Journey to the Center of the Earth

Journey to the Center of the Earth: Jules Verne

Translation: Google, Gemini

E-isbn (İng): 978-625-6020-56-6

Year of Printing: 2025

It cannot be reproduced, published or distributed without permission from the publishing house, except for short quotations for promotional purposes, provided that the source is cited.

Publication and Distribution: Özlem Publishing House

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

My uncle was a professor at the university. He taught mining classes. Because he stammered from time to time, his students would get bored in his lectures and didn't learn much. And yet, my uncle had a special place among the professors. Everyone regarded him as a true scientist. He could immediately identify a mineral just by its color, its smell, the sound it made when touched, and its luster, and he could instantly tell you its place among six hundred different types of minerals.

My uncle's dedication to science and his occasional stuttering made him a nervous man. Yet, with his tall, thin frame, he was quite healthy. He never tired of working and rarely left his library. He had turned one room of his tiny house into a laboratory. In this house, we lived with my uncle's goddaughter, Graüben, me as his orphaned nephew, and Martha, who worked as his assistant. I assisted him in the laboratory. Although my uncle would get angry often, we were happy in this little house. He would scold us, but he also loved us very much.

On Sunday, May 24, 1863, my uncle returned home in a flustered state.

“Axel, come with me,” he said.

I followed him up to his study. This room was no different from a museum. It had all kinds of mineral samples. He took a moldy book out of his bag and began to read it. I waited, standing, without asking why he had called me. My uncle started turning the pages of the book with the joy of a treasure hunter who had found gold. He occasionally mumbled, “What a book.” When I saw how happy he was, I leaned in to look at the book. My uncle shook his head from side to side and said, “An extraordinary book.” My curiosity grew.

“What's the book about?” I asked.

My uncle held the book up in the air and looked at it admiringly. Then he exclaimed, “It’s marvelous! I found it in an old bookstore today. It's been seven hundred years, but it's as good as new. The binding is just a little moldy, that's all.”

I asked for the book’s title, subject, and where it was printed. My uncle immediately got angry.

“What printing, you fool?” he said. “This is a handwritten book. Can't you see the runic letters?”

These letters were used in Iceland in ancient times. The author lived in the twelfth century. It talks about the lives of the princes who ruled Iceland.

How was I supposed to know these things? I wasn't a scientist. That was my uncle’s nervousness at work. As I stood there, undecided, a piece of paper fell out of the book onto the floor. I picked it up and gave it to my uncle. After examining the shapes on the paper for a while, my uncle said, “These are also runic letters, but their meaning is not clear.”

As he turned the paper over and over, his hands started to tremble. This always happened when he couldn't solve something. Just then, Martha came in.

“Your meal is ready, sir,” she said. My uncle was furious.

“Is this a time for food? You can have your food!” he yelled at the poor woman.

I followed Martha out. We were used to my uncle's behavior, so we weren't too upset. We immediately sat down at the dinner table. On the contrary, today's food was very delicious. I also ate my uncle’s portion. I was just about to get up from the table when my uncle’s voice rang out:

“Axel, come here, quickly!”

I ran into his room. My uncle was still examining the paper. When he saw me, he said, “Sit down here and write down what I tell you.”

I wrote as my uncle deciphered the text. The letters that appeared didn’t make any sense. My uncle went back to studying the text. After quite a long time, he said, “I think this is a cipher. They intentionally scrambled the letters to hide the meaning.”

Then he took out his magnifying glass and started examining the book and the paper. He wrote down the letters with faded ink one by one on another piece of paper. An hour later, after writhing at his desk, he shouted, “I found it! Arne Saknus, that's a name. The name of a famous chemist!”

At this shout, I took a couple of steps back. Then I admired my uncle, who was so dedicated to science. My uncle said, “Axel, there will be no eating or sleeping until this secret is solved,” which showed how much he cared about this task. It was a good thing I had eaten two meals. Otherwise, I would have been miserable.

My uncle was examining the text and talking to himself: “These one hundred and thirty-two letters are mixed up, but what’s the key? Did you find it, Axel?”

I couldn't answer my uncle's question. I didn't even realize I was doodling on the paper in my hand. As my uncle told me to write, I absentmindedly doodled on the paper.

After a while, he said, “Let me see the paper, what came out of it?” I handed him the paper. My uncle started to read:

“Graüben, I love you very much.”

At that, I startled and came to my senses. My uncle had slammed his fist down and spilled the ink. His hands and feet were trembling.

“So you love Graüben, huh!” he yelled.

He slammed the door, saying that I was making fun of his scientific work. He ran out of the house. It was clear from his expression that he was more angry that he couldn't solve the cipher than about me loving Graüben. Martha, who was cleaning up the ink, asked, “Is the professor not coming for dinner?”

“No food,” I said. “We’ll starve until the cipher is solved.”

The poor woman shook her head as if to say, “What does food have to do with the cipher?” and left the room. Thinking my uncle might return home at any moment, I didn't leave the study. Since I was bored, I tried to solve the cipher. I tried to find a solution by putting the letters together, first one by one, then in twos, and then in threes. Even though my head ached and my eyes blurred, I couldn’t find the solution. As I fanned myself with the paper to cool down, I noticed some darkened spots. I fanned the ciphered letters over and over again. As the paper moved quickly in front of my eyes, I noticed that some of them were written more thickly. When I identified them one by one and wrote them on another paper, I went crazy. I knew my uncle was right about a key. When I grouped the letters next to the key, I read the sentence.

But the text I solved both scared and worried me. It would be a disaster if my uncle, who was so interested in science, became interested in such a journey. And he would take me with him. We would never be able to come back. As I thought about these things, I was yelling, “This can’t be!”

I started to look for ways to keep my uncle from learning the truth. Thinking, “If he tries hard enough, he will solve it,” I decided to get rid of the document. With trembling hands, I took the ciphered paper to the fireplace. I was going to throw this cipher, which would turn our lives upside down, into the fire.

I was approaching the fireplace with the paper in my hand when my uncle walked in. Taking advantage of his distraction, I put the document back on the table. My uncle, with disheveled hair and a pale face, sat back down at his desk. He didn't even notice that I had left the room.

Dinner time had long passed. My uncle was still working. We couldn't eat for fear of him. We went to bed hungry that night. The hunger prevented me from sleeping. From time to time, I would go to the door of my uncle's study and look in. I could hear him saying “cipher” and “key.” I felt very sorry for my uncle, but I still didn't want to tell him that I had solved the cipher.

The next day, breakfast was prepared. My uncle was miserable from working, and we were miserable from being hungry. When no food was put in front of us at noon, my stomach started to growl. I said to Martha, “We can't starve to death like this. Give us something to eat.” She signaled “absolutely not” and then said, “Don't pretend you don't know your uncle, Axel. He hasn't eaten a bite since yesterday either. He'll want to eat when he gets hungry. Let's wait a little longer.”

“This wait has no end,” I said. “We can't die for nothing.”

I couldn't stand the hunger, so with the thought that “it’s better to die on the journey than to die like this,” I burst into my uncle’s room. My uncle’s eyes were bloodshot. He was miserable.

“Here is the key,” I said.

“What are you talking about?” he said, taking the paper from my hand. He was so distracted that he didn't ask, "Why didn't you bring it sooner?" He started to read it aloud:

“When July comes, when the shadow of Scartaris falls upon it, descend into the Crater of Yokul. Do not lose courage. You will find the way to the center of the Earth. I have made this journey. Arne Saknus.”

When my uncle read the solved cipher, he trembled as if he had been electrocuted. He collapsed into his armchair. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. After a moment of silence, he got up from his seat and said, “I'm starving, we should eat something first.” I rushed to the kitchen before him. Martha’s face lit up.

As we sat down to eat, my uncle was trying to satisfy his hunger and also saying, “We must start preparations immediately.” He was talking about preparing the trunks.

He was in a hurry, like someone who was late for an important invitation. He was swallowing his bites without chewing, as if he was going to miss a train.

A thought had taken hold of me. This trip was crazy for us, but how was I going to explain this to my professor uncle, who was so dedicated to science?

After dinner, we went up to my uncle’s room. There was no trace of yesterday’s nervousness. In a loving voice, he said, “Axel, you are a smart person. You saved me from a great difficulty. You should have a share in the victory we will achieve. As you know, I have very jealous rivals. You will not talk to anyone about this. No one should know anything until we return.”

“Do you think we will return?” I asked.

Our conversation continued like this:

“Of course, we will return. Don't you think you have that much courage? If I reveal this document, an army will gather at the mouth of that hole.”

“I’m sure of that, but I’m not sure if this document is fake.”

“We will find out. That's easy.”

“So, what does Yokul mean?”

He took a map and began to examine it.

“As you can see, there are volcanoes all over Iceland,” he said. “They all have ‘yokul’ written on them. This word means glacier. The volcanoes spew lava through the ice. That's why volcanoes are called yokuls in Iceland.”

“What about Sneffels?”

“When we reach the sixty-fifth latitude, we will stop. There, we will see a mountain that rises out of the sea. That mountain’s name is Sneffels.”

I tried to dissuade my uncle from this trip. I kept talking about the danger. But my uncle remained determined.

“The scientist who wrote this cipher went to the bottom of this mountain and saw the shadow fall into this hole before July. After that, he descended toward the center of the Earth,” he said.

I immediately cut my uncle off and said, “I believe he entered this hole, but I don't believe he came out, because I read that the temperature rises by one degree every twenty meters. Since the diameter of the Earth is more than four miles, the place we are going must be boiling with lava.”

“So, you're saying you're afraid of melting?” he said.

I left that to his judgment. He explained that such a temperature would not be an issue and that since no one had gone there before us, it had not been proven. In short, we would take this risk to find out what was going on in the center of the Earth. My uncle was willing to take such a dangerous journey with an unknown ending for the sake of science, but why would I go down to the center of the Earth? There was no way to explain this to my uncle.

When my conversation with my uncle was over, I left the house. I had a fever, so I started walking around Hamburg to get some fresh air. At that time, I ran into my uncle's goddaughter, Graüben.

“You’re so kind, Axel,” she said. She said that she was happy. But I had even forgotten the day my girlfriend was supposed to return. I don't think my uncle thought of it either. Because he couldn't think of anything but the trip.

Graüben noticed that there was something strange about me. She looked at my face with concern:

“Are you sick, Axel? What's wrong?” she said.

I told her the situation briefly. I thought she would try to stop my uncle from going on this trip, just like me. Contrary to my expectation, she said, “This will be a unique journey for you, Axel.”

I was so surprised that I didn't know what to do. I complained, “Graüben, don't you worry about us being in danger at all?”

“If I weren't a girl, I would join you, believe me,” she said, implying that my fear was misplaced.

As a man, I was ashamed of this situation. I changed the subject so as not to seem cowardly to my lover.

“I'm not afraid of the journey. I'm sad to be separated from you,” I said.

She squeezed my hand more tightly. We returned home together. I thought my uncle had retired to his room. But he was giving orders to the men in the garden and preparing the equipment. When he saw his goddaughter, the first thing he did was ask, “We are going on a journey to the center of the Earth. Do you like our decision, Graüben?”

Graüben expressed her joy. She wished my uncle success.

When my uncle saw me standing in a corner, he said, “I don't see any excitement for the journey in you, Axel. Come help me put these things in order. I haven't even gathered my documents yet.”

There was no point in resisting anymore. I asked my uncle when we would set off.

He reminded me that July was approaching and said excitedly, “Early the next morning.”

That night I had bad dreams. I woke up frequently, thinking I was burning in lava and getting lost in dark pits. I woke up in a sweat. To avoid having bad dreams again, I just sat in my bed. When day broke, I went down to the kitchen. Graüben greeted me with a smiling face.

“Don’t lose your morale,” she said.

As she spoke, she praised the importance of traveling for the sake of science, saying that I would be a hero when I returned and that she would marry me right away.

After breakfast, Graüben and I went up to my room. She prepared my belongings one by one without any fuss, as if she were sending me off on a regular trip. I took my small trunk and went downstairs. The scientific tools, equipment, and electrical materials my uncle had bought were piled up in front of the door. We spent the whole evening packing them. That night, I had nightmares again. When I woke up, I was covered in sweat. To avoid having bad dreams again, I just sat in my bed. When day broke, I went down to the kitchen. Graüben greeted me with a smiling face.

“Don't lose your morale,” she said.

Before I could finish my tea, my uncle’s voice rang in my ears: “Where is your trunk? We're going to miss the train, hurry up!” I grabbed my trunk and put it in the carriage, which I hadn't noticed had arrived. My uncle said he was leaving the management of the house to Graüben. Graüben was very calm. She kissed my uncle's hand. As she kissed my cheek, she whispered, “You are leaving your fiancé behind; you will find a wife when you return.” I noticed the tears in her eyes. My heart ached: “Graüben,” I could only say.

The carriage started moving. Martha and Graüben waved goodbye until we were out of sight.

We arrived at the station at six-thirty. We loaded our belongings onto the train. The train left at seven. There was no one else in our compartment. Despite this, we didn't talk at all. I was lost in thought, while my uncle was excited and happy. The train stopped three hours later. My uncle hadn't slept at all during the night. Who knows what was on his mind? In the morning, we arrived in Copenhagen at ten. We checked into a hotel.

My uncle got dressed in a hurry. We went out together. We asked for directions and went to the Museum of Northern Antiquities. The director of this museum, Professor Thomson, was a friend of the Danish consul in Hamburg. My uncle gave his colleague the letter he had brought. The professor was very friendly to us. We didn't tell him our real purpose. My uncle wanted to rent a boat. I, on the other hand, was afraid of the journey, so I prayed that a boat would not be found, but my prayers were in vain. A small boat was at our disposal. The captain of the boat told us to be ready at seven on Tuesday morning.

On June 2, our belongings were loaded onto the boat. My uncle and I had settled into our cabin. An hour later, we reached Faxa Bay. My uncle's eyes were getting wider. At one point, he took me to the bow of the boat and pointed to the double-peaked mountain north of the bay.

“There’s Sneffels!” he shouted.

Soon, we got into the boat that was waiting for us. The boat took us to the shores of Iceland in the blink of an eye.

On the shore, a majestic man in a general's uniform greeted us. This person was the governor of the island. My uncle gave the governor the letter he had brought from Copenhagen. We were also greeted with interest here. Meanwhile, we met Mr. Frid, a nature teacher. When he said he was at our disposal, my uncle was very happy. This valuable teacher gave us two rooms in his house. We placed our belongings in one of the rooms.

I went out to explore the city. When I returned, my uncle and Mr. Frid were in deep conversation. They were speaking Icelandic. When I arrived, my uncle would occasionally translate what was being said into German. After dinner, Mr. Frid asked, “Would you like to see my library?”

My uncle said he would be very happy to. The library had an estimated eight thousand volumes. According to my uncle, most of them were rare and valuable books. At one point, my uncle asked, “Are there any books written by Arne Saknus among them?”

Teacher Frid thought for a while and then asked, “Are you talking about the famous scholar of the sixteenth century?”

“Yes,” said my uncle.

“I assume you know the chemist, natural scientist, and famous traveler Saknus well,” Mr. Frid replied.

“You cannot find his works in Iceland or anywhere else,” he said. He explained that this scholar was unfairly sued in 1573 and that his works were burned by the executioner in Copenhagen.

My uncle turned to me and said in German, “The truth has now been revealed. Now I understand why Saknus hid his discoveries in ciphers.”

Mr. Frid was curious.

“Do you have a document related to him with you?” he couldn't help but ask.

My uncle spoke of some guesswork. He tried to close the subject.

When we left the library and started drinking coffee, Mr. Frid said to my uncle, “Don't leave our island without seeing our rich mines.” He emphasized that many mountains and glaciers were still unknown. He argued that these places should be examined well. As for Mount Sneffels, where we wanted to go, he said, “No one has ever gone to the crater of this interesting volcano.”

My uncle was excited when he heard the name of this mountain. He got up from his chair and sat down again.

“You gave me a good idea, my friend,” he said. “I also want to start my geological research from that mountain. Maybe I'll have a chance to examine its crater.”

Mr. Frid asked, “Professor, it would be appropriate for you to start your research from this mountain, but how will you get there?”

My uncle said he wanted to go by crossing the bay. Mr. Frid said, “That's impossible. Because there isn't a single boat here. It is best to go by land, following the coast. For this, I can recommend a good guide for you. He is both a hunter and knows your language.”

My uncle was happy about this. He said he wanted to meet the guide early in the morning.

It was my first time traveling to foreign countries. Besides the fear of the journey, seeing new places and meeting foreigners interested me. I slept soundly that night. When I woke up, I heard voices from my uncle's room. I got dressed and went to them. My uncle was having an excited conversation with our guide.

My uncle and our guide, Hans, got along very easily. Hans was going to take us to Stopi Village at the foot of the volcano. They announced that we could only get to this village in seven or eight days. After we arrived in Stopi, our guide would be with us. We would pay Hans three silver coins until the research was completed.

We decided to set off on June 16. We would take thermometers, a manometre with compressed air (with which we could measure pressure higher than at sea level), a chronometer set for the latitude of Hamburg, binoculars for seeing in the dark, and a compass. In addition, two wires for portable light would make our work easier when we went down into the depths. In addition to these scientific tools, we also bought two picks, an axe, a ladder, a rope, a hammer, a walking stick, etc. My uncle also asked for a medicine bag. Wool socks and waterproof rubber boots were also placed in the trunk.

The next day, we said goodbye to our landlord, the teacher, and got on our horses. We set off with our loads.

The weather was quite nice. There was not the slightest sign of rain. In fact, I was starting to enjoy visiting these beautiful places. I started to think, “It is not possible to find a way to the center of the Earth.” I should have stopped being afraid and started to enjoy the journey. In fact, after I got on the