When Rome's fierce thousands hither came

O'er yonder sands she fled,

And here returned in grief and shame,
A sovereign captive led;

While loud her people's wail arose
Above the shouts of conquering foes.

And when the gleaming cohorts flung
Their banners o'er thy head,

And cymbals clashed and clarions rung,
Before Aurelian's tread,

Then died thy race, and sank thy towers,
And desert lightnings seared thy flowers.

Emesa! when thy bowers of green
Received the Roman horde,

The legions called for Tadmor's queen,
And bared the glittering sword;

And she to shun that cruel death
With bloody roses soiled her wreath.

Yes, he, Athena's wisest one,

By royalty betrayed,

Bowed down beneath the Syrian sun,

And felt the tyrant's blade;

And now upon the plain he sleeps,
While science bending o'er him weeps.

Zenobia! when thy name shall die,
And Tadmor sink in gloom,

When fierce Aurelian's dust shall lie
Forgotten in the tomb,

Still history's pen shall trace his fame,

And glory gild Longinus' name.

In ancient times thy walls were laid

By Israel's wisest King,

And hither came the sons of trade

Their richest gifts to bring;

With Nineveh and Babylon

Thy regal state thou didst put on.

On the bleak hill now stand thy tombs,

As silent as thy towers,

And there the owl his gray wing plumes, And there the jackall cowers;

And west wind's sigh, and Simoom's wail,
Through thy tall pillars tell thy tale.

Sleep on, thou Oriental Queen,
The slumber of the dead,
No palm majestic waves its green
Above thy marble head;

Amid thy courts the cricket sings,
And startled echo wildly rings.

The Arab saunters down thy aisles,

Or careless turns away,

The earthquake rocks thy giant piles,
And lightnings round thee play,

But morning's dawn and evening's close,

Awaken not thy dread repose.

J. E. D.

EARLY AMERICAN TRAVELS.*

FATHER HENNEPIN.

FATHER HENNEPIN is one of the earliest travellers in our "Great West" whose accounts of their adventures have come down to us. In his dedication of his travels to William III., of England, he states that "having lived eleven years in the Northern America, I have had an opportunity to penetrate further into that unknown continent than any before me, wherein I have discovered new countries which may be justly called the delights of the new world. They are larger than Europe, watered with an infinite number of fine rivers, the course of one of which is above eight hundred leagues long, stocked with all kinds of harmless beasts, and other things necessary for

A New Discovery of a vast country in America, extending above four thousand miles, between New France and Mexico, with a description of the great lakes, rivers plants, and animals; also the manners, customs and languages of the several native Indians; and the advantage of commerce with those different nations. With a continuation giving an account of the attempts of the Sieur La Salle upon the mines of St. Barbe, to the taking of Quebec by the English; with the advantage of a shorter cut to China and Japan. Both parts illustrated with maps and figures, and dedicated to His Majesty King William. By L. Hennepin, now resident in Holland. To which is added, several new discoveries in North America, not published in the French edition. London. Printed for M. Bentley, J. Tonson, H. Bonwick, T. Goodwin, and S. Manship. 1798.

the conveniency of life, and blessed with so mild a temperature of the air, that nothing is there wanting to lay the foundation of one of the nightiest empires in the world."

A native of Flanders, "a strong inclination to retire from the world, and regulate his life by the rules of pure and severe virtue," induced him to become a member of the mendicant order of St. Francis. The voyages and travels of the brethren of this order which he now read, excited in him a strong desire to travel, which was gratified in a degree by a visit that he paid to Italy. On his return, the Bishop of Ypres appointed him preacher to a convent in Hainault, but a year afterwards he was gratified by being sent to mendicate at Calais. Returning by way of Dunkirk, he derived great pleasure from listening to the stories of the sailors at that port. He says: "I used often to skulk behind the doors of victualling houses, while the seamen were giving account of their adventures. The smoke of tobacco was disagreeable to me, and created pains in my stomach while I was thus intent upon giving ear to their relations, yet, nevertheless, I was very attentive to the accounts they gave of their adventures by sea, the perils they had gone through, and all the accidents which befel them in their long voyages. This occupation was so agreeable and engaging, that I have spent whole days and nights in it without eating." And he adds, that he thus fortified himself more and more in his ancient resolution.'

Passing over his residence in Meastrich, his attendance upon the wounded in the battle of Seneffe (A. D. 1674) and his other services to the army, we come to the period when his warmest wishes were gratified by his receiving orders to repair to Rochelle, and accompany Francis de Laval, then Bishop of Petrée, in partibus infidelium, to Canada. During the voyage out they had several engagements with the fleets of Turkey, Algiers, and Tunis, witnessed "with incredible delight" a fight off Cape Breton, between the fish called espadons, and their natural enemies the whales, and took vast quantities of fish off Newfoundland, meeting great numbers of vessels coming there to fish. They had divine service daily in fine weather, and after evening prayers they sung the Itinerary of the clergy in French. "Thus (says our worthy father) we sweetly spent our time aboard till at length we arrived at Quebec, the capital city of Canada." He thus derives the name of this country: "the Spaniards were the first who discovered Canada; but at theie first arrival having found nothing considerable in it, they abandoned the country, and called it Il Capo di Nada, that is, the Cape of Nothing. Hence, by corruption, sprung the word Canada."

His fellow voyager, Laval, being made Bishop of Quebec, appointed our author preacher in Advent and Lent to the Cloister of St. Augustin in the Hospital of Quebec, and he spent four years in

Canada before setting out on his great missionary journey to the West; the greater part of which time he employed in various excursions into the country, frequently visiting Three Rivers, St. Anne's, Point Levi, and the Island of St. Lawrence, to preach to the Indians. In the winter, a large dog drew his baggage, and he slept with no other covering than a cloak, the intensity of the cold obliging him to rise five or six times in the night to renew his fire, to prevent his freezing to death. Add to which that his "commons" were often "very short" and we must admit that his sufferings in these four years formed an excellent schooling for his future labors. On one occasion he penetrated through the country of the Honnehiouts and Honontages [Onondagas ] to within "a large day's journey" of New Holland, called at present "New York." Subseqeuntly he accompanied another missionary to Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario, where he caused a house and chapel to be built, and erected a large cross. Whilst here he spent much time in reading voyages, and learned much from the savages in relation to the country to the South; of which he concludes, "that it would not be a matter of great difficulty to make considerable establishments to the Southeast of the great lakes, and that by the convenience of a great river called the Hois, which passes through the country of the Iroquois passage might be made into the sea at Cape Florida."

Lake Ontario ("the pretty lake,") or Frontenac, called also in the Iroquois language Skanandario ("a very pretty lake,") he describes as of an oval figure, extending from East to West. "Its water is fresh and sweet, and very agreeable to be drunk, the lands which border upon it being likewise very fertile. It is easily navigable, and that with great vessels; only in winter it is more difficult, because of the outrageous winds that abound there."

Having in two and a half years established the missionary establishment at Fort Frontenac to his satisfaction, Hennepin left it in charge of his brother missionary, father Biusset, and returned to Quebec to prepare for his great undertaking, a voyage of discovery to the West. At Quebec he was joined by some Europeans who had arrived to accompany him, Flemish, Italians, and Normans. With the blessing of his Bishop and the approbation of Count Frontenac, he set out in a birch canoe, leaving his comrades to follow and join him in the brigantine when they were ready. Of this, a portable chapel formed part.of the lading. After some time the brigantine arrived at Fort Frontenac, and Hennepin having embarked, they started up the lake on the eighteenth November, 1698, Early in December they arrived in Niagara river, and drew the brig on shore to prevent its destruction by the ice, which came down with great violence from the Falls. Of this our author gives the following description: "Between the Lakes Ontario and Erie there is a vast and prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a

surprising and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe does not afford its parallel. 'Tis true Italy and Suedeland boast of some such things, but we may well say they are but sorry patterns when compared to this of which we now speak. At the foot of this horrible precipice we meet with the river Niagara, which is not above a quarter of a league broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above this descent, that it violently hurries down the wild beast, while endeavouring to pass it to feed on the other side, they not being able to withstand the force of its current, which inevitably casts them headlong above six hundred feet high. This wonderful downfall is composed of two great cross streams of water, and two falls with an isle sloping along the middle of it. The waters which fall from this outrageous precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of thunder, for when the wind blows out of the South, their dismal roaring may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."

At the mouth of Niagara river they erected a store-house to preserve their goods, and, lest their designs should be misunderstood, sent an embassy to the Iroquois in the neighbourhood. Of this party Hennepin was one, and he gives a detailed account of these voyages. He considers the Indian politeness of assenting to every thing proposed, a great obstacle to their conversion, it being impossible to get at their real sentiments. He charges them with cannibalism, and states, that with a view to impress upon their children the hatred of their enemies they give them blood to drink in little porringers of bark.

In January M. de la Salle joined them from Fort Frontenac, but the vessel containing the rigging for the vessel they purposed building above the Falls of Niagara, was lost on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, two leagues from the Niagara river, through the ignorance of the pilots. On the twenty-second they proceeded by land to a point two leagues above the Falls, where they constructed a dock for the construction of their vessel. M. la Salle now left them to return to Fort Frontenac by land through the wilderness. Shortly after, the savages formed a plot to burn the rising vessel, but our voyagers received notice of their design from an Indian To add to their difficulties, one of the crew made several attempts to run off, and endeavoured to seduce the carpenters to accompany him to New York; the prevention of which our author ascribes to the good advice which he gave the men on holydays, reminding them that the glory of God was concerned in their enterprise. The ship, the first which ever floated upon Lake Erie, was at length completed, and named the Griffin, the supporters of Count Frontenac's arms being griffins. Three guns were fired upon this joyful occasion, a Te Deum was sung, and the Iroquois who were present VOL. V. NO. XIV FEBRUARY, 1839.

woman.

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