A Journey into the Interior of the Earth | Jules Verne | Chapter 16

In this chapter of Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, the expedition reaches a critical decision point. After descending through a long lava tube from the crater of Sneffels, the three travelers—Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans—arrive at a crossroads: four dark, narrow tunnels branching off in different directions. With no signs or geological clues to guide them, the Professor chooses the eastern tunnel without hesitation. The party enters, and the chapter follows their progress through a gallery that gradually changes in character, raising doubts about whether they are still heading toward the center of the Earth or veering back toward the surface.

The Eastern Tunnel and the Changing Rock

The descent through the eastern tunnel is initially gradual and winding, with the walls still coated in the same lava that marked their earlier path. The narrator, Axel, describes the passage as sometimes resembling the aisles of a Gothic cathedral, sometimes a Roman aqueduct, and sometimes narrow burrows that force them to crawl. The heat remains tolerable, and Axel reflects uneasily on the fact that they are walking through a former volcanic vent—one that once carried boiling lava, smoke, and sulfurous fumes upward. He keeps these thoughts to himself, knowing his uncle would dismiss them as irrelevant.