This chapter opens with a description of the underground town of Corioles, Spain. It is described as a place where the inhabitants live in a state of total isolation. The inhabitants are separated from the outside world by a wall of tunnels, which they must cross in order to reach the city. The underground town is described in great detail, and the narrator tells us that the inhabitants are divided into two groups: the upper class and the lower class. The upper class lives on the banks of the river, while the lower classes live on the outskirts of the town.