The correct word is “gazed”. The verb gaze is used to describe the action of looking / staring at something for a long period of time – be it because that something being watched is impressive or simply because the watcher is distracted and pensive. In the passage, the word gaze does NOT impact the mood.
What really impacts the mood in the passage are the other words – marvels, profound, wonder, mysterious, spectacle and phenomena – since their meaning convey an idea of something unnatural, exciting and incredible happening before the eyes of the narrator.
The passage was taken from the book <em>A Journey to the Centre of the Earth</em> by Julio Verne. The narrator is struggling to describe his sensations when he finds a gigantic cavern and the Central Sea below the surface of the Earth.
