 | Young Arthur |  |
A hand awoke me, and my half-clos'd eyes
Beheld Sir Gorman; sternly he survey'd;
“Follow,” he cried; defenceless, I obey'd.
“Ernest,” he said, “our manners please thee not;
“But thou hast sought us, and must share our lot;
“A pirate I, freebooters are my crew,
“And those who join us must our course pursue:
“Zeal in my service rich reward will gain,
“Resistance, Death—reflect, escape is vain.”
Silent I heard; in silence soon we reach
Where the crew labour on the busy beach,
To right the vessel; and their toils prevail;
Again we board her, and unfurl the sail,
And move, majestic, with a fav'ring gale.
Forc'd, I submit, and wait some fav'ring hour
To give me freedom from the pirate's pow'r;
Southward we bear, to where her hundred heads
Rears Terra Firma —deep the valley spreads
And sap the soil for half the rolling year;
Here lenient balms, rich gums and fruits abound;
And here the precious emerald is found.
Enriching earth with constancy's green hue,
While sapphire veins it with celestial blue.
Here beasts of blood, in frowning forests, roar;
And birds of loveliest plumage grace the shore;
A wond'rous tree, the Manzunello nam'd,
Here spreads its boughs, far fatal, as far fam'd;
The brutes, instinctively, at distance keep;
And racking pains await unthinking sleep
Stretch'd 'neath its shade; its fruit the foe of breath,
Delight to gaze on, but to taste is death.
Whose fruit th' envenom'd from the venom frees.
Next is Panama and the pearl is there;
Pure, lovely emblem of the graceful fair:
A fish contains it in transparent shell,
And daring divers seek it in its cell,
With weapon arm'd; for here the fish of prey
Watches the diver on his watery way;
The fish (the weapon failing in its blow)
Feeds on the diver in the deeps below.
Here Porto Bello, by Columbus nam'd,
For tainted air, and ample harbour fam'd;
And there Capira's towering head supplies
A “cloud capp'd” index to capricious skies.
Rude Terra Firma on the north its bound;
Andes the east; Chili the south extreme;
The west the Sea Pacific—hence its stream,
Its endless stream, to which with tribute flow
Two hundred streams; then, blending with it go,
Rolls the proud Amazon; upon whose banks
Once “unsex'd” women led th' embattled ranks
Of glaive-arm'd war; and, harness'd in array,
Led mankind captive from the bloody fray;
A race (to some few instances decreas'd)
In every land who live, in Britain least;
Their bucklers softness, and their weapons smiles.
Peru the realm of wealth; where mountains grow,
Their towering heads capp'd with eternal snow.
Fertile the centre, barren is the coast,
Vein'd by the precious ore, its bane, and boast.
Here the Quinquina's medicated rind
Gives wasting life new energy and mind;
And here a tree, whose each integral part
Presents some benison to health or art.
Fam'd for ne'er drinking, the mild Pacos tall
For toil's convenience and for hunger's call,
Here among beasts ranks paramount to all.
Here the Vicuna yields the bezoar stone,
The subtle leech's grand specific known;
And knaves find nostrums to impose on fools.
Here stern Pizarro spread the fatal war;
Gold was his god, ambition was his law:
Before the chief the wondering Indians flew,
As sheep are scatter'd when fierce dogs pursue;
Soon Tumbez fell, where, in Sol's temple, lay
The splendid treasures of the orb of day;
Caciques were slaughter'd at the altars there,
And screaming vestals rent th' astonish'd air.
But what gave fell Pizarro the command,
Intestine feuds divide the golden land;
The lawful Inca from the throne expell'd,
And golden chains depos'd Huascar held.
The fallen Inca's loyal friends appear,
And civil feuds the bloody standard rear;
The foul usurper to the Spaniard flies,
Believes, and trusts; and by the Spaniard dies.
Now Manco Capac mounts Peruvia's throne;
All feuds forgotten, all his empire own:
The Don mistrustful that his power should cease,
Projects a parley, and proposes peace.
By art the Inca in his power he gains,
Loads him with policy's deceitful chains,
And, in the Inca's name, Pizarro reigns.
Of bonds impatient, the Peruvian tries
Deceit in turn; and thus his purpose plies:
“Pizarro, gold, our hapless soil which veins,
“Tempted your host to desolate our plains;
“Much have you master'd, much more have you miss'd;
“My rule usurp'd, but vainly I resist
“Your cruel force; and since I cannot fly,
“Since truth and justice can no aid supply,
“My state I'll barter, and my freedom buy.
Treasure your bait, I try the baneful test,
And cheaply with her gold buy sad Peruvia rest.
My royal signet on this edict shown,
Where'er it reaches riches are your own;
Nay more, to purchase for my country peace,
There is a treasure, sacred to the land—
O Sun, 'tis thine!”—with tears his accents cease;
Quick he resumes, while all impatient stand,—
“Rear'd by the priesthood of that sacred fane
Where Peru's sons in prostrate awe remain;
In antient days, with sacred rites perform'd,
While rich devotion every bosom warm'd,
To yon bright power by Peruvians prais'd
A form gigantic of himself was rais'd ;
The statue gold, with every gem inlaid
Peru could boast; the spot, a secret made,
Alone the Inca and the high priest know;
Him you have slaughterd; guarded then I go,
Expose the treasure, and my country free;
That sacred image of thyself shall be,
O Sun! thus dedicated best to thee.”
A double guard to watch the prince prepar'd;
To hidden Yarico, a sacred vale,
He led the guard, amus'd by crafty tale;
Through many a secret pass he took his way,
Known to himself alone; and some where day
Its beams ne'er darted; here the king they lost;
Freedom he gain'd, and gain'd it to their cost.
His ready subjects his intention knew;
Thousands on thousands to his standard flew;
War strode o'er slaughter; by a hapless stroke
The Inca fell;—and dying, thus he spoke:—
“My words fulfill'd, the sacred image I;
“My country ask'd it, and content I die,
“A patriot sacrifice; then, taught by me,
“Be each the image, and Peruvia's free.”
Due honors paid the self-devoted king,
A sacred fury to the field they bring;
The Spaniards felt it in the wounds they gave,
And, with their gold, battalions bought a grave.
But,—Heaven sure will'd it!—still remains to tell
Pizarro triumph'd, and Peruvia fell!
He triumph'd—but what is in blood begun
Must end in blood—Almagro's base-born son—
Murder in heart and holy cross in hand,
Peru to ravage, and destroy the land;
And stain'd the Cross; cov'ring the blood it bore,
Those sacred spots for man's redemption shed,
With clotted streams of base-shed human gore;
Such as call vengeance on the murderer's head,—
Almagro 'gainst Pizarro would conspire,
Spaniard with Spaniard fought; by treachery slain,
Almagro fell; the son avenged the sire,
And clos'd at Lima, fell Pizarro's reign.
Peru abhors, Spain, disavow the name,
Pizarro! “d---d to everlasting fame.”
Terra Firma Proper, or the Isthmus of Darien, joins North and South America; the climate is very sultry during the whole year; particularly in the northern divisions. It abounds with prodigious high mountains and deep vallies.
From the end of May till the beginning of November, there is an almost continual succession of thunder, rain, and tempest; the excessive heats raise the vapour of the sea, which is precipitated in such rains as seem to threaten a deluge. From the middle of December to the middle of April the rains cease, and the weather becomes more agreeable.
The bird called the Preacher is found here; so called from its custom of perching on the tops of trees, and making a noise resembling ill articulated sounds; its bill is variegated with all those bright colours which adorn the plumage of other birds.
In the woods about Carthagena, is a species of willow, which bears the name of Habella de Carthagena, or bean of Carthagena. This bean contains a kernel resembling an almond, but less white, and very bitter: It is a remedy against the bite of venomous reptiles, with which the place abounds. The inhabitants take a little of this kernel fasting, and are then under no apprehension of danger.
Fine harbour, so called from its capacious size, profound depth, and certain security; this place abounds in forests and mountains. Columbus subdued it in 1514.
The principal mountain in Porto Bello, which serves as a barometer to the inhabitants. The changes of weather are singularly abrupt, and the inhabitants are only fore-warned of them by the various appearances of the clouds on its summit. The heat here is excessive, the torrents of rain impetuous, and the storms of lightning and thunder dreadful; so that the inhabitants die very fast; and the beasts brought from other places soon lose flesh, and become scarcely eatable.
It is bounded on the north by Pompayan, a part of Terra Firma; on the east by the Andes or Cordillera Mountains, which divide it from the country of the Amazons and Paraguay; on the south, by Chili and La Plata; and on the west by the South Sea or Pacific Ocean. The river of Amazons, the largest river in the world, (its course being between four and five thousand miles) has its rise in Peru, and running east, falls into the Atlantic by eighty-four channels, which in the rainy seasons overflow the banks and fertilize the country. Its mouth is 159 miles broad, and it receives in its progress near 200 other rivers, and about 1500 miles from its mouth, it is from forty to fifty fathoms deep.
Peru, it has been said, was not known by any general name when it was discovered by the Spaniards; but an Indian being asked its appellation, answering, Peru, or Beru, (What do you say?); from that circumstance it received the name it now bears. This may appear absurd, but many records apparently as ridiculous have their foundation in fact.
The Magney—it produces a delicious drink; honey, vinegar, timber, hemp, and thread; the two latter being made from the leaves, stalks, &c. Needles are made from the prickles, and its fruit is converted into a kind of soap.
The Pacos or Huanca, or Peruvian sheep: it is as large as a stag, and resembles a camel. It is a beast of burthen as well as of food; will carry an hundred weight; walks extremely erect and stately, and no beating can make it quicken its pace; its wool is extremely coarse, and its flesh is as white as veal, and as innocent as that of a chicken; it is never known to drink, and grazes on very rough and common grass.—The Vicuna is another species of sheep, smaller and lighter than the Pacos, and is called also the Indian goat.
Notwithstanding the play of Pizarro has given some publicity to the fall of Peru, I thought it a subject necessarily connected with a description of that country, as the circumstance occurred during the century in which the action of the poem is placed, (16th) The Spaniards landed in Peru in 1530. I have however to apologize for a glaring anachronism (for which, I hope, I may plead the poetica licentia, or any other licence the reader may be pleased to give me,) in Ernest's relation—because the reader will discover from other incidents in the poem, that the Spaniards did not land in Peru till some time after Ernest had left it.
| Young Arthur | |