Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/66

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Little she knew, for little had she seen, And little of traditionary lore Had reach'd her ear; and yet to them I ween Their mother's knowledge seem'd a boundless store. A world it opened to their thoughts; yea more,— Another world beyond this mortal state. Bereft of her they had indeed been poor, Being left to animal sense, degenerate, Mere creatures, they had sunk below the beasts' estate.

The human race, from her they understood, Was not within that lonely hut confined, But distant far beyond their world of wood Were tribes and powerful nations of their kind; And of the old observances which bind People and chiefs, the ties of man and wife, The laws of kin religiously assign'd, Rites, customs, scenes of riotry and strife, And all the strange vicissitudes of savage life.