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450 
FY, 
put not your truft in the whites, men of 
the fhore. In the time of our fathers, 
they came out of the feas We fhowed 
them lands where they might rear their 
huts; where their wivesymight fow and 
might reap. We faid to them, be juft, 
be good, be our brothers. 
The whites promifed fairly. We let 
them make banks about their town, and 
circle it with their fiery weapons. When 
they had got a ftrong hold, they fent 
priefts among us to talk of a new god, 
and to bid us obey him and them. We 
faid, we will die rather than be flaves to 
the whites and to their god. We fought 
againft their thunder and their light- 
ning. We fell month after month by 
thoufands ; but we exterminated all the 
whites. Putng truf inthem any more. 
Other whites, and mightier, have 
eome from the fea, and hung a gay flag 
upon the fhore; but our gods were an- 
gry. The rains, and the thunder, and 
the hot winds went among them, and 
thofe who died not are fled. We yet live 
free. Put not your truft in the whites, 
men of the thore. 

Vv. 
OVELY captive, what. is 
thy name ? 
¥ainab. 1 am called Vaiezh. 
Ampanani, Yainah, thou art beautiful 
impanant. 
as the firft beam of the morning. But why 
hangs the tear on thy long eye-lathes ? 
Vainab. King, Thad a lover. 
Ampanani. Where is he? 
. Vainab, Perhaps he perifhed in thy 
battle; perhaps he found fafety in flight. 
Ampanani. Behe fallen or ded, I will 
be thy lover. 
Vanab. O, king, take ‘pity of the 
tears that wet thy feet! 
Ampanani.. Wiat wilt thou ? 
¥Veinah. The unhappy one has kiffed 
my eye-lids; he has kifled my lps ;*he 
-+has flept upon my bofom ; he dwells in 
my heart: nothing can tear him from it. 
Ampanani. ‘Lake up the veil, and 
‘cover thy young charms. 
Vanab. Allow, me to feek him among 
the flan, or among the fugitives. 
Ampanant.. Go, lovely Vainah. Perifh 
‘the wretch that would fnatch a kifs 
mingled with tears. 
2 ERE 
VL 
Toe eR and Niang made the world. 
Zanhar, we pray not to thee : where- 
fore pray to a good God? It is Niang 
whom we have to appeafe. O, Niang! 
> 
Songs of the Negroes of Madagafcar. 
[July 
thou fpirit of might, roll not thy thunders 
over our heads ; bid not the fea to overitep 
its limits; {pare the green fruits; wither 
not the rice in its fower ; open not the 
womb of our women on the unlucky days, 
in order to force the mother to drown 
her offspring, the hope of her old age. 
O, Niang, undo not all the benefits of 
Zanhar. ‘Chou reigneft over the wicked, 
are they not enow? 
the good. 
.- EEE eee - 
VIL. | 
T is fweet to lie down, during the 
heat, beneath a leafy tree, awaiting the 
coolne{s of the evening gale. 
Draw nigh, ye women. WhileI lie 
beneath the leafy tree, let me hear the 
flow words of fong. Let me hear the 
fong of the maiden, when fhe braids the 
mat of rufhes, or when fitting by the 
rice, fhe drives away the hungry birds. 
My foul is bathed in fong. Your 
dance is fweet to me asa kifs. Soft be 
the found of your voices: flow your gef- 
tures and your fteps: let them image the 
melting of pleafure. 
The gales of evening awake. The 
moon begins to gleam through the 
branches on the mountain-top. Go and 
prepare the repaft. 
VEL. 
Torment no longer 
oO DO not drag me to the fhore ; donot © 
3 
fell me tothe white-men. Let me 
not leave for ever the dear land of my 
home. My mother, did I not fuck at 
thy bofom? Am I not the firft fruit of 
thy love? What have I done, that F 
fhould deferve to be a flavye ? I have com- 
forted thy age. For thee E have ftubbed 
the foil; for thee I have gathered the 
fruit; for thee I have dared to gripe at 
the river-fifh. I havee 
the chill dews of night. — 
thee at noon to mufky fhades. F have 
driven the ftinging flies from the couch 
of thy fleep. O, my mother, t wilt 
thou do without me?’ Will the price of 
my hard dcom buy thee another dangh- 
ter? Thou wilt perifa for want, un- 
watched in the ficknefs of age: and I 
fhall grieve that I am not by to help thee. 
Mother, mother, -féll not thy only child. 
See ba 
WV HERE art thou, lovely Yaoona? The 
king is awaked. He has ftretched out 
hand to carefs thy beauties. He finds 
e not. Where art thou,guilty Yaoona ? 
In the arms of a new lover, thou art 
Japt in delight. Cling, cling, to thy 
, Joys. 

his 
the 
4s 
ered thee from — 
