The magnificent scenery of Brazil, its wondrous productions, and balsamic climate, added to his enjoyments by producing a variety of pleasurable sensations; he tasted for the first time a sweet and tranquil happiness; tranquil because it was profound and constant in its flow: he forgot not his kingdom, but he thought of it with less anxiety, and knowing that his days were passed in action, he ceased to regret his separation from other duties. Kara Aziek’s soul dwelt in the light of his: like the beautiful planet of night she reflected his happiness with a softened brightness. He knew himself the source of all the blessings he witnessed around him, therefore his feelings were animated and striking; she lived to love his goodness, to watch the daily colour of his mind, to adapt herself to the passing humour of the hour, to receive her bliss from the knowledge of his, and that bliss therefore wore a tenderer and more touching aspect. Her natural humility taught her to overlook the value of her own character and actions; but Sebastian marked them all with fond approbation; and often pausing to regard her as she administered to the wants or infirmities of the aged Guaymures, he confessed to himself that to elevate her to a throne would be to remove her from a scene in which the most endearing virtues of her soul were exercised. Gaspar alone preserved an undiminished thirst for his King’s restoration: he beheld him with a devotion nearly allied to idolatry, and in proportion as that exalted friend became absorbed in his new duties and delighted with the pleasures growing out of them, Gaspar’s admiration and love increased, and with them his wish to see him re-seated on the throne of his ancestors. He languished to have those royal virtues shine upon his own country; he languished to have that chastened character known in its full excellence, where it was now remembered only with a mixture of esteem and blame. His eyes would often fill with tears, while those of Sebastian and Kara Aziek were sparkling with amiable sympathy in the simple pastimes of their Indians; but his heart shared in that sympathy, and could he have dismissed this one source of repining, he too, would have been compleatly happy at Cachoeira. CHAP. VIII. Time trod on down, for his step was unheard, and the months as they stole by, glided away like so many hours: a new source of happiness was given to Kara Aziek and to Sebastian; they became parents. To those who know not the sacredness of such tender connexions, or who feel not the delightful endearingness of children, the birth of an infant seems an event of little interest; but O! who that loves to contemplate the purest innocence under the purest and loveliest form, the unconscious trust and dependance of infancy, the charm of its smiles, its caresses and its slumbers, who that loves or possesses a child can deem the mother’s and the father’s joy a trifling emotion?