<P> After descending many miles, following the course of the Hansbach, they reach an unimaginably vast cavern . This underground world is lit by electrically charged gas at the ceiling, and is filled with a very deep subterranean ocean, surrounded by a rocky coastline covered in petrified trees and giant mushrooms . The travelers build a raft out of trees and set sail . The Professor names this sea the "Lidenbrock Sea" and the port as "Port Gräuben", after the name of his goddaughter . While on the water, they see several prehistoric creatures such as a giant Ichthyosaurus, which fights with a Plesiosaurus and wins . After the battle between the monsters, the party comes across an island with a huge geyser, which Lidenbrock names "Axel Island". </P> <P> A lightning storm again threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the coastline . This part of the coast, Axel discovers, is alive with prehistoric plant and animal life forms, including giant insects and a herd of mastodons . On a beach covered with bones, Axel discovers an oversized human skull . Axel and Lidenbrock venture some way into the prehistoric forest, where Professor Lidenbrock points out, in a shaky voice, a prehistoric human, more than twelve feet in height, leaning against a tree and watching a herd of mastodons . Axel cannot be sure if he has really seen the man or not, and he and Professor Lidenbrock debate whether or not a proto - human civilization actually exists so far underground . The three wonder if the creature is a man - like ape, or an ape - like man . The sighting of the creature is considered the most alarming part of the story, and the explorers decide that it is better not to alert it to their presence as they fear it may be hostile . </P> <P> The travellers continue to explore the coastline, and find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead . However, it is blocked by what appears to be a recent cave - in and two of the three, Hans and the Professor, despair at being unable to hack their way through the granite wall . The adventurers plan to blast the rock with gun cotton and paddle out to sea to escape the blast . Upon executing the plan, however, they discover that behind the rockfall was a seemingly bottomless pit, not a passage to the center of the earth . The travellers are swept away as the sea rushes into the large open gap in the ground . After spending hours being swept along at lightning speeds by the water, the raft ends up inside a large volcanic chimney filling with water and magma . Terrified, the three are rushed upwards, through stifling heat, and are ejected onto the surface from a side - vent of a stratovolcano . When they regain consciousness, they discover that they have been ejected from Stromboli, a volcanic island located in southern Italy . They return to Hamburg to great acclaim--Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of history, Axel marries his sweetheart Gräuben, and Hans eventually returns to his peaceful life in Iceland . The Professor has some regret that their journey was cut short . </P> <P> At the very end of the book, Axel and Lidenbrock realize why their compass was behaving strangely after their journey on the raft . They realize that the needle was pointing the wrong way after being struck by an electric fireball which nearly destroyed the wooden raft . </P>

Journey to the centre of the earth by jules verne summary