Now shall the adventurous muse attempt a theme More new, more noble and more flush of fame Than all that went before-- Now through the veil of ancient days renew The period famed when first Columbus touched 5 These shores so long unknown--through various toils, Famine, and death, the hero forced his way, Through oceans pregnant with perpetual storms, And climates hostile to adventurous man. But why, to prompt your tears, should we resume, 10 The tale of Cortez, furious chief, ordained With Indian blood to dye the sands, and choak, Famed Mexico, thy streams with dead? or why Once more revive the tale so oft rehearsed Of Atabilipa, by thirst of gold, 15 (Too conquering motive in the human breast,) Deprived of life, which not Peru's rich ore Nor Mexico's vast mines could then redeem? Better these northern realms demand our song, Designed by nature for the rural reign, 20 For agriculture's toil.--No blood we shed For metals buried in a rocky waste.-- Cursed be that ore, which brutal makes our race And prompts mankind to shed their kindred blood. _Eugenio_ But whence arose 25 That vagrant race who love the shady vale, And choose the forest for their dark abode?-- For long has this perplext the sages' skill To investigate.--Tradition lends no aid To unveil this secret to the human eye, 30 When first these various nations, north and south, Possest these shores, or from what countries came; Whether they sprang from some primæval head In their own lands, like Adam in the east,-- Yet this the sacred oracles deny, 35 And reason, too, reclaims against the thought: For when the general deluge drowned the world Where could their tribes have found security, Where find their fate, but in the ghastly deep?-- Unless, as others dream, some chosen few 40 High on the Andes 'scaped the general death, High on the Andes, wrapt in endless snow, Where winter in his wildest fury reigns, And subtile æther scarce our life maintains. But here philosophers oppose the scheme: 45 This earth, say they, nor hills nor mountains knew Ere yet the universal flood prevailed; But when the mighty waters rose aloft, Roused by the winds, they shook their solid base, And, in convulsions, tore the deluged world, 50 'Till by the winds assuaged, again they fell, And all their ragged bed exposed to view. Perhaps far wandering toward the northern pole The streights of Zembla, and the frozen zone, And where the eastern Greenland almost joins 55 America's north point, the hardy tribes Of banished Jews, Siberians, Tartars wild Came over icy mountains, or on floats,