He saw at once, as far as eye could rove, Like scattering herds, the swarthy people move In tribes innumerable; all the waste, Wide as their walks, a varying shadow cast. As airy shapes, beneath the moon's pale eye, People the clouds that sail the midnight sky, Dance thro the grove and flit along the glade, And cast their grisly phantoms on the shade; So move the hordes, in thickets half conceal'd, Or vagrant stalking thro the fenceless field, Here tribes untamed, who scorn to fix their home, O'er shadowy streams and trackless deserts roam; While others there in settled hamlets rest, And corn-clad vales a happier state attest. The painted chiefs, in guise terrific drest, Rise fierce to war, and beat their savage breast; Dark round their steps collecting warriors pour, Some fell revenge begins the hideous roar; From hill to hill the startling war-song flies, And tribes on tribes in dread disorder rise, Track the mute foe and scour the howling wood, Loud as a storm, ungovern'd as a flood; Or deep in groves the silent ambush lay, Lead the false flight, decoy and seize their prey, Their captives torture, butcher and devour, Drink the warm blood and paint their cheeks with gore. Awhile he paused, with dubious thoughts opprest, And thus to Hesper's ear his doubts addrest: Say, to what class of nature's sons belong The countless tribes of this untutor'd throng? Where human frames and brutal souls combine, No force can tame them, and no arts refine. Can these be fashion'd on the social plan, Or boast a lineage with the race of man? When first we found them in yon hapless isle, They seem'd to know and seem'd to fear no guile; A timorous herd, like harmless roes, they ran, And call'd us Gods, from whom their tribes began. But when, their fears allay'd, in us they trace The well-known image of a mortal race, When Spanish blood their wondering eyes beheld, A frantic rage their changing bosoms swell'd; They roused their bands from numerous hills afar, To feast their souls on ruin, waste and war. Nor plighted vows nor sure defeat control The same indignant savageness of soul.