For the first day everything went on prosperously enough; but at a depth of eight feet below the surface, the navvies came in contact with a hard surface, upon which all their tools failed to make the slightest impression.

Servadac and the count were at once apprised of the fact, and had little difficulty in recognizing the substance that had revealed itself as the very same which composed the shores as well as the subsoil of the Gallian sea.

It evidently formed the universal substructure of the new asteroid.

Means for hollowing it failed them utterly.

Harder and more resisting than granite, it could not be blasted by ordinary powder; dynamite alone could suffice to rend it.
The disappointment was very great.