Summary

Chapter 30 – Axel walks out of the cavern and onto a beach in bright light, where he can see a vast ocean. Otto has named it the Sea of Lidenbrock. The light itself is a naturally-occurring electric lighting that lights everything the way the Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky. Axel also considers the light itself may have simply been trapped in the cave, and continued to exist in the hollow by the air itself retaining its natural luminance. Above are clouds and a great expanse of sky. Axel cannot find a word to describe the cavernous room that contains it all. The height of the place is at least 2000 fathoms, or 12,000 feet in height. Otto then brings Axel along the beach. Water flows freely from the rock into the sea, as does the stream Hans started. They come upon a forest of...