Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Jules Verne
Contents
I My Uncle Makes a Great Discovery
II The Mysterious Parchment
III An Astounding Discovery
IV We Start on the Journey
V First Lessons in Climbing
VI Our Voyage to Iceland
VII Conversation and Discovery
VIII The Eider-Down Hunter—Off at Last
IX Our Start—We Meet with Adventures by the Way
X Traveling in Iceland—The Lepers
XI We Reach Mount Sneffels—The “Reykir”
XII The Ascent of Mount Sneffels
XIII The Shadow of Scartaris
XIV The Real Journey Commences
XV We Continue Our Descent
XVI The Eastern Tunnel
XVII Deeper and Deeper—The Coal Mine
XVIII The Wrong Road!
XIX The Western Gallery—A New Route
XX Water, Where is It? A Bitter Disappointment
XXI Under the Ocean
XXII Sunday below Ground
XXIII Alone
XXIV Lost!
XXV The Whispering Gallery
XXVI A Rapid Recovery
XXVII The Central Sea
XXVIII Launching the Raft
XXIX On the Waters—A Raft Voyage
XXX Terrific Saurian Combat
XXXI The Sea Monster
XXXII The Battle of the Elements
XXXIII Our Route Reversed
XXXIV A Voyage of Discovery
XXXV Discovery upon Discovery
XXXVI What is It?
XXXVII The Mysterious Dagger
XXXVIII No Outlet—Blasting the Rock
XXXIX The Explosion and Its Results
XL The Ape Gigans
XLI Hunger
XLII The Volcanic Shaft
XLIII Daylight at Last
XLIV The Journey Ended
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I
My Uncle Makes a Great Discovery
Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day, I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures. They were truly so wonderful that even now I am bewildered when I think of them.
My uncle was a German, having married my mother’s sister, an Englishwoman. Being very much attached to his fatherless nephew, he invited me to study under him in his home in the fatherland. This home was in a large town, and my uncle a professor of philosophy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and many other ologies.
One day, after passing some hours in the laboratory—my uncle being absent at the time—I suddenly felt the necessity of renovating the tissues—i.e., I was hungry, and was about to rouse up our old French cook, when my uncle, Professor Von Hardwigg, suddenly opened the street door, and came rushing upstairs.
Now Professor Hardwigg, my worthy uncle, is by no means a bad sort of man; he is, however, choleric and original. To bear with him means to obey; and scarcely had his heavy feet resounded within our joint domicile than he shouted for me to attend upon him.
“Harry—Harry—Harry—”
I hastened to obey, but before I could reach his room, jumping three steps at a time, he was stamping his right foot upon the landing.
“Harry!” he cried, in a frantic tone, “are you coming up?”
Now to tell the truth, at that moment I was far more interested in the question as to what was to constitute our dinner than in any problem of science; to me soup was more interesting than soda, an omelette more tempting than arithmetic, and an artichoke of ten times more value than any amount of asbestos.
But my uncle was not a man to be kept waiting; so adjourning therefore all minor questions, I presented myself before him.
He was a very learned man. Now most persons in this category supply themselves with information, as peddlers do with goods, for the benefit of others, and lay up stores in order to diffuse them abroad for the benefit of society in general. Not so my excellent uncle, Professor Hardwigg; he studied, he consumed the midnight oil, he pored over heavy tomes, and digested huge quartos and folios in order to keep the knowledge acquired to himself.
There was a reason, and it may be regarded as a good one, why my uncle objected to display his learning more than was absolutely necessary: he stammered; and when intent upon explaining the phenomena of the heavens, was apt to find himself at fault, and allude in such a vague way to sun, moon, and stars that few were able to comprehend his meaning. To tell the honest truth, when the right word would not come, it was generally replaced by a very powerful adjective.