The unhappy young man began to be painfully
convinced, that gracious or gloomy, consistently
kind or capricious, in all her aspects and movements,
she had become all the world to him. It
was a humiliating discovery to him, that she had
equally bound him in her chains, when she was
morally unlovely, as when she had shown herself
all that he could have asked. He struggled long
and manfully with himself, when, by his gloom and
incapacity for enjoyment in her absence, and the
strange palpitations in his bosom, when she returned
to him, he found how necessary she was to his happiness.
“I will shake off this unmanly bondage,”
said he; “I have determined to restore her to
society. Conscience and honour call me to do it;
and what do I propose to myself from allowing
such feelings to gain the ascendency over me?” In
the midst of resolutely formed purposes to imitate
her caprice, and her coldness and distance, and to
make her feel the value of his society, by withholding
it, she came upon him in her loveliness and
her smiles, adorned in all the graces of youth and
beauty, and like men before him, as wise as himself,
his purposes of resentment all melted away,
and the chains were retained from choice. Sometimes,
when all the sternness of his thoughts had
not vanished, she would gaily observe, “American,
remark, I know what has been passing within you.
You are a bad subject. But remember, I have not
understood to no purpose, how to tame the wild
animals on our terrace.” This, too, thought he,

[figure description] Page 182.[end figure description]

is mysterious. Is she then gifted to be a discerner
of thoughts?

But though such feelings against himself had
found a place in his bosom, the strength of his
original purpose was still unsubdued. He felt,
even were it in his power, how unworthy it would
be to blight her prospects, by thinking to unite his
fate finally to hers, because Providence, by bringing
them so strangely together, had given him chances
to meditate such thoughts. He still determined, if
possible, to restore her to her friends, leaving her
prospects for the future as he had found them. A
chance to test the sincerity of his purposes occurred.
A ship, with all her sails spread to the breeze,
passed near the island. He kindled fires. He fired
his swivel, and his small arms, and hoisted a flag
high above the grotto on the precipices. Every
moment he expected to see the ship lay to, and put
out her boat. The excruciating agony of his
thoughts and feelings, convinced him how dear
she was to him, and that the happiness of his life
was involved in the issue. But his resolution was
confirmed by remarking, that she watched the
movements of the ship with an intenseness of solicitude,
still greater than his own. Nothing could
have so fully opened his eyes to the fact, that his
society, and the pure and simple pleasures of nature
in that island, were utterly insufficient to her happiness.
When the ship had finally passed on,
without noticing their signals, he remarked this to
his companion, and uttered all the cheering and

[figure description] Page 183.[end figure description]

consoling words that came to his thoughts, to
encourage her, that they would soon be able to
leave the island in their own boat, which was now
well nigh completed. To his amazement, he saw
her countenance gradually brightening, and regaining
its cheerfulness. It is true, she was silent; but
the succeeding evening was one, in which she displayed
uncommon kindness and gaiety.

When he had slept upon the dreams inspired by
this manner in the evening, the next day all was
reversed. Her countenance had never worn such a
deep and unalterable gloom. It was natural for
him to interpret the kindness of the evening to a
benevolent effort over herself, to soften the disappointment
of not being noticed by the ship. Her
present feeling was the irresistible influence of her
own chagrin and sorrow, returned upon her, notwithstanding
all her efforts. They walked together,
as usual, and he offered her his arm. She refused
it, as if he were infected with some malignant disease,
which she wished to avoid. At another time,
she put him to a laborious task of enclosing her
menagerie. It took him a couple of days from his
labour on the boat. When at length it was completed
with great toil, she laughed heartily at the
whole, and told him, that she had put him to the
work as the test of his obedience. The only
method of reasoning by which he preserved selfrespect
was, that no other eye saw the extent and
caprice of her tyranny, on the one hand, and of the
folly of his docility and submission on the other.

[figure description] Page 184.[end figure description]

But for this time the firmness of his purpose
served him. He preserved a stern silence and
distance of two days, in which he wrought with
redoubled assiduity on the boat. The manifest
impress of overplied exertion on his countenance
vanquished her. Towards evening of the second
day, arrayed in her most studied dress, she walked
down to the shore. “Throw away those wretched
tools,” said she, “I command you. You seem fatigued
to death. My dear brother, you must refresh
yourself. Why should you kill yourself to
finish that vile boat, in order to get away from this
sweet place? It is a hundred to one that I refuse
to accompany you when it is finished. Come with
me. Every grove is green. The birds sing.
Nature is in good temper, and so am I.” He
resisted the fascination, and ceased not to ply
the saw and the axe, and sternly answered, that his
business pressed him, and he must deny himself
the pleasure of walking with her. She came still
closer to him, smiling through the tears that started
into her eyes at this unwonted severity of manner.
“My dear brother,” said she, “this will never do.
I have neither beast nor bird so refractory as this
American.” Saying this, she compelled him to
suspend his blows by coming in the way of his axe,
and taking him by the hand, and leading him away.
Let them who would smile at him for the too easy
good nature of yielding in the case, have seen her,
as she was at times, too, manifesting a heart of the
tenderest sensibility and of the most considerate

[figure description] Page 185.[end figure description]

kindness; let them imagine the pity always arising
in his mind at the view of this fascinating woman,
obliged by the severity of her fate to pine in this
solítude; let them remember, that with the earnest
tenderness of a mother over a sick infant, he had
nursed her up from the borders of the grave; let
them contemplate him, considering her with the
feelings of father, and brother, and protector, and
friend, and lover; for that tie bound him with the
rest, and so constituting his only society in the
world, and possibly they, in the trial, would have
been no more inflexible than he proved in the issue.

At this point of the annals of their sojourn in the
island, would be the place to make extracts from a
daily journal of the incidents of nearly a year,
which he kept, and in which he marked, with
minuteness, the events of their solitary lives. It
was found too uniform and monotonous to be
transcribed. They who are hourly cast in the
hard and selfish scramble, and encountering the
heartless conflicts of the busy world, would turn
away from these records of the movements of the
heart, elicited by this singular kind of companionship.
Besides, a journal of the incidents of a day
would serve, with little variation, as a sample of
those of a year. It will be sufficient to relate, that
it sometimes records kindness, and sometimes caprice,
on the part of his companion; sometimes
courage, and sometimes dejection, on his own part.
It notes the failure or success of his plans and
projects. It marks the unequivocal progress of

[figure description] Page 186.[end figure description]

affection for the companion of his solitude, notwithstanding
all that he suffered from the ever-varying
tone of her conduct towards him.

In other places it notes the severe mental struggles
of conscience; remarks that he felt himself
exposed to numberless and continual trials to depart
from that settled plan of deportment towards her,
which he had prescribed to himself, as the measure
of honour and duty. Sometimes a purpose to
abandon all thoughts of leaving the island, and to
win her, if he might, to unite her destiny indissolubly
with his, seems almost to have gained the
ascendency. At those points are manifested the
deep feelings of piety; and that he had often, in the
solitude of midnight or of retirement in the groves,
communed with his own heart and with God, and
had earnestly invoked divine strength, and aid from
on high, that his honour and integrity might not
be found wanting in this extreme temptation. It
every where notes the most entire devotion to all
the wishes and desires of his companion, and that
the sunshine of his thoughts and his mind never
ceased to vary with the prevalent mood of her
feelings and behaviour.

In one place he has recorded earnest wishes, that
she had been born in his condition in life, that no
impediment might have existed in the way of their
union. Beside this wish, is recorded an eloquent
rhapsody upon the folly and absurdity of human
distinctions. He finds himself her equal in nature
and character, and perhaps, with the customary

[figure description] Page 187.[end figure description]

leaning of self pride, her superior in good temper
and self control; and then he declaims upon the
emptiness of the sounds, distinction and birth, as
repeated from the echo of the mountains of a savage
island in the south seas.

It sometimes appears, that with the usual propensity
to see things as they are wished to appear,
he half satisfies himself, that her caprices did in fact
result from tenderness towards him. While under
this conviction, his thoughts are altogether too
sanguine and soaring to be transcribed. At other
times he is in the depths, and finds the only key
to unlock the mystery of her conduct, in being
persuaded, that all her seeming kindness is a benevolent
effort over herself, for his peace; and that
all her caprice and gloom are the real manifestation
of her chagrin and suffering in a state of hopeless
solitude. Again and again, he takes to himself the
flattering unction, that he never had yet disclosed,
and that he never would disclose the secret of his
heart in word or action.

In one place it records their mutual alarm and
horror, as they were walking together, at seeing a
troop of savages landed at the cove from two proas
lying on the shore. They were at too great a distance
to be distinctly observed. But their loud
cries were heard, as they observed them, in trembling
apprehension, from the concealment of a copse.
The great point of terror was, lest the savages
should trace their path to the grotto, and take possession
of it in their absence. They seemed to be

[figure description] Page 188.[end figure description]

holding some horrid jubilee, as they danced round
a fire. The two concealed spectators witnessed
this spectacle in agonizing suspense of more than
an hour. They then rose, and raised a long and
terrible shout, which echoed to the remotest depths
of the woods and mountains, and took to their boats,
and departed. The journal notes their horror,
after the savages were gone, in examining the place
where they had held their orgies. No remains of
a human victim were left, as they feared, to prove
that the savages had here partaken of the feast of
cannibals.

The journal records, that in the months of November
and December, continual tempests of rain,
thunder, and lightning occurred. It was the rainy
season of the country. Torrents were continually
pouring from the hills. Bread-fruit entirely failed.
The bread and stores from the wreck had ceased
long since. An ample supply of coffee, sugar and
wines still remained. But it proved a bitter privation
to be obliged to subsist on oysters, and animal
food alone. In obtaining even that, he was invariably
drenched in rain, before he had succeeded.
The kangaroos raised their dismal cries, and ranged
far away in the forests for food. Their beautiful
hares fled, and some of them never returned. On
the death of a favourite bird, that perished with
others at this time, his companion poured a long
lament in verse. From his extravagant praises on
reading it, the judgment, and taste, and partiality
of love, seem to have been passed upon it, and the

[figure description] Page 189.[end figure description]

verses were found so much resembling a thousand
others, written on similar occasions, that they were
not deemed worthy of being transcribed into these
pages.

They were now compelled to pass their time
together, and the pages of his journal, record
stronger, and more frequent manifestations of trials,
from the same sources which have been so often
mentioned. Sometimes he almost flatters himself,
that he is beloved; and then he is not only convinced
to the contrary, but that he is an object of
positive dislike and aversion; and he records, as
the result of all his efforts to sound the mystery of
her sentiments, that the heart and conduct of a
young and beautiful woman, are the most inscrutable
of all the wonders of the creation. Many
long conversations between them are recorded,
sometimes affectionate, and even tender, and sometimes
cheerful. But it should seem, that their
thoughts had caught something of the gloom of
nature and the sky; for much oftener these dialogues
of the long day and evening of confinement
together, were of that racy and spiced character,
which are known in the ordinary annals of domestic
life, by the name of curtain lectures.

On the last day of the year an incident occurred,
which gave an agreeable diversity to the gloomy
current of events for some time past. He had retreated
from a conversation unusually annoying to
his feelings, from the temper in which she had sustained
her part in it. The rain intermitted for a

[figure description] Page 190.[end figure description]

moment, and he walked abroad. The sky was
gloomy. Thunder muttered in the distance. The
hills smoked, and the sea was involved in a thick
mist. The earth was wet and plashy. Not a note
of song, or animal life was heard. Even the trees
were almost bared of their foliage by a succession
of storms. His mind partook of the gloom of nature.
He happened to wander in a new direction. Near
the margin of a small water course, he observed a
thick mat of vines, which arrested his attention.
He examined them, and found, to his joy, a supply,
and it seemed a copious one, of sweet potatoes.
Both he and his companion found their health
suffering from the constant use of animal food.
What a discovery, in this rich and nutricious vegetable,
the best substitute, not only for all other vegetables,
but even bread. He marked the spot, and
hurried home with his discovered treasure.

The supper of that evening was delicious. They
heard the thunder burst, and the tempest pour
again, in cheerfulness and joy. Never had he seen
his companion show such undeniable tokens of kindness.
For that night his dreams were all of happiness.

The customary narrative commences with the
first day of January of the new year. The rainy
season ceased, and fleecy clouds again sailed over
the clear azure of the sky. The rainy season had
been the winter of that climate. A poet only, and
one of the highest powers, would be adequate to
paint the delightfulness of the transition. They

[figure description] Page 191.[end figure description]

walked far from their confinement, hand in hand.
They felt the change of nature in their own bosoms.
They spoke of the strong and affecting picture of
Noah coming out of the ark, as that memorable
event is recorded in the few striking words of the
Bible. The earth sent up the same smell of fragrance.
The diminishing sound of the falling torrents
in the mountains showed that the waters from
heaven were stayed. A thousand trees in blossom
charged the fresh breeze with fragrance. There
was a delightful freshness in the verdure of the
springing grass and shrubs. The birds sang the
renovation of nature in their sweetest'songs. They,
too, as they once more walked on the flowering
turf, and breathed the fragrance of the air, uttered
silent hymns of thanksgiving in their hearts.

While in the fulness of his joy he wished her a
happy new year, the glistening of her eye, and the
kindness of her countenance, seemed to be incapable
of more than one interpretation. She appeared
to declare, that she reciprocated the wish, rather in
manner than in words, and regretted the impediments
that arose from unchangeable circumstances.
There was that in her manner which could not be
mistaken, which seemed to declare, that all the happiness
which she could bestow should be his. He
even thought, that she expected him to go farther in
the expression of his feelings. His heart palpitated.
Words, which he had vowed before God never to
whisper in her ear, were upon his tongue, and ready
to be uttered. His higher purpose triumphed, and the

[figure description] Page 192.[end figure description]

day that commenced so joyfully, terminated in sorrow
and gloom. As they returned from their evening
walk, she refused his arm, as formerly, and
shrunk from his offered aid as they crossed a mountain
torrent. The kindness of the morning seemed
changed to aversion; and he saw, with the keenest
regret, that her eye was often filled with tears. As
the day closed, they seated themselves in silence on
the terrace at the entrance of the grotto. The sun,
throned in the pillary clouds that came after the
rain, was setting in his glory. The prolonged and
foreign notes of the evening songsters of the groves,
trilled out their parting salutation. The surface of
the sea rippled in gold and purple. The fire flies
darted their mimic lightning among the trees. The
rolling mists formed a sublime canopy on the summits
of the mountains, through which streamed into
mid air the smokes of the volcanos. The deep
murmurs of the mountain streams formed a grand
accompaniment to the gentle dashing of the waves
on the shore. It was an evening to inspire solemn
thought and heavenly musing. Both had commenced
a new year in this strange association of solitude.
It must be naturally a period for retrospection,
anticipation, and resolve. That the colouring of
her thoughts was dark was evident; for she sat in
silence and sadness, and frequent tears rolled down
her cheeks.

For the first time, he took her hand, as he drew
his chair near to hers. She started at this unwonted
freedom, and the paleness of her cheek glowed.

[figure description] Page 193.[end figure description]

“My sister,” he said, “I cannot endure the sight of
your sadness. It is the bitterest part of my lot to
see you in sorrow, and to know that I have no
means of relief. I have laboured for months in the
completion of the boat. The return of the pleasant
season will enable me to resume the work. In one
week it will be finished; and then we will depart,
and I will weary heaven with prayers to bind up
every wind, but such as will waft us to your friends.
How gladly would I resign my life to serve you,
and render you happy!” Her tears flowed again,
and she answered nothing; but they were clearly
no longer tears of sorrow. Another conversation
ensued, of a character which may be imagined, but
which it were useless to relate. It is sufficient to
say, that his thoughts and hopes assumed a new
form, and presented her in a new light for investigation.
When he retired to his bed, it was not to
begin the first night of the year with refreshing
slumbers, but to shift from side to side, and to agitate
a thousand views of his condition. Oh! he
thought, could I be sure that she could love me,
and be willing to share this solitude, it would become
to me as paradise to the first pair. Why not
unfold to her all that is passing in my heart? Why
have reserves for her whose life I have saved, whose
days and months are passed by my side? Who
could have been with her, as I have, and not have
loved? What are the differences of wealth, birth,
and condition in these solitudes? Shall I fear to
declare it to the echoes, that I am the son of an

[figure description] Page 194.[end figure description]

independent farmer of America, and that she is high
born, and an heiress? Have we not all that nature
and the heart require? Who can ever love her as
I love her? Who can ever serve her as I have
served her? Who can render her happy beside me?
Suppose I restore her to society. From that moment
the artificial barriers of society raise an adamantine
wall, an impassable gulf between us.
All hope of ever meeting her again, as an equal,
will be extinguished for ever. All that I have done
will be put to the common impulses of humanity,
and perhaps my guarded decorum will be estimated
no more than the result of insensibility.

Then again other views of the subject presented.
His purposes had been formed in a state of comparative
coolness of calculation. That was no
longer the case; and these were the prejudiced
colourings of passion. Would he forego all his
boasted promises to restore her to society, or perish?
Suppose one of them should die. What would be
the lot of the miserable survivor? Providence had
cast them together on a desert island. What then?
Would he basely take advantage of her misfortune,
to bind her to a state of inglorious and useless voluptuousness,
in a desert isle? Suppose she were
to consent to unite her destinies with his, and they
were to escape from the island, would not society
mourn over her, as one degraded and humbled?
Would it not pity her and execrate him for basely
availing himself of the advantages of his condition?
Such were some of the views that passed over his

[figure description] Page 195.[end figure description]

troubled thoughts that night. The result of his
resolves was, that he would immediately resume
the work of his boat, complete it, and embark with
the pleasant season for New Holland.

The next morning, after an early breakfast, the
tent was replaced, and the writing desk, as formerly,
and his companion awaited in tranquil
silence the completion of the boat. The succeeding
day was devoted to arrangements and preparations.
Bread-fruit was not yet ripe. But a cask
of sweet potatoes, and dried flesh, and fishing
tackle, and two muskets, and powder, and oysters
suspended under the boat, to be preserved in their
freshness, and meats, fresh and salted, were placed
in the boat over night. It was launched, and made
fast to the shore. The mast was erected. The
sail was clewed, and every arrangement made for
the voyage of the succeeding day. The charts,
and a compass brought from the wreck, were put
on board.

They took their supper in profound silence.
“Have you,” he asked, “made your selection of
the birds and animals, that you would choose to
take with you? They will be affecting memorials
of your residence here, when you shall once more
be in the bosom of society. Yonder lies New
Holland. The morning breeze, will put us within
the reach of the steady western winds, that cannot
fail to waft us to the shores of that country. I will
restore you to your country, to your father—and I
will—” “And what will you? my dear brother,”

[figure description] Page 196.[end figure description]

said she, as tears started in her eyes. “All this is
sufficiently gallant and complimentary, and might
be urged with better show of reason, if there were
any chance of success. You are a brave man, and
rather uncommonly a philosopher for your years.
But pardon me, my brother, if I say, that you
seem to me little more of a mariner than I am.
No. You know nothing, whether New Holland
is to the east, or the west. We shall be blown out
to sea. We shall encounter the waste and angry
billows, that swallowed up my father. The thought
makes me shudder. You reason in vain, to persuade
me that my father lives. Besides,” she continued,
with a countenance alternately flashing, and
as pale as death, “there is another element in the
calculation, that you seem wholly to have omitted.
I have hitherto foreborne to speak. But it would
be guilt in me, to omit on this solemn occasion to
declare all. Must I say it? Who will believe the
romance of our existence here? Who will understand
and believe you and me, such as we are?
No. This solitude shields me from reproach. It
furnishes all that nature wants. These humble
animals have learned to love me. I can be no
where so happy as here. Should fate first call for
you, I will go with you. Should I depart first, I
am sure that you will give tears to the only human
companion of your solitude. And if my brother
sheds tears on my grave, it will not want the tribute
of a brave and high minded man. I have showed
ennui, you will say—I will show it no more. I

[figure description] Page 197.[end figure description]

have shed tears of chagrin—I will be a perpetual
smiler for the days to come. I have talked of the
society which I once enjoyed—I will henceforward
speak of no joys, but those of peace, privacy, and
friendship with a dear brother, in a solitary island.
Let us burn this miserable boat, that has so wearied
and vexed you, and grow old in the midst of these
affectionate animals. Be your resolves what they
may, I will not go to-morrow. But if you still
persist, I will make a pilgrimage alone to the place
where you found me. I will bid farewell to all my
happy walks in these groves; and then if you continue
to cling to this strange purpose, to fly away
from me and this charming place, where we are so
happy, I will go with you on the following day;
and if you choose a death in the trackless brine, I
will share it with you.” Saying this, she took her
candle, bade him good night, and retired.

The young man retired too, but it may be readily
supposed not to sleep. I have heard, he said to
himself, I have heard of the mysteries of science,
and the mysteries of philosophy, and nature, and
religion; but here is an undescribed mystery,
deeper than all the rest. One hour, she seems
ready to expire with the loneliness of this place,
and her desire for society; and then in turn her
eye shows tenderness for me, or she cruelly mocks
me with the semblance of it. The affection of
irrational animals is reciprocated: But she has
seen me labour, and suffer, to sustain the life which
I have saved, and yet I occupy less space in her

[figure description] Page 198.[end figure description]

thoughts than a vile kangaroo, or a purple cardinal.
I am weary of conjectures. The voyage shall end
them.

Next day he remonstrated with her, touching the
hazard from savages on the lonely excursion, which
she proposed. She persisted in her purpose, and
he had so often found her inflexible, that he ceased
to remonstrate. Dressed in a style of simple negligence,
she departed after an early breakfast, taking
food with her to spend the day as she proposed, by
herself, leaving him to divine her manner of passing
it, and the colour of her thoughts.

For him, he renewed his arrangements, and
tasked his thoughts to recollect every thing that
ought to be carried on board. Various preparations,
forgotten on the former day, were now remembered,
and having put every thing in readiness,
he awaited her return, as he cast his eyes anxiously
in the direction of her departure. Just as the sun
faded, her form was seen advancing from among
the trees, and her white robe fluttered in the breeze.
His heart, no longer filled with apprehensions,
bounded for joy. She walked slowly, and as one
taking a solemn farewell of nature, and of scenes
dear to her. In a moment he was by her side.
Her countenance was calm, but sorrowful, and she
had evidently passed a day of deep and painful
feeling. She put her arm within his, and looking
intently and kindly in his face, asked him, “Have
you not yet given up the thought of this rash and
mad voyage?” Other views of the question of the

[figure description] Page 199.[end figure description]

former day ensued, and the former reply of his
part was repeated. To the objection, which seemed
to have most force, that her reputation and standing
in society were unchangeably committed, even
were she restored to it, he answered: “Yes, my
dear sister; we shall visit a society that will separate
me from you, and no longer allow me to call
you by that endearing name. I shall no longer
dare—but I will not explain farther. There is one
proof of devotion, that I can yet show you. Let
him that dares, in society, whisper the suspicion of
stain upon your good name, and he shall know that
there is one heart, and one arm to chastise and
avenge. But no miscreant will dare it. I implore
you, my sister, no longer to gainsay. Heaven and
earth call upon you to depart. Should you refuse,
you will learn me to hate and despise myself. The
call of Providence is plain. It is your duty to go,
and mine to conduct you.”

In a moment her countenance changed to a calm,
but firm and complacent look of settled sorrow.
All pride and caprice were banished. “You are
right,” said she. “It must be so. Say no more.
I will go. Let every thing be ready.” She bowed,
and retired as under the influence of emotions too
deep for utterance.

The morning dawned, and a more beautiful one
never dawned. But few words passed between
them. The breakfast remained before them, untasted.
Every thing was in readiness. He barricaded
the entrance of the grotto, as they came

[figure description] Page 200.[end figure description]

out, purposing, if they should reach New Holland,
to have a vessel despatched to bring away the
valuable things that were stored there. If they
should not return to that place again, he expressed
a wish that some one, whose lot should be happier
than theirs, might enjoy that commodious retreat
after them.

There could be no mistaking the feelings of
either, as they looked round upon this tranquil,
pleasant, and secure residence. “Farewell,” said
she, in a voice almost inaudible. She could not
refrain from tears, as her hundred animals and
birds thronged round, uttering their morning notes
and cries of affection and joy. A pair of kangaroos,
and another of scarlet pigeons followed
them, the one fluttering from tree to tree, and the
other bounding behind, as was their daily wont,
when they left the grotto. He took her favourite
hare under one arm, and a Bible under the other.
She looked round, and upwards, and bade him
proceed. The beautiful nature around them never
had seemed so smiling, as at the moment, when
they were leaving it. A moment brought them to
the boat. She turned deadly pale, as they reached
it, and as the animals and birds followed him into
it. He held out his hand to her. “Courage,”
said he, “my dear sister. One effort more, and
the struggle is over.” Before she entered, she said,
“Remember, sir, I remonstrated against this proceeding.
It is no project of mine. It is useless to
say, that I had rather remain. I do not the less

[figure description] Page 201.[end figure description]

feel, and appreciate the disinterestedness and heroism
of your conduct, and I can, and will imitate it.
Suppose this ill advised voyage should restore us
to society; man is neither so good, or true, as these
kind animals that I leave, nor can any thing of art
equal this grand and lonely nature. You are right.
Go forward. I follow you. You mistake my
wishes, and probably my interests. You wholly
misunderstand my heart and character. But it is
too late to explain.” Saying this, she entered, and
sat down on a seat which he had prepared for her.

He, in turn, urged anew all his motives, and
stated again all his arguments. His words were
at once solemn and soothing; and the deep feelings
of his heart inspired him with eloquence. He talked
of the present, and the future, and of the life to
come; and read to her, from the Scriptures, of them
who see the mighty works of God upon the great
waters. He read prayers from the service of her
church, and they sang an hymn together. He then
took the fast on board, called the animals that were
bounding upon the sand. The scarlet pigeons
perched upon her arm. The hare nibbled upon
sweet potatoes, thrown to it to retain it on board,
and they slowly moved from the shore.

The morning breeze, as usual, whispered gently
from the land. His calculation was, that this breeze,
which generally lasted until eleven in the morning,
would serve them until they could reach a distance,
where they might come in view of some other land;
and that from that point, with a slight effort of oars,

[figure description] Page 202.[end figure description]

with which the boat was provided, he could row it
beyond the influence of the land breeze; and that
if the land should appear, as he trusted it would,
in the direction of the tropical gale, they might
sail directly before it. The boat more than answered
his expectations. It sailed well and steadily,
and he might hope it would prove secure in the
common chances of calm weather. He had taken
the precaution to spread an awning over her seat,
which sheltered her from the rays of the sun, which
arose from the waves as they had advanced half a
league from the shore. She sat with her face toward
the shore, contemplating it with a countenance pale
but firm. The lofty trees gradually lessened to the
size of shrubs. Soon there was nothing visible on the
shore but the white line of foam that burst on the
rocks, and nothing audible but the faint and low
murmurs of the surge, as it burst along the shore.
The green summits of the trees, surmounted by the
blue line of mountains, began to have the aspect of
clouds in the sky. By ten in the morning, nothing
was visible, but these dim clouds. As yet, not a
word had been uttered by either. His heart palpitated
for a moment, when the pale but fixed countenance
of his companion turned upon his, as if to
scrutinize his inmost thoughts. “Is there land in
sight?” she asked, “for I can see nothing but the
sky and the sea. He stood erect, and strained his
vision in every direction; but he also saw nothing
but the sky and the sea. The boundless waste was
every where gently curved with calm rolling billows.

[figure description] Page 203.[end figure description]

The pair of kangaroos were very clearly dissatisfied
with their novel position, which they manifested
by shifting their places, and raising a most piteous
cry. The hare nibbled its food unmoved. The
pigeons perched on the arm of his companion,
nodded repeatedly in the direction of the land, and,
before she was aware, they clapped their brilliant
wings, and soared away for the green retreats
which they had left. This unexpected desertion
by her favourite birds, and the dismal whinings of
the kangaroos, overcame the firmness of her purpose
for a moment. But she soon wiped away the
silent tears from her eyes, and became calm again.
Both felt that it was neither the time nor place for
words, and preserved profound silence.

He continued to look anxiously in the direction
in which they were sailing, without discovering
any trace of land, until noon. He then felt it a
duty to lay the boat about, as the land breeze had
lulled, and wait for the sea breeze to waft them
back again. He so notified his companion; and
it was the first word that had been spoken. “My
sister,” said he, “the Almighty has determined that
we should return for this time. But though I dare
not venture to sea at present, we have proved that
our boat is good, and sails well. We will cruise
the island another day, and sail round it to the
opposite shore. Let us submit with cheerfulness to
this disappointment, and hope better fortune another
time.” To his surprise, this intelligence was
received, not only without the appearance of regret,

[figure description] Page 204.[end figure description]

but with undisguised delight and triumph. “Thank
God!” said she, clasping her hands, with exultation
in her eye, “this mad voyage is like to terminate
as I wished. You have had your wish, and I am
happy.” At the word she roused her favourite
hare, that was sleeping unconscious on the grass.
“Poor puss!” she said, smoothing down its glossy
back, “you shall see your mates, and your green
island, and the dear grotto again.”

The sun shone with dazzling brightness, and not
a breath of air fanned their faces. He sat to the
oars, and commenced pulling them in the direction
of the shore. The boat was too large to be moved
readily, not only without the aid of sail, but against
a slight current which set from the shore. The
perspiration fell in drops from his forehead, and
yet the boat scarcely moved towards the land. He
observed, too, with terror, that a few light clouds
flew across the disk of the sun, although a feather
would not have trembled on the mast.

At half past twelve, a slight breeze began to
spring up, but it was from the shore; alas! he saw
but too clearly, what it portended. In five minutes
the breeze was a gale. He comprehended in a
moment the utter inefficacy of his oars, and unfurled
his sail, and with hands, trembling with apprehension,
began to practise all his scanty stock of sea-manship;
that if he could not beat towards the
land, at least he might make as little direct way
from it as possible. In a few moments the increasing
commotion of the waves instructed him, that

[figure description] Page 205.[end figure description]

attempts to oblique them or encounter them, were
alike dangerous and ineffectual. He looked in the
pale, but composed face of his companion, from
which silent tears were falling. Thy will, O God,
be done, said he aloud; and he laid the boat before
the waves and wind. Then indeed, by the foam at
the bow, they easily saw that the boat cleft the waves,
and ploughed rapidly over the increasing swells.
The waves soon became ragged, white, foaming, and
irregular. It seemed impossible that such a small
and slender craft could resist them for a moment.
To struggle with oars, would have been the madness
of an infant contending with a giant. She sat
calmly at the stern, with an eye occasionally looking
up towards the fearful sky, either in prayer,
or in looking upward for some harbinger of hope.
He stood firmly at the helm. Observing that
some part of the lading was not stowed rightly to
balance the boat, he was compelled for a moment
to desert the helm, so to remove the burden as to
trim the boat. The boat lost its direction, exposed
its side to the wave, and received a mass of spray
on the deck. But a part of the boat was decked,
and a portion of the wave poured into the bottom.
The kangaroos, covered with water, uttered a long
and dismal cry of terror. They both thought that
the boat was lost. But she righted, and obeyed
the helm, and again moved before the wind, though
heavy with the water which she had received. His
companion, though with the immediate apprehension
of death on her countenance, moved through

[figure description] Page 206.[end figure description]

the water, and placed herself by his side, near the
helm. “My brother,” she said, “we will sink
together. Oh, wicked pride of heart! Had I told
you all, this dreadful voyage had never been undertaken.
We die, because I was too proud to reveal
the secret of my heart.” “Wretch that I am,
Augusta Wellman,” he replied; “you are innocent,
and I am the guilty destroyer; and yet God is my
witness, that love, pure and disinterested as that of
the angels, was my motive. Forgive me, my dear
sister!” The disclosures of that awful moment,
when all hearts speak aloud, revealed the ruling
motives of each to the other. On his part, pure
and heroic affection, hopeless of a return, sought
the good of its object by an effort of self denial,
such as strong and good minds only can make.
On her part, it was affection equally strong and
sincere, which had wholly misinterpreted the character
and motive of its object. Pride had charged
him with insensibility and indifference; and she
had determined that sooner than be the first in the
humiliating avowal, her heart should break. Alas
for human nature! that such miserable reasonings
should have brought two such beings to quench
mutual love, so innocent and pure, in the abyss.

The expected approach of death extorted the
secret. They said, We understand each other, and
at least in death we will not be divided. What
words could be used to convey the feeblest impression
of the sensations that thrilled through his
frame! Oh God! he prayed, as he looked towards

[figure description] Page 207.[end figure description]

the angry elements, hear me for thy mercy's sake.
Hear me, and still thy winds, and let this cup pass
from us! But the Ruler of the tempests seemed not
to hear; for the winds continued to roar, and
thunders began to dart their explosions into the sea,
and all around was horror and darkness. But his
prayer, denied in one form, was answered in another.
He felt as if endowed with new powers.
New confidence sprung up in his mind. At the
same time, his companion, as if catching his spirit
and his confidence, began with energy and effect to
throw out the water, which the boat had taken in.
As if heaven had compassion on their hard lot,
the breeze lulled for a moment to a dead calm;
though the sky still looked fearfully black, and
the thunder continued to burst. “Courage,” he
cried, “my dear sister; God has heard us, and we
shall be saved.” In this moment of the suspended
fury of the tempest, by incredible efforts she had
already cleared the boat of its water.

Their hopes gave way to renewed despair: for
the unrelenting storm, with gathered fury from its
momentary slumber, howled again. The sun, occasionally
visible between the chasms of masses of
clouds of terrible aspect, was descending with his
disk broadened, and as if of blood, and the lurid
and darkening sky indicated the approach of a
night of horror. The darkness soon closed over
them. Nothing was heard but the roar of wind,
and the crash of thunder; nothing visible but an
illimitable prospect of mountain-billows, illumined

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

for a moment by the glare of lightning. It was,
indeed, a night and a scene to sink the proudest
heart. “Dear solitary island!” cried she; “green
shades, peaceful grotto, dear brother, farewell! We
will explore the mysteries of the deep, and of the
unknown world together. Proud, cruel woman,
thou hast undone thyself and him.” “My dear
sister,” he replied, “cease, I implore you, these
self-reproaches. You have opened before me
visions, which have inspired me with thoughts and
hopes, which are a presage that we shall escape.
I have a cheering presentiment, that we shall see
our green island again. Providence will sit at the
helm, and guide us through this fearful darkness.”
She answered, “I receive the omen as a voice from
heaven. Oh save us, merciful Providence! and
never shall love and gratitude be like mine.”

The boat continued to plunge along over the
billows through the Egyptian darkness. The
lightning glared for a moment, to give them a view
of the waves, and of each other, and instantly the
darkness closed over them. Meanwhile every
moment was wafting them farther to sea, and rendering
the chances of return more hopeless. Man
knows not the extent of his powers, except in emergencies
like these. He felt as if endowed with
gigantic vigour, and a feeling of the effect of the
waves upon the boat was to him as sight. He still
held the course of the boat, directly before the
wind. She was equally diligent to clear the water
from the boat, whenever it received the spray. The

[figure description] Page 209.[end figure description]

evidence of their senses alone, could have assured
them, that their frail boat could have survived the
dangers of darkness, and the perpetual concussion,
reeling and pitching, on the mountain billows.
While they were thus balanced between hope and
despair, the wind again lulled to a dead calm.
The lightning flashed ahead, and discovered piles
of clouds like mountains of brass, heaped together
in the direction of the sky towards which they had
been sailing. He instantly spread the sail, and
laid the boat about in the direction of the island.
The sail began to swell. At first, as the storm
commenced, it was a breeze which soon swelled to
a gale. Shortly the storm was renewed in all its
fury; but unhappily, though they now flew towards
the island, the waves, torn in sunder by the counter
gale, became broken, irregular, and far more
dangerous than before. The rain poured in torrents,
which were sufficient alone to fill the boat in
a little time. The dizzying agitation created sea-sickness.
The boat often shipped water. The
repeated explosions of thunder were as bursts of
cannon. She was by no means able to throw the
water out as fast as it came in from the sky and the
sea. Inevitable and immediate destruction now
looked them in the face.

But at the moment when all hope was again renounced,
the moon sailed forth from under the
clouds, and threw her pale and portentous radiance
upon the confusion of the sky and the sea. The
gale gradually sunk away, and hope again sprung

[figure description] Page 210.[end figure description]

up in their bosoms. Once more the boat was
cleared of its water, and made a steady progress
before the wind. An hour elapsed, in which each
almost suspended their breath, through fear that
they should hear the gale burst again. Sometimes
the moon disappeared, and left them in darkness;
and sometimes the gale lulled to a calm, and then
breezed again. In this way elapsed the anxious
hours, until the approach of morning dawn. By
its dim and uncertain light, they began to discover
the phosporic blaze of the mountain-surf upon the
rock-bound shore, and they saw themselves hastening
from one species of danger to another. They
were nearing the breakers with fearful rapidity. To
reach them was inevitable destruction. He dropped
the sail, and laid the boat about, under extreme
peril from upsetting it. He seized the oars, and
struggled with the energy which was inspired by
hope and the near view of land. The exertion
of a moment convinced him that he made headway
from the rocks. The moon came forth, clear,
full, and cheering. The boat glided along near the
outer margin of the surf. The trees could now be
distinctly seen, with their green summits above, and
glittering in the pale lustre of twilight and the
moon. Providence had ordained, that they should
survive all the horrors of that dreadful night. They
began to discover the points of the cliffs that formed
the cove. A few strokes of the oar propelled the
boat from the swells to the gentle rippling of the
harbour. The kangaroos, weary of the

[figure description] Page 211.[end figure description]

partnership and the voyage, bounded into the water, and
swam ashore. The next moment the boat struck
the shore, and he, springing out, made it fast to its
former hold. He lifted her, drenched with water,
in his arms on shore. Gratitude to the Almighty
claimed their first thoughts. The rest may be
imagined.

He bore her, faint and exhausted with fatigue
and hunger, and contending emotions, to the grotto.
Unheeding the hundred cries of joy of their animals,
he laid her on her bed. The fire soon blazed.
Refreshments were prepared. She drank claret and
water, and while he prepared breakfast, changed
her dress. The blood revisited her pale cheek, and
they breakfasted in thankfulness and love. The
joy of that hour became a consecrated era in the
after remembrances of each. Before they mutually
retired to rest, of which each had such pressing
need, she exacted from him a promise that he
would never attempt that kind of navigation again.
“How I wish,” she said, “that the winds would
bury that boat for ever in the waves!” The promise
was as cheerfully made on his part. “I will never
take the voyage again, my dear sister, unless you
precede me in the request. With opening before
me new views of duty, you have also inspired me
with other wishes and desires. Henceforward you
shall be the first to propose the abandonment of
this dear solitude.” They understood each other,
and their sleep was that which is won by fatigue,

[figure description] Page 212.[end figure description]

and the assurance of the sweetest hopes for the
future.

Towards evening they both arose, refreshed by
sleep, and recovered from their fatigue. It was one
of those evenings of that delicious climate, which
succeed such a storm as had passed over it. The
air, and the earth, and the vegetable creation, and
even the irrational tribes seemed to enjoy a renovated
existence, and to feel the contrast of that
repose of nature, with that fury of the tempest
which preceded it. They walked, accompanied by
a full cortége of their irrational subjects, among
the groves. That enjoyment was too full and homefelt
to clothe itself in words.

Here is purposely omitted a minute lover's account
of the appearance of Augusta Wellman on this
occasion. It is known that they were declared
lovers. The splendour of this full length picture was
given by a partial painter, and, perhaps, with something
of the natural partiality of such a pencil. The
sentimentality of the conversations of this occasion
were, no doubt, delicious to the parties immediately
concerned. Enough of this sort of description
may be found in any modern novel. To transcribe
this would take from these annals that aspect of
verity which they ought to wear. Besides, delightful
though it may have been to the parties, it admits
of question if it would be to persons less deeply
interested.

It is sufficient to say, in sum, that this was the

[figure description] Page 213.[end figure description]

halcyon period of two youthful hearts; that hour,
to which the affections naturally run out from the
time they distinctly kindle in the bosom; that hour,
clad in all the colours of remembrance, to which
the heart always delights to recur, and look back;
that hour, which, like the periods of birth and
death, is passed through but once; and which constitutes
the brightest era of memory in our transient
existence below; the hour of youthful confiding
love, and mutual, frank, and undisguised confession.
All the past was confessed and explained. The
one had forborne to declare what he felt, through
scruples of honour and conscience, and disinterested
regard; and because, with the true humility, and
the modest sensitiveness of real love, he had utterly
desponded of return; and had supposed it impossible,
that any thing but a return to society, could
render her happy; and because, inscrutable as the
general motive to her conduct had seemed, his prevalent
view of it was, that it arose from weariness,
ennui, and the pining desire of society. She, on
her part, explained, that from every view of his
conduct that she had taken, she had supposed him
good, amiable, disinterested, heroic, and insensible,
and incapable of warm affection to any one, and
particularly so to her. Sometimes she had deemed
that he had penetrated her secret. She had dreaded
his project of the voyage in this hope. She had
almost purposed to make an explicit avowal of her
wishes and feelings. But a high sense of the obligations
of female decorum and maidenly honour

[figure description] Page 214.[end figure description]

had finally triumphed. She had resolved to accompany
him, and if they escaped and made land in
New Holland, that as soon as she should have returned
to society, she would then avow her partiality,
evincing that he had won a free affection,
uninfluenced by their peculiar relations together.
Much, if not all, that had seemed mysterious in
the deportment of each toward the other was thus
explained. He did not, however, with the humility
and apprensiveness natural to love, flatter himself
that he had yet sounded all the depths in the heart
of his fair and beloved companion.

The journal proceeds to narrate, how by insensible
gradation the conversation had slidden to the
point of speaking of the where, the when, and the
how touching the bridal day. There were plenty
of birds billing within view, and both remembered
among their juvenile reading, the fortunate marriage
of Cock Robin to Jenny Wren, by parson Rook.
Each admitted the insurmountable difficulties in
the way of solemnizing a more formal union. But
when two persons so situated, are wholly of one
mind, it is surprising to see how many difficulties
of that sort may be surmounted. They mutually
agreed to keep a fortnight of courtship, as there
seemed little chance of rivalry or jealousy. The
happy day after that period of mutual probation,
was designated. Until that time, he was enjoined
the most scrupulous observance. Even then, the
only evidences would be kangaroos, the only bridemaids
cardinals and purple pigeons. The

[figure description] Page 215.[end figure description]

temple was to be the open area in front of the mountains,
in the midst of palms, and in the rear of the
widest sea on the globe. He was to read the Episcopal
service, as priest, and obey his own injunctions,
as bridegroom. He was to vow aloud, and
on his bended knee, that should they ever be restored
to society again, he would immediately, and
publicly, and after the rites of her church, resolemnize
the marriage, and renew his vows.

These were important preliminaries to settle, and
when the ice was once broken, and these delicate
points had once found discussion in words, it became
a theme of frequent review. It would be
difficult for disinterested persons to imagine how
many things remained to be said; and how little
tiresome the subject became by repetition. The
theme was renewed at morning and evening with
unsated interest. In short, these were the charming
hours, where the duty of the biographer is suspended,
and of which the historian has nothing to
say, save that they were peaceful and happy. The
grand point of study with each, seemed to be in
some way to diversify this happy expected period,
with some circumstances of fete and surprise.

As the happy hour, to which it may be presumed
either party looked with equal impatience, drew
near, an event occurred, which, as it formed a new
era in their history, and materially changed the
character of their relations, it is necessary to relate.
It happened, that he had walked alone to the shore
of the sea, in the morning. He was passing along

[figure description] Page 216.[end figure description]

the shore, in the hope of finding sea-turtle, for the
wedding supper. What was his astonishment and
horror, to observe three large proas drawn up on
the shore, and at a little distance a crowd of fifty
savages sitting round a fire. He trembled for himself,
and still more for his affianced bride, now the
single object of his thoughts and affections. A
feeling, like the supposed fascination of a charmed
bird, or, probably, the natural spell of a morbid
curiosity, the feeling that causes the person, frightened
by imagined ghosts, to shut the eyes and rush
on the spectre, induced him, in a moment, to determine
to inspect this horrid group, and their business,
more closely. It was an imprudent, and had
well high proved a fatal curiosity. There was a
thick-tufted mat of shrubbery and low trees, the
trunks of which were concealed by the compact
tangle of bushes and palmettos. He dropped on
his knees, and crawled in a direction to place this
copse between him and the savages. Under the
luxuriance of this verdure, he was completely
skreened from observation, until he was within
thirty paces of a young savage woman, lying on
the ground, bound hand and foot, as many paces
from the group of savages, and equidistant between
them and himself. She seemed of gigantic size,
with a countenance of dark olive, on which sat the
paleness of death. The savages, with black matted
hair, and their war clubs lying beside them, had
just those horrid and ferocious countenances, which
the imagination has assigned to Satan. They were

[figure description] Page 217.[end figure description]

sitting round the fire, intently occupied, as it seemed,
in picking the bones of a victim; and that it was a
human victim, circumstances left little doubt. After
long and reiterated bursts of frenzied laughter, and
yells of frantic joy,-that echoed from the mountains
in tones to chill the blood, they pointed to
the poor victim, lying between him and them. It
was easy for him to remark the spasmodic struggles,
and the shrinking horror of this forlorn being,
indicating most palpably her dread of death, and
the conviction, that she was soon to furnish a renewal
of the horrid banquet. Her look of terror
and despair thrilled to his heart. His blood rushed
to his head, and he felt a purpose that he could
not control. His dear Augusta, his approaching
nuptials, and every selfish feeling, were absorbed
in the generous impulses of compassion. His determination
was formed in a moment. He watched
the moment when the whole circle had their heads
bent towards their abominable repast. He crept
undiscovered to the verge of the palmettos, and
within three paces of the victim, before he was discovered
either by her or them. His appearance,
as he raised himself erect over her, was equally as
supernatural to the whole party, as though he had
dropped from the clouds. He was aware how
deeply all savages are infected with superstition,
and calculated upon the effect of his sudden and
strange appearance upon this part of their natures.
For the first moment of his appearance, as he expected,
they regarded him with stupid astonishment;

[figure description] Page 218.[end figure description]

and while they were gazing aghast upon him, he
cut the cords of the victim, and she was free. He
then held out his musket, and shouted with the
utmost power of his voice. The first result of all
this, was precisely what he had hoped. They
sprang from their posture by a simultaneous impulse,
and with yells of affright, fled in the direction
of their canoes. He made a signal for his delivered
prisoner to fly in the opposite direction of the
thicket. She comprehended him in a moment, and
evinced vigorous powers both of mind and limbs.
She even gained the thicket before him, although
he escaped with the utmost celerity. He overtook
her there, paused a moment for breath, and then
made signs, that she must follow him. They then
renewed their course for the grotto. The terrible
apprehension occurred to him, as he ran, that he
would in this way, draw the attention of the savages
in the direction of the grotto. The thought of exposing
his beloved and affianced bride, to the dangers
of an assault from them, was worse than death.
But his steps and hers, in every point, led to the
grotto. They would find it if they pursued, at any
rate. It was still more terrible to leave her to
these dread chances alone. He reflected, too, that
in such a place, and so armed, three persons contending
for life, might have hopes of beating off
fifty savages in an open assault. It happened as
he feared. As soon as the savages recovered from
the first amazement and consternation of his appearance,
they became aware, that in cutting the

[figure description] Page 219.[end figure description]

bands of their prisoner, he had manifested that he
was of their own race, and had human propensities;
and they determined to regain their prize,
and avenge the injury. He soon heard the infuriated
yell of the whole body, evidently approaching
upon the grotto. His steps were hurried by
love and terror. He trembled at the temerity,
which had brought this unnecessary attack upon
his beloved. When they were near enough to observe
him and their victim in their flight, he thought
more than once, of scaling the mountains in a
direction opposite that of the grotto, and of adopting
the stratagem of the bird, upon whose young
some enemy is advancing, which flies away in a
direction opposite that of its young, to put the
pursuer on a wrong track. But he discovered,
that they would be able to intercept him, before he
could reach the only point of the mountains, which
could be ascended. He had no alternative. No
time was to be lost, for their horrid yells admonished
him, that they were advancing upon him with
fearful celerity, and with the fury of demons at
unequal distances. When the two reached the base
of the mountain, the captive seemed to hesitate a
moment, either through terror, that she had avoided
one danger only to run into another; or, more
probably, not exactly comprehending his wishes.
He pushed her on before him, with the energy of
command, and she sprang up the steps, like a coney
of the rocks. He followed her.

Augusta had seen a part, and had heard more.

[figure description] Page 220.[end figure description]

The paleness of death was replaced with the flush
of confidence and hope, the moment she saw her
future husband, and was instructed in a word, what
was the present aspect of things. The swivel was
fortunately charged. He instantly brought forth
all the charged muskets, and Augusta, with the firm
look of a heroine, grasped one. The tall and
muscular captive savage comprehended the signs
that were made to her, and she also took her musket,
flourished it over her head, squared herself,
and took the attitude of a determined soldier.
These were the preparations of an instant, and the
savages were already at the foot of the rocks.
They paused a moment there, as if in doubt about
the mode of attack, and reconnoitering the position.
The moment after, with assured fury, they
began to scramble up the ascent. A discharge of
the swivel cleared away the first savages that
gained the area. They were now clearly excited
to infuriated and reckless revenge; for, although
three or four were slain, the survivors pushed on
behind them, and numbers had gained the area,
before the swivel could be reloaded. Three muskets
discharged at the distance of a few yards, destroyed
as many persons. The besieged continued
to fire loaded muskets upon them, with certain effect
from every shot. The numbers that fell about
them, produced a momentary recoil, and a retreat.
But, before the muskets could be reloaded, twenty
had gained the area. The besieged were obliged
to retreat with their muskets to the narrow passage

[figure description] Page 221.[end figure description]

by which the grotto was entered. Happily the
muskets were armed with bayonets. These were
plied with so much effect, as that all who advanced
to enter the passage, were slain. Their bodies
clogged the passage. Another and another fell,
as they attempted to leap over the bodies of their
fallen companions. The commander and his new
ally fought with desperation; but Augusta, at this
crisis was observed to disappear. She had returned,
however, in a moment. The boiling contents of a
caldron were discharged on their naked backs. If
any thing could have given this dreadful tragedy
any of the features of a farce, it would have been,
to have seen this fair and unpractised combatant,
discharging her new missiles with such hearty good
will to the cause, and to have remarked the consequent
yelling, and involuntary dancing of these
infuriated beings. This agony seemed to be better
understood by them, than the death of steel, or
lead; and they fled in howling confusion and dismay,
some of them pushing others down the steps.
At the foot of the cliffs, now reduced to half their
numbers, they appeared to pause over the dead
bodies of their companions. One huge and fierce
savage appeared to be haranguing them, and
urging them to renew the contest. Three well
aimed shots from above, settled their irresolution.
They slowly retreated towards their boats, carrying
off two or three wounded, and often turning round,
shaking their clubs, and raising a long and dismal

[figure description] Page 222.[end figure description]

howl of defiance. They took to their proas, raised
their sails, and were soon out of sight.

When the savages were ascertained to be entirely
gone, he made motions to his new subject, to aid
him in clearing the dead from the area in front.
The bodies were thrown down the rocks. In a
small sink-hole near at hand, they were all promiscuously
buried; and while this service was performing,
two that still breathed after the battle,
expired. Between twenty and thirty of these terrible
and misguided beings were slain, and the recollection
of the sad necessity of his case, was a painful
one to him. They then proceeded to wash away
from the turf of the area, all traces of the blood.
Augusta, during the emergency of peril, had deported
herself with Spartan heroism and self-possession.
But the moment the danger and excitement
of the battle was passed, she had retired, faint
and sickened with the sight of blood, slaughter, and
death. She received him on his return from these
necessary offices, with an effusion of tears, tenderness,
and joy. While the pledged pair embraced
each other, in the mutual congratulations of deliverance
and triumph, the tall and powerful young
savage woman, whom he had saved, contemplated
the beautiful Augusta in tears, and all this new
scene, with an amazing degree of admiration and
astonishment. Augusta was apparently the first
white woman she had ever seen, and in proof that
there is in all countries a common standard and

[figure description] Page 223.[end figure description]

estimate of beauty, it was impossible to mistake
her expressions of ecstasy in view of so fair a being.
She readily comprehended, that there was no
danger from the countenances of the two persons
before her. The mirrors, the carpets, the hangings,
the splendid curtains and coverings of the bed,
every thing in the grand vault of the grotto, so
commodiously and splendidly fitted up, struck her
with an infantine admiration, which they so frequently
saw her afterwards express by somersets
of capering, snapping her fingers, and often repeating
the exclamation, Eh! Eh! But she seemed
perfectly docile, and regarded the two persons
before her, of countenances and appearance so different
from herself, as superior beings. They were
both equally surprised and delighted, to find their
new subject so ready of comprehension, and so
susceptible of instruction. In the compass of that
day, she already so far comprehended their wishes
and gestures, and her own obligations, that she had
begun her apprenticeship at the duties of the kitchen,
by being already useful. She was quick, laborious,
and desirous of being useful—smiled at her own
ignorance and awkwardness, and evinced, that she
would soon prove an invaluable acquisition, as a
helper in the burdens of their duties.

What an evening succeeded such a day of eventful
incident, hazard, and blood! He reproached himself
for the rashness, with which he had committed the
safety of one so dear to him. She assured him, with
the most gratifying and affectionate compliments

[figure description] Page 224.[end figure description]

on his bravery and conduct in the case, that she
should never have loved him, had she not, from the
first, discovered in him that forgetfulness of self,
which she was aware, would at any time inspire in
him the impulse to hazard life and every thing, to
perform such an act as the rescuing the delivered
victim before them.

It is in moments like this, when high happiness
is anticipated, and when some signal deliverance
has been wrought, or some grand point obtained,
that the affections of the heart rush from their deep
beds. Never had he seen his fair companion evince
the same degree of intelligence and feeling. All
reserve and all the cold restraints of the habits of
society were laid aside, and caresses, and tears of
joy were often intermingled in the delightful conversations
of the evening. The new guest looked
on with a pleased and infantine kind of consciousness;
and when they exchanged caresses, rose from
her posture, as she sat viewing them, to take her
joyful capers and snap her fingers. They motioned
her, after she had afforded them such aid as she
was able, in preparing their supper, to sit by the
table, while they took it. It was to them a treat
of no moderate zest, to see with what delighted
curiosity she watched their movements, occasionally
laughing as she looked in their faces. The
provisions, prepared after their fashion, for the
most part appeared acceptable to her taste, particularly
sweetened coffee; and she made a supper
no ways stinted by recollections of the dreadful

[figure description] Page 225.[end figure description]

death from which she had escaped, or by awkward
bashfulness, in view of her new position. When
they surveyed her at more leisure, she was a tall,
athletic, finely formed savagess, of a dark olive
complexion, a person of admirable proportions,
and her countenance was not destitute of a pleasing
kind of interest. She wore a cincture of cloth of
the South Sea islands, ornamented with feathers
about the waist, and was in other respects, except
the delicacy of complexion and beauty of face,
much as Milton has so charmingly painted our
common mother, before sin and shame dictated the
invention of fig leaves.

There was something inexpressibly ludicrous in
the appearance and deportment of this new subject,
as she stalked about the apartment. The smallness
of the number of spectators, and the approaching
prospects of the parties rendered the decorum of
the show less questionable, than it would have been
in other circumstances. But with the natural and
first feeling of female instinct and decorum, Augusta
took her apart, that she might assist in the
first dressing of her woman, as it was agreed she
should be called. He only requested that her dress
might be loose, and light, as befitting the climate,
and one that had never yet been accustomed to its
restraints. In an hour, Augusta returned with her
new subject, from her first toilette. Imagine a
savagess, six feet and two inches in height, and
Herculean in make and moulding, as simple as a
babe, dressed for the first time in the cast finery of

[figure description] Page 226.[end figure description]

Augusta. It was a dress of crape, such, it is believed,
as is called a loose or morning dress, and it
was festooned and looped up in a most curious
manner. Nothing could be imagined more ludicrously
awkward, than her gait and deportment in
her new and unwieldy costume. Conceive of
Goliah, imprisoned in petticoats, or Hercules at
his distaff, or any other outré image, and the conception
will probably fall entirely short of her
laughable management in this dress. Both the
parties laughed heartily; and she, though seemingly
conscious of her part in furnishing the mirth,
laughed as heartily as either. But a perplexing
doubt, that had caused him no small research when
a beardless philosopher in his native village, was
settled on this occasion in a moment. His opinions
had sometimes wandered on the question, whether
such different races as were found in different parts
of the world, could all have originated from one
common mother. He here saw at a glance, that
had there been an Eve for the races of the south
seas, she must have been as like the other of the
Scriptures, as one thing can be to another. No
peacock ever enjoyed the spreading display of his
plumage in the morning sunbeams, more fully and
more proudly, than did this uncouth being in her
own eyes, constituted a belle for the first time in
her life.

The amusement furnished by this new guest, the
plans for educating her, and training her to become
a good servant, and different views of the best way

[figure description] Page 227.[end figure description]

in which to teach her English, afforded themes for
discussion, in which there was only difference
enough of opinion to give zest to the investigation.
When they finally settled upon one plan, they both
expressed the hope, that after years of residence
together, as husband and wife, they might come to
the affectionate union of sentiment upon those little
points of family discussion, which generally create
bitterness in the inverse ratio of their importance,
and create an asperity as keen as the differences
are trifling. They remarked, that she was theirs
by the most indissoluble ties, rescued by the exposure
of their own lives, from a terrible death. She
was strong, healthful, used to the climate, seemingly
intelligent, and sweet tempered. They would so
train her, as that she should so feel the difference
between her comforts in her new condition and her
former one, as that she should prefer to remain with
them, if the alternative were in her power to return
to her former way of life. They agreed, that every
precaution should be adopted to inspire this preference,
and prevent the wish to escape from them.
They questioned her by signs that she comprehended,
from whence she came. They were only
able to make out from her gestures in the way of
reply, that she was profoundly ignorant of her
relative position at present to the place whence
she came. He doubted not, that she was an inhabitant
of the other side of the mountains. There
was no probability, that she had ever scaled this
loftly range, or had any idea of her vicinity to that

[figure description] Page 228.[end figure description]

valley. They took proper precautions, touching
the place of her sleeping the first night, that she
might not be able to escape without awakening
them. In a tone of cheerful confidence in Providence,
they also discussed the chances of the return
of the defeated savages, in greater numbers, to
attack them. In view of all the deliverances that
Providence had wrought for them, they agreed
that it would argue guilty distrust and ingratitude
in them, to give way to gloomy and apprehensive
forebodings in these joyous hours. Never had
stronger sentiments of confidence and unlimited
submission been seen on human countenance, than
on that of this untaught savagess. The prospect
of enjoyment for them, in the new relation before
them, was brightened in his view, as he reflected,
that now his fair bride might relinquish the burden
of duties, which, however pleasantly she had hitherto
seemed to discharge them, could not but be tiresome
and painful to one reared as she had been. She
might now taste the Arcadian life in all its pleasantness.
She might read, or walk, or write, or converse,
as pleased her best. Her chief duties would
be those, which seemed in prospect delightful, and
furnishing pleasant occupation for her hours of
leisure; those of instructing her new subject in the
duties of civilized life, to read, and write, and to
know and practise the duties of the Christian
religion.

It was peculiarly pleasant to her, in view of decorum,
to have a female companion, who would

[figure description] Page 229.[end figure description]

soon learn the proprieties of her relation, and who
would be the constant companion of her walks and
of her retirement, when he should be necessarily
absent. She, too, would be companion, witness,
and bridemaid, at the approaching solemnity of
the marriage; and though not exactly all that
could have been wished, was certainly a long step
above their domestic animals. It was delightful to
consider how Providence had prepared, step by
step, for their increase of comforts and enjoyments.
Anticipation of evil is a bitter evil in itself, and
imparts not the slightest strength or fortitude to sustain
it, when it comes. In the delighted and endearing
conversations of this evening, they cast
fears and apprehensions to the winds. They dwelt
on the conviction, that they should be as near the
innocence and enjoyment of the first pair, before
sin had entered the groves of Paradise, as any thing
that earth had seen, since that period. Nor did
they fail, before they separated, to scan with the
eye of sober morla courage, the evening of those
days, which they hoped to spend together, nor
that last solemn hour, when love, even like theirs,
must be sundered. They cheered each other with
the sure and certain hope of the renewal of virtuous
wedded love beyond the grave, and on the everlasting
hills.

Next day, with due solemnity, Augusta was
installed professor, and her new and delighted
pupil introduced to the duties of her noviciate.
The instructress and the pupil managed their

[figure description] Page 230.[end figure description]

respective parts to a charm; and the mock gravity
on the one part, and the arch curiosity and the
inquisitive ignorance on the other, afforded a happy
variety to the uniform tenor of her former modes
of spending her time. In grateful commemoration
of the manner in which their new subject came into
their possession, they agreed to give her the name
Rescue, which they repeated to her with great
solemnity of manner. It was difficult to preserve
it through this ceremonial; for, comprehending their
intent in a moment, she laughed, sprang into her
dancing attitudes, snapped her fingers, repeated her
former name, which, as it sounded in their ears, had
been Mahutai, and attempted to pronounce her new
name with such whimsical tone and emphasis, as
absolutely disconcerted the gravity of her sponsors
in this kind of domestic baptism. They gave her
to understand, that they wished to question her, if
she was willing to stay with them for ever. She
replied by flourishing both hands in repeated circles,
to imply days, or courses of the sun, and then
crossed and joined her hands, to denote the continual
recurrence of her days of obedience. They
then inquired of her, if she had no wish to escape
from them. She replied by moving her finger
slowly in the direction of the sun from east to west,
and then pointing to the cavity in which the dead
bodies of her captors had been deposited, implying
that she would stay with them until her body should
be added to the number.

They dined this day in their usual manner, but

[figure description] Page 231.[end figure description]

with a gaiety and cheerfulness of heart that no
words can reach, and which can only be imagined.
Rescue had already become an efficient servant.
What she wanted in adroitness and practice, she
more than compensated in her eager anxiety to
understand and anticipate their wants, in her good
humoured efforts to correct her errors of ignorance
and want of comprehension. When it came her
turn to dine after them, to hearts that enjoyed their
own pleasures anew in seeing them shared by another,
it was a still higher treat than their own had
been, to remark with what zest of devouring appetite
Rescue attacked the remainder of the dinner.
Nor did they fail to remark upon the comfortable
circumstance in their condition, that the abundance
of the waters and the island left them no fear
of famine. They admitted, that it would have
required no large colony of such servants to have
inspired that fear with show of reason.

Augusta had often spoken, with a look of regret,
of the want of any human eye to witness their
approaching assumption of their mutual vows. He
discoursed with her on this subject as they walked
to the lake after dinner, attended by Rescue. He
promised that he would devote some time this
evening, in attempts to explain to Rescue's understanding,
the nature of the relation which they
contemplated, and to learn her to pronounce in
English, that she understood, and was witness to
the ceremony. Of course, after their return from a

[figure description] Page 232.[end figure description]

charming promenade, in which the afternoon had
passed most pleasantly, he commenced with his
subject this evening after supper; and while Augusta
was retired to her own apartment, attempted to
make Rescue comprehend the great transactions
which were expected to take place on the morrow.
He was perplexed to find, that some of the signs
and gestures, by which he wished to explain to
Rescue his love for her mistress, the tall savagess
interpreted as a fair attempt to make love to herself,
which she, as a docile servant, showed no
disposition to frown upon. When she discovered
that she had misinterpreted him in that
point, with great shrewdness she disguised her
disappointment, and made signs to him to proceed
in his explanation. Precisely at the moment, in the
approaching ceremony, when, taking each other's
hand, they should pronounce their vows, he wished
her to say, “I witness.” It seemed an easy word
to pronounce. But it appeared to be a shibboleth to
Rescue; nor could her master forbear thinking
that she affected more ignorance than she felt in
the case. He repeated the favourite word a hundred
times, and she as often repeated it after him, and
always with the same imperfect pronunciation as at
first. Despairing of rendering her more perfect in
her part, he repeated it a last time with emphasis,
inquiring by gesture, if she knew the proper point
of the ceremony, at which she was to pronounce the
assigned word, “I witness.” She nodded assent,

[figure description] Page 233.[end figure description]

and after he left her to go to her rest, he heard her
still laughing, and pronouncing her word as though
it were E wheetnee.

The light of the following day would have
seemed charming to this happy pair, had it been a
day of clouds and storms. But it dawned in unusual
loveliness, even for that delicious climate. The
ocean, the air, the trees, the mountains, the island,
and all nature smiled, and gave signs of gratulation.
Their birds and animals seemed to be forewarned
of the happiness reserved for the day; or, rather, the
imagination of the parties invested nature, physical
and animal, with the aspect of participation in
their happiness. They wandered, hand in hand,
through the groves. They visited the place where
he had found her; the tree under which she had
laid herself down to die, and where, with such
gentleness and tenderness of nursing, he had raised
her up. There was enough in their views of the
past to fill her eye with tears, compounded of the
pleasant and painful remembrance, and enough of
darkness in the dim prospects of the future, to blend
trembling with their joy. They discussed the
history of the past, and soberly looked forward to
the chances of the future, even to that solemn day,
when they should sink in social sleep, under the
palms that had witnessed their innocent loves, until
the day when their spirits should fly together to
scenes,

“Where love and bliss immortal reign.”

[figure description] Page 234.[end figure description]

Their walks were plundered of the most beautiful
flowers. Wild roses and the splendid tropical
wreaths, the branches of the palm, branches of the
bread-fruit tree loaded with their fruits, and the
verdure of the most fragrant and graceful shrubs,
ornamented every part of the interior apartment.
Rescue moved briskly in this business of preparation.
She seemed not only to comprehend it, and
enter into it with her whole heart, but to manifest
the usual increase in stature and importance,
natural to the female assistants on those important
occasions. That she did comprehend the object of
these preparations was obvious from various parts
of her deportment; and once, when her mistress,
in the bloom of beauty, and in all the splendour
of bridal preparation, passed her, she gently put
her arm round the neck of her mistress, and kissed
her glowing cheek, laughing the while, and displaying
her somersets with more than ordinary
demonstrations of elasticity.

All the varieties of fruit, flesh, fish, and fowl, were
put in requisition for the bridal supper, upon which
all the skill of the parties in cookery had been
exhausted. The wine cup was graced with the
most brilliant and fragrant flowers; and they sat
down to their repast, embowered in a vegetable
splendour, to which all the glory of Solomon was
not to be compared. The altar was a pillar of
rose-coloured basalt. Cardinals, with their purpletufted
heads, were in cages upon one side, and pairs
of purple pigeons on the other. The favourites

[figure description] Page 235.[end figure description]

among the trained animals of the bride were allowed
to make their way to the altar. The sun had
descended. The queen of the night raised her
broad pale torch from the ocean, and threw her
radiance upon the scene. The interior apartment
was brilliantly illuminated. The English Episcopal
bridal service was open on the altar. Augusta,
arrayed in all the splendour of her own taste, and
the range which her ample wardrobe allowed,
placed herself on one side of the altar, and he on
the other. Rescue sat at a little distance, her face
resting upon her hands as she sat, and her black
eyes glistening with an eagerness of intense curiosity
which can only be imagined.

He, from a paper which he had prepared for the
occasion, read a short formula of the circumstances
under which Providence had brought them together,
and of the reasons which, in his view, justified
them in the sight of honour and conscience,
and the laws of heaven and earth, to unite in marriage.
He invoked God to witness, that he intended
to hold himself bound by all the strongest ties,
human and divine, to consider himself a lawful
wedded husband. He called upon the all-seeing
God to witness, that if they should ever leave that
island, and be again joined to society, he would
renew the marriage covenant, and render it legal
by the rites of the law, and the church, in the
most public and solemn manner; and he called
upon heaven to reward or punish him, according
to his sincerity in making those vows, and his

[figure description] Page 236.[end figure description]

religious fidelity in fulfilling their obligations.
He then, in a voice trembling with emotion, read
the service. They mutually joined their hands.
The bridal ring was placed on her finger. They
mutually repeated their vows, and looked to Rescue
to utter her trained response, “I witness.” But,
whether she really did not understand her part, or
whether a little envy and perverseness mingled
with her thoughts on the occasion, she stretched
her neck, and exhibited either the most real, or the
best feigned ignorance, astonishment, and want of
comprehension; staring the while, and saying
nothing. Judging from her gaping and constrained
silence, that no ratification of the contract was to
be expected from any words of hers, he fell on his
knees before his bride, folded her in his arms, and
said, You are now my own wedded wife. Saying
this, he kissed away the tears of excitement and
joy, that sprung in the eyes of his bride. That
ceremony, no doubt performed with energy and
earnestness, seemed to have been uttered in a kind
of general language, well understood even by
Rescue. It was a key, that unlocked the whole
mystery she had been witnessing. She danced,
and snapped her fingers, kissed her mistress, and
laughed, uttering with ready fluency, “Me stand
that—Me wheetnee:” intimating, that all the ceremony,
up to that time, had been heathen Greek to
her.