With the big stores of fteaming oceans charg'd.
Meantime, amid thefe upper feas, condens'd
Around the cold aërial mountain's brow,
And by conflicting winds together dash'd,
The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne:
From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings rage;
Till, in the furious elemental war

Diffolv'd, the whole precipitated mass
Unbroken floods and folid torrents pours.

The treasures thefe, hid from the bounded fearch
Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp,
Rich king of floods! o'erflows the fwelling Nile.
From his two fprings, in Gojam's funny realm,
Pure-welling out, he thro' the lucid lake
Of fair Dambea rolls his infant-ftream.
There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he fports away
His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles,
That with unfading verdure fmile around.
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks;
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky,
Winds in progreffive majefty along:

Thro' splendid kingdoms now devolves his maze,
Now wanders wild o'er folitary tracts
Of life-deferted fand; till, glad to quit

The joyless defert, down the Nubian rocks
From thundering fteep to steep, he pours his urn,
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 stretch'd thro' gorgeous Ind
Fall on Cormandel's coaft, or Malabar;

From Menam's orient ftream, that nightly fhines
With infect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds

On Indus' fmiling banks the rofy shower:
All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns,
And
pour untoiling harvest o'er the land.

Nor lefs thy world, COLUMBUS, drinks, refresh'd,
The lavish moisture of the melting year.
Wide o'er his ifles, the branching Oronoque
Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives
To dwell aloft on life-fufficing trees,

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

* The river that runs through Siam; on whofe banks a vast multitude of those infects called Fire-flies make a beautiful appearance in the night.

The mighty Orellana*. Scarce the Mufe
Dares ftretch her wing o'er this enormous mass
Of rushing water; fcarce she dares attempt
The fea-like Plata; to whofe dread expanse,
Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course,
Our floods are rills. With unabated force,
In filent dignity they fweep along,

And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds,
And fruitful deferts, worlds of folitude,
Where the fun smiles and feafons teem in vain,
Unfeen, and unenjoy'd. Forfaking thefe,
O'er peopled plains they fair-diffufive flow,
And many a nation feed, and circle safe,
In their foft bofom, many a happy isle;
The feat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd
By chriftian crimes and Europe's cruel fons.
Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep,
Whofe vanquifh'd tide, recoiling from the shock,
Yields to the liquid weight of half the globe;
And Ocean trembles for his green domain,

But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth? This gay profufion of luxurious blifs?

This pomp of Nature? what their balmy meads,

The river of the Amazons.

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 spicy health,
Their forefts 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 gentlest children of the fun?
What all that Afric's golden rivers roll,
Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores?
Ill-fated race! the foftening arts of Peace,
Whate'er the humanizing Mufes teach;
The godlike wifdom of the temper'd breaft;
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
Suftains the name and dignity of Man :
These are not theirs. The parent-fun himself
Seems o'er this world of flaves to tyrannize;
And, with oppreffive ray, the roseat bloom
Of beauty blafting, 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,
The foft regards, the tendernefs of life,
The heart-fhed tear, th' ineffable delight
Of fweet humanity: these court the beam
Of milder climes; in felfifh 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,
Which even Imagination fears to tread,
At noon forth-iffuing, gathers up his train
In orbs immenfe, then, darting out anew,
Seeks the refreshing fount; by which diffus'd,
He throws his folds; and while, with threat'ning 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 fmall clofe-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