At the falling of dusk we passed a thickly-wooded tract large enough to be called a forest; the great trees looked hoary with age, and amid a jungle of undergrowth, myrtle and lentisk, arbutus and oleander, lay green marshes, dull deep pools, sluggish streams.

A spell which was half fear fell upon the imagination; never till now had I known an enchanted wood.

Nothing human could wander in those pathless shades, by those dead waters.

It was the very approach to the world of spirits; over this woodland, seen on the verge of twilight, brooded a silent awe, such as Dante knew in his _selva oscura_.
Of a sudden the dense foliage was cleft; there opened a broad alley between drooping boughs, and in the deep hollow, bordered with sand and stones, a flood rolled eastward.

This river is now called Sinno; it was the ancient Sins, whereon stood the city of the same name.