| OCR Text |
Show 298 TilE LILY AND TilE TOTEM. "Love you me not, oh, lonely voyager-love you me not? Lo! am J not lovely; I who serve the beautiful queen of lracana? will you not como to me, for a while !-come, hide the canoe among the reeds, along tho shore, and make merry with the damsels of Iracana. I give to thee the palm and the myrtle, in token of a welcome of peace and love. Come hither, oh! lonely yoyager~ and be lw.ppy for a season!" And seldom were these persuasions unavailing. The lonely voyager was commonly won, as wl'lS he who, sailing by Scylla and Charybdis, refused to seal his ears with wax against the song of the Syrcn. But our charmers, along the banks of the Satilla, entreated to no evil, laid no snares for the unwary, meditating their destruction. They sought only to share the pleasures which t~ey themselves enjoyed. The benevolence of tl1at love which holds its treasure as of little value, unless it.s delights mny be bestowed on others, was the distinguishing moral in the Indinn Eden of haeana; and he who came with love, never departed without a sorrow, such ns made him linger as he went, and soon return, when this were possible, to a. region, which, among our }'loridians, realized that period of tlJC Classic Fable, which has always been designated, par exrellence, as the" age of gold." Our Frenchmen, under the conduct of La V!LSBcur and D'.Erlach, reached the frontiers of Jraeana, at an auspicious period. The season of harvest, among all primitive and simple nations, is commonly a season of great rejoicing. Among a people like those of Jracan&1 habitually accustomed to rejoice, it is one in which delight becomes exultation, and when in the supreme felicity of good fortune, the happy heart surpasses itself in the extraordinary expression of its joy. IIere were assembled to tho harvest, all the great lords of the surrounding country. Here 299 was A thorce, the gigantic son of Satourio\'a1 a very Anak, among the Floridians. Here were Apalou, a famous ehieftain,Taeadocorou, and many others, whom our Frenchmen had met and known bcfure ;-some of whom indeed, they bad known in fierce conflict, and o. strife which had never been healed by any of the gentle offices of peace. But lraeana was the special territory of peace. It was not permitted, among tile Floridians, to approach this realm with angry purpose. J I ere war and strife were tabooed tbings,--shut, out, denied and banished, and peace and love, and rapture, were alone permitted exercise in abodes which were too grateful to all parties, to be desecrated by hostile passions. When, therefore, our Frenchmen, beholding those only with whom they had so lately fought, were fain to betake themsch·es to their weapons, the chiefs themselves, with whom they had done battle, came forward to embrace them, with open arms. "Brothers, all-brothers here, in Iracana. ;"was the common speech. •' De happy here, brothers, no fight, no flcalp, nothing but love in lraeana,-nothing but dance and be happy." Even had not this assurance sufficed with our Frenchmen, the charms of the lovely Queen herself, her grace and sweetness, not unmixed with a dignity which declared her habitual rule, must hnvc stifled every feeling of distrwt in their bosoms, and effectually exorcised that of war. She came to meet tho strangers with a mingled caac and state, a sweetness and a majesty, which were inexpressibly attractive, She took a hand of La Vasseur and of D'Brlaeh, with each of her own. A bright, happy smile lightened in her eye, and warmed her slightly dusky features with o. glow. Rich in hue, yet delicately thin, her lips parted with a pleasure, aa abo spoke to them, which no art could simu- |
