Those fruits were sought, that glowing there Attract the passing stranger's sight; In fragrant clusters, ripe and fair "Do not the humble offerings slight!" Like her, from many a genial soil But freshly culled, we offer here Accept the gifts; when Summer's past Her goodliest flowers and fruits decay: But their enduring tints shall last While earth-born beauties fade away. AMONG the many peculiar fruits which have their birth in India—and the qualities of which appear to be admirably adapted to the taste and physical constitution of the residents, may be numbered many which fail to become exotics in other countries, and are, in consequence, almost unknown to the botanical world. What a glow of enthusiasm would Linnæus or Cuvier have experienced, could many of the productions of India have passed before their eyes! How brilliant would they have rendered the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, or the Zoological Gardens of London! In India, as in Persia, the tinted leaf has a meaning, and the sweet fruits have their office and their moral. As tributes of friendship, they teem with superstitious meaning; and as benefits conferred, transient though they may be, they are treasured as things of value. In the "leafy month of June," a season so rich and beautiful to the eye of the American and the European, parts of India abound with choice and excellent kinds of fruit. Leeches and mangoes, among others, are found in profusion. The first, according to Bishop Heber, is very fine, being a sort of plum, with the flavour of a Frontignac grape; the second, a noble fruit in point of size, being extremely large, and in flavour not unlike an apricot. When not quite ripe, it makes an excellent tart, and is held in much esteem, not alone by the natives, but by foreign residents. 10 PEARLS well become that white and lovely neck Woos thy reclining form; the pomp of towers Were in its gift, (and so in sooth they are!) Thy looks are in the distance-far along What see'st thou there? Perhaps thy native hills, Of some cool stream thou wooed'st the noontide sleep; Plays in the spring-crowned branches. Or thy thought By thy brave father's side, the eager steed Through the thick jungle spurred—a huntress bold, For thy high nature knows no coward trait When the wild monarch of the woods, incensed At bold invasion, from his covert sprang, And thou didst meet unblanched the advancing death And visions of a form, as full of grace As Krishna's self, what time he deigns descend To sport in palmy grove, dazzling the swains. With his immortal beauty; yet as stern As India, when he shakes the echoing hills, He rescued-snatched thee from the monster's jaws, Treasured as yet more jealously than e'er The miser watched his hoard: sought and denied; "T is woman's lot oftimes to love in vain; Hence the wan cheek—the sad and altered mien– The pale mute vigil-the unconscious gaze Upon familiar things—the cold reply Of words half uttered and unheeding sighs, Vague, shadowy, by one sole sad light illumed, That shows the phantoms sunlight had dispelled. Not thine such fate, thou queenlike bride! To some Chainless and measureless-and sweeping down In others, of a prouder mould, love wears A different aspect. Happy-'t is the stream Majestic-while upon its breast serene The blue heaven descends. "T is like the star Toward which the seaman turns his doubting eye; Shining forever motionless above, While round it beam a glittering train, as fair And glorious as itself-not like itself And such was thine, young bride. He who had been In that dark hour of danger at thy side, And left thee when delivered, came once more With princely bearing-with an armed train To claim thee. Beat thy heart more wildly then, Unto the haughty sire, who could bestow A gem so priceless? Calmly thou didst hear The prayer, the stern rebuke, the vengeful menace To ask alliance with proud Hara's line; Calmly didst hear the fierce defiance flung None heard but heaven, as if attesting thousands Had ratified the oath. How nobly kept! Through danger, through contempt. Though all thy kindred Of all thy father's house, though hate pursued |