{"id":"01KG8AJNJT9QVSJEDG65PZ6WTY","cid":"bafkreie257o2amdk2r7553ivnotmlniegjkt5ua4bd4ebpciajwbo4gg4u","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER III. They Pass Through The Woods\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter titled \"CHAPTER III. They Pass Through The Woods\" (type: chapter) extracted on January 30, 2026. It is part of the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN).\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is extracted from the file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows [CHAPTER II. They Land](arke:01KG8AJNJRMHPGA05ZAGHDSVPY) and precedes [CHAPTER IV. Hivohitee MDCCCXLVIII](arke:01KG8AJNJQG7DNZHZCMC33X85F) in the novel.\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter describes a journey through a dangerous and foreboding forest. The passage details the travelers' movement through jungles and a deep hollow, encountering poisonous trees like manchineels and upas. The text evokes a sense of decay and danger, with descriptions of falling temples, hanging sloths, nocturnal birds, and lurking reptiles, all thriving in a poisoned atmosphere.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.397Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER III. They Pass Through The Woods","end_line":441,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER III. They Pass Through The Woods","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":405,"text":"CHAPTER III.\r\nThey Pass Through The Woods\r\n\r\n\r\nRefreshed by our stay in the grove, we rose, and placed ourselves under\r\nthe guidance of Mohi; who went on in advance.\r\n\r\nWinding our way among jungles, we came to a deep hollow, planted with\r\none gigantic palm-shaft, belted round by saplings, springing from its\r\nroots. But, Laocoon-like, sire and sons stood locked in the serpent\r\nfolds of gnarled, distorted banians; and the banian-bark, eating into\r\ntheir vital wood, corrupted their veins of sap, till all those\r\npalm-nuts were poisoned chalices.\r\n\r\nNear by stood clean-limbed, comely manchineels, with lustrous leaves\r\nand golden fruit. You would have deemed them Trees of Life; but\r\nunderneath their branches grew no blade of grass, no herb, nor moss;\r\nthe bare earth was scorched by heaven’s own dews, filtrated through\r\nthat fatal foliage.\r\n\r\nFarther on, there frowned a grove of blended banian boughs,\r\nthick-ranked manchineels, and many a upas; their summits gilded by the\r\nsun; but below, deep shadows, darkening night-shade ferns, and\r\nmandrakes. Buried in their midst, and dimly seen among large leaves,\r\nall halberd-shaped, were piles of stone, supporting falling temples of\r\nbamboo. Thereon frogs leaped in dampness, trailing round their slime.\r\nThick hung the rafters with lines of pendant sloths; the upas trees\r\ndropped darkness round; so dense the shade, nocturnal birds found there\r\nperpetual night; and, throve on poisoned air. Owls hooted from dead\r\nboughs; or, one by one, sailed by on silent pinions; cranes stalked\r\nabroad, or brooded, in the marshes; adders hissed; bats smote the\r\ndarkness; ravens croaked; and vampires, fixed on slumbering lizards,\r\nfanned the sultry air.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER III. They Pass Through The Woods"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJNJRMHPGA05ZAGHDSVPY","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJNJQG7DNZHZCMC33X85F","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.098Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.809Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}