“No; it is quite natural.”
“You may say so, uncle; but to me it is most extraordinary, and I can hardly believe my eyes. Who would ever have imagined, under this terrestrial crust, an ocean with ebbing and flowing tides, with winds and 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 is confirmed.”
“Evidently it is; and now there is no reason why there should not be seas 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 us fishes 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 as it does in sublunary regions.”
“We will try, Axel, for we must penetrate all secrets of these newly discovered 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?”