{"id":"01KG8AJX7J299JSJBPM9J5K6EP","cid":"bafkreidvnoh5wlqgfyfkj4yyx4hnr7t7qdxpf3dtpl6fzurddnaxez5dky","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XC. Taji With Hautia\n\n## Overview\nThis is chapter XC, titled \"Taji With Hautia,\" from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN). It was extracted from the file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This chapter follows \"CHAPTER LXXXIX. They Enter The Bower Of Hautia\" and precedes \"CHAPTER XCI. Mardi Behind: An Ocean Before.\"\n\n## Context\nThis chapter is a segment of Herman Melville's 1849 novel, *Mardi: And a Voyage Thither*. The novel chronicles the journey of Taji, a Polynesian demigod, and his companions through the mythical islands of Mardi. This particular chapter focuses on an encounter between Taji and Hautia, a seductive figure who tempts him with pleasures and riches.\n\n## Contents\nIn this chapter, Hautia invites Taji to sin and revelry, leading him and his companions to a cavern filled with pearls and illusions. Hautia offers Taji wealth, beauty, health, and long life, but he rejects her temptations, stating his preference for the \"bitterness of my buried dead\" over the life she offers. The narrative emphasizes Taji's internal struggle against temptation and his commitment to his past and lost love.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:04.102Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XC. Taji With Hautia","end_line":12972,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XC. Taji With Hautia","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":12900,"text":"CHAPTER XC.\r\nTaji With Hautia\r\n\r\n\r\nAs their last echoes died away down the valley, Hautia glided near;—\r\nzone unbound, the amaryllis in her hand. Her bosom ebbed and flowed;\r\nthe motes danced in the beams that darted from her eyes.\r\n\r\n“Come! let us sin, and be merry. Ho! wine, wine, wine! and lapfuls of\r\nflowers! let all the cane-brakes pipe their flutes. Damsels! dance;\r\nreel, swim, around me:—I, the vortex that draws all in. Taji! Taji!— as\r\na berry, that name is juicy in my mouth!—Taji, Taji!” and in choruses,\r\nshe warbled forth the sound, till it seemed issuing from her syren\r\neyes.\r\n\r\nMy heart flew forth from out its bars, and soared in air; but as my\r\nhand touched Hautia’s, down dropped a dead bird from the clouds.\r\n\r\n“Ha! how he sinks!—but did’st ever dive in deep waters, Taji? Did’st\r\never see where pearls grow?—To the cave!—damsels, lead on!”\r\n\r\nThen wending through constellations of flowers, we entered deep groves.\r\nAnd thus, thrice from sun-light to shade, it seemed three brief nights\r\nand days, ere we paused before the mouth of the cavern.\r\n\r\nA bow-shot from the sea, it pierced the hill-side like a vaulted way;\r\nand glancing in, we saw far gleams of water; crossed, here and there,\r\nby long-flung distant shadows of domes and columns. All Venice seemed\r\nwithin.\r\n\r\nFrom a stack of golden palm-stalks, the damsels now made torches; then\r\nstood grouped; a sheaf of sirens in a sheaf of frame.\r\n\r\nIlluminated, the cavern shone like a Queen of Kandy’s casket: full of\r\ndawns and sunsets.\r\n\r\nFrom rocky roof to bubbling floor, it was columned with stalactites;\r\nand galleried all round, in spiral tiers, with sparkling, coral ledges.\r\n\r\nAnd now, their torches held aloft, into the water the maidens softly\r\nglided; and each a lotus floated; while, from far above, into the air\r\nHautia flung her flambeau; then bounding after, in the lake, two\r\nmeteors were quenched.\r\n\r\nWhere she dived, the flambeaux clustered; and up among them, Hautia\r\nrose; hands, full of pearls.\r\n\r\n“Lo! Taji; all these may be had for the diving; and Beauty, Health,\r\nWealth, Long Life, and the Last Lost Hope of man. But through me alone,\r\nmay these be had. Dive thou, and bring up one pearl if thou canst.”\r\n\r\nDown, down! down, down, in the clear, sparkling water, till I seemed\r\ncrystalized in the flashing heart of a diamond; but from those\r\nbottomless depths, I uprose empty handed.\r\n\r\n“Pearls, pearls! thy pearls! thou art fresh from the mines. Ah, Taji!\r\nfor thee, bootless deep diving. Yet to Hautia, one shallow plunge\r\nreveals many Golcondas. But come; dive with me:—join hands—let me show\r\nthee strange things.”\r\n\r\n“Show me that which I seek, and I will dive with thee, straight through\r\nthe world, till we come up in oceans unknown.”\r\n\r\n“Nay, nay; but join hands, and I will take thee, where thy Past shall\r\nbe forgotten; where thou wilt soon learn to love the living, not the\r\ndead.”\r\n\r\n“Better to me, oh Hautia! all the bitterness of my buried dead, than\r\nall the sweets of the life thou canst bestow; even, were it eternal.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XC. Taji With Hautia"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJWKGKDVTW0X1A54MWN1D","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJX7KAQXHQ0EY0GM8A4HN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:46.930Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:04.905Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}