{"id":"01KG8AKN25WVGP8C66EDFTJDY9","cid":"bafkreiaj6h6gj5ywf7ymvl4v7ts2vrpzezx676xxzem4vk7eklyyfuy4mm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2517,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":2387,"text":"CHAPTER XIX.\r\nThey Go Down Into The Catacombs\r\n\r\n\r\nWith a dull flambeau, we now descended some narrow stone steps, to view\r\nOh-Oh’s collection of ancient and curious manuscripts, preserved in a\r\nvault.\r\n\r\n“This way, this way, my masters,” cried Oh-Oh, aloft, swinging his dim\r\ntorch. “Keep your hands before you; it’s a dark road to travel.”\r\n\r\n“So it seems,” said Babbalanja, wide-groping, as he descended lower and\r\nlower. “My lord this is like going down to posterity.”\r\n\r\nUpon gaining the vault, forth flew a score or two of bats,\r\nextinguishing the flambeau, and leaving us in darkness, like Belzoni\r\ndeserted by his Arabs in the heart of a pyramid. The torch at last\r\nrelumed, we entered a tomb-like excavation, at every step raising\r\nclouds of dust; and at last stood before long rows of musty, mummyish\r\nparcels, so dingy-red, and so rolled upon sticks, that they looked like\r\nstiff sausages of Bologna; but smelt like some fine old Stilton or\r\nCheshire.\r\n\r\nMost ancient of all, was a hieroglyphical Elegy on the Dumps,\r\nconsisting of one thousand and one lines; the characters,—herons,\r\nweeping-willows, and ravens, supposed to have been traced by a quill\r\nfrom the sea-noddy.\r\n\r\nThen there were plenty of rare old ballads:—\r\n\r\n“King Kroko, and the Fisher Girl.”\r\n“The Fight at the Ford of Spears.”\r\n“The Song of the Skulls.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd brave old chronicles, that made Mohi’s mouth water:—\r\n\r\n“The Rise and Setting of the Dynasty of Foofoo.”\r\n“The Heroic History of the Noble Prince Dragoni; showing how he killed\r\nten Pinioned Prisoners with his Own Hand.”\r\n“The whole Pedigree of the King of Kandidee, with that of his famous\r\nhorse, Znorto.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd Tarantula books:—\r\n\r\n“Sour Milk for the Young, by a Dairyman.”\r\n“The Devil adrift, by a Corsair.”\r\n“Grunts and Groans, by a Mad Boar.”\r\n“Stings, by a Scorpion.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd poetical productions:—\r\n\r\n“Suffusions of a Lily in a Shower.”\r\n“Sonnet on the last Breath of an Ephemera.”\r\n“The Gad-fly, and Other Poems.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd metaphysical treatises:—\r\n\r\n“Necessitarian not Predestinarian.”\r\n“Philosophical Necessity and Predestination One Thing and The Same.”\r\n“Whatever is not, is.”\r\n“Whatever is, is not.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd scarce old memoirs:—\r\n\r\n“The One Hundred Books of the Biography of the Great and Good King\r\nGrandissimo.”\r\n“The Life of old Philo, the Philanthropist, in one Chapter.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd popular literature:—\r\n\r\n“A most Sweet, Pleasant, and Unctuous Account of the Manner in which\r\nFive-and-Forty Robbers were torn asunder by Swiftly-Going Canoes.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd books by chiefs and nobles:—\r\n\r\n“The Art of Making a Noise in Mardi.”\r\n“On the Proper Manner of Saluting a Bosom Friend.”\r\n“Letters from a Father to a Son, inculcating the Virtue of Vice.”\r\n“Pastorals by a Younger Son.”\r\n“A Catalogue of Chieftains who have been Authors, by a Chieftain, who\r\ndisdains to be deemed an Author.”\r\n“A Canto on a Cough caught by my Consort.”\r\n“The Philosophy of Honesty, by a late Lord, who died in disgrace.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd theological works:—\r\n\r\n“Pepper for the Perverse.”\r\n“Pudding for the Pious.”\r\n“Pleas for Pardon.”\r\n“Pickles for the Persecuted.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd long and tedious romances with short and easy titles:—\r\n\r\n“The Buck.”\r\n“The Belle.”\r\n“The King and the Cook, or the Cook and the King.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd books of voyages:—\r\n\r\n“A Sojourn among the Anthropophagi, by One whose Hand was eaten off at\r\nTiffin among the Savages.”\r\n“Franko: its King, Court, and Tadpoles.”\r\n“Three Hours in Vivenza, containing a Full and Impartial Account of\r\nthat Whole Country: by a Subject of King Bello.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd works of nautical poets:—\r\n\r\n“Sky-Sail-Pole Lyrics.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd divers brief books, with panic-striking titles:—\r\n\r\n“Are you safe?”\r\n“A Voice from Below.”\r\n“Hope for none.”\r\n“Fire for all.”\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd pamphlets by retired warriors:—\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQT1BDEB9CENNW36B4J3","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKNPZ73NV3MP1MQR7GYJE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:11.333Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.675Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}