“Well, my dear boy, it will not be exactly what you would call a vessel. For the present we must be content with a good and solid raft.”
“A raft,” I cried, incredulously, “but down here a raft is as impossible of construction as a vessel—and I am at a loss to imagine—”
“My good Harry—if you were to listen instead of talking so much, you would hear,” said my uncle, waxing a little impatient.
“I should hear?”
“Yes—certain knocks with the hammer, which Hans is now employing to make the raft. He has been at work for many hours.”
“Making a raft?”
“Yes.”
“But where has he found trees suitable for such a construction?”
“He found the trees all ready to his hand. Come, and you shall see our excellent guide at work.”
More and more amazed at what I heard and saw, I followed my uncle like one in a dream.
After a walk of about a quarter of an hour, I saw Hans at work on the other side of the promontory which formed our natural port. A few minutes more and I was beside him. To my great surprise, on the sandy shore lay a half-finished raft. It was made from beams of a very peculiar wood, and a great number of limbs, joints, boughs, and pieces lay about, sufficient to have constructed a fleet of ships and boats.
I turned to my uncle, silent with astonishment and awe.
“Where did all this wood come from?” I cried; “what wood is it?”
“Well, there is pinewood, fir, and the palms of the northern regions, mineralized by the action of the sea,” he replied, sententiously.
“Can it be possible?”
“Yes,” said the learned Professor, “what you see is called fossil wood.”
“But then,” cried I, after reflecting for a moment, “like the lignites, it must be as hard and as heavy as iron, and therefore will certainly not float.”
“Sometimes that is the case. Many of these woods have become true anthracites, but others again, like those you see before you, have only undergone one phase of fossil transformation. But there is no proof like demonstration,” added my uncle, picking one or two of these precious waifs and casting them into the sea.
The piece of wood, after having disappeared for a moment, came to the surface and floated about with the oscillation produced by wind and tide.
“Are you convinced?” said my uncle, with a self-satisfied smile.
“I am convinced,” I cried, “that what I see is incredible.”
The fact was that my journey into the interior of the earth was rapidly changing all preconceived notions and day by day preparing me for the marvelous.
I should not have been surprised to have seen a fleet of native canoes afloat upon that silent sea.
The very next evening, thanks to the industry and ability of Hans, the raft was finished. It was about ten feet long and five feet wide. The beams, bound together with stout ropes, were solid and firm, and once launched by our united efforts, the improvised vessel floated tranquilly upon the waters of what the Professor had well named the Central Sea.
4 The declination is the variation of the needle from the true meridian of a place.
5 Inclination is the dip of the magnetic needle with a tendency to incline toward the earth.
XXIX
On the Waters—a Raft Voyage
On the thirteenth of August we were up betimes. There was no time to be lost. We now had to inaugurate a new kind of locomotion, which would have the advantage of being rapid and not fatiguing.
A mast, made of two pieces of wood fastened together, to give additional strength, a yard made from another one, the sail a linen sheet from our bed. We were fortunately in no want of cordage, and the whole on trial appeared solid and seaworthy.
At six o’clock in the morning, when the eager and enthusiastic Professor gave the signal to embark, the victuals, the luggage, all our instruments, our weapons, and a goodly supply of sweet water, which we had collected from springs in the rocks, were placed on the raft.
Hans had, with considerable ingenuity, contrived a rudder, which enabled him to guide the floating apparatus with ease. He took the tiller, as a matter of course. The worthy man was as good a sailor as he was a guide and duck hunter. I then let go the painter which held us to the shore, the sail was brought to the wind, and we made a rapid offing.