{"id":"01KG8AM61QXEA2PQFW9K40RW74","cid":"bafkreieggg6l2722p424t6fg6zncuh6fw3nidoil7q3q7qswaqtx5wcay4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2719,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":2655,"text":"from the elevations in the interior, descended into the valley before\r\nus. I then suggested to him that beyond this ridge might lie a capacious\r\nand untenanted valley, abounding with all manner of delicious fruits;\r\nfor I had heard that there were several such upon the island, and\r\nproposed that we should endeavour to reach it, and if we found our\r\nexpectations realized we should at once take refuge in it and remain\r\nthere as long as we pleased.\r\n\r\nHe acquiesced in the suggestion; and we immediately, therefore, began\r\nsurveying the country lying before us, with a view of determining upon\r\nthe best route for us to pursue; but it presented little choice, the\r\nwhole interval being broken into steep ridges, divided by dark ravines,\r\nextending in parallel lines at right angles to our direct course. All\r\nthese we would be obliged to cross before we could hope to arrive at our\r\ndestination.\r\n\r\nA weary journey! But we decided to undertake it, though, for my own\r\npart, I felt little prepared to encounter its fatigues, shivering and\r\nburning by turns with the ague and fever; for I know not how else to\r\ndescribe the alternate sensations I experienced, and suffering not\r\na little from the lameness which afflicted me. Added to this was the\r\nfaintness consequent on our meagre diet--a calamity in which Toby\r\nparticipated to the same extent as myself.\r\n\r\nThese circumstances, however, only augmented my anxiety to reach a place\r\nwhich promised us plenty and repose, before I should be reduced to a\r\nstate which would render me altogether unable to perform the journey.\r\nAccordingly we now commenced it by descending the almost perpendicular\r\nside of a steep and narrow gorge, bristling with a thick growth of\r\nreeds. Here there was but one mode for us to adopt. We seated ourselves\r\nupon the ground, and guided our descent by catching at the canes in our\r\npath. This velocity with which we thus slid down the side of the ravine\r\nsoon brought us to a point where we could use our feet, and in a short\r\ntime we arrived at the edge of the torrent, which rolled impetuously\r\nalong the bed of the chasm.\r\n\r\nAfter taking a refreshing draught from the water of the stream, we\r\naddressed ourselves to a much more difficult undertaking than the last.\r\nEvery foot of our late descent had to be regained in ascending the\r\nopposite side of the gorge--an operation rendered the less agreeable\r\nfrom the consideration that in these perpendicular episodes we did not\r\nprogress a hundred yards on our journey. But, ungrateful as the task\r\nwas, we set about it with exemplary patience, and after a snail-like\r\nprogress of an hour or more, had scaled perhaps one half of the\r\ndistance, when the fever which had left me for a while returned with\r\nsuch violence, and accompanied by so raging a thirst, that it required\r\nall the entreaties of Toby to prevent me from losing all the fruits of\r\nmy late exertion, by precipitating myself madly down the cliffs we had\r\njust climbed, in quest of the water which flowed so temptingly at their\r\nbase. At the moment all my hopes and fears appeared to be merged in\r\nthis one desire, careless of the consequences that might result from its\r\ngratification. I am aware of no feeling, either of pleasure or of pain,\r\nthat so completely deprives one of an power to resist its impulses, as\r\nthis same raging thirst.\r\n\r\nToby earnestly conjured me to continue the ascent, assuring me that a\r\nlittle more exertion would bring us to the summit, and that then in less\r\nthan five minutes we should find ourselves at the brink of the stream,\r\nwhich must necessarily flow on the other side of the ridge.\r\n\r\n‘Do not,’ he exclaimed, ‘turn back, now that we have proceeded thus far;\r\nfor I tell you that neither of us will have the courage to repeat the\r\nattempt, if once more we find ourselves looking up to where we now are\r\nfrom the bottom of these rocks!’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ783ET02G2BZY5DVXE0","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5CZK130DS23VCJS03Z0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM61ZA8DAP8VDPVMQE5D8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.727Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.001Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}