15.

Alike to them, it seem'd in their despair,

Whither they wander'd from the infected spot.
Chance might direct their steps: they took no care;
Come well or ill to them, it matter'd not!
Left as they were in that unhappy lot,

The sole survivors they of all their race,

They reck'd not when their fate, nor where,nor what, In this resignment to their hopeless case, Indifferent to all choice or circumstance of place.

16.

That palsying stupor past away ere long, And as the spring of health resumed its power, They felt that life was dear, and hope was strong. What marvel? 'Twas with them the morning hour, When bliss appears to be the natural dower Of all the creatures of this joyous earth; And sorrow fleeting like a vernal shower Scarce interrupts the current of our mirth; Such is the happy heart we bring with us at birth.

17.

Though of his nature and his boundless love
Erring, yet tutor'd by instinctive sense,

They rightly deem'd the Power who rules above
Had saved them from the wasting pestilence.
That favouring power would still be their defence:
Thus were they by their late deliverance taught
To place a child-like trust in Providence,

And in their state forlorn they found this thought Of natural faith with hope and consolation fraught.

18.

And now they built themselves a leafy bower,
Amid a glade, slow Mondai's stream beside,
Screen'd from the southern blast of piercing power:
Not like their native dwelling, long and wide,
By skilful toil of numbers edified,

The common home of all, their human nest, Where threescore hammocks pendant side by side Were ranged, and on the ground the fires were drest; Alas, that populous hive hath now no living guest!

19.

A few firm stakes they planted in the ground, Circling a narrow space, yet large enow; These strongly interknit they closed around With basket-work of many a pliant bough. The roof was like the sides; the door was low, And rude the hut, and trimm'd with little care, For little heart had they to dress it now; Yet was the humble structure fresh and fair, And soon its inmates found that love might sojourn there.

20.

Quiara could recall to mind the course Of twenty summers; perfectly he knew Whate'er his fathers taught of skill or force. Right to the mark his whizzing lance he threw, And from his bow the unerring arrow flew With fatal aim: and when the laden bee Buzz'd by him in its flight, he could pursue Its path with certain ken, and follow free Until he traced the hive in hidden bank or tree.

21.

Of answering years was Monnema, nor less
Expert in all her sex's household ways.
The Indian weed she skilfully could dress;
And in what depth to drop the yellow maize
She knew, and when around its stem to raise
The lighten'd soil; and well could she prepare
Its ripen'd seed for food, her proper praise;
Or in the embers turn with frequent care

Its succulent head yet green, sometimes for daintier

fare.

22.

And how to macerate the bark she knew,
And draw apart its beaten fibres fine,

And bleaching them in sun, and air, and dew;
From dry and glossy filaments entwine
With rapid twirl of hand the lengthening line;
Next interknitting well the twisted thread,
In many an even mesh its knots combine,
And shape in tapering length the pensile bed,
Light hammock there to hang beneath the leafy shed.

23.

Time had been when expert in works of clay
She lent her hands the swelling urn to mould,
And fill'd it for the appointed festal day
With the beloved beverage which the bold
Quaff'd in their triumph and their joy of old;
The fruitful cause of many an uproar rude,
When in their drunken bravery uncontroll'd,
Some bitter jest awoke the dormant feud,

And wrath and rage and strife and wounds and death ensued.

24.

These occupations were gone by: the skill
Was useless now, which once had been her pride.
Content were they, when thirst impell'd, to fill
The dry and hollow gourd from Mondai's side;
The river from its sluggish bed supplied
A draught for repetition all unmeet;
Howbeit the bodily want was satisfied;

No feverish pulse ensued, nor ireful heat,
Their days were undisturb'd, their natural sleep was

sweet.

25.

She too had learnt in youth how best to trim The honour'd Chief for his triumphal day, And covering with soft gums the obedient limb And body, then with feathers overlay, In regular hues disposed, a rich display. Well-pleased the glorious savage stood and eyed The growing work; then vain of his array Look'd with complacent frown from side to side, Stalk'd with elater step, and swell'd with statelier pride.

26.

Feasts and carousals, vanity and strife,
Could have no place with them in solitude
To break the tenor of their even life.
Quiara day by day his game pursued,
Searching the air, the water, and the wood,
With hawk-like eye, and arrow sure as fate;
And Monnema prepared the hunter's food:
Cast with him here in this forlorn estate,
In all things for the man was she a fitting mate.

27.

The Moon had gather'd oft her monthly store Of light, and oft in darkness left the sky, Since Monnema a growing burthen bore Of life and hope. The appointed weeks go by; And now her hour is come, and none is nigh To help but human help she needed none. A few short throes endured with scarce a cry, Upon the bank she laid her new-born son, Then slid into the stream, and bathed, and all was done.

28.

Might old observances have there been kept, Then should the husband to that pensile bed, Like one exhausted with the birth have crept, And laying down in feeble guise his head, For many a day been nursed and dieted With tender care, to childing mothers due. Certes a custom strange, and yet far spread Through many a savage tribe, howe'er it grew, And once in the old world known as widely as the new.

29.

This could not then be done; he might not lay
The bow and those unerring shafts aside;
Nor through the appointed weeks forego the prey,
Still to be sought amid those regions wide,
None being there who should the while provide
That lonely household with their needful food:
So still Quiara through the forest plied
His daily task, and in the thickest wood

Still laid his snares for birds, and still the chase pursued.