“The land of Love!” the old man murmured, as we neared the beach, where innumerable shells were gently rolling in the playful surf, and murmuring from their tuneful valves. Behind, another, and a verdant surf played against lofty banks of leaves; where the breeze, likewise, found its shore. And now, emerging from beneath the trees, there came a goodly multitude in flowing robes; palm-branches in their hands; and as they came, they sang:— Hail! voyagers, hail! Whence e’er ye come, where’er ye rove, No calmer strand, No sweeter land, Will e’er ye view, than the Land of Love! Hail! voyagers, hail! To these, our shores, soft gales invite: The palm plumes wave, The billows lave, And hither point fix’d stars of light! Hail! voyagers, hail! Think not our groves wide brood with gloom; In this, our isle, Bright flowers smile: Full urns, rose-heaped, these valleys bloom. Hail! voyagers, hail! Be not deceived; renounce vain things; Ye may not find A tranquil mind, Though hence ye sail with swiftest wings. Hail! voyagers, hail! Time flies full fast; life soon is o’er; And ye may mourn, That hither borne, Ye left behind our pleasant shore. CHAPTER LXXXIII. They Land The song was ended; and as we gained the strand, the crowd embraced us; and called us brothers; ourselves and our humblest attendants. “Call ye us brothers, whom ere now ye never saw?” “Even so,” said the old man, “is not Oro the father of all? Then, are we not brothers? Thus Alma, the master, hath commanded.” “This was not our reception in Maramma,” said Media, “the appointed place of Alma; where his precepts are preserved.” “No, no,” said Babbalanja; “old man! your lesson of brotherhood was learned elsewhere than from Alma; for in Maramma and in all its tributary isles true brotherhood there is none. Even in the Holy Island many are oppressed; for heresies, many murdered; and thousands perish beneath the altars, groaning with offerings that might relieve them.” “Alas! too true. But I beseech ye, judge not Alma by all those who profess his faith. Hast thou thyself his records searched?” “Fully, I have not. So long, even from my infancy, have I witnessed the wrongs committed in his name; the sins and inconsistencies of his followers; that thinking all evil must flow from a congenial fountain, I have scorned to study the whole record of your Master’s life. By parts I only know it.” “Ah! baneful error! But thus is it, brothers!! that the wisest are set against the Truth, because of those who wrest it from itself.” “Do ye then claim to live what your Master hath spoken? Are your precepts practices?” “Nothing do we claim: we but earnestly endeavor.” “Tell me not of your endeavors, but of your life. What hope for the fatherless among ye?” “Adopted as a son.” “Of one poor, and naked?” “Clothed, and he wants for naught.” “If ungrateful, he smite you?” “Still we feed and clothe him.” “If yet an ingrate?”