 | Songs of a Stranger |  |
THE HUNTER OF THE URUGUAY TO HIS LOVE.
“There are numerous wooded islands in the Uruguay river,
consisting of willow, peach, and palm trees; they are the
haunts of innumerable birds, remarkable for the splendour of
their plumage and sweetness of their note. The yaguarete,
or leopard of South America, abounds here; and men pass
the summer on these islands in hunting them for the sake of
their skins. There are many rapids and eddies in some parts
of this river, and the Indians use double canoes with oars,
some seventy feet long.
“The ao is an amphibious animal, very ferocious and formidable.
“The cayman, an animal of which some tribes of Indians
stand in strange fear, believing it can only be killed by the
reflection of its basilisk eye.
“The bearded monkeys, a troop of which are called by the
Portuguese a choir, from their singing in concert at sunrise
and sunset.
“The ounce has a singular stratagem to lure his prey.”—
See
Southey's Hist. Brazil.
“There are numerous wooded islands in the Uruguay river, consisting of willow, peach, and palm trees; they are the haunts of innumerable birds, remarkable for the splendour of their plumage and sweetness of their note. The yaguarete, or leopard of South America, abounds here; and men pass the summer on these islands in hunting them for the sake of their skins. There are many rapids and eddies in some parts of this river, and the Indians use double canoes with oars, some seventy feet long.
“The ao is an amphibious animal, very ferocious and formidable.
“The cayman, an animal of which some tribes of Indians stand in strange fear, believing it can only be killed by the reflection of its basilisk eye.
“The bearded monkeys, a troop of which are called by the Portuguese a choir, from their singing in concert at sunrise and sunset.
“The ounce has a singular stratagem to lure his prey.”— See Southey's Hist. Brazil.
Come to our woody islands with me!
Come, while the summer sun is high,
Beneath the peach tree's shade to lie;
Or thy hunter will shield thee the live-long day
In his hut of reeds from the scorching ray.
There countless birds with wings of light
Shall flit and glitter before thy sight,
And their songs from the stately palm trees nigh
Shall charm thee with ceaseless melody.
To steal around thy bed;
But the leopard shall yield his spotted skin
That thy couch may be warmly spread.
Shall plunge beneath the tide;
And the Ao shall shun the happy isle
That hails my gentle bride.
As eve comes gently on,
How the woods resound
With the lengthen'd sound,
Till in distance it is gone.
How he lures his finny prey—
Whose colours, in the gleam display'd,
Illumine the wat'ry way.
With scales of gold and blue,
As the lucid waters tremblingly
Reflect each varying hue.
Come, my beloved, delay no more;
I linger for thee upon the shore.
Our canoes are swift and strong:
Fear not the eddy's hurrying force;
We shall dart, like light, along.
When the hunter and his bride shall come:
All the joys of summer stay for thee—
Oh, come to our woody islands with me.
| Songs of a Stranger | |