To the blue dome's radiant curtain,

To the all-o'erarching heaven :-
Till some swan-like sail sough o'er it,
Wafted by the breeze's soft breath,-
Gently minding him, as he gazes,

Of the vasty dark 78 deep yonder,
Whence she ranges, which she veers to,—

Of that world of toil and turmoil

Vex'd with blasts and fretting surges.

8.

"Quisquis honos tumuli, quidquid solamen humandi est,"

Deep in lone, dark, grewsome hollow
Screen'd by bosky tangle yonder
Hath far-roving Pale Face shudder'd
At grim bones of man, that moulder
Huddled in those eerie chambers.72

Say are these the bleached relics
Of full many a butcher'd foeman

Cf. I. 1, and XIV. 7.

Torn to glut the victor-savage,

Torn to grace the foul carousal

Of some fierce tribe's riot-triumph

In their reeking rock-rear'd eyrie?

Or were whilom barge-borne hither,
With loud wail and pomp sepulchral,
From each wide mere's scatter'd wigwams,
Grim-prankt warrior and haught 'sachem'
Of all tribes that hither trysted

From the cataract to the prairie.

Robed, I ween, in richest raiment,

Roll'd in wrapping warm and gorgeous,-72
Girt with bow and dart-fill'd quiver,
Spear and scalping-knife and hatchet,—
Dazzling war-paint on their faces,—
For their feet, far-striding snow-shoe,73
Lissome moccasin 53 beside them,-
Each with meat and drink, to cheer him
In his long, dark, dreary journey 76

To the hunting-ground of Jeebis?

Vainly hath astonied Pale Face

Question'd those dumb charnel-houses,
Vainly sought out wisest Red folk,
Hung on lisp of faltering grandsire 72

For scant, fragmentary legend,

For dark, dim-recall'd tradition.

9.

"Apparent diræ facies,-"

Here, 'tis said, the roaming savage

Oft hath seen in voiceless terror

His dread Mahnitoos 36 flit by him,

Whirl'd in mystic, spell-fraught dances

'Neath the quivering, wavering moonbeams.

Oft, from o'er the murky mere-marge,

Hath keen fisher's eye descried them
There, beyond yon flashing breaker,
Stretch'd in many a hideous volume
Basking on the star-lit shingle,2

Based on P. (pp. 314, 31).

On the shore dark, eerie thing:

But none-'tis held-, save one, hath beheld

And talk'd with the Water King.36

(2.)

Mighty are dreams 74-the Red Man deems

And the visions they ope to view;

K

For Spirits then converse with Men,

And Man with Mahnitoo.36

(3.)

It fell to a wight, at dead of night

A voice came loud and clear:

And it bade him rehearse one little verse

Above the dusky mere,

(4.)

This verse repeat, and the waters beat

As the Meeda a doth his drum

And to him, then, before all men,

Should wealth and honour come.

(5.)

But, though nights ten came the voice agen,
All folk did rede that wight

"Go not! - beware!-'tis but foul snare

"Set for thee by evil sprite."

a The Meedas are an ancient religio-medical order. On their magic rites see a. n. 75.