
• 4:19:33
  Speaker 2: three parts. Each had one pound of food to last
• 4:19:37
  Speaker 2: him as long as he remained in the interior of
• 4:19:40
  Speaker 2: the earth. Each now acted in accordance with his own
• 4:19:44
  Speaker 2: private character. My uncle, the professor, ate greedily, but evidently
• 4:19:49
  Speaker 2: without appetite, eating simply from some mechanical motion. I put
• 4:19:55
  Speaker 2: the food inside my lips, and hungry as I was,
• 4:19:58
  Speaker 2: chewed my morsel without pleasure and without satisfaction. Hans the
• 4:20:04
  Speaker 2: guide just as if he had been either down hunting,
• 4:20:07
  Speaker 2: swallowed every mouthful as though it were a usual affair.
• 4:20:12
  Speaker 2: He looked like a man equally prepared to enjoy superfluity
• 4:20:16
  Speaker 2: or total want. Hans, in all probability, was no more
• 4:20:21
  Speaker 2: use to starvation than ourselves. But his hardy Icelandic nature
• 4:20:26
  Speaker 2: had prepared him for many sufferings. As long as he
• 4:20:30
  Speaker 2: received his three ricks dollars every Saturday night, he was
• 4:20:33
  Speaker 2: prepared for anything. The fact was, Hans never troubled himself
• 4:20:38
  Speaker 2: about much except his money. He had undertaken to serve
• 4:20:42
  Speaker 2: a certain man at so much per week, and no
• 4:20:45
  Speaker 2: matter what evil Spefeli's employer or himself, he never found
• 4:20:49
  Speaker 2: fault or grumbled so long as his wages were duly paid. Suddenly,
• 4:20:55
  Speaker 2: my uncle roused himself. He had seen a smile on
• 4:20:59
  Speaker 2: the face of our guide. I could not make it out.
• 4:21:03
  Speaker 2: What is the matter, said my uncle? She dum said
• 4:21:07
  Speaker 2: the guide, producing a bottle of this precious fluid we drank.
• 4:21:12
  Speaker 2: My uncle and myself will own to our dying day
• 4:21:16
  Speaker 2: that hence we de read strength to exist until the
• 4:21:19
  Speaker 2: last bitter moment. That precious bottle of Holland's was in
• 4:21:24
  Speaker 2: reality only half full, but under the circumstances it was nectar.
• 4:21:30
  Speaker 2: He took some minutes for myself and my uncle to
• 4:21:33
  Speaker 2: form a decided opinion on the subject. The worthy professor
• 4:21:37
  Speaker 2: swallowed about half a pint and did not seem able
• 4:21:40
  Speaker 2: to drink any more. For trifling, said Hans, swallowing nearly
• 4:21:46
  Speaker 2: all that was left. Excellent, very good, said my uncle,
• 4:21:51
  Speaker 2: with as much gusto as if he had just left
• 4:21:53
  Speaker 2: the steps of the club at Hamburg. I had begun
• 4:21:58
  Speaker 2: to feel as if there had been one a gleam
• 4:22:00
  Speaker 2: of hope. Now all thought of the future vanished. We
• 4:22:05
  Speaker 2: had consumed our last ounce of food, and it was
• 4:22:09
  Speaker 2: five o'clock in the morning. End of Chapter forty one,
• 4:22:16
  Speaker 2: Chapter forty two. The volcanic shaft Man's constitution is so
• 4:22:23
  Speaker 2: peculiar that his health is purely a negative matter. No
• 4:22:28
  Speaker 2: sooner is the rage of hunger apiece than it becomes
• 4:22:31
  Speaker 2: difficult to comprehend the meaning of starvation. It is only
• 4:22:35
  Speaker 2: when you suffer that you really understand. As to any
• 4:22:40
  Speaker 2: one who has not endured privation, having any notion of
• 4:22:43
  Speaker 2: the matter, it is simply absurd. With us. After a
• 4:22:47
  Speaker 2: long fast, some mouthfuls of bread and meat, A little
• 4:22:52
  Speaker 2: moldy biscuit and salt beef triumphed over all our previous
• 4:22:56
  Speaker 2: gloomy and saturnine thoughts. Nevertheless, after this repast, each gave
• 4:23:02
  Speaker 2: way to his own reflections. I wondered, what were those
• 4:23:06
  Speaker 2: of hands the man of the extreme north, who was
• 4:23:10
  Speaker 2: yet gifted with the fatalistic resignation of oriental character. But
• 4:23:15
  Speaker 2: the utmost stretch of the imagination would not allow me
• 4:23:19
  Speaker 2: to realize the truth. As for my individual self, my
• 4:23:24
  Speaker 2: thoughts had ceased to be anything but memories of the past,
• 4:23:27
  Speaker 2: and were all connected with that upper world which I
• 4:23:31
  Speaker 2: never should have left. I saw it all now, the
• 4:23:34
  Speaker 2: beautiful house in the Kernish trasse, my poor Gretchen, the
• 4:23:39
  Speaker 2: good Martha, They all passed before my mind, lack visions
• 4:23:43
  Speaker 2: of the past. Every time any of the lugubrious groanings
• 4:23:47
  Speaker 2: which were to be distinguished in the hollow surround fell
• 4:23:51
  Speaker 2: upon my ears, I fancied I heard the distant murmur
• 4:23:55
  Speaker 2: of the great cities above my head. As for my uncle,
• 4:23:59
  Speaker 2: always thinking of his science, he examined the nature of
• 4:24:03
  Speaker 2: the shaft by means of a torch. He closely examined
• 4:24:07
  Speaker 2: the different strata one above the other in order to
• 4:24:10
  Speaker 2: recognize his situation by geological theory. This calculation, or rather
• 4:24:16
  Speaker 2: this estimation, could by no means be anything but approximate.
• 4:24:22
  Speaker 2: But a learned man, a philosopher, is nothing if not
• 4:24:25
  Speaker 2: a philosopher when he keeps his ideas calm and collected.
• 4:24:30
  Speaker 2: And certainly the professor possessed this quality to perfection. I
• 4:24:36
  Speaker 2: heard him as I sat in silence, murmuring words of
• 4:24:39
  Speaker 2: geological science. As I understood his object and his meaning,
• 4:24:44
  Speaker 2: I could not but interest myself, despite my preoccupation, in
• 4:24:48
  Speaker 2: that terrible hour eruptive granite, he said to himself, we
• 4:24:55
  Speaker 2: are still in the primitive epoch, but we are going up,
• 4:24:58
  Speaker 2: going up, still going up. But who knows? Who knows?
• 4:25:04
  Speaker 2: Then he still hoped. He felt along the vertical sides
• 4:25:08
  Speaker 2: of the shaft with his hand, and some few minutes
• 4:25:11
  Speaker 2: later he would go on again in the following style.
• 4:25:15
  Speaker 2: This is gnaise, this is mik aschist cilicious mineral good. Again,
• 4:25:21
  Speaker 2: this is the epoch of transition. At all events, we
• 4:25:24
  Speaker 2: are close to them. And then, and then, what could
• 4:25:29
  Speaker 2: the professor mean? Could he, by any conceivable means measure
• 4:25:34
  Speaker 2: the thickness of the crust of the earth suspended above
• 4:25:37
  Speaker 2: our heads. Did he possess any possible means of making
• 4:25:41
  Speaker 2: any approximation to this calculation? No, the manometer was wanting,
• 4:25:48
  Speaker 2: and no summary estimation could take the place of it.
• 4:25:53
  Speaker 2: And yet, as we progressed, the temperature increased in the
• 4:25:56
  Speaker 2: most extraordinary degree, and I began to feel as if
• 4:26:00
  Speaker 2: I were bathed in a hot and burning atmosphere. Never
• 4:26:04
  Speaker 2: before had I felt anything like it. I could only
• 4:26:08
  Speaker 2: compare it to the hot vapor from an iron foundry,
• 4:26:12
  Speaker 2: when the liquid iron is in a state of ebullition
• 4:26:15
  Speaker 2: and runs over by degrees. And one after the other, Hans,
• 4:26:20
  Speaker 2: my uncle and myself had taken off our coats and waistcoats.
• 4:26:25
  Speaker 2: They were unbearable. Even the slightest garment was not only uncomfortable,
• 4:26:31
  Speaker 2: but the cause of extreme suffering. Are we ascending to
• 4:26:36
  Speaker 2: a living fire? I cried, when, to my horror and astonishment,
• 4:26:41
  Speaker 2: the heat became greater than before. No, No, said my uncle,
• 4:26:47
  Speaker 2: it is simply impossible, quite impossible. And yet said I,
• 4:26:53
  Speaker 2: touching the side of the shaft with my naked hand.
• 4:26:56
  Speaker 2: This wall is literally burning at this moment, Feeling as
• 4:27:00
  Speaker 2: I did that the sights of this extraordinary wall were
• 4:27:04
  Speaker 2: red hot. I plunged my hands into the water to
• 4:27:07
  Speaker 2: cool them. I drew them back with a cry of despair,
• 4:27:12
  Speaker 2: the water respoiling, I cried my uncle. The professor made
• 4:27:17
  Speaker 2: no reply other than a gesture of rage and despair.
• 4:27:22
  Speaker 2: Something very like the truth had probably struck his imagination.
• 4:27:26
  Speaker 2: But I could take no share in either what was
• 4:27:29
  Speaker 2: going on or in his speculations. An invincible dreed had
• 4:27:34
  Speaker 2: taken possession of my brain and soul. I could only
• 4:27:38
  Speaker 2: look forward to an immediate catastrophe, such a catastrophe as
• 4:27:42
  Speaker 2: not even the most vivid imagination could have thought of.
• 4:27:46
  Speaker 2: An idea, at first vague and uncertain, was gradually being
• 4:27:50
  Speaker 2: changed into certainty. I tremulously rejected it at first, but
• 4:27:56
  Speaker 2: it forced itself upon me by degrees, with extreme o offesstenacy.
• 4:28:01
  Speaker 2: It was so terrible an idea that I scarcely dared
• 4:28:04
  Speaker 2: to whisper it to myself. And yet all the while,
• 4:28:08
  Speaker 2: certain as it were, involuntary observations determined my convictions. By
• 4:28:14
  Speaker 2: the doubtful glare of the torch, I could make out
• 4:28:17
  Speaker 2: some singular changes in the granity strata, A strange and
• 4:28:22
  Speaker 2: terrible phenomenon was about to be produced in which electricity
• 4:28:27
  Speaker 2: played a part. Then this spoiling water, this terrible and
• 4:28:32
  Speaker 2: excessive heat, I determined as a last resource to examine
• 4:28:37
  Speaker 2: the compass. The compass had gone mad, Yes, fully stark,
• 4:28:43
  Speaker 2: staring mad. The needle jumped from pool to pool with
• 4:28:47
  Speaker 2: sudden and surprising jerks, ran round, or, as it is said,
• 4:28:52
  Speaker 2: boxed the compass, and then ran suddenly back again, as
• 4:28:56
  Speaker 2: if it had the vertigone. I was aware that, according
• 4:29:01
  Speaker 2: to the best acknowledged theories, it was a received notion
• 4:29:05
  Speaker 2: that the mineral crust of the globe is never and
• 4:29:08
  Speaker 2: never has been, in a state of complete tripose. It
• 4:29:12
  Speaker 2: is perpetually undergoing the modifications caused by the decomposition of
• 4:29:17
  Speaker 2: internal matter, the agitation consequent on the flowing of extensive
• 4:29:22
  Speaker 2: liquid currents, the excessive action of magnetis which tends to
• 4:29:27
  Speaker 2: shake it incessantly at a time when even the multitudinous
• 4:29:32
  Speaker 2: beings on its surface do not suspect the seeding process
• 4:29:36
  Speaker 2: to be going on. Still, this phenomenon would not have
• 4:29:40
  Speaker 2: alarmed me alone. It would not have roused in my
• 4:29:43
  Speaker 2: mind a terrible an awful idea, But other facts could
• 4:29:48
  Speaker 2: not allow my self delusion to last. Terrible detonations like
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 2: Heaven's artillery began to multiply themselves with fearful intensity. I
• 4:30:00
  Speaker 2: could only compare them with the noise made by hundreds
• 4:30:03
  Speaker 2: of heavily laden chariots being madly driven over a stone pavement.
• 4:30:09
  Speaker 2: It was a continuous roll of heavy thunder, and then
• 4:30:13
  Speaker 2: the mad compass, shaken by the wild electric phenomena, conferred
• 4:30:18
  Speaker 2: me in my rapidly formed opinion. The mineral crust was
• 4:30:22
  Speaker 2: about to burst. The heavy granite masses were about to rejoin.
• 4:30:27
  Speaker 2: The fizzure was about to close. The void was about
• 4:30:30
  Speaker 2: to be filled up, and we poor atoms to be
• 4:30:33
  Speaker 2: crushed in its awful embrace. Uncle Uncle, I cried, we
• 4:30:41
  Speaker 2: are fully irretrievably lost. What, then, my young friend, is
• 4:30:46
  Speaker 2: your new cause of terror and alarm? He said, in
• 4:30:50
  Speaker 2: his calmest manner. What fare you now? What do I
• 4:30:54
  Speaker 2: fear now? I cried in fierce and angry tones. Do
• 4:30:58
  Speaker 2: you not see that the war also the shaft are
• 4:31:01
  Speaker 2: in motion. Do you not see that the solid granite
• 4:31:04
  Speaker 2: masses are cracking? Do you not feel the terrible torrid heat?
• 4:31:09
  Speaker 2: Do you not observe the awful boiling water on which
• 4:31:13
  Speaker 2: we float. Do you not remark this mad needle every
• 4:31:17
  Speaker 2: sign importent of an awful earthquake? My uncle coolly shook
• 4:31:22
  Speaker 2: his head. An earthquake, he replied, in the most calm
• 4:31:27
  Speaker 2: and provoking tone. Yes, my nephew, I tell you that
• 4:31:32
  Speaker 2: you are utterly mistaken. He continued, Do you not can
• 4:31:37
  Speaker 2: you not recognize all the well known symptoms of an earthquake?
• 4:31:42
  Speaker 2: By no means, I'm expecting something far more important. My
• 4:31:47
  Speaker 2: brain is strained beyond endurance. What what do you mean,
• 4:31:53
  Speaker 2: I cried? An eruption? Hurry, an eruption, I gasped. We
• 4:31:59
  Speaker 2: are then in the volcanic shaft of a crater, in
• 4:32:03
  Speaker 2: full action and vigor. I have every reason to think, so,
• 4:32:07
  Speaker 2: said the professor in a smiling tone. And I beg
• 4:32:11
  Speaker 2: to tell you that it is the most fortunate thing
• 4:32:13
  Speaker 2: that could happen to us, the most fortunate thing. Had
• 4:32:19
  Speaker 2: my uncle really and truly gone mad? What did he
• 4:32:23
  Speaker 2: mean by these awful words? What did he mean by
• 4:32:26
  Speaker 2: this terrible calm, this solemn smile? What cried I, in
• 4:32:32
  Speaker 2: the height of my exasperation. We are on the way
• 4:32:35
  Speaker 2: of eruption? Are we fatality has cast us into a
• 4:32:39
  Speaker 2: well of burning and boiling lava, of rocks on fire,
• 4:32:43
  Speaker 2: of boiling water, in a word, filled with every kind
• 4:32:48
  Speaker 2: of eruptive matter. We are about to be expelled, thrown up, vomited,
• 4:32:53
  Speaker 2: spit out the interior of the earth, in common with
• 4:32:57
  Speaker 2: huge blocks of granite, with showers as sins and scoria,
• 4:33:01
  Speaker 2: in a wild whirlwind of flame. And you say, the
• 4:33:06
  Speaker 2: most fortunate thing which could happen to us, Yes, replied
• 4:33:11
  Speaker 2: the professor, looking at me calmly from under his spectacles.
• 4:33:16
  Speaker 2: It is the only chance which remains to us of
• 4:33:19
  Speaker 2: ever escaping from the interior of the earth to the
• 4:33:22
  Speaker 2: light of day. It is quite impossible that I can
• 4:33:26
  Speaker 2: put on paper the thousand strange, wild thoughts which followed
• 4:33:30
  Speaker 2: this extraordinary announcement. But my uncle was right, quite right,
• 4:33:36
  Speaker 2: And never had he appeared to me so audacious and
• 4:33:39
  Speaker 2: so convinced as when he looked me calmly in the
• 4:33:42
  Speaker 2: face and spoke of the chances of an eruption of
• 4:33:47
  Speaker 2: our being cast upon Mother Earth once more through the
• 4:33:51
  Speaker 2: gaping crater of a volcano. Nevertheless, while we were speaking,
• 4:33:56
  Speaker 2: we were still ascending. We passed the whole night light,
• 4:34:00
  Speaker 2: going up, or, to speak more scientifically, in an accessional motion.
• 4:34:06
  Speaker 2: The fearful noise redoubled. I was ready to suffocate. I
• 4:34:11
  Speaker 2: seriously believed that my last hours was approaching, And yet
• 4:34:16
  Speaker 2: so strange is imagination. All I thought of was some
• 4:34:21
  Speaker 2: childish hypothesis or other. In such circumstances, you do not
• 4:34:27
  Speaker 2: choose your own thoughts. They overcome you. It was quite
• 4:34:32
  Speaker 2: evident that we were being cast upwards by eruptive matter.
• 4:34:37
  Speaker 2: Under the raft there was a mass of boiling water,
• 4:34:40
  Speaker 2: and under this was a heavier mass of lava and
• 4:34:44
  Speaker 2: an aggregate of rocks, which, on reaching the summit of
• 4:34:47
  Speaker 2: the water, would be dispersed in every direction. That we
• 4:34:53
  Speaker 2: were inside the chimney of a volcano. There could no
• 4:34:56
  Speaker 2: longer be the shadow of a doubt. Nothing more could
• 4:35:00
  Speaker 2: be conceived. But on this occasion, instead of Sneffels an
• 4:35:06
  Speaker 2: old and extinct volcano, we were inside a mountain of
• 4:35:10
  Speaker 2: fire in full activity. Several times I found myself asking
• 4:35:15
  Speaker 2: what mountain was it and on what part of the
• 4:35:19
  Speaker 2: world we should be shot out, as if it were
• 4:35:23
  Speaker 2: of any consequence in the northern regions. There could be
• 4:35:28
  Speaker 2: no reasonable doubt about that. Before it went decidedly mad.
• 4:35:32
  Speaker 2: A compass had never made the slightest mistake. From the
• 4:35:36
  Speaker 2: cape of Sacnussem, we had been swept away to the
• 4:35:39
  Speaker 2: northward many hundreds of leagues. Now the question was, were
• 4:35:44
  Speaker 2: we once more under Iceland. Should we be belched forth on
• 4:35:49
  Speaker 2: to the earth through the crater of Mount Hecla, or
• 4:35:53
  Speaker 2: should be reappear through one of the other seven fire
• 4:35:56
  Speaker 2: funnels of the island. Taking in my mental vision of
• 4:36:00
  Speaker 2: rages of five hundred leagues to the westward, I could
• 4:36:04
  Speaker 2: see under this parallel only the little known volcanos of
• 4:36:08
  Speaker 2: the northwest coast of America. To the east, one only
• 4:36:12
  Speaker 2: existed somewhere about the eighteenth degree of latitude, the esk
• 4:36:17
  Speaker 2: upon the island of john Mayon, not far from the
• 4:36:20
  Speaker 2: frozen regions of Spitzbergen. It was not graters that were wanting,
• 4:36:26
  Speaker 2: and many of them were big enough to vomit the
• 4:36:28
  Speaker 2: whole army. All I wished to know was the particular
• 4:36:32
  Speaker 2: one towards which we were making with such fearful velocity.
• 4:36:38
  Speaker 2: I often think now of my folly, as if I
• 4:36:41
  Speaker 2: should ever have expected to escape. Towards morning, the ascending
• 4:36:47
  Speaker 2: motion became greater and greater, if the degree of heat
• 4:36:52
  Speaker 2: increased instead of decreasing as we approached the surface of
• 4:36:56
  Speaker 2: the earth, it was simply because the causes were low
• 4:37:00
  Speaker 2: and folly due to volcanic influence. Our very style of
• 4:37:05
  Speaker 2: locomotion left in my mind no doubt upon the subject.
• 4:37:09
  Speaker 2: An enormous force, a force of several hundreds of atmospheres
• 4:37:14
  Speaker 2: produced by the vapors accumulated and long compressed in the
• 4:37:18
  Speaker 2: interior of the earth, was hoisting us upwards with irresistible power.
• 4:37:25
  Speaker 2: But though we were approaching the light of day, to
• 4:37:28
  Speaker 2: what fearful dangers were we about to be exposed? Instant
• 4:37:33
  Speaker 2: death appeared the only fate which we could expect or contemplate. Soon,
• 4:37:39
  Speaker 2: a dim sepulchray light penetrated the vertical gallery, which became
• 4:37:44
  Speaker 2: wider and wider. I could make out to the right
• 4:37:47
  Speaker 2: and left, long dark corridors, like immense tunnels, from which
• 4:37:52
  Speaker 2: awful and horrid vapors poured out. Tongues of fire, sparkling
• 4:37:58
  Speaker 2: and crackling, appeared to lick us up. The hour had come. Look, uncle, look,
• 4:38:07
  Speaker 2: I cried, Well, what you see are the great sulfurous flames,
• 4:38:12
  Speaker 2: nothing more common in connection with an eruption but if
• 4:38:16
  Speaker 2: they lap us round, I angrily replied, They will not
• 4:38:20
  Speaker 2: lap us round, was his quiet and serene answer. But
• 4:38:24
  Speaker 2: it will be all the same in the end. If
• 4:38:27
  Speaker 2: they stifle us, I cried, We shall not be stifled.
• 4:38:31
  Speaker 2: The gallery is rapidly becoming wider and wider, and if
• 4:38:35
  Speaker 2: it be necessary, we will presently leave the raft and
• 4:38:38
  Speaker 2: take refuge in some fissure in the rock. But the water,
• 4:38:43
  Speaker 2: the water which is continually ascending, I despairingly replied, There
• 4:38:49
  Speaker 2: is no longer any water. Harry, he answered, but the
• 4:38:53
  Speaker 2: kind of lava paste which is heaving us up in
• 4:38:56
  Speaker 2: company with itself, to the mouth of the crater. In truth,
• 4:39:01
  Speaker 2: the liquid column of water had fully disappeared to give
• 4:39:04
  Speaker 2: place to dense masses of boiling eruptive matter. The temperature
• 4:39:10
  Speaker 2: was becoming utterly insupportable, and a thermometer exposed to this
• 4:39:15
  Speaker 2: atmosphere would have marked between one hundred and eighty nine
• 4:39:19
  Speaker 2: and one hundred ninety degrees fahrenheight. Perspiration rushed from every pore.
• 4:39:26
  Speaker 2: But for the extraordinary rapidity of our ascent, we should
• 4:39:29
  Speaker 2: have been stifled. Nevertheless, the professor did not carry out
• 4:39:34
  Speaker 2: his proposition of abandoning the raft, and he did quite wisely.
• 4:39:39
  Speaker 2: Those few ill joined beams offered anyway a solid surface,
• 4:39:44
  Speaker 2: a support which elsewhere must have utterly failed us. Towards
• 4:39:49
  Speaker 2: eight o'clock in the morning, a new incident startled us.
• 4:39:53
  Speaker 2: The ascensional movements suddenly ceased. The raft became still and motionless.
• 4:40:00
  Speaker 2: What is the matter now, I said, querulously, very much
• 4:40:04
  Speaker 2: startled by this change, A simple halt, replied my uncle.
• 4:40:10
  Speaker 2: Is the eruption about to fail? I asked, I hope not.
• 4:40:15
  Speaker 2: Without making any reply, I rose. I tried to look
• 4:40:18
  Speaker 2: around me. Perhaps the raft check by some projecting rock,
• 4:40:22
  Speaker 2: opposed a momentary resistance to the eruptive mass. In this case,
• 4:40:28
  Speaker 2: it was absolutely necessary to release it as quickly as possible.
• 4:40:33
  Speaker 2: Nothing of the kind had occurred. The Colonel, cinders of scoria,
• 4:40:38
  Speaker 2: of broken rocks and earth had folly ceased to ascend.
• 4:40:43
  Speaker 2: I tell you, uncle, that the eruption has stopped. Was
• 4:40:46
  Speaker 2: my oracular decision, Ah, said my uncle. You think so,
• 4:40:52
  Speaker 2: My boy, you are wrong. Do not be in the
• 4:40:55
  Speaker 2: least alarmed. This sudden moment of calm will not long
• 4:41:00
  Speaker 2: be assured. It has already endured five minutes, and before
• 4:41:05
  Speaker 2: we are many minutes older. We shall be continuing our
• 4:41:08
  Speaker 2: journey to the mouth of the crater. All the time
• 4:41:12
  Speaker 2: he was speaking, the professor continued to consult his chronometer,
• 4:41:16
  Speaker 2: and he was probably right in his prognostics. Soon the
• 4:41:21
  Speaker 2: raft resumed its motion in a very rapid and disorderly way,
• 4:41:25
  Speaker 2: which lasted two minutes or thereabout, And then again it
• 4:41:29
  Speaker 2: stopped as suddenly as before. Good, said my uncle, observing
• 4:41:34
  Speaker 2: the hour in ten we shall start again in ten minutes. Yes, precisely.
• 4:41:41
  Speaker 2: We have to do with the volcano, the eruption of
• 4:41:44
  Speaker 2: which is intermittent. We are compelled to breathe just as
• 4:41:48
  Speaker 2: it does. Nothing could be more true. At the exact
• 4:41:53
  Speaker 2: minute he had indicated, we were again launched on high
• 4:41:57
  Speaker 2: with extreme rapidity. Not to be cast off the raft,
• 4:42:00
  Speaker 2: it was necessary to hold on to the beams. Then
• 4:42:04
  Speaker 2: the hoist again ceased. Many times since have I thought
• 4:42:08
  Speaker 2: of this singular phenomenon, without being able to find for
• 4:42:12
  Speaker 2: it any satisfactory explanation. Nevertheless, it appeared quite clear to
• 4:42:17
  Speaker 2: me that we were not in the principal chimney of
• 4:42:20
  Speaker 2: the volcano, but in a necessary conduit where we felt
• 4:42:25
  Speaker 2: the countershock of the great and principal tunnel filled by
• 4:42:29
  Speaker 2: burning lava. It is impossible for me to say how
• 4:42:32
  Speaker 2: many times this maneuver was repeated. All that I can
• 4:42:36
  Speaker 2: remember is that on every accessional motion we were hoisted
• 4:42:41
  Speaker 2: up with ever increasing velocity, as if we had been
• 4:42:44
  Speaker 2: launched from a huge projectile. During the sudden halts, we
• 4:42:49
  Speaker 2: were nearly stifled. During the moments of projection, the hot
• 4:42:53
  Speaker 2: air took away our breath. I thought, for a moment
• 4:42:57
  Speaker 2: of the voluptuous joy of suddenly fine in myself in
• 4:43:01
  Speaker 2: the Hypoborean regions, with the cold thirty degrees below Sero,
• 4:43:06
  Speaker 2: my exalted imagination pictured to itself the vast snowy plains
• 4:43:11
  Speaker 2: of the Arctic regions, and I was impatient to roll
• 4:43:15
  Speaker 2: myself on the icy carpet of the North Pole by degrees.
• 4:43:20
  Speaker 2: My head, utterly overcome by a series of violent emotions,
• 4:43:24
  Speaker 2: began to give way to hallucination. I was delirious. Had
• 4:43:29
  Speaker 2: it not been for the powerful arms of Hans the Guide,
• 4:43:33
  Speaker 2: I should have broken my head against the granite masses
• 4:43:36
  Speaker 2: of the shaft. I have, in consequence, kept no account
• 4:43:40
  Speaker 2: of what followed. For many hours. I have a vague
• 4:43:44
  Speaker 2: and confused remembrance of continual detonations of the shaking of
• 4:43:49
  Speaker 2: the huge granitic mass, and of the raft going round
• 4:43:53
  Speaker 2: like a spinning top. It floated on the stream of
• 4:43:56
  Speaker 2: hot lava amidst the falling cloud of sin The huge
• 4:44:01
  Speaker 2: flames roaring wrapped us around. A storm of wind which
• 4:44:06
  Speaker 2: appeared to be cast forth from an immense ventilator, roused
• 4:44:10
  Speaker 2: up the interior fires of the earth. It was a hot,
• 4:44:13
  Speaker 2: incandescent blast. At last, I saw the figure of hands,
• 4:44:18
  Speaker 2: as if envelope, in the huge halo of burning blaze,
• 4:44:23
  Speaker 2: and no other sense remained to me but that sinister
• 4:44:26
  Speaker 2: dad which the condemned victim may be supposed to feel
• 4:44:30
  Speaker 2: when led to the mouth of a cannon at the
• 4:44:33
  Speaker 2: supreme moment, when the shot is fired and his limbs
• 4:44:36
  Speaker 2: are dispersed into empty space. End of Chapter forty two,
• 4:44:44
  Speaker 2: Chapter forty three daylight. At last, when I opened my eyes,
• 4:44:52
  Speaker 2: I felt the hand of the Guide clutching me firmly
• 4:44:55
  Speaker 2: by the belt. With his other hand he supported my uncle.
• 4:45:00
  Speaker 2: I was not grievously wounded, but bruised all over in
• 4:45:03
  Speaker 2: the most remarkable manner. After a moment, I looked around
• 4:45:08
  Speaker 2: and found that I was lying down on the slope
• 4:45:10
  Speaker 2: of a mountain not two yards from a yawning gulf
• 4:45:14
  Speaker 2: into which I should have fallen had I made the
• 4:45:16
  Speaker 2: slightest false step. Hans had saved me from death while
• 4:45:21
  Speaker 2: I rolled insensible on the flanks of the crater. Where
• 4:45:25
  Speaker 2: are we, dreamily asked my uncle, who literally appeared to
• 4:45:30
  Speaker 2: be disgusted at having returned to Earth. The either down
• 4:45:34
  Speaker 2: hunter seemed to shrug his shoulders as a mark of
• 4:45:37
  Speaker 2: total ignorance in Iceland, said I, not positively, but interrogatively. Nay,
• 4:45:45
  Speaker 2: said Hans, How do you mean, cried the professor. No,
• 4:45:50
  Speaker 2: what are your reasons? Hans is wrong, said I rising.
• 4:45:55
  Speaker 2: After all the innumerable surprises of this journey, I yet
• 4:45:59
  Speaker 2: more singular one was reserved to us. I expected to
• 4:46:03
  Speaker 2: see a cone covered by snow, by extensive and widespread
• 4:46:07
  Speaker 2: glaciers in the midst of the arid deserts of the
• 4:46:10
  Speaker 2: extreme northern regions, beneath the full rays of a polar
• 4:46:14
  Speaker 2: sky beyond the highest latitudes. But contrary to all our expectations, I,
• 4:46:21
  Speaker 2: my uncle, and the Icelander were cast upon the slope
• 4:46:25
  Speaker 2: of a mountain, calcined by the burning rays of the sun,
• 4:46:29
  Speaker 2: which was literally baking us with its fires. I could
• 4:46:34
  Speaker 2: not believe my eyes, but the actual heat which affected
• 4:46:37
  Speaker 2: my body allowed me no chance of doubting. We came
• 4:46:42
  Speaker 2: out of the crater half naked, and the radiant star
• 4:46:46
  Speaker 2: from which we had asked nothing for two months, was
• 4:46:49
  Speaker 2: good enough to be prodigal to us of light and warmth,
• 4:46:53
  Speaker 2: A light and warmth we could easily have dispensed with
• 4:46:57
  Speaker 2: when our eyes were accustomed to the light we had
• 4:47:00
  Speaker 2: lost sight of so long. I used them to rectify
• 4:47:04
  Speaker 2: the errors of my imagination. Whatever happened, we should have
• 4:47:08
  Speaker 2: been at Spitzbergen, and I was in no humor to
• 4:47:12
  Speaker 2: yield to anything but the most absolute proof. After some delay,
• 4:47:18
  Speaker 2: the Professor spoke hum He said, in a hesitating kind
• 4:47:22
  Speaker 2: of way, it really does not look like Iceland. But
• 4:47:27
  Speaker 2: supposing it were the island of John Mayen, I ventured
• 4:47:30
  Speaker 2: to observe not in the least, my boy, this is
• 4:47:35
  Speaker 2: not one of the volcanoes of the North, with its
• 4:47:37
  Speaker 2: sills of granite and its crown of snow. Nevertheless, look, look,
• 4:47:44
  Speaker 2: my boy, said the professor, as dogmatically as usual. Right
• 4:47:49
  Speaker 2: above our heads sat a great height opened the crater
• 4:47:53
  Speaker 2: of a volcano, from which escaped from one quarter of
• 4:47:56
  Speaker 2: an hour to the other with a very loud explosion,
• 4:48:00
  Speaker 2: a lofty jet of flame mingled with pumice, stone, cinders
• 4:48:05
  Speaker 2: and lava. I could feel the convulsions of nature in
• 4:48:09
  Speaker 2: the mountain, which breathed like a jewge whale, throwing up
• 4:48:13
  Speaker 2: from time to time fire and air through its enormous
• 4:48:17
  Speaker 2: vents below, and floating along a slope of considerable angularity.
• 4:48:23
  Speaker 2: The stream of eruptive matter spread away to a depth
• 4:48:26
  Speaker 2: which did not give the volcano a height of three
• 4:48:29
  Speaker 2: hundred fathoms. Its base disappeared in a perfect forest of
• 4:48:34
  Speaker 2: green trees, among which I perceived olives, fig trees, and
• 4:48:39
  Speaker 2: vines loaded with rich grapes. Certainly, this was not the
• 4:48:44
  Speaker 2: ordinary aspect of the Arctic regions. About that there could
• 4:48:49
  Speaker 2: not be the slightest doubt. When the eye was satisfied
• 4:48:53
  Speaker 2: at its glimpse of this verdant expanse, it fell upon
• 4:48:57
  Speaker 2: the waters of a lovely sea, or ume beautiful lake,
• 4:49:01
  Speaker 2: which made of this enchanted land, and island of not
• 4:49:04
  Speaker 2: many leagues in extent. On the side of the rising
• 4:49:08
  Speaker 2: sun was to be seen a little port crowded with houses,
• 4:49:13
  Speaker 2: and near which the boats and vessels of peculiar build
• 4:49:16
  Speaker 2: were floating upon us or waves beyond. Groups of islands
• 4:49:22
  Speaker 2: rose above the liquid plain, so numerous and close together
• 4:49:26
  Speaker 2: as to resemble a vast bee hive. Towards the setting sun,
• 4:49:32
  Speaker 2: some distant shores were to be made out on the
• 4:49:35
  Speaker 2: edge of the horizon. Some presented the appearance of blue
• 4:49:39
  Speaker 2: mountains of harmonious conformation, upon others much more distant. There
• 4:49:45
  Speaker 2: appeared a prodigiously lofty cone, above the summit of which
• 4:49:49
  Speaker 2: hung dark and heavy clouds. Towatch the north. An immense
• 4:49:54
  Speaker 2: expanse of water sparkled beneath the solar rays, occasionally allowing
• 4:49:59
  Speaker 2: the extra trimity of a mast or the convexity of
• 4:50:02
  Speaker 2: a sail bearing to the wind to be seen. The
• 4:50:07
  Speaker 2: unexpected character of such a scene added a hundredfold to
• 4:50:10
  Speaker 2: its marvelous beauties. Where can we be? I asked, speaking
• 4:50:16
  Speaker 2: in a low and solemn voice. Hans shut his eyes
• 4:50:20
  Speaker 2: with an air of indifference, and my uncle looked on,
• 4:50:23
  Speaker 2: without clearly understanding whatever this mountain may be. He said,
• 4:50:29
  Speaker 2: at last, I must confess it is rather warm. The
• 4:50:33
  Speaker 2: explosions do not leave off, and I do not think
• 4:50:36
  Speaker 2: it is worth while to have left the interior of
• 4:50:39
  Speaker 2: a volcano and remain here to receive a huge piece
• 4:50:42
  Speaker 2: of rock upon one's head. Let us carefully descend the
• 4:50:46
  Speaker 2: mountain and discover the real state of the case. To
• 4:50:50
  Speaker 2: confess the truth, I am dying of hunger and thirst. Decidedly,
• 4:50:56
  Speaker 2: the professor was no longer a truly reflective character for myself,
• 4:51:01
  Speaker 2: forgetting all my necessities, ignoring my fatigues and sufferings. I
• 4:51:06
  Speaker 2: should have remained still for several hours longer, but it
• 4:51:09
  Speaker 2: was necessary to follow my companions. The slope of the
• 4:51:14
  Speaker 2: volcano was very steep and slippery. We slid over piles
• 4:51:18
  Speaker 2: of ashes, avoiding the streams of hot lava, which glided
• 4:51:22
  Speaker 2: about like fiery serpents. Still, while we were advancing, I
• 4:51:27
  Speaker 2: spoke with extreme volubility, for my imagination was too full
• 4:51:32
  Speaker 2: not to explode in words. We are in Asia, I exclaimed.
• 4:51:37
  Speaker 2: We are on the coast of India, in the great
• 4:51:40
  Speaker 2: Malay Islands, in the center of Ossianya. We have crossed
• 4:51:44
  Speaker 2: the one half of the globe to come out right
• 4:51:47
  Speaker 2: at the antipodes of Europe. But the compass, exclaimed, my uncle,
• 4:51:52
  Speaker 2: explain that to me. Yes, the compass, I said, with
• 4:51:57
  Speaker 2: considerable hesitation, I grant that is a difficulty. According to it,
• 4:52:03
  Speaker 2: we have always been going northward. Then it lied. Hum
• 4:52:09
  Speaker 2: to say that it lied is rather a harsh word,
• 4:52:12
  Speaker 2: was my answer. Then we are at the north pole
• 4:52:16
  Speaker 2: the pole. No, well, well, I give it up, was
• 4:52:22
  Speaker 2: my reply. The plain truth was that there was no
• 4:52:26
  Speaker 2: explanation possible. I could make nothing of it, And all
• 4:52:30
  Speaker 2: the while we were approaching this beautiful verdure, hunger and
• 4:52:34
  Speaker 2: thirst tormented me fearfully Happily, after two long hours march,
• 4:52:39
  Speaker 2: a beautiful country spread out before us, covered by olives, pomegranates,
• 4:52:45
  Speaker 2: and vines, which appeared to belong to anybody and everybody
• 4:52:50
  Speaker 2: in any event, In the state of destitution into which
• 4:52:54
  Speaker 2: we had fallen, we were not in a mood to
• 4:52:56
  Speaker 2: ponder too scrupulously what delay light it was to press
• 4:53:01
  Speaker 2: these delicious fruits to our lips, and to bite at
• 4:53:04
  Speaker 2: grapes and pomegranates fresh from the vine. Not far off,
• 4:53:09
  Speaker 2: near some fresh and mossy grass, under the delicious shade
• 4:53:13
  Speaker 2: of some trees, I discovered a spring of fresh water
• 4:53:17
  Speaker 2: in which we wiluptiously laid our faces, hands and feet.
• 4:53:22
  Speaker 2: While we were all giving way to the delights of
• 4:53:25
  Speaker 2: new found pleasures, a little child appeared between two tufted
• 4:53:30
  Speaker 2: olive trees. AH cried, I an inhabitant of this happy country.
• 4:53:37
  Speaker 2: The little fellow was poorly dressed, weak and suffering, and
• 4:53:41
  Speaker 2: appeared terribly alarmed at our appearance. Half naked, with tangled,
• 4:53:46
  Speaker 2: matted and ragged beards. We did look supremely ill favored,
• 4:53:50
  Speaker 2: and unless the country was abandoned land, we were not
• 4:53:55
  Speaker 2: likely to alarm the inhabitants. Just as the boy was
• 4:53:59
  Speaker 2: about to take to his heels, Hans ran after him
• 4:54:02
  Speaker 2: and brought him back, despite his cries and kicks. My
• 4:54:06
  Speaker 2: uncle tried to look as gentle as possible, and then
• 4:54:09
  Speaker 2: spoke in German, what is the name of this mountain,
• 4:54:13
  Speaker 2: my friend? The child made no reply. Good, said my uncle,
• 4:54:18
  Speaker 2: with a very positive air of conviction. We are not
• 4:54:21
  Speaker 2: in Germany. He then made the same demand in English,
• 4:54:25
  Speaker 2: of which language he was an excellent scholar. The child
• 4:54:29
  Speaker 2: shook its head and made no reply. I began to
• 4:54:32
  Speaker 2: be considerably puzzled. Is he dumb? Cried the professor, who
• 4:54:37
  Speaker 2: was rather proud of his polyglot knowledge of languages, and
• 4:54:40
  Speaker 2: made the same demand in French. The boy only stared
• 4:54:44
  Speaker 2: in his face. I must perforce try him in Italian,
• 4:54:48
  Speaker 2: said my uncle with a shrug. Dorg noissiamo, Yes, tell
• 4:54:54
  Speaker 2: me where we are, I added, impatiently and eagerly. Again,
• 4:54:58
  Speaker 2: the boy remained silent. My fine fellow, doyo, or do
• 4:55:02
  Speaker 2: you not mean to speak? Cried my uncle, who began
• 4:55:05
  Speaker 2: to get angry. He shook him and spoke another dialect
• 4:55:09
  Speaker 2: of the Italian language. Comesinoma questa isola. What is the
• 4:55:14
  Speaker 2: name of this island? Stromboli, replied the rickety little shepherd,
• 4:55:19
  Speaker 2: dashing away from Hans and disappearing in the olive groves.
• 4:55:23
  Speaker 2: We thought little enough about him, Strombily, what effect on
• 4:55:29
  Speaker 2: the imagination did these few words produce? We were in
• 4:55:33
  Speaker 2: the center of the Mediterranean, amidst the eastern archipelago of
• 4:55:38
  Speaker 2: mythological memory, in the ancient strongloss, where Eolus kept the
• 4:55:43
  Speaker 2: wind and the tempest chained up. And those blue mountains
• 4:55:47
  Speaker 2: which rose towards the rising sun were the mountains of Calabria.
• 4:55:52
  Speaker 2: And that mighty volcano which rose on the southern horizon
• 4:55:56
  Speaker 2: was Etna, the fierce and celebrated Eta. Now strombui Strombulli,
• 4:56:04
  Speaker 2: I repeated to myself. My uncle played a regular accompaniment
• 4:56:09
  Speaker 2: to my gestures and words. We were singing together like
• 4:56:12
  Speaker 2: an ancient chorus. Ah, what a journey, What a marvelous
• 4:56:19
  Speaker 2: and extraordinary journey. Here we had entered the Earth by
• 4:56:24
  Speaker 2: one volcano, and we had come out by another. And
• 4:56:29
  Speaker 2: this other was situated more than twelve hundred leagues from Sneffels,
• 4:56:34
  Speaker 2: from that drear country of Iceland, cast away on the
• 4:56:38
  Speaker 2: confines of the Earth. The wondrous changes of this expedition
• 4:56:43
  Speaker 2: had transported us to the most harmonious and beautiful of
• 4:56:47
  Speaker 2: earthly lands. We had abandoned the region of eternal snows
• 4:56:52
  Speaker 2: for that of infinite verdure, and had left over our
• 4:56:56
  Speaker 2: heads the gray fog of the icy regions. Come back
• 4:57:00
  Speaker 2: to the azer sky of Sicily. After a delicious repast
• 4:57:06
  Speaker 2: of fruits and fresh water, we again continued our journey
• 4:57:10
  Speaker 2: in order to reach the port of Stromboli. To say
• 4:57:14
  Speaker 2: how we had reached the island would scarcely have been prudent.
• 4:57:18
  Speaker 2: The superstitious character of the Italians would have been at work,
• 4:57:23
  Speaker 2: and we should have been called demons vomited from the
• 4:57:26
  Speaker 2: infernal regions. It was therefore necessary to pass for humble
• 4:57:31
  Speaker 2: and unfortunate shipwrecked travelers. It was certainly less striking and romantic,
• 4:57:37
  Speaker 2: but it was decidedly safer. As we advanced, I could
• 4:57:41
  Speaker 2: hear my worthy uncle muttering to himself. But the compass,
• 4:57:47
  Speaker 2: the compost, most certainly marked north. This is a fact
• 4:57:51
  Speaker 2: I cannot explain in any way. Well, the fact is
• 4:57:55
  Speaker 2: said I, with an air of disdain. We must not
• 4:57:59
  Speaker 2: explain anything. It will be much more easy. I should
• 4:58:03
  Speaker 2: like to see a professor of the Johanneum institution who
• 4:58:06
  Speaker 2: is unable to explain a cosmic phenomenon. It would indeed
• 4:58:10
  Speaker 2: be strange and speaking. Thus, my uncle, half naked, his
• 4:58:15
  Speaker 2: leathern pursed round his loins, and his spectacles upon his nose,
• 4:58:19
  Speaker 2: became once more the terrible professor of mineralogy. An hour
• 4:58:25
  Speaker 2: after leaving the Wood of Olives, we reached the fort
• 4:58:28
  Speaker 2: of San Victenza, where Hans demanded the price of his
• 4:58:32
  Speaker 2: thirteen week of service. My uncle paid him with very
• 4:58:36
  Speaker 2: many warm shakes of the hand. At that moment, if
• 4:58:40
  Speaker 2: he did not indeed quite share our natural emotion, he
• 4:58:44
  Speaker 2: allowed his feelings so far to give way as to
• 4:58:47
  Speaker 2: indulge in an extraordinary expression for him. With the tips
• 4:58:51
  Speaker 2: of two fingers, he gently pressed our hands and smiled
• 4:58:58
  Speaker 2: end of chapter forty three Chapter forty four of Journey
• 4:59:03
  Speaker 2: to the Center of the Earth. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 4:59:07
  Speaker 2: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 4:59:11
  Speaker 2: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Reading
• 4:59:16
  Speaker 2: by lash Rulander Journey to the Center of the Earth
• 4:59:21
  Speaker 2: by Chulvin, Chapter forty four The Journey ended. This is
• 4:59:29
  Speaker 2: the final conclusion of a narrative which will be probably
• 4:59:33
  Speaker 2: disbelieved even by people who were astonished at nothing. I am, however,
• 4:59:38
  Speaker 2: armed at all points against human incredulity. We were kindly
• 4:59:44
  Speaker 2: received by the Strombolite fishermen, who treated us as shipwrecked travelers.
• 4:59:50
  Speaker 2: They gave us clothes and food. After a delay of
• 4:59:53
  Speaker 2: forty eight hours, on the thirteenth of September, a little
• 4:59:58
  Speaker 2: vessel took us to Messina, where a few days of
• 5:00:01
  Speaker 2: delightful and complete repose restored us to ourselves. On Friday,
• 5:00:07
  Speaker 2: the fourth of October, we embarked in the Volturne, one
• 5:00:11
  Speaker 2: of the postal packets of the Imperial Messageries of France,
• 5:00:15
  Speaker 2: and three days later we landed at Marseilles, having no
• 5:00:19
  Speaker 2: other care on our minds, but that of our precious
• 5:00:23
  Speaker 2: but erratic compass. This inexplicable circumstance tormented me terribly. On
• 5:00:31
  Speaker 2: the ninth of October, in the evening we reached Hamburg.
• 5:00:35
  Speaker 2: What was the astonishment of Martha? What the joy of Gretchen?
• 5:00:40
  Speaker 2: I will not attempt to define it now, then hurry
• 5:00:45
  Speaker 2: that you really are a hero? She said, there is
• 5:00:48
  Speaker 2: no reason why you should ever leave me again. I
• 5:00:52
  Speaker 2: looked at her. She was weeping tears of joy. I
• 5:00:57
  Speaker 2: leave it to be imagined if the return of Professor
• 5:01:00
  Speaker 2: Hartwick made or did not make a sensation in Hamburg.
• 5:01:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks to the indiscretion of Martha. The news of his
• 5:01:08
  Speaker 2: departure for the interior of the earth had been spread
• 5:01:11
  Speaker 2: over the whole world. No one would believe it, and
• 5:01:15
  Speaker 2: when they saw him come back in safety, they believed
• 5:01:19
  Speaker 2: it all the less. But the presence of Hans and
• 5:01:23
  Speaker 2: many stray scraps of information by degrees modified public opinion.
• 5:01:28
  Speaker 2: Then my uncle became a great man, and I the
• 5:01:32
  Speaker 2: nephew of a great man, which, at all events is something.
• 5:01:39
  Speaker 2: Hamburg gave a festival in our honor. A public meeting
• 5:01:43
  Speaker 2: of the Johanneum Institution was held, at which the professor
• 5:01:47
  Speaker 2: related the whole story of his adventures o meeting only
• 5:01:51
  Speaker 2: the facts in connection with a compass. That same day
• 5:01:56
  Speaker 2: he deposited in the archives of the town the document
• 5:02:00
  Speaker 2: he had found written by Sacnussm, and he expressed his
• 5:02:03
  Speaker 2: great regret that circumstances stronger than his will did not
• 5:02:07
  Speaker 2: allow him to follow the Icelandic traveler's track into the
• 5:02:11
  Speaker 2: very center of the earth. He was modest in his glory,
• 5:02:16
  Speaker 2: but his reputation only increased so much honor necessarily created
• 5:02:22
  Speaker 2: for him many envious enemies. Of course, they existed, and
• 5:02:27
  Speaker 2: as his theories, supported by certain facts, contradicted the system
• 5:02:32
  Speaker 2: of science upon the question of central heat, he maintained
• 5:02:35
  Speaker 2: his own views, both with pen and speech, against the
• 5:02:39
  Speaker 2: learned of every country. Although I still believe in the
• 5:02:43
  Speaker 2: theory of central heat, I confess that certain circumstances, hitherto
• 5:02:49
  Speaker 2: very ill defined, may modify the laws of such natural phenomenon.
• 5:02:54
  Speaker 2: At the moment when these questions were being discussed with interest,
• 5:02:58
  Speaker 2: my uncle received a rude shock, one that he felt
• 5:03:02
  Speaker 2: very much. Hans, despite everything he could say to the contrary,
• 5:03:07
  Speaker 2: quitted Hamburg, the man to whom we owed so much,
• 5:03:10
  Speaker 2: would not allow us to pay our deep debt of gratitude.
• 5:03:14
  Speaker 2: He was taken with nostalgia a love for his Icelandic home. Farewell,
• 5:03:21
  Speaker 2: said he one day, and with this one short word
• 5:03:24
  Speaker 2: of adieu, he started for Raikiavik, which he soon reached
• 5:03:28
  Speaker 2: in safety. We were deeply attached to our brave Idodakhunter.
• 5:03:34
  Speaker 2: His absence will never cause him to be forgotten by
• 5:03:37
  Speaker 2: those whose lives he saved, and I hope, at some
• 5:03:41
  Speaker 2: not distant day to see him again. To conclude, I
• 5:03:46
  Speaker 2: may say that our journey into the interior of the
• 5:03:48
  Speaker 2: Earth created an enormous sensation throughout the civilized world. It
• 5:03:54
  Speaker 2: was translated and printed in many languages. All the leading
• 5:03:59
  Speaker 2: journals publish distracts from it, which were commentated, discussed, attack,
• 5:04:04
  Speaker 2: and supported with equal animation by those who believed in
• 5:04:08
  Speaker 2: its episodes and by those who were utterly incredulous wonderful.
• 5:04:14
  Speaker 2: My uncle enjoyed during his lifetime all the glory he deserved,
• 5:04:19
  Speaker 2: and he was even offered a large sum of money
• 5:04:21
  Speaker 2: by mister Barnum to exhibit himself in the United States,
• 5:04:26
  Speaker 2: while I am credibly informed by a traveler that he
• 5:04:29
  Speaker 2: is to be seen in waxwork at Madame Tussor's. But
• 5:04:33
  Speaker 2: one care preyed upon his mind, a care which rendered
• 5:04:37
  Speaker 2: him very unhappy. One fact remained inexplicable, that of the compass.
• 5:04:45
  Speaker 2: For a learning man to be baffled by such an
• 5:04:47
  Speaker 2: inexplicable phenomenon was very aggravating, But Heaven was merciful, and
• 5:04:55
  Speaker 2: in the end my uncle was happy. One day, while
• 5:05:00
  Speaker 2: he put some innerals belonging to his collection in order,
• 5:05:04
  Speaker 2: I fell upon the famous compass and examined it keenly
• 5:05:09
  Speaker 2: for six months, it had lain unnoticed and untouched. I
• 5:05:14
  Speaker 2: looked at it with curiosity, which soon became surprised. I
• 5:05:19
  Speaker 2: gave a loud cry. The professor, who was at hand,
• 5:05:23
  Speaker 2: soon joined me. What is the matter? He cried, the compass,
• 5:05:30
  Speaker 2: What then, why its needle points to the south and
• 5:05:34
  Speaker 2: not to the north. My dear boy, you must be dreaming.
• 5:05:39
  Speaker 2: I'm not dreaming. See the poles are changed changed. My
• 5:05:46
  Speaker 2: uncle put on his spectacles, examined the instrument, and leaped
• 5:05:50
  Speaker 2: with joy, shaking the whole house. A clear light fell
• 5:05:54
  Speaker 2: upon our minds. Here it is, he cried, as soon
• 5:05:59
  Speaker 2: as he had recovered the use of his speech. After
• 5:06:02
  Speaker 2: we had once passed Cape sutnussm. The needle of this
• 5:06:06
  Speaker 2: compass pointed to the southward instead of the northward. Evidently
• 5:06:12
  Speaker 2: our error is now easily explained. But to what phenomenon
• 5:06:16
  Speaker 2: do we owe this alteration in the needle? Nothing more simple?
• 5:06:21
  Speaker 2: Explain yourself, my boy, I am on thorns during the
• 5:06:26
  Speaker 2: storm upon the central sea. The ball of fire, which
• 5:06:30
  Speaker 2: made a magnet of the iron in our raft, turned
• 5:06:33
  Speaker 2: our compast topsy turvey, ah, cried the professor with a
• 5:06:38
  Speaker 2: loud and ringing laugh. It was a trick of that
• 5:06:41
  Speaker 2: inexplicable electricity. From that hour, my uncle was the happiest
• 5:06:47
  Speaker 2: of learned men, and I the happiest of ordinary mortals.
• 5:06:53
  Speaker 2: For my pretty virlind girl, abdicating her position as ward
• 5:06:57
  Speaker 2: took her place in the house in the keernishetrasse in
• 5:07:01
  Speaker 2: the double quality of niece and wife, we need scarcely
• 5:07:07
  Speaker 2: mention that her uncle was the illustrous Professor Hartwig, corresponding
• 5:07:12
  Speaker 2: member of all the scientific, geographical, mineralogical and geological societies
• 5:07:18
  Speaker 2: of the five parts of the globe. End of the
• 5:07:23
  Speaker 2: Voice Extraordinariy end of chapter forty four, and thereby also
• 5:07:30
  Speaker 2: the end of Journey to the Center of the Earth
• 5:07:32
  Speaker 2: by Chilvan