| OCR Text |
Show Til£ I.II.Y AND' THE TOTEM. late. Sbc bade tbcm \vclcomc, joined tlJCir bauds with tlJOse of the great warriors by whom she was attended, and led them away among her damsels, of whom :1 numerous array were assembled, all babitcd in. the richest garments of tl1cir scanty wardrobes. The robes of the Queen herself were a.mplc. The skirts of her dress fell below her knees, a thing very uncommon with the women of Florida. Over this, she \VOrc a tunic of crimson, w!Jich dcsccudcd below her l1ips. A slight cincture embraced, without confining, her waist. Long striugs of sea-shell, of the smallest size, but of colors and tints the most various and delicate, drooped across her shoulders, and were strung, in loops and droplets, to the skirts of her dress and her symar. Similar strings encircled her bead, ft·om which the hair ·hung free hel1ind, almost to the ground, a raven-like stream, of the deepest and most glossy sable. Tier form was equally stately and graceful-her carriage betrayed o. freedom, which was at once native and the fruit of habitual cxcrciso. Nothing could have been more gracious than the sweetness of her welcome; nothing more utterly unshadowed than tho sunshine which beamed in her countenance. Sho led her guests among the crowd, and soon released La Vasseur to one of the loveliest girls who oamo about her. Alphonso D'EI'laeh slit' kept to herself. She was evidently struck with the singula. union of delicacy and youth with sagacity and character, which declo.red itself in his features and deportment. , V cry BOon were all the parties engaged in the mazes of th~ Indian dance of lracana,-a movement which, unlike tho walt1 of the Spaniards, less stately perhaps, and loss imposing-yet ro quires all its fiexibility and freedom, and possesses all its scduc· tivc and voluptuous attractions. llo.lf the night was consume/ with dancing; then gay parties could bo seen gliding into canoes, 301 and darting acrol!S the stream to other villages nnd places of abode. Anon, might be perceived a silent couple gliding away to sacred thickets; and with the sound of a mighty conch, which strangely broke the silence of the forest, the Queen h ~rsclf ret: red with her attendants, having first assigned to ccrtam of her ehit:f:l the task of providing for the Frenchmen. Of these she Lad already shown herself sufficiently heedful and solicitous. Not sparing of her regards to La Vasseur, she had particuh~rly de\·oted J1crself to D'Erlach, and, \vhilc they danced together, if the truth could be spoken of her simple heart, great had been its pleasure at tlJOsc moments, when tho spirit of the d!mce required that she should yield herself to his grasp, and die away languidly in his embrace. . . "Ah! handsome Frenchman," she s1ud to her comp:uuon," You please me so much," His companions were similarly entertained. Captain La Vasseur was soon satis6od tlHLt he too was greatly pleasing to tho fair and lovely savage who had been assigned l1im ; nnd not one of tl1e Frenchmen, but had his share of the delights and endearments which made the business of life in lracana. T he soldiers 11ad each a fair creature, with whom he waltzed and wandered ; and fond discourse, everywhere in thtl great shadows of the wood, between sympathizing spirits, opened a new idea of existence to the poor Huguenots who, hitherto, Lad only known the land of Florida by its privations and its gold. The dusky damsels, nlikc sweet and artless, brought bnck to our poor adventurers precious recollections of youthful fancies along the banks of tho Garonne and the Loire, and it is not improbable, that, under the excitement of new cmotion11, had Laudonnierc proposed to tramf..::r La Caroline to the Satilla.1 or Somme, instead of .May River, they |
