to persevere. Fortunately, the
deep striae or furrows in the surface of the rocks that made the bottom
of the ravine in some degree facilitated their progress, but it was not
until they had been toiling up for two hours more that they succeeded in
reaching the summit of the cliff.

Eagerly and anxiously did they look around. To the south there was
nothing but the sea they had traversed; to the north, nothing but one
drear, inhospitable stretch.

Servadac could not suppress a cry of dismay. Where was his beloved
France? Had he gained this arduous height only to behold the rocks
carpeted with ice and snow, and reaching interminably to the far-off
horizon? His heart sank within him.

The whole region appeared to consist of nothing but the same strange,
uniform mineral conglomerate, crystallized into regular hexagonal
prisms. But whatever was its geological character, it was only too
evident that it had entirely replaced the former soil, so that not a
vestige of the old continent of Europe could be discerned. The
lovely scenery of Provence, with the grace of its rich and undulating
landscape; its gardens of citrons and oranges rising tier upon tier
from the deep red soil--all, all had vanished. Of the vegetable kingdom,
there was not a single representative; the most meager of Arctic plants,
the most insignificant of lichens, could obtain no hold upon that stony
waste. Nor did the animal world assert the feeblest sway. The mineral
kingdom reigned supreme.

Captain Servadac's deep dejection was in strange contrast to his general
hilarity. Silent and tearful, he stood upon an ice-bound rock, straining
his eyes across the boundless vista of the mysterious territory. "It
cannot be!" he exclaimed. "We must somehow have mistaken our bearings.
True, we have encountered this barrier; but France is there beyond! Yes,
France is _there!_ Come, count, come! By all that's pitiful, I entreat
you, come and explore the farthest verge of the ice-bound track!"

He pushed onwards along the rugged surface of the rock, but had not
proceeded far before he came to a sudden pause. His foot had come in
contact with something hard beneath the snow, and, stooping down, he
picked up a little block of stony substance, which the first glance
revealed to be of a geological character altogether alien to the
universal rocks around. It proved to be a fragment of dis-colored
marble, on which several letters were inscribed, of which the only part
at all