The nights are glorious, and so absolutely
still, that even the feathery foliage of the algaroba is at rest.
The stars seem to hang among the trees like lamps, and the crescent
moon gives more light than the full moon at home. The evening of
the day we landed, parties of officers and ladies mounted at the
door, and with much mirth disappeared on moonlight rides, and the
white robes of flower-crowned girls gleamed among the trees, as
groups of natives went by speaking a language which sounded more
like the rippling of water than human speech. Soft music came from
the ironclads in the harbour, and from the royal band at the king's
palace, and a rich fragrance of dewy blossoms filled the delicious
air. These are indeed the "isles of Eden," the "sun lands," musical
with beauty. They seem to welcome us to their enchanted shores.
Everything is new but nothing strange; for as I enjoyed the purple
night, I remembered that I had seen such islands in dreams in the
cold gray North. "How sweet," I thought it would be, thus to hear
far off, the low sweet murmur of the "sparkling brine," to rest, and
"Ever to seem
Falling asleep in a half-dream."
A half-dream only, for one would not wish to be quite asleep and
lose the consciousness of this delicious outer world.
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