A Journey to the Interior of the Earth
sor, bending his brows; "but there is a se
ture finished
ng out his fist towards the
ated in
ponds with each of these Icelandic characters. We will see what that
very letter was given me one after the ot
samn atrateS saodrrn emtnaeI nvaect rrilSa Atsaar .n
er it. It is my supposition that this is the translator's way of writing 'mm' and I
tore the paper from me and exami
mean?" he kept rep
ghtened him. Besides he did not ask
osely thrown in confusion, which if properly arranged would reveal their sense. Only
e was nothing at all, in it; though,
ok and the parchment, and dili
I see in a moment. The first letter is a double m, a letter which is not to be found in Turlleson's book, and which was only a
is was a strictly
ssessor of this book wrote these mysterious letters. But who was t
stain which looked like an ink blot. But in looking at it very closely he thought he could distinguish some half-effaced letters. My uncle at once fastened upon this as the
at is the name of another Icelander, a savant o
cle with satisfa
y savants of their time. They made discoveries at which we are astonished. Has not this Sa
gination took fire
t what interest would he have in thu
urn? We shall see. I will get at the secret of this document,
his was a half-
ther, Axel,
lf; "then it is lucky I hav
out the key to this cipher;
raised my head; but my un
nty-seven consonants and fifty-five vowels. This is the proportion found in southern languages,
y fair conclus
t langua
of learning, but I met ins
was currently adopted by the choice spirits of the sixteenth century; I mean Latin. If I am mistaken, I can but try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, or
n revolt against the notion that these barbarous
it is Latin confused and in disorder; "pe
bring order out of that confusion, m
vowels predominate, as for instance the fifth, uneeief, or the last but one, oseibo. Now this arrangement has evidently not been premeditated; it has arisen mathematically in obedience to the unknown law which has ruled in the succession of these letters. It
pretty Virlandaise and the professor's nephew loved each other with a patience and a calmness entirely German. We had become engaged unknown to my uncle, who was too much taken up with geology to be able to enter into such feelings as ours. Gr?uben was a lovely blue-eyed blonde, rather given to g
labelled them together. Mademoiselle Gr?uben was an accomplished mineralogist; she could have taught a few things to a savant. She was fond of investigating
h forms such an improvement to the landscape at the head of the lake. On the road we chatted hand in hand; I told her amusing tales at which she laughed heartily. Then
my uncle with a vehement thump on the tab
o any one's head to confuse the letters of a sentence woul
ed!"
ou like, only instead of arranging the letters in the usual way, one after the other, place them
immediately produced the
r b o u , n G e v
out reading them, "now set down
and with t
rb ou,nGe v
ike an ancient document: the vowels and the consonants are grouped together in equal disorder; th
these remarks
ave just written, and with which I am wholly unacquainted, I shall only have to
reat astonishment, and
ell, my own d
cried the
ike an awkward and unlucky lover, I had compromi
Gr?uben?" he said, with the
o!" I s
dreamily. "Well, let us apply the process I
t words. I merely say imprudent, for the great mind of so learned a man of course had no pl
a quivering in his fingers as he grasped the old parchment. He was deeply moved. At last he gave a preliminary cough, an
ette,rotaisadva,ednecsedsadne lacartniiilvIsir
e at a time, had carried no sense to my mind; I therefore waited for the Professor
t thump made the furniture rattle, and spilt som
ied my uncle, "ther
g down stairs like an avalanche, he