assign them their proper
scientific classification, but neither Servadac, Timascheff, nor
the lieutenant could pretend to any acquaintance with their specific
character.

Although, however, the bottom of the chasm had never as yet been the
channel of a stream, indications were not wanting that at some future
time it would be the natural outlet of accumulated waters; for already,
in many places, thin layers of snow were glittering upon the surface of
the fractured rocks, and the higher the elevation that was gained, the
more these layers were found to increase in area and in depth.

"Here is a trace of fresh water, the first that Gallia has exhibited,"
said the count to his companions, as they toiled up the precipitous
path.

"And probably," replied the lieutenant, "as we ascend we shall find not
only snow but ice. We must suppose this Gallia of ours to be a sphere,
and if it is so, we must now be very close to her Arctic regions; it is
true that her axis is not so much inclined as to prolong day and night
as at the poles of the earth, but the rays of the sun must reach us here
only very obliquely, and the cold, in all likelihood, will be intense."

"So cold, do you think," asked Servadac, "that animal life must be
extinct?"

"I do not say that, captain," answered the lieutenant; "for, however
far our little world may be removed from the sun, I do not see why its
temperature should fall below what prevails in those outlying regions
beyond our system where sky and air are not." "And what temperature may
that be?" inquired the captain with a shudder.

"Fourier estimates that even in those vast unfathomable tracts, the
temperature never descends lower than 60 degrees," said Procope.

"Sixty! Sixty degrees below zero!" cried the count. "Why, there's not a
Russian could endure it!"

"I beg your pardon, count. It is placed on record that the English
_have_ survived it, or something quite approximate, upon their Arctic
expeditions. When Captain Parry was on Melville Island, he knew the
thermometer to fall to 56 degrees," said Procope.

As the explorers advanced, they seemed glad to pause from time to time,
that they might recover their breath; for the air, becoming more and
more rarefied, made respiration somewhat difficult and the ascent
fatiguing. Before they had reached an altitude of 600 feet they noticed
a sensible diminution of the temperature; but neither cold nor fatigue
deterred them, and they were resolved