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Show 84 DOMINICA· island. It may naturally be asked, whether a body of persons, so constituted, show any tendency to disqui etude or disaffection. To such an enquiry the answer is most satisfactory; they arc remarkable for their loyalty- the zealous fri ends and supporters of the British Government! On the 7th of the Second month we took our leave of our warm· hearted ti·icnds. Maria Dalrymple, who had lodged and boarded us, so great! y to our comfort, refused to receive a penny of repayment; but we at length persuaded her to take the doubloons which were her due, with our permission that she should apply them to charity. Our colored brethren accompanied us to the vessel. We parted from them, under the feeling of christian love and fri endship; and as the lateness of the season precluded a farther windward voyage (consistently with our other objects) we set sail for St. Thomas. The wind which, as a matter of course, we hoped to enjoy in our favor, now "hauled" to the westward, and blew strongly ahead . Such are the trials of pa· tience to which one is often exposed at sea. As we slowly receded from Dominica, we amused ourselves with the following memorandum of its hi story and its charms. 'Twas on the Christian's day of rest, While men on shore their faith confessed In many a song of praise ; The gallant knight of the western star Descried thy headlands from afar, And traced thy shadowy bays. DOMINI CA. Clouds and mists were over thee flung And the rainbow on thy rocks was hur~ AnAd hdo wled the wind thy va Ie s among g, n . the mountain torrents roared . ' But soon thou wast mantled o'er witl: smiles When the sunbeam broke thro' thy dee d fli And o'er the loveliest of the isles, p e I es, Beauty and grace were poured. r~'.he crumpled sheet in the veteran's haml F Jgurcd thy jagged and pyramid land ' • , Dut all thy rocks were green ; ' I he tree-fern waved upon thy brow, And the plantain leaf was broad below, Where the rivulet gushed unseen. The parent of three hundred rills Asleep amidst thy ravined hills, ' A fathomless lake was found . And lligh around thy mountain~ rose But never wore they the wreath of s~ows ~"'or they were forest crowned. ' The monkeys, voluble in chat \Vi thin thy bowers in council ~at And roved the bristled boar . ' Co~ed the vast s~ake without ~sting, Blazed many a bird unskilled to sing And the sprite that hums on the lust,red wing Glanced o'er thy flowery shore. ' Far from the haunts of civil men O'er brake and thicket, glade ami glen The lank-llaired Indian wandered then' Untutor'd and untamed. ' A hardy, yet a harmless r~ce That never saw the white m~n's face, Or heard the Spaniard named. 'f'l~e serpent, to their bosom pressed, POisoned their blood and broke their rest Then, circling, stole their soil · ' Their native freedom sank in ch~ins ~~art_er'd for beads their fruitful plaU:s, I he~ r loss was liberty-their gains \Verc slavery, stripes, and toil. 85 |