Terror from the Deep

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The image portrays two per-historic creatures battling to the death. According to Verne the battle is between an Ichthyosaurus or great fish lizard and an ancient sea crocodile or Plesiosaurus. One of the creatures had swept under our adventurers raft and nearly swamped their craft.

“We remain still and dumb from utter horror. They advance upon us, nearer and nearer. Our fate appears certain, fearful and terrible. On one side the mighty crocodile, on the other the great sea serpent. The rest of the fearful crowd of marine prodigies have plunged beneath the briny waves and disappeared!”

“Two liquid columns rose to a vast height above the level of the sea, into which they fell with a terrific crash, waking up the echoes of that awful place. We stood still—surprised, stupefied, terror-stricken at the sight of this group of fearful marine monsters, more hideous in the reality than in my dream. They were of supernatural dimensions; the very smallest of the whole party could with ease have crushed our raft and ourselves with a single bite.”

I am sure there are more adventures and discovery’s to be made in the upcoming chapters.

Quotes from Chapter 30: Terrific Saurian Combat-A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne

A Journey to the Center of the Earth-Another Meal

I picked this novel first because of its cover. The A Journey to the Center of the Earth epub has an illustrated cover that depicts several giant mushrooms with the professor and his nephew admiring these specimens.

This is another case where an author mentioned food and detailed what was consumed by the characters of the story. The last time a menu was described was in my reading of Redwall, where a grand banquet was held for the friends and occupants of the Abbey. In both cases the meal was described before some great event took place. As was the case in Redwall, it was the battle with Cluny the Scourge and his forces of evil. In A Journey to the Center of the Earth it was before the departure of the Professor and his nephew to Iceland.

I was a little surprised not to see any mushrooms on the menu. In chapter one of A Journey to the Center of the Earth there a dinner mentioned. It contained the following items:

Parsley Soup
Omelet of ham, garnished with spiced sorrel
Fillet of Veal with compote of prunes

Sweet Moselle

Desert
Crystallized fruit