Mardi, and a voyage thither, Vol. 1 (of 2)Melville, Herman
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Mardi, and a voyage thither, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Melville, Herman
Adventure stories; Polynesia -- Description and travel -- Fiction
But if it was with many regrets, that in the sight of Yillah, I
perceived myself thus dwarfing down to a mortal; it was with quite
contrary emotions, that I contemplated the extinguishment in her heart
of the notion of her own spirituality. For as such thoughts were chased
away, she clung the more closely to me, as unto one without whom she
would be desolate indeed.
And now, at intervals, she was sad, and often gazed long and fixedly
into the sea. Nor would she say why it was, that she did so; until at
length she yielded; and replied, that whatever false things Aleema
might have instilled into her mind; of this much she was certain: that
the whirlpool on the coast of Tedaidee prefigured her fate; that in the
waters she saw lustrous eyes, and beckoning phantoms, and strange
shapes smoothing her a couch among the mosses.
Her dreams seemed mine. Many visions I had of the green corse of the
priest, outstretching its arms in the water, to receive pale Yillah, as
she sunk in the sea.
But these forebodings departed, no happiness in the universe like ours.
We lived and we loved; life and love were united; in gladness glided
our days.
CHAPTER LII.
World Ho!
Five suns rose and set. And Yillah pining for the shore, we turned our
prow due west, and next morning came in sight of land.
It was innumerable islands; lifting themselves bluely through the azure
air, and looking upon the distant sea, like haycocks in a hazy field.
Towering above all, and mid-most, rose a mighty peak; one fleecy cloud
sloping against its summit; a column wreathed. Beyond, like purple
steeps in heaven at set of sun, stretched far away, what seemed lands
on lands, in infinite perspective.
Gliding on, the islands grew more distinct; rising up from the billows
to greet us; revealing hills, vales, and peaks, grouped within a
milk-white zone of reef, so vast, that in the distance all was dim. The
jeweled vapors, ere-while hovering over these violet shores, now seemed
to be shedding their gems; and as the almost level rays of the sun,
shooting through the air like a variegated prism, touched the verdant
land, it trembled all over with dewy sparkles.
Still nearer we came: our sail faintly distended as the breeze died
away from our vicinity to the isles. The billows rolled listlessly by,
as if conscious that their long task was nigh done; while gleamed the
white reef, like the trail of a great fish in a calm. But as yet, no
sign of paddle or canoe; no distant smoke; no shining thatch. Bravo!
good comrades, we’ve discovered some new constellation in the sea.
Sweet Yillah, no more of Oroolia; see you not this flowery land?
Nevermore shall we desire to roam.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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