It has no nationality. Its intelligence has been
imported, like its manufactured goods. Its inhabitants are a people,
but are they a nation? I wish that the empire of the Incas and the
kingdom of Montezuma had not been sacrificed. I wish that the republic
of the Puritans had blended with the tribes of the wilderness.'
The red sun was now hovering over the horizon; it quivered for an
instant, and then sank. Immediately the high and undulating coast was
covered with a crimson flush; the cliffs, the groves, the bays and
jutting promontories, each straggling sail and tall white tower,
suffused with a rosy light. Gradually that rosy tint became a bright
violet, and then faded into purple. But the glory of the sunset long
lingered in the glowing west, streaming with every colour of the Iris,
while a solitary star glittered with silver light amid the shifting
splendour.
'Hesperus rises from the sunset like the fountain of fresh water from
the sea,' said Herbert. 'The sky and the ocean have two natures, like
ourselves,'
At this moment the boat of the vessel, which had anchored about an
hour back, put to shore.
'That seems an English brig,' said Herbert. 'I cannot exactly make out
its trim; it scarcely seems a merchant vessel.'
The projection of the shore hid the boat from their sight as it
landed.
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