{"id":"01KG8AM40MM0GVFTP9H0KRW5MK","cid":"bafkreiahkjv4jhus4yo5p3pggvncimckgx23xzoflhcfgajvvdvpbqh3aa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6948,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":6898,"text":"bottom of the vessel a small quantity of gravelly sediment very much\r\nresembling our common sand. Whether this is always found in the water,\r\nand gives it its peculiar flavour and virtues, or whether its presence\r\nwas merely incidental, I was not able to ascertain.\r\n\r\nOne day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon\r\na scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of\r\nthe Druids.\r\n\r\nAt the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all sides by\r\ndense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises, step by step,\r\nfor a considerable distance up the hill side. These terraces cannot\r\nbe less than one hundred yards in length and twenty in width. Their\r\nmagnitude, however, is less striking than the immense size of the blocks\r\ncomposing them. Some of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten\r\nto fifteen feet in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are\r\nquite smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation, they\r\nbear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without cement, and\r\nhere and there show gaps between. The topmost terrace and the lower\r\none are somewhat peculiar in their construction. They have both a\r\nquadrangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace\r\nelevated several feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense\r\ntrees have taken root, and their broad boughs stretching far over, and\r\ninterlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to the sun.\r\nOvergrowing the greater part of them, and climbing from one to another,\r\nis a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy embrace many of the stones\r\nlie half-hidden, while in some places a thick growth of bushes entirely\r\ncovers them. There is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of\r\nthese terraces; and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation,\r\nthat a stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of\r\ntheir existence.\r\n\r\nThese structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity and\r\nKory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters of scientific research,\r\ngave me to understand that they were coeval with the creation of the\r\nworld; that the great gods themselves were the builders; and that they\r\nwould endure until time shall be no more.\r\n\r\nKory-Kory’s prompt explanation and his attributing the work to a\r\ndivine origin, at once convinced me that neither he nor the rest of his\r\ncountry-men knew anything about them.\r\n\r\nAs I gazed upon this monument, doubtless the work of an extinct and\r\nforgotten race, thus buried in the green nook of an island at the ends\r\nof the earth, the existence of which was yesterday unknown, a stronger\r\nfeeling of awe came over me than if I had stood musing at the mighty\r\nbase of the Pyramid of Cheops. There are no inscriptions, no sculpture,\r\nno clue, by which to conjecture its history; nothing but the dumb\r\nstones. How many generations of the majestic trees which overshadow them\r\nhave grown and flourished and decayed since first they were erected!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1KKRF4W20PAGWA82S1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40M9PAP07FDMXE9WV9Z","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40M4C0D25962NQGDKR3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.644Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.665Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}