The city underground
The City Underground is a novel by the French author Jules Verne . The novel was first published in 1877 under the French title Les Indes Noires by the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel . The first German-language edition appeared in 1878 under the title Black India .
action
The Dochart mine is located in the Scottish county of Stirling , in which hard coal was originally mined. The pit was abandoned when all known seams were removed. Former head climber Simon Ford couldn't come to terms with the fact that there was no more coal in Aberfoyle. With his wife Madge and his son Harry he settled underground to look for new coal deposits.
After ten years, he encounters weather gas in a distant part of the mine , which indicates another coal deposit. He sends a letter to James Starr, the mine’s former technical manager. He receives another anonymous letter stating that Simon Ford is mistaken. Still, Starr travels to Aberfoyle to see the family who live underground. As soon as he reached the pit, Starr was almost hit by a falling stone. Harry accompanying him describes the incident as an attack .
In the pit they set off to the place where Simon Ford noticed the gas deposit. However, an attempt to detect the gas occurrence again fails. However, they discover that the opening from which the mine gas leaked must have been blocked by a human. You then succeed in detecting weather gas. The next day they blow up a larger opening and find a cave system in anthracite and an underground lake. However, you are trapped in the cave system by an unknown person. The rescue is carried out by Starr's servant, who has read his mail, and a friend who was looking for him. You and the rescue team will be led to the trapped by an unknown person.
Three years later, the New Aberfoyle mines are again flourishing. Starr has meanwhile also acquired an underground dwelling, Simon Ford is now working in the management of the mine. One day Harry finds a sixteen year old girl in the pit. They find out that Nell grew up in the pit. Otherwise she is silent about her previous life. Nell and Harry fall in love and want to get married.
This is the beginning of a series of puzzling incidents. First, the water from Lake Katrin pours into the pit. Harry escapes several successive calamities in the pit several times. At the front door of the Ford family home they find a message from Silfax, the last so-called penitent of Aberfoyle. This fulfilled the task of an early warning system for firedamp in the old mine . He accuses them of having stolen his Nell and threatens mischief all over New Aberfoyle.
Nell then tells them her story of how she grew up with Silfax and his eagle owl. Guards are distributed throughout the pit. Nell and Harry are about to be married by a clergyman at the underground lake when a large rock falls from the ceiling of the cave into the lake and weather gas escapes. Silfax appears on a boat in front of them with his eagle owl and a Davy safety lamp . He destroys the safety lamp and orders the eagle owl to fly with the burning wick into the gas cloud. However, Nell can attract the eagle owl. Silfax realizes that his plans have failed and plunges into the underground lake.
Six months later, Nell and Harry get married and lead a happy life. Silfax is gone forever.
background
The British referred to their extensive coal districts as Black India . Since this name has now been forgotten, the novella was published again under the title The city under the earth .
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6
Web links
- "Black India" as an e-book in HTML on zeno.org
- Black India in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection