Can enter there: but wrap thyself with care From the foul Birds obscene that thirst for blood;

For in such caverns doth the Bat delight To have its haunts. Do thou, with stone and shout, Ere thou liest down at evening, scare them out,

And in this robe of mine involve thy feet. Duly commend us both to Heaven in prayer; Be of good heart, and may thy sleep be sweet!'

10.

""

So saying, he put back his arm, and gave The cloth which girt his loins, and pressed her hand

With fervent love, then from the sand Advanced into the sea: the coming Wave, Which knew Kehama's Curse, before his way Started, and on he went as on dry land; And still around his path the waters parted. She stands upon the shore where seaweeds play, Lashing her polished ankles; and the spray Which off her Father, like a rainbow, fled, Falls on her like a shower: there Kailyal stands, And sees the billows rise above his head. She, at the startling sight, forgot the power The Curse had given him, and held forth her hands Imploringly her voice was on the wind, And the deaf Ocean o'er Ladurlad closed. Soon she recalled his destiny to mind, And, shaking off that natural fear, composed Her soul with prayer, to wait the event resigned.

11.

Alone, upon the solitary strand,
The lovely one is left: behold her go,
Pacing with patient footsteps, to and fro,
Along the bending sand!

Save her, ye Gods! from Evil Powers, and here
From man she need not fear:

For never Traveller comes near
These awful ruins of the days of yore;
Nor fisher's bark, nor venturous mariner,
Approach the sacred shore.

All day she walked the beach; at night she sought
The Chamber of the Rock, with stone and shout
Assailed the Bats obscene, and scared them out;
Then in her Father's robe involved her feet,
And wrapped her mantle round to guard her head,
And laid her down. The rock was Kailyal's bed;
Her chamber-lamps were in the starry sky;
The winds and waters were her lullaby.

12.

"Be of good heart, and may thy sleep be sweet!" Ladurlad said. Alas! that cannot be

To one whose days are days of misery. How often did she stretch her hands to greet Ercenia, rescued in the dreams of night!

How oft, amid the vision of delight,

Fear in her heart all is not as it seems! Then from unsettled slumber start, and hear The Winds that moan above, the Waves below!

Thou hast been called, O Sleep! the friend of Woe; But 'tis the happy who have called thee so.

13.

Another day, another night, are gone;
A second passes, and a third wanes on.
So long she paced the shore,

So often on the beach she took her stand,
That the wild Sea-Birds knew her, and no more
Fled when she passed beside them on the strand.
Bright shine the golden summits in the light
Of the noon-sun, and lovelier far by night
Their moonlight glories o'er the sea they shed.
Fair is the dark-green deep; by night and day,
Unvexed with storms, the peaceful billows play,
As when they closed upon Ladurlad's head;
The firmament above is bright and clear;
The sea-fowl, lords of water, air, and land,
Joyous alike upon the wing appear,
Or when they ride the waves or walk the sand;
Beauty and light and joy are everywhere;
There is no sadness and no sorrow here,
Save what that single human breast contains,
But, oh! what hopes and fears and pains are there!

14.

Seven miserable days the expectant Maid, From earliest dawn till evening, watched the shore. Hope left her then; and in her heart she said, Never should she behold her Father more.

XVI.

THE ANCIENT SEPULCHRES.

1.

WHEN the broad Ocean on Ladurlad's head
Had closed, and arched him o'er,
With steady tread he held his way
Adown the sloping shore.

The dark-green waves with emerald hue
Imbue the beams of day;

And on the wrinkled sand below,
Rolling their mazy network to and fro,
Light shadows shift and play.
The hungry Shark, at scent of prey,
Toward Ladurlad darted;

Beholding then that human form erect,
How like a God the depths he trod,
Appalled the monster started,
And in his fear departed.

Onward Ladurlad went with heart elate, And now hath reached the Ancient City's gate.

2.

Wondering he stood awhile to gaze
Upon the works of elder days.
The brazen portals open stood,
Even as the fearful multitude
Had left them, when they fled

Before the rising flood.

High overhead, sublime,

The mighty gateway's storied roof was spread,
Dwarfing the puny piles of younger time.
With the deeds of days of yore
That ample roof was sculptured o'er;
And many a godlike form there met his eye,
And many an emblem dark of mystery.
Through these wide portals oft had Baly rode
Triumphant from his proud abode,

When, in his greatness, he bestrode
The Aullay, hugest of four-footed kind,-
The Aullay-Horse, that in his force,
With elephantine trunk, could bind
And lift the elephant, and on the wind
Whirl him away with sway and swing,
Even like a pebble from the practised sling.

3.

Those streets which never, since the days of yore,
By human footstep had been visited, -
Those streets which never more

A human foot shall tread,

Ladurlad trod. In sunlight and sea-green, The thousand Palaces were seen Of that proud City, whose superb abodes Seemed reared by Giants for the immortal Gods. How silent and how beautiful they stand, Like things of Nature! the eternal rocks Themselves not firmer. Neither hath the sand Drifted within their gates and choked their doors,