{"id":"01KG8AKS9QY542PPKQW8WWM6Z5","cid":"bafkreihdsg5hh5szxw5hv333xadz3fd3s57h2blnxptkhq3zfmvtv2yjai","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6646,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":6562,"text":"CHAPTER XLVIII.\r\nThey Sail Round An Island Without Landing; And Talk Round A Subject\r\nWithout Getting At It\r\n\r\n\r\nPurposing a visit to Kaleedoni, a country integrally united to\r\nDominora, our course now lay northward along the western white cliffs\r\nof the isle. But finding the wind ahead, and the current too strong for\r\nour paddlers, we were fain to forego our destination; Babbalanja\r\nobserving, that since in Dominora we had not found Yillah, then in\r\nKaleedoni the maiden could not be lurking.\r\n\r\nAnd now, some conversation ensued concerning the country we were\r\nprevented from visiting. Our chronicler narrated many fine things of\r\nits people; extolling their bravery in war, their amiability in peace,\r\ntheir devotion in religion, their penetration in philosophy, their\r\nsimplicity and sweetness in song, their loving-kindness and frugality\r\nin all things domestic:—running over a long catalogue of heroes,\r\nmeta-physicians, bards, and good men.\r\n\r\nBut as all virtues are convertible into vices, so in some cases did the\r\nbest traits of these people degenerate. Their frugality too often\r\nbecame parsimony; their devotion grim bigotry; and all this in a\r\ngreater degree perhaps than could be predicated of the more immediate\r\nsubjects of King Bello.\r\n\r\nIn Kaleedoni was much to awaken the fervor of its bards. Upland and\r\nlowland were full of the picturesque; and many unsung lyrics yet lurked\r\nin her glens. Among her blue, heathy hills, lingered many tribes, who\r\nin their wild and tattooed attire, still preserved the garb of the\r\nmightiest nation of old times. They bared the knee, in token that it\r\nwas honorable as the face, since it had never been bent.\r\n\r\nWhile Braid-Beard was recounting these things, the currents were\r\nsweeping us over a strait, toward a deep green island, bewitching to\r\nbehold.\r\n\r\nNot greener that midmost terrace of the Andes, which under a torrid\r\nmeridian steeps fair Quito in the dews of a perpetual spring;—not\r\ngreener the nine thousand feet of Pirohitee’s tall peak, which, rising\r\nfrom out the warm bosom of Tahiti, carries all summer with it into the\r\nclouds;—nay, not greener the famed gardens of Cyrus,—than the vernal\r\nlawn, the knoll, the dale of beautiful Verdanna.\r\n\r\n“Alas, sweet isle! Thy desolation is overrun with vines,” sighed Yoomy,\r\ngazing.\r\n\r\n“Land of caitiff curs!” cried Media.\r\n\r\n“Isle, whose future is in its past. Hearth-stone, from which its\r\nchildren run,” said Babbalanja.\r\n\r\n“I can not read thy chronicles for blood, Verdanna,” murmured Mohi.\r\n\r\nGliding near, we would have landed, but the rolling surf forbade. Then\r\nthrice we circumnavigated the isle for a smooth, clear beach; but it\r\nwas not found.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile all still conversed.\r\n\r\n“My lord,” said Yoomy, “while we tarried with King Bello, I heard much\r\nof the feud between Dominora and this unhappy shore. Yet is not\r\nVerdanna as a child of King Bello’s?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, minstrel, a step-child,” said Mohi.\r\n\r\n“By way of enlarging his family circle,” said Babbalanja, “an old lion\r\nonce introduced a deserted young stag to his den; but the stag never\r\nbecame domesticated, and would still charge upon his foster-brothers.\r\n—Verdanna is not of the flesh and blood of Dominora, whence, in good\r\npart, these dissensions.”\r\n\r\n“But Babbalanja, is there no way of reconciling these foes?”\r\n\r\n“But one way, Yoomy:—By filling up this strait with dry land; for,\r\ndivided by water, we Mardians must ever remain more or less divided at\r\nheart. Though Kaleedoni was united to Dominora long previous to the\r\nunion of Verdanna, yet Kaleedoni occasions Bello no disquiet; for,\r\ngeographically one, the two populations insensibly blend at the point\r\nof junction. No hostile strait flows between the arms, that to embrace\r\nmust touch.”\r\n\r\n“But, Babbalanja,” said Yoomy, “what asks Verdanna of Dominora, that\r\nVerdanna so clamors at the denial?”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSY03V2H6TZ4Y2NYX2FC","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKS9RTF2551GXR1RA5KZ0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.671Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.566Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}