Chapter 31

CHAPTER XXXI.

PREPARATIONS FOR A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

The next morning I awoke feeling perfectly well. I thought a bathewould do me good, and I went to plunge for a few minutes into thewaters of this mediterranean sea, for assuredly it better deservedthis name than any other sea.

I came back to breakfast with a good appetite. Hans was a goodcaterer for our little household; he had water and fire at hisdisposal, so that he was able to vary our bill of fare now and then.For dessert he gave us a few cups of coffee, and never was coffee sodelicious.

"Now," said my uncle, "now is the time for high tide, and we must notlose the opportunity to study this phenomenon."

"What! the tide!" I cried. "Can the influence of the sun and moon befelt down here?"

"Why not? Are not all bodies subject throughout their mass to thepower of universal attraction? This mass of water cannot escape thegeneral law. And in spite of the heavy atmospheric pressure on thesurface, you will see it rise like the Atlantic itself."

At the same moment we reached the sand on the shore, and the waveswere by slow degrees encroaching on the shore.

"Here is the tide rising," I cried.

"Yes, Axel; and judging by these ridges of foam, you may observe thatthe sea will rise about twelve feet."

"This is wonderful," I said.

"No; it is quite natural."

"You may say so, uncle; but to me it is most extraordinary, and I canhardly believe my eyes. Who would ever have imagined, under thisterrestrial crust, an ocean with ebbing and flowing tides, with windsand storms?"

"Well," replied my uncle, "is there any scientific reason against it?"

"No; I see none, as soon as the theory of central heat is given up."So then, thus far," he answered, "the theory of Sir Humphry Davy isconfirmed."

"Evidently it is; and now there is no reason why there should not beseas and continents in the interior of the earth."

"No doubt," said my uncle; "and inhabited too."

"To be sure," said I; "and why should not these waters yield to usfishes of unknown species?"

"At any rate," he replied, "we have not seen any yet."

"Well, let us make some lines, and see if the bait will draw here asit does in sublunary regions."

"We will try, Axel, for we must penetrate all secrets of these newlydiscovered regions."

"But where are we, uncle? for I have not yet asked you that question,and your instruments must be able to furnish the answer."

"Horizontally, three hundred and fifty leagues from Iceland."

"So much as that?"

"I am sure of not being a mile out of my reckoning."

"And does the compass still show south-east?"

"Yes; with a westerly deviation of nineteen degrees forty-fiveminutes, just as above ground. As for its dip, a curious fact iscoming to light, which