{"id":"01KG8AJP4TXT5CXQA3GBYYQK1J","cid":"bafkreicshdemnsq6cubaoopufsydiynbb5zig5lkmwa4palvc6kkwgazda","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER CIII. As They Sail\n## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)\n\"CHAPTER CIII. As They Sail\" is a chapter from the novel \"[Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA)\" by Herman Melville, published in 1849. This chapter, extracted from the text file `mardi_vol1.txt`, spans lines 11140 to 11224 of the novel. It is part of the \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)\" collection.\n\n## Context - Background and provenance from related entities\nThis chapter follows \"[CHAPTER CII. They Depart From Mondoldo](arke:01KG8AJP4JNVNGHZAQN6PS0MBC)\" and precedes \"[CHAPTER CIV. Wherein Babbalanja Broaches A Diabolical Theory, And In His Own Person Proves It](arke:01KG8AJP4QDJVJYTQ1DSESTXJE)\". The text was extracted by the `structure-extraction-lambda` tool.\n\n## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details\nThe chapter opens with the narrator reflecting on the history of Yillah and the mysteries surrounding her disappearance. The narrator recalls a previous encounter with Hautia's messengers and begins to fear Hautia. Media then interrupts, announcing that Yoomy is about to perform a chant. The chapter includes \"THE SONG\" of Marlena, a land of shades and streams. The chapter concludes with a discussion between Yoomy, Mohi, Babbalanja, and Media regarding the song and its merits.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:26.487Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER CIII. As They Sail","end_line":11224,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.473Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER CIII. As They Sail","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":11140,"text":"CHAPTER CIII.\r\nAs They Sail\r\n\r\n\r\nAs the canoes now glided across the lagoon, I gave myself up to\r\nreverie; and revolving over all that the men of Amma had rehearsed of\r\nthe history of Yillah, I one by one unriddled the mysteries, before so\r\nbaffling. Now, all was made plain: no secret remaining, but the\r\nsubsequent event of her disappearance. Yes, Hautia! enlightened I had\r\nbeen but where was Yillah?\r\n\r\nThen I recalled that last interview with Hautia’s messengers, so full\r\nof enigmas; and wondered, whether Yoomy had interpreted aright. Unseen,\r\nand unsolicited; still pursuing me with omens, with taunts, and with\r\nwooings, mysterious Hautia appalled me. Vaguely I began to fear her.\r\nAnd the thought, that perhaps again and again, her heralds would haunt\r\nme, filled me with a nameless dread, which I almost shrank from\r\nacknowledging. Inwardly I prayed, that never more they might appear.\r\n\r\nWhile full of these thoughts, Media interrupted them by saying, that\r\nthe minstrel was about to begin one of his chants, a thing of his own\r\ncomposing; and therefore, as he himself said, all critics must be\r\nlenient; for Yoomy, at times, not always, was a timid youth,\r\ndistrustful of his own sweet genius for poesy.\r\n\r\nThe words were about a curious hereafter, believed in by some people in\r\nMardi: a sort of nocturnal Paradise, where the sun and its heat are\r\nexcluded: one long, lunar day, with twinkling stars to keep company.\r\n\r\nTHE SONG\r\nFar off in the sea is Marlena,\r\nA land of shades and streams,\r\nA land of many delights.\r\nDark and bold, thy shores,\r\nMarlena; But green, and timorous, thy soft knolls,\r\nCrouching behind the woodlands.\r\nAll shady thy hills; all gleaming thy springs,\r\nLike eyes in the earth looking at you.\r\nHow charming thy haunts Marlena!—\r\nOh, the waters that flow through Onimoo:\r\nOh, the leaves that rustle through Ponoo:\r\nOh, the roses that blossom in Tarma:\r\nCome, and see the valley of Vina:\r\nHow sweet, how sweet, the Isles from Hind:\r\n’Tis aye afternoon of the full, full moon,\r\nAnd ever the season of fruit,\r\nAnd ever the hour of flowers,\r\nAnd never the time of rains and gales,\r\nAll in and about Marlena.\r\nSoft sigh the boughs in the stilly air,\r\nSoft lap the beach the billows there;\r\nAnd in the woods or by the streams,\r\nYou needs must nod in the Land of Dreams.\r\n\r\n\r\n“Yoomy,” said old Mohi with a yawn, “you composed that song, then, did\r\nyou?”\r\n\r\n“I did,” said Yoomy, placing his turban a little to one side.\r\n\r\n“Then, minstrel, you shall sing me to sleep every night, especially\r\nwith that song of Marlena; it is soporific as the airs of Nora-Bamma.”\r\n\r\n“Mean you, old man, that my lines, setting forth the luxurious repose\r\nto be enjoyed hereafter, are composed with such skill, that the\r\ndescription begets the reality; or would you ironically suggest, that\r\nthe song is a sleepy thing itself?”\r\n\r\n“An important discrimination,” said Media; “which mean you, Mohi?”\r\n\r\n“Now, are you not a silly boy,” said Babbalanja, “when from the\r\nambiguity of his speech, you could so easily have derived something\r\nflattering, thus to seek to extract unpleasantness from it? Be wise,\r\nYoomy; and hereafter, whenever a remark like that seems equivocal, be\r\nsure to wrest commendation from it, though you torture it to the\r\nquick.”\r\n\r\n“And most sure am I, that I would ever do so; but often I so incline to\r\na distrust of my powers, that I am far more keenly alive to censure,\r\nthan to praise; and always deem it the more sincere of the two; and no\r\npraise so much elates me, as censure depresses.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER CIII. As They Sail"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJP4JNVNGHZAQN6PS0MBC","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJP4QDJVJYTQ1DSESTXJE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.674Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:27.052Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}