Gourds are little squash that grow on vines and have a peephole in each one.  If you look into a gourd, you become a part of the world inside, much like a dream world, until someone breaks your line of sight.  If you're touching a person inside of the Gourd when your sight is broken, that person or thing will come with you.

Never eat or drink anything if you've stumbled upon a peephole.  If you do, you can't leave.  It is possible to die as a result of being stuck inside the Gourd, though, only due to dehydration or starvation, or perhaps some beast that would stumble upon your helpless physical body and eat it whole... like a dragon.  Which, dragons aren't very smart in Xanth.

There's another way to get out of a gourd though, too.  You'd have to ride out on a Night Mare, a female horse that carries the horrible dreams of the night, leaving a stamp of signature as they leave.  It would cost half your soul to ride the Mare, but don't worry, it grows back.  How do you think Moms and Dads get the rest of theirs back?  I can't explain more about that here, though, the Adult Conspiracy and all.

When travelling through the Gourd, some of the first places you come across are the Haunted House and the Graveyard.  Watch out for the Zombies, they're nice and all, but the way they just keep falling apart... ick.

Now, across the center of Xanth, horizontally, there is a wide ravine known as the Gap Chasm. It crosses Xanth from West Coast to East Coast and upon approching the Gap, it has a cliff, a sheer drop off below.  So, if you don't know it's there and you're not watching where you are going, which isn't an idiot assumption, a Forget Spell was placed on it a long while back and little pieces of it are still there, causing everyone to forget about it, you could drop off the edge and, needless to say, the gap is very, very deep. The walls of the gap are straight up and there are very few footholds, so climbing the walls is quite a challenge. In the Gap's walls live nickelpedes (similar to centipedes only five times worse). They can gouge out nickel sized pieces of flesh and they don't like light, so they pretty much stay in the crevasses and any shadowed place where the Gap Dragon is not.

Ah, yes, the Gap Dragon, a. k. a., Stanely Steamer.  He is deadly to anything or anyone who enters the Gap. Stanely is a huge steamer dragon with six stubby legs. He has super hearing and sense of smell. If he senses anyone in the Gap he comes whomping ( i.e. :: running dragon, whomp whomp whomp...:: ). He will steam you to the bone and eat you right up. It is best to avoid the Gap Dragon, but he is very important in the defense of Xanth. When the Gap Dragon is away, Stella or Stacey Steamer take over. They can be just a deadly. Stanley later gets "youthened" and becomes a very close friend of Princess Ivy. You can read about that in Dragon On A Pedestal.

There aren't too many ways to cross the Gap Chasm.  One way, is to fly over, but good luck with that if you're as human as Braddli.  There are however, three bridges over it, but they're pretty hard to find.  One is invisible.  The other bridge is the One Way bridge.  You can only cross it from South to North.  Thus, it's only one way.  Of course, if you're coming from the North and someone from the South touches the bridge while you cross, it's possible.  Now, what happens if you turn around or try to cross the wrong way?  Well, have a good fall.  The last bridge is a normal bridge, but most people don't know about it because of the Forget Spell.  It's the Castle Roogna Bridge.  Once you leave the area, you usually forget all about it again.

The central government and human social center of Xanth is located at Castle Roogna.  It was built by centaurs and is located south of the Gap, which is near the center of Xanth. It's where the kings of Xanth reside, though the castle was deserted for over 400 years. (The modern kings resided in their own villages.)  The castle's ghosts and zombies stayed to protect the castle and  awaited a new king who would reside there.  The zombies have always defended the castle to their very last bit of rotten flesh.

 The castle ghosts are very important to the history of Castle Roogna and the whole of  Xanth. The surrounding magical Xanth and none of them fail to be amusing in some way.  There are the dangerous trees such as Tangle Trees or Tanglers that will trap and eat you. There are also the kind of trees that provide food and shelter. There's a lot of different types of trees in gardens of the castle that are not only  important to the castle but to the whole of  Xanth as well. They are not only a great food source, they are also protection for the castle. The pie trees are the favorites of many.

In Xanth you never have to worry about food or clothing because there are bushes & trees to supply you with all you need. Such as shoe trees and pillow bushes etc...In the castle library there are books of spells and information about the magical items in the castle. There are magic mirrors to communicate with Good Magician Humfrey & The Zombie Master. There also is a magic carpet to  travel around Xanth on.  Another magical item of great importance is the Tapestry.  It's like a television, only, it only shows what the viewer concentrates on, which takes practice, and it shows the entire history of Xanth as it happens, it can be fast forwarded, shown in other's perspective, and rewound, ect...

The story behind the building of Castle Roogna is in Castle Roogna.

Hazards of Xanth

There are quite a lot of things to watch out for in Xanth.  One being the basilisk, which is a small, brightly colored lizard that, if it catches your gaze with its own, will turn you to stone.

Harpies are another.  Always dirty, the grimy, greasy wings of a buzzard, the head and breasts of a rather ugly woman.  Their swears'll make your ears burn and your flowers wither.

My favorite hazard of Xanth is King Columbo Fracto Nimbus, once a demon, was turned into a cloud and stuck to picking on unsuspecting travellers with bad weather by raining on them.  Columbo stayed in a gasy form too long and was inevitably stuck that was for eternity.

Paths are things with minds of their own.  There are one-way paths as well, they vanish as you walk along. A Tangle Tree, or Tangler, makes the path to itsself very lovely and inviting, its tentacles left free of the path so that, once close enough, it can ensnare its vicitim and eat it.  Not many things can get free of a Tangle Tree, sometimes not even Ogres.

Ogres are stupid creatures, their only talent being able to curdle water with a single glance and being idiots.  An ogre would rather beat first, ask questions later, which, aren't ever worded well.

Nicklepedes, as mentioned earlier, gouge holes through anything they feel like the size of nickles.

Wiggles are swarms of little larvae-type things that bore through anything until they feel like stopping, a swarm usually happens underground, but they cause large holes much like bullets with loud ZAPs and are faster than can be seen.

A yak is something I haven't researched much yet, but I know they'll talk your ear off, literally.

Pookas are usually horses, covered in chains.  Mischievious things, they rattle their chains, causing those who hear to want to find the source, only to get hopelessly lost if the follow the sound.

Love Springs are a danger because if someone were to fall in one or drink from it, they would fall hopelessly in love with the next person of the opposite sex they saw, or whatever sex they were attracked to usually, anyhow.  This is why there are so many cross-breeds in Xanth.

Hate Springs do the opposite.  Loathesome hate commits to the next person they see after a dose of this.

Youth Springs are uncommon, but Humphry and the Gap Dragon know where it is.  An overdose of this can be deadly.

...more to be added.