Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/115

 Like doves or swallows in th' ethereal flood, Or, like the eagle, solitary seen. Some with more open course to Indus steer ; Some coast from port to port, with various men And manners conversant, of th' angry surge, That thunders loud, and spreads the cliffs with foam, Regardless, or the monsters of the deep, Porpoise or grampus, or the rav'nous shark That chase their keels ; or threat'ning rock, o'erhead Of Atlas old ; beneath the threatening rocks, Reckless, they furl their sails, and bart'ring, take Soft flakes of wool ; for in soft flakes of wool, Like the Silurian, Atlas' dales abound. The shores of Sus inhospitable rise, And higher Bojador ; Zara, too, displays Unfruitful deserts; Gambia's wave inisles An ouzy coast, and pestilential ills Diffuses wide ; behind are burning sands, Adverse to life, and Nilus' hidden fount. On Guinea's sultry strand the drapery light Of Manchester or Norwich is bestow'd For clear transparent gums and ductile wax, And snow-white ivory ; yet the valued trade Along this barbarous coast in telling wounds The generous heart, the sale of wretched slaves : Slaves by their tribes condemn'd, exchanging death For lifelong servitude ; severe exchange ! These till our fertile colonies, which yield The sugar-cane and the Tobago leaf, And various new productions, that invite Increasing navies to their crowded wharfs. But let the man whose rough tempestuous hours In this advent'rous traffic are involv'd, With just humanity of heart pursue The gainful commerce : wickedness is blind :