A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

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Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne

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Title: A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne
Release Date: July 18, 2006 [EBook #18857]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CENTRE OF THE EARTH ***

Produced by Norm Wolcott

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
By Jules Verne

[Redactor's Note: Journey to the Centre of the Earth is number V002 in the Taves and Michaluk numbering of the works of Jules Verne. First published in England by Griffith and Farran, 1871, this edition is not a translation at all but a complete re-write of the novel, with portions added and omitted, and names changed. The most reprinted version, it is entered into Project Gutenberg for reference purposes only. A better translation is A Journey into the Interior of the Earth translated by Rev. F. A. Malleson, also available on Project Gutenberg.]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
MY UNCLE MAKES A GREAT DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 2
THE MYSTERIOUS PARCHMENT
CHAPTER 3
AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 4
WE START ON THE JOURNEY
CHAPTER 5
FIRST LESSONS IN CLIMBING
CHAPTER 6
OUR VOYAGE TO ICELAND
CHAPTER 7
CONVERSATION AND DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 8
THE EIDER-DOWN HUNTER--OFF AT LAST
CHAPTER 9
OUR START--WE MEET WITH ADVENTURES BY THE WAY
CHAPTER 10
TRAVELING IN ICELAND
CHAPTER 11
WE REACH MOUNT SNEFFELS--THE "REYKIR"
CHAPTER 12
THE ASCENT OF MOUNT SNEFFELS
CHAPTER 13
THE SHADOW OF SCARTARIS
CHAPTER 14
THE REAL JOURNEY COMMENCES
CHAPTER 15
WE CONTINUE OUR DESCENT
CHAPTER 16
THE EASTERN TUNNEL
CHAPTER 17
DEEPER AND DEEPER--THE COAL MINE
CHAPTER 18
THE WRONG ROAD!
CHAPTER 19
THE WESTERN GALLERY--A NEW ROUTE
CHAPTER 20
WATER, WHERE IS IT? A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
CHAPTER 21
UNDER THE OCEAN
CHAPTER 22
SUNDAY BELOW GROUND
CHAPTER 23
ALONE
CHAPTER 24
LOST!
CHAPTER 25
THE WHISPERING GALLERY
CHAPTER 26
A RAPID RECOVERY
CHAPTER 27
THE CENTRAL SEA
CHAPTER 28
LAUNCHING THE RAFT
CHAPTER 29
ON THE WATERS--A RAFT VOYAGE
CHAPTER 30
TERRIFIC SAURIAN COMBAT
CHAPTER 31
THE SEA MONSTER
CHAPTER 32
THE BATTLE OF THE ELEMENTS
CHAPTER 33
OUR ROUTE REVERSED
CHAPTER 34
A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 35
DISCOVERY UPON DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 36
WHAT IS IT?
CHAPTER 37
THE MYSTERIOUS DAGGER
CHAPTER 38
NO OUTLET--BLASTING THE ROCK
CHAPTER 39
THE EXPLOSION AND ITS RESULTS
CHAPTER 40
THE APE GIGANS
CHAPTER 41
HUNGER
CHAPTER 42
THE VOLCANIC SHAFT
CHAPTER 43
DAYLIGHT AT LAST
CHAPTER 44
THE JOURNEY ENDED
CHAPTER 1
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