Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides But spreads her silver arms upon the tides; 205 Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves, And shakes her golden tresses o'er the waves. Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide _Four_ Nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide; Now all as one they rise with frolic spring, 210 And beat the wondering air on humid wing; Now all descending plunge beneath the main, And lash the foam with undulating train; Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, In air and ocean weave the mazy dance; 215 Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes, And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes. Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams, Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams; Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves, 220 And feeds and freights the immeasurable waves; Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers;-- Love's rising ray, and Youth's seductive dye, Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye; 225 Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste;--- [_Ocymum salinun_. l. 221. Saline Basil. Class Two Powers. The Abbè Molina, in his History of Chili, translated from the Italian by the Abbè Grewvel, mentions a species of Basil, which he calls Ocymum salinum: he says it resembles the common basil, except that the stalk is round and jointed; and that though it grows 60 miles from the sea, yet every morning it is covered with saline globules, which are hard and splendid, appearing at a distance like dew; and that each plant furnishes about half an ounce of fine salt every day, which the peasants collect, and use as common salt, but esteem it superior in flavour.