Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/207

 1851.] A DESCRIPTION OF JAVlTA. 177

Lie hid, o'ershadow'd by th' eternal woods,

And trickle onwards, — these to increase the wave

Of turbid Orinooko ; those, by a longer course

In the Black River's isle-strewn bed, flow down

To mighty Amazon, the river-king,

And, mingled with his all-engulfing stream,

Go to do battle with proud Ocean's self, '

And drive him back even from his own domain.

There is an Indian village ; all around,

The dark, eternal, boundless forest spreads

Its varied foliage. Stately palm-trees rise

On every side, and numerous trees unknown

Save by strange names uncouth to English ears.

Here I dwelt awhile the one white man

Among perhaps two hundred living souls.

They pass a peaceful and contented life,

These black-hair'd, red-skinn'd, handsome, half-wild men.

Directed by the sons of Old Castile,

They keep their village and their houses clean;

And on the eve before the Sabbath-day

Assemble all at summons of a bell,

To sweep within and all around their church,

In which next morn they meet, all neatly drcss'd,

To pray as they've been taught unto their God.

It was a pleasing sight, that Sabbath mom,

Reminding me of distant, dear-loved home.

On one side knelt the men, their simple dress

A shirt and trousers of coarse cotton cloth :

On the other side were women and young girls,

Their glossy tresses braided with much taste,

And on their necks all wore a kerchief gay,

And some a knot of riband in their hair.

How like they look'd, save in their dusky skin,

To a fair group of English village maids !

Yet far superior in their graceful forms;

For their free growth no straps or bands impeJe,

But simple food, free air, and daily baths

And exercise, give all that Nature asks

To mould a beautiful and healthy frame.

"Each day some labour calls them. Now they go To fell the forest's pride, or in canoe With hook, and spear, and arrow, to catch fish ; Or seek the various products of the wood, To make their baskets or their hanging beds. The women dig the mandiocc^ root, And with much labour make of it their bread. These plant the young shoots in the fertile earth — Earth all untill'd, to which the plough, or spade, Or rake, or harrow, are alike unknown.

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