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- # CHAPTER LXXVII. The House Of The Afternoon
## Overview
This chapter, titled "The House Of The Afternoon," is part of the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA). It was extracted from the file [mardi_vol1.txt](arke:01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This chapter follows "CHAPTER LXXV. Time And Temples" and precedes "CHAPTER LXXX. Donjalolo In The Bosom Of His Family."
## Context
The chapter is situated within the larger narrative of [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA), a novel that explores themes of adventure and philosophical reflection. The text describes a natural grotto that has been adapted into a dwelling, referred to as the "House of the Afternoon."
## Contents
The chapter vividly describes the "House of the Afternoon," a dwelling integrated into a mountainside grotto. It details a stream that emerges from the grotto, its path through stone basins and moats, and its eventual disappearance. The narrative uses this natural setting to draw parallels with the human experience of life, bounding from darkness into light and back again. The description emphasizes the natural beauty of the surroundings, with the grotto serving as both an outlet for the stream and a unique dwelling space. The text also mentions artificial steps leading from an arbor into the grotto, highlighting the blend of natural and man-made elements.
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- CHAPTER LXXVII. The House Of The Afternoon
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- CHAPTER LXXVII.
The House Of The Afternoon
For the most part, the House of the Afternoon was but a wing built
against a mansion wrought by the hand of Nature herself; a grotto
running into the side of the mountain. From high over the mouth of this
grotto, sloped a long arbor, supported by great blocks of stone, rudely
chiseled into the likeness of idols, each bearing a carved lizard on
its chest: a sergeant’s guard of the gods condescendingly doing duty as
posts.
From the grotto thus vestibuled, issued hilariously forth the most
considerable stream of the glen; which, seemingly overjoyed to find
daylight in Willamilla, sprang into the arbor with a cheery, white
bound. But its youthful enthusiasm was soon repressed; its waters being
caught in a large stone basin, scooped out of the natural rock; whence,
staid and decorous, they traversed sundry moats; at last meandering
away, to join floods with the streams trained to do service at the
other end of the vale.
Truant streams: the livelong day wending their loitering path to the
subterraneous outlet, flowing into which, they disappeared. But no
wonder they loitered; passing such ravishing landscapes. Thus with
life: man bounds out of night; runs and babbles in the sun; then
returns to his darkness again; though, peradventure, once more to
emerge.
But the grotto was not a mere outlet to the stream. Flowing through a
dark flume in the rock, on both sides it left a dry, elevated shelf, to
which you ascend from the arbor by three artificially-wrought steps,
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- CHAPTER LXXVII. The House Of The Afternoon