And high palmetos lift their graceful fhade.
O ftretch'd amid thefe orchards of the fun,
Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl,
And from the palm to draw its freshening wine!
More bounteous far than all the frantic juice
Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its flender twigs
Low-bending, be the full pomegranate fcorn'd;
Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race
Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells
Unboaftful worth, above faftidious pomp.
Witnefs, thou beft Anâna, thou the pride
Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er
The poets imag'd in the golden age:
Quick let me ftrip thee of thy tufty coat,
Spread thy ambrofial stores, and feast with Jove!
From these the profpect varies. Plains immense
Lie ftretch'd below, interminable meads,
And vaft favannahıs, where the wandering eye,
Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean loft.
Another Flora there, of bolder hues,
And richer fweets, beyond our garden's pride,
Plays o'er the fields, and showers with fudden hand
Exuberant fpring: for oft these valleys fhift
Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown,
And fwift to green again, as fcorching funs,
Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains, prevail.
Along thefe lonely regions, where retir'd,
From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells
In awful folitude, and nought is seen
But the wild herds that own no master's stall,
Prodigious rivers roll their fatt'ning feas:
On whose luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd,
Like a fallen cedar, far diffus'd his train,
Cas'd in green fcales, the crocodile extends.
The flood difparts: behold! in plaited mail,
Behemoth * rears his head. Glane'd from his fide,
The darted fteel in idle fhivers flies:
He fearless walks the plain, or feeks the hills;
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds,
In widening circle round, forget their food,
And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze.
Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cast
Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow ftream,
And where the Ganges rolls his facred wave;
Or mid the central depth of blackening woods,
High-rais'd in folemn theatre around,
Leans the huge elephant: wifeft of brutes!
* The Hippopotamus, or river-horse,
O truly wife! with gentle might endow'd,
Tho' powerful, not deftructive! Here he fees
Revolving ages fweep the changeful earth,
And empires rise and fall; regardless he
Of what the never-refting race of Men
Project: thrice happy! could he 'scape their guile,
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps;
Or with his towery grandeur fwell their ftate,
The pride of kings! or clfe his ftrength pervert,
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray,
Aftonish'd at the madness of mankind.
Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods,
Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar,
Thick-fwarm the brighter birds. For Nature's hand,
That with a sportive vanity has deck'd
The plumy nations, there her gayeft hues
Profufely pours. But, if fhe bids them fhine,
Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day,
Yet frugal ftill, fhe humbles them in fʊng *.
Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent
Proud Montezuma's realm, whofe legions cast
A boundless radiance waving on the fun,
In all the regions of the torrid zone, the birds, though more beautiful in their plumage, are observed to be less melodious than
While Philomel is ours; while in our shades,
Thro' the foft filence of the listening night,
The fober-fuited fongftrefs trills her lay. X
But come, my Mufe, the defert-barrier burft,
A wild expanfe of lifelefs fand and sky:
And, fwifter than the toiling caravan,
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar; ardent climb
The Nubian mountains, and the fecret bounds
Of jealous Abyffinia boldly pierce.
Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask
Of focial commerce com'ft to rob their wealth;
No holy Fury thou, blafpheming HEAVEN,
With confecrated fteel to ftab their peace,
And thro' the land, yet red from civil wounds,
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome.
Thou, like the harmless bee, may'ft freely range,
From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers,
From jasmine grove to grove, may'st wander gay,
Thro' palmy shades and aromatic woods,
That grace the plains, inveft the peopled hills,
And up the more than Alpine mountains wave.
There on the breezy fummit, spreading fair,
For many a league; or on ftupendous rocks,
That from the fun-redoubling valley lift,
Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops;
Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rife ;
And gardens smile around, and cultur’d fields;
And fountains gush; and careless herds and flocks
Securely ftray; a world within itself,
Disdaining all assault: there let me draw
Ethereal foul, there drink reviving gales,
Profufely breathing from the fpicy groves,
And vales of fragrance; there at diftance hear
The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep
From difembowel'd earth the virgin gold;
And o'er the varied landscape, reftlefs, rove,
Fervent with life of every fairer kind:
A land of wonders! which the fun still eyes
With ray direct, as of the lovely realm
Inamour'd, and delighting there to dwell.
How chang'd the scene! In blazing height of noon,
The fun, opprefs'd, is plung'd in thickeft gloom.
Still Horror reigns, a dreary twilight round,
Of ftruggling night and day malignant mix’d.
For to the hot equator crowding faft,
Where, highly rarefy'd, the yielding air
Admits their stream, inceffant vapours roll,
Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd;
Or whirl'd tempeftuous by the gufty wind,
Or filent borne along, heavy and flow,
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