names which were bestowed uponsome of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of whichI have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at aconsiderable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul andVirginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot; andwhenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief,by way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on theneighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struckme of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this reed; for I never,in the course of my travels, experienced any thing like the pleasurein seeing a statue or other monument of ancient art, as in reading awell-written inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued fromthe stone, and, making itself heard after the lapse of ages, addressedman in the midst of a desert, to tell him that he is not alone, and thatother men, on that very spot, had felt, and thought, and suffered likehimself. If the inscription belongs to an ancient nation, which nolonger exists, it leads the soul through infinite space, and strengthensthe consciousness of its immortality, by demonstrating that a thoughthas survived the ruins of an empire.
I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, thefollowing lines of Horace:--
Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, Ventorumque regat pater, Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
"May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of thewinds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed tosit, to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of thistree, I engraved the following lines from Virgil:--
Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
"Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families sofrequently met, I placed this line:--
At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
"Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I hadplaced at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "Ishould have liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVERAGITATED, YET CONSTANT."--"Such a motto," I answered, "would have beenstill more applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested inevery thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objectsin appearance the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain androse-apple trees, planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paulsometimes danced, received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneaththe shade of which Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount theirmisfortunes, was called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed thenames of Brittany and Normandy on two little plots of ground, where theyhad sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary, wishing, inimitation of their mistresses, to recall to mind Angola and Foullepoint,the places of their birth in Africa, gave those names to the littlefields where the grass was sown with which they wove their baskets,and where they had planted a calabash-tree. Thus, by cultivatingthe productions of their respective climates, these exiled familiescherished the dear illusions which bind us to our native country, andsoftened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas! I have seen these trees,these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are now so completelyoverthrown,--which now, like the desolated plains of Greece, presentnothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances, all called intolife by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon them!
But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that calledVirginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the nameof The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues afountain, forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in themiddle of a field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had madeMargaret a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and whichshe planted on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the treemight one day serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame de laTour planted another cocoa with the same view, at the birth of Virginia.These nuts produced two cocoa-trees, which formed the only records ofthe two families; one was called Paul's tree, the other, Virginia's.Their growth was in the same proportion as that of the two youngpersons, not exactly equal: but they rose, at the end of twelve years,above the roofs of the cottages. Already their tender stalks wereinterwoven, and clusters of young cocoas hung from them over the basinof the fountain. With the exception of these two trees, this nook of therock was left as it had been decorated by nature. On its embrowned andmoist sides broad plants of maiden-hair glistened with their green anddark stars; and tufts of wave-leaved hart's tongue, suspended like longribands of purpled green, floated on the wind. Near this grew a chainof the Madagascar periwinkle, the flowers of which resemble the redgilliflower; and the long-podded capsicum, the seed-vessels of which areof the colour of blood, and more resplendent than coral. Near them, theherb balm, with its heart-shaped leaves, and the sweet basil, which hasthe odour of the clove, exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From theprecipitous side of the mountain hung the graceful lianas, like floatingdraperies, forming magnificent canopies of verdure on the face ofthe rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the stillness of these retreats,resorted here to pass the night. At the hour of sunset we could perceivethe curlew and the stint skimming along the seashore; the frigate-birdpoised high in air; and the white bird of the tropic, which abandons,with the star of day, the solitudes of the Indian ocean. Virginia tookpleasure in resting herself upon the border of this fountain, decoratedwith wild and sublime magnificence. She often went thither to washthe linen of the family beneath the shade of the two cocoa-trees, andthither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While she was makingcheeses of their milk, she loved to see them browse on the maiden-hairfern which clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung suspended byone of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that Virginiawas fond of this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring forest, agreat variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their young, soonestablished themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated times,distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon asshe appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note isso soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsooktheir bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from theneighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all advancedpromiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she and Paulfound an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their sports,their repasts, and their loves.
Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and inobeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot,have your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for theconsolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you beginlife under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the shadeof those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts, whichnever cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs, cakesof rice served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes, oranges,dates, pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome repast, themost agreeable to the eye, as well as delicious to the taste, that canpossibly be imagined.
Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thinghaving a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of theday and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for theaccommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the pathswere rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes theyoung arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might bebetter pleased elsewhere.
During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage,and employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo.Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in the mostperfect order; and near these in
struments of agriculture were heaped itsproducts,--bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of plantains. Somedegree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and Virginia was taughtby her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and cordials from thejuice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp; afterwhich Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellersbenighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by banditti;or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the tempestupon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the childrenlistened with eager attention, and earnestly hoped that Heaven would oneday grant them the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towardssuch unfortunate persons. When the time for repose arrived, the twofamilies separated and retired for the night, eager to meet again thefollowing morning. Sometimes they
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