The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

"One thing I'd like to know," said Puddleglum, "is whether anyone from our world - from
up-a-top, I mean has ever done this trip before?"
"Many have taken ship at the pale beaches," replied the Warden, "and-"
"Yes, I know," interrupted Puddleglum. "And few return to the sunlit lands. You needn't
say it again. You are a chap of one idea, aren't you?"
The children huddled close together on each side of Puddleglum. They had thought him a
wet blanket while they were still above ground, but down here he seemed the only
comforting thing they had. Then the pale lantern was hung up amidships, the Earthmen
sat to the oars, and the ship began to move. The lantern cast its light only a very short
way. Looking ahead, they could see nothing but smooth, dark water, fading into absolute
blackness.
"Oh, whatever will become of us?" said Jill despairingly.
"Now don't you let your spirits down, Pole," said the Marsh-wiggle. "There's one thing
you've got to remember. We're back on the right lines. We were to go under the Ruined
City, and we are under it. We're following the instructions again."
Presently they were given food - flat, flabby cakes of some sort which had hardly any
taste. And after that, they gradually fell asleep. But when they woke, everything was just
the same; the gnomes still rowing, the ship still gliding on, still dead blackness ahead.
How often they woke and slept and ate and slept again, none of them could ever
remember. And the worst thing about it was that you began to feel as if you had always
lived on that ship, in that darkness, and to wonder whether sun and blue skies and wind
and birds had not been only a dream.
They had almost given up hoping or being afraid about anything when at last they saw
lights ahead: dreary lights, like that of their own lantern. Then, quite suddenly, one of
these lights came close and they saw that they were passing another ship. After that they
met several ships. Then, staring till their eyes hurt, they saw that some of the lights ahead
were shining on what looked like wharfs, walls, towers, and moving crowds. But still
there was hardly any noise.
"By Jove," said Scrubb. "A city!" and soon they all saw that he was right.
But it was a queer city. The lights were so few and far apart that they would hardly have
done for scattered cottages in our world. But the little bits of the place which you could
see by the lights were like glimpses of a great seaport. You could make out in one place a
whole crowd of ships loading or unloading; in another, bales of stuff and warehouses; in
a third, walls and pillars that suggested great palaces or temples; and always, wherever
the light fell, endless crowds - hundreds of Earthmen, jostling one another as they padded
softly about their business in narrow streets, broad squares, or up great flights of steps.
Their continued movement made a sort of soft, murmuring noise as the ship drew nearer