Journey to the Centre of the Earth Post 6

This summary is continued from the last post, if you would like to read that one, please look it up on the  blog site. After following the sounds of his companions voices for a considerable amount of time, Axel falls in the darkness and tumbles down the shaft losing conciousness almost instantly. His uncle and his guide are there when he wakes up, he is bruised and battered but otherwise not severely hurt. Apparently it could have been a lot worse. His uncle has a giddy look on his face but he tells Axel to get a rest before he can show him the discovery. This is the amazing part, I have no idea how Jules Verne could come up with this but these ideas are so ingenious that it's hard to believe he hasn't seen it with his own eyes. Anyway the place that they have discovered is a vast cavern that stretches on seemingly forever, filled with foliage and in the distance a beach. 

After the beach there is a vast sea that stretches on as far as the eye can see. But that isn't the best part, this place has a normal temperature and a fully functioning water cycle. There are dense clouds of vapour in the sky that also conduct electricity which creates a fluorescent light source that comes from all angles, effectively purging all shadows. As there are no tunnels in sight, to continue travelling down into the centre of the earth the trio decide to cross the sea, which is now named the Leidenbrock Sea. Hans, the guide pulls together a raft made from rock hard petrified wood, that also floats, with sails made from bedsheets. They cross the previously estimated 75 miles of sea in a day, but it turns out it is actually much larger than previously suspected and they will need to keep sailing for some time to come. Along the way they catch some previously thought, extinct fish and pass two giant sea monsters fighting. All is going well, then disaster strikes. A huge storm brews up, the sound of it is so large they can't hear a word they are saying to each other and their ears begin to bleed. This lasts for a few days until they smash into some rocks, finally land!

This is a strange land though, after some exploring they come across a 12 foot tall man herding elephants, naturally they stay well away from him. As they are walking around they also find a strange field with prehistoric fossils spanning as far as the eye can see. Soon they find something that doesn't belong to the landscape though. It's a 16th century knife, one belonging to the Danish explorer who came before them. And then a tree with his initials carved on it, they then knew they where on the right track. Before long they found the passage that the Dane must have taken. This passage seemingly led further down towards the centre of the earth. They went a little way down before the way was blocked by a large boulder, that must have fallen down the lava tube after their predecessor came and went. Axel then has the bright idea of blowing it up with the gun cotton they have left. Gun cotton is a kind of explosive that is 4 times fore powerful than black powder. And they stuff 5 kilos of it into the rock. After some preparation he lights the fuse and then runs back to the safety of the raft which they have attached to the shore floating, 60 yards out. Long story short the explosion opens up an abyss which sucks in the ocean including them floating on top. Although this abyss is no ordinary one. It's a volcano. They then preceded to shoot out and land in Greece. Then with the money the Professor has left they return to Hamburg where the two become famous. Hans returns to Iceland.

Questions Answered

The language the author uses in this novel vary between dad's and my books because they where both translated from the original French at different points in history, mine twenty years ago and dad's a hundred and fifty years ago. So as you can imagine the use of language is very different in our two books. I view mine as an almost control in an experiment as it is in the modern English that is widely accepted and understandable. But dad's has some posh British words that have, by today gone completely out of fashion and are no longer used. The problem is I can't honestly comment on Verne's use of language without possibly making mistakes because we are both reading translated copies, so the way we view the language the author uses is entirely up to the translator. I think we both enjoy the way it's used though because it gives an interesting insight into what we like to read today and how people a century and a half ago enjoyed reading their books. The new word that both dad and I learned is betrothed. This word means engaged, but it is never used any more  I wonder why? It's simply because the word makes no sense, it can't give you a visual picture, whereas engaged almost means joined together. You get the idea.