Violent Storm defcribed.

Fervent with life of every fairer kind :

780

A land of wonders! which the fun fill eyes

With ray direct, as of the lovely realm

Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell.

How chang'd the scene! in blazing height of noon, The fun, opprefs'd, is plung'd in thickest gloom. 785 Still Horror reigns, a dreary twilight round, Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd. For to she hot equator crowding fast, Where, highly rarefy'd, the yielding air Admits their ftream, inceffant vapours roll, Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd; Or whirl'd tempeftuous by the guity wind, Or filent borne along, heavy, and slow, With the big stores of fteaming oceans charg'd. Meantime, amid these upper feas, condens'd Around the cold aërial mountain's brow,

And by conflicting winds together dash'd,

790

795

The thunder holds his black tremendous throne: From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings rage; Till, in the furious elemental war

Diffolv'd, the whole precipitated mass

Unbroken floods and folid torrents pours.

800

The treatures thefe, hid from the bounded fearch Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp, Rich king of floods! o'erflows the swelling Nile. 805 From his two springs, in Gojam's funny realm,

The progrefs of the Nile and Niger.

Pure-fwelling out, he thro' the lucid lake
Of fair Dambea rolls his infant-stream,
There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he fports away
His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles,
That with unfading verdure smile around.
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks;
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellow'd treafures of the sky,
Winds in progreffive majefty along :

Thro' fplendid kingdoms now devolves his maze,
Now wanders wild o'er folitary tracts
Of life-deferted fand; till, glad to quit

81Q

815

The joylefs defert, down the Nubian rocks,
From thundering steep to fteep, he pours his urn, 820
And Egypt joys beneath the fpreading wave.
His brother Niger too, and all the floods
In which the full-form'd maids of Afric lave
Their jetty limbs; and all that from the tract
Of woody mountains stretch'd thro' gorgeous Ind 825
Fall on Coromandel's coaft, or Malabar ;

*

From Menam's orient stream, that nightly fhines

With infect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds

On Indus' fmiling banks the rofy fhower:

* i he river that runs thio' Siam; on whofe banks a vast multitude of those infects called Fire-flies make a beautiful appearance in the night.

American Rivers delineated.

All, at this bounteous feafon, ope their urns, 830 And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land.

Nor lefs thy world, COLUMBUS, drinks, refresh'd, The lavish moisture of the melting year.

Wide o'er his ifles, the branching Oronooko
Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives
To dwell aloft on life-fufficing trees,

835

840

At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.
Swell'd by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl'd
From all the roaring Andes, huge defcends
The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Mufe
Dares ftretch her wing o'er this enormous mass
Of rushing water; fcarce the dares attempt
The fea-like Plata; to whofe dread expanfe,
Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course,
Our floods are rills. With unabated force,
In filent dignity they fweep along,

845

And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds, And fruitful deferts, worlds of folitude,

Where the fun fimiles and feafons teem in vain,

Unfeen, and unenjoy'd. Forfaking these,

850

O'er peopled plains they far-diffusive flow,
And many a nation feed, and circle fafe,
In their foft bofom, many a happy ifle;
The feat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd

*The river of the Amazons.

Want of Civilization lamented.

855

By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel fons.
Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep,
Whofe vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock,
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe;
And ocean trembles for his green domain.

But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth?

This gay profusion of luxurious blifs?

861

This pomp of nature? what their balmy meads,
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain?
By vagrant birds difpers'd, and wafting winds,
What their unplanted fruits? What the cool draught,
Th' ambrofial food, rich gums, and spicy heath, 866
Their forefts yield? Their toiling infects what,
Their filky pride, and vegetable robes ?

Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid

Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth,
Golconda's gems, and fad Potofi's mines;
Where dwelt the gentleft children of the fun?
What all that Afric's golden rivers roll,
Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores?
Hl-fated race! the foftening arts of Peace,

870

875

Whate'er the humanizing Muses teach;
The godlike wisdom of the temper'd breast;
Progreffive truth, the patient force of thought;
Investigation calm, whofe filent powers

Command the world; the Light that leads to Hea

ven;

Kind equal rule, the government of laws,

88e

Frightful attitudes of the Serpent.

885

And all-protecting Freedom, which alone
Suftains the name and dignity of Man:
These are not theirs. The parent-fun himself
Seems o'er this world of flaves to tyrannize;
And, with oppreffive ray, the rofeat bloom
Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue,
And feature grofs: or worse, to ruthlefs deeds,
Mad jealoufy, blind rage, and fell revenge,
Their fervid fpirits fire. Love dwells not there, 890
The foft regards, the tenderness of life,
The heart-shed tear, th' ineffable delight
Of sweet humanity: these court the beam
Of milder climes; in felfish fierce defire,
And the wild fury of voluptuous fenfe,
There loft. The very brute-creation there
This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire.
Lo! the green ferpent, from his dark abode,
Which even Imagination fears to tread,

At noon forth-iffuing, gathers up his train

In orbs immense, then, darting out anew,

Seeks the refreshing fount; by which diffus'd,

895

900

He throws his folds: and while, with threat'ning

tongue,

And deathful jaws erect, the monfter curls
His flaming creft, all other thirst, appall'd,
Or fhivering flies, or check'd at distance stands,
Nor dares approach. But ftill more direful he,
The small close-lurking minister of fate,

905