And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky,
Winds in progreffive majesty along :

Thro' fplendid kingdoms now devolves his maze,
Now wanders wild o'er folitary tracts

Of life-deferted fand; till, glad to quit

The joyless defart, down the Nubian rocks

815

From thundering fteep to fteep, he pours his urn, 820 And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave.

His brother Niger too, and all the floods In which the full-form'd maids of Afric lave Their jetty limbs; and all that from the tract Of woody mountains ftretch'd thro gorgeous Ind 825 Fall on Cormandel's coaft, or Malabar;

*

From Menam's orient ftream, that nightly fhines

With infect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds

On Indus' smiling banks the rosy shower :

All, at this bounteous feafon, ope their urns,

830

And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land.

NOR lefs thy world, COLUMBUS, drinks, refresh'd,

*The river that runs thro' Siam; on whose banks a vast multitude of thofe infects called Fire-flies make a beautiful appearance in the night.

The

The lavish moisture of the melting year.

Wide o'er his ifles, the branching Oronoque

Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives

835

To dwell aloft on life-fufficing trees,

At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.
Swell'd by a thousand ftreams, impetuous hurl'd
From all the roaring Andes, huge descends

*

The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Muse
Dares ftretch her wing o'er this enormous mass
Of rufhing water; fcarce fhe dares attempt
The fea-like Plata; to whofe dread expanfe,
Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course,

Our floods are rills. With unabated force,

In filent dignity they sweep along,

840

845

And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds, And fruitful defarts, worlds of folitude,

Where the fun fmiles and feasons teem in vain,

Unseen, and unenjoyed. Forfaking these,

850

O'er peopled plains they fair-diffufive flow,
And many a nation feed, and circle fafe,
In their foft bofom, many a happy isle;
The feat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd

The river of the Amazons.

By

By christian crimes and Europe's cruel fons.

Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep,
Whofe vanquifh'd tide, recoiling from the shock,
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe;
And Ocean trembles for his green domain.

855

BUT what avails this wondrous wafte of wealth? This gay profufion of luxurious bliss?

861

This pomp of Nature? what their balmy meads,
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain?
By vagrant birds difpers'd, and wafting winds,
What their unplanted fruits? What the cool draughts,
Th' ambrofial food, rich gums, and fpicy health, 866
Their forests yield? Their toiling infects what,
Their filky pride, and vegetable robes ?

Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid

Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth,
Golconda's gems, and fad Potofi's mines;
Where dwelt the gentleft children of the fun?
What all that Afric's golden rivers roll,
Her odorous woods, and fhining ivory ftores?
Ill-fated race! the foftening arts of Peace,
Whate'er the humanizing Mufes teach;
The godlike wisdom of the temper'd breast;

870

875

Progreffive

Progreffive truth, the patient force of thought;

Investigation calm, whofe filent powers

Command the world; the LIGHT that leads to HEAVEN;

Kind equal rule, the government of laws,
And all-protecting FREEDOM, which alone

881

Suftains the name and dignity of Man :

These are not theirs. The parent-fun himself
Seems o'er this world of flaves to tyrannize;

885

And, with oppreffive ray, the rofeat bloom

Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue,
And feature grofs: or worse, to ruthless deeds,
Mad jealoufy, blind rage, and fell revenge,

Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there, 890
The foft regards, the tenderness of life,
The heart-shed tear, th' ineffable delight
Of sweet humanity: these court the beam
Of milder climes; in selfish fierce defire,
And the wild fury of voluptuous fenfe,
There loft. The very brute-creation there
This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire.

Lo! the green ferpent, from his dark abode,

895

Which even Imagination fears to tread,
At noon forth-iffuing, gathers up his train

900

In orbs immenfe, then, darting out anew,

Seeks the refreshing fount; by which diffus'd,

905

He throws his folds: and while, with threatning tongue,
And deathful jaws erect, the monster curls
His flaming creft, all other thirft, appall'd,
Or fhivering flies, or check'd at distance stands,
Nor dares approach. But ftill more direful he,
The small close-lurking minifter of fate,
Whofe high-concocted venom thro' the veins
A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift

The vital current.

Form'd to humble Man,

This child of vengeful Nature! There, fublim'd

To fearless luft of blood, the savage race

Roam, licens'd by the fhading hour of guilt,

And foul mifdeed, when the pure day has shut
His facred eye. The tyger darting fierce
Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd:
The lively-fhining leopard, fpeckled o'er
With many a spot, the beauty of the wafte;
And, fcorning all the taming arts of Man,
The keen hyena, felleft of the fell.

Thefe, rufhing from th' inhospitable woods
Of Mauritania, or the tufted ifles,

That verdant rise amid the Lybian wild,

910

915

920

Innume