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DIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 C. P. HUNTtNGTON 
 
 Class No, 
 
C 
 
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 . 
 
 
 
 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
NAT ZOAN; 
 
 A ROMANCE OF BORNEO. 
 
 BY 
 
 HECTOR A. STUART. 
 
 "CALIBAN." 
 
 I loved her ; love will find its way 
 
 Through paths that wolves would fear to prey ; 
 
 And if it does enough, twere hard 
 
 If passion met not some rewaid." 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO : 
 
 WM. P. HARRISON, PRINTER, 518 SACRAMENTO STREET. 
 1876. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, 
 
 BY HECTOR A. STUART, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO 
 
 JOHN BIDWELL 
 
 OF CHICO, 
 
 A PIONEER OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
JOHN BIDWELL. 
 
 INSCRIBED TO THE PIONEERS OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 A noble race, decreasing every year, 
 
 Are those who formed the pillars of our State ; 
 Who did the car of Progress pioneer, 
 And found a nation destined to be great 
 
 Upon this Western shore ; 
 
 Who hither proudly bore 
 Chivalric traits, strength, courage, enterprise- 
 The nerve to venture, faith to sacrifice, 
 And countless perils dare ; alert with hope 
 Shunning no toil all confident to cope 
 
 With aught opposing ; 
 
 Yea, gifts disclosing, 
 
 Brilliant in thought and generous of heart 
 Pursuing oft the Christian s goodly part. 
 
 Such were the Pioneers 
 
 Such BIDWELL still appears : 
 A shining type of an illustrious band, 
 The bulwarks once of their adopted land 
 Who still respect for actions past command, 
 And still as monuments admired to-day 
 Proclaim of virtues Time cannot decay. 
 
THB 
 
 DIVERSITY 
 
 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 This is the sequel to " BEN NEBO," being the closing adven 
 tures of that wandering mariner. The scene is laid on the coast 
 of Borneo and adjacent seas. The sketches of manners, cus 
 toms, scenery, etc., are strictly correct, no poetic embellishment 
 being employed. 
 
CANTO I 
 
 Oh, could I climb sky-reaching Pisgah s hight 
 And view like Israel s chief the landscape o er, 
 
 Not all the perils spread before my sight 
 The Anak race, or Jordan s stormy roar, 
 Should turn me from the keenly wished-for shore. 
 
 So, could I now the fire of youth regain, 
 
 And nerved with courage distant scenes explore 
 
 As in times past, I d thread the tropic main ; 
 
 Nor all its terrors should my wandering steps restrain. 
 
 But Fate forbids ; here, anchored like a wreck 
 Upon a ledge-bound coast, I drooping lie ; 
 
 Relentless doomed no more to tread the deck, 
 Or hear the sea-winds shrilly whistle by 
 The surges moan, the sea-gulls boding cry. 
 
 No more to join the chase or list again 
 
 The voice of conflict, when, with ardor high, 
 
 Brave spirits strive Fame s bubble to attain, 
 
 Or boldly fall beneath the nitrous hurricane t 
 
So Fate ordains ; yet Fancy oft careers 
 
 And wakes anew her weirdly vivid themes ; 
 
 The vanished past again renewed appears, 
 
 And shapes, long mouldered into ghostly dreams, 
 Vivific rise, warmed by her cheering beams. 
 
 Fired by her power, I wing a sea-ward flight 
 To where the vertic Orb untempered gleams ; 
 
 There tune the sea-born harp, long hid in night, 
 
 And sing the toils of love the glorious battle plight ! 
 
NAT ZOAN. 
 
 i 
 
 I hear a mystic voice around me breathe,- 
 As if a spirit whispered in the breeze, 
 
 Whose breath scarce stirs this swaying palm, beneath 
 Whose rustling fronds I rest in dreamy ease, 
 Near the blue marge of Austral s placid seas. 
 
 It is the voice of years, that long asleep, 
 Now wakes again its plaintive melodies ; 
 
 Wild, warbling, all from dark, oblivion s deep 
 
 They bid my pensive soul in sad remembrance weep. 
 
 Oh, elfin tones ! and must ye still arise 
 From the dark vale-of years forever fled ? 
 
 Still must I list your never-ceasing sighs, 
 
 Like ghostly mourners wailing o er the dead, 
 Dirging the mournful past to shadow sped ? 
 
 Methought that Time, which changes all, had cast 
 On you his grave-like pall on you had shed 
 
 His deeply shading spell and girded fast, 
 
 Beyond the reach of thought, ye slept entombed at last. 
 
12 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 But there are things which Time cannot destroy, 
 Though in -his boundless urn they mouldering lie- 
 
 Deep-hidden things, mayhap alight with joy, 
 Or darker toned, awake a heartfelt sigh, 
 As,, draped in shade, they pass like spectres by. 
 
 So hath the past to all more gloom than light, 
 And clouds o ercast the fairest shining sky ; 
 
 Yea, life to some is but one endless night, 
 
 As every dragging hour bears sorrow in its flight. 
 
 And such was he whose ventures now I sing 
 
 The bold sea-rover of the Southern Main, 
 Of whom in days agone I tuned the string, 
 
 And sang in measured tones the nautic strain. 
 
 Nat Zoan and his deeds I chant again, 
 As o er the restless wave, by Fate impelled, 
 
 He dares anew his wayward course maintain ; 
 Him by the talisman of anguish spelled, 
 Have we a mournful, hopeless, wandering man beheld. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 13 
 
 And him in moody thought we left imbound, 
 
 A lonely outcast on the Pirate Isle, 
 While tempest gales resounded hoarsely round 
 
 The crumbling turrets of the ruined pile, 
 
 And him to sadder musings did beguile ; 
 Yet as his mind in dismal tumults wrought, 
 
 The hand of God was near him all the while, 
 And with great mercy and great ardor fraught, 
 Him, deep-desponding man, to blissful safety brought. 
 
 Tis midnight : and the storm by slow degrees 
 
 In murmurs sinks along the craggy shore ; 
 Less rudely swell the tempest-beaten seas, 
 
 And^in decreasing gusts the whirlwinds roar. 
 
 When, hark ! a hollow boom rolls slowly o er 
 The boisterous sea, and shakes the air around, 
 
 As if a gun discharged its nitrous store 
 From some ill-fated ship by perils bound, 
 And roused Nat Zoan from his gloomy trance profound. 
 
14 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 A minute past : again the alarum falls, 
 
 And thrills the sailor with a weird surprise. 
 
 A signal gun for aid it loudly calls 
 
 For aid which one sagacious man supplies. 
 Down to the beach Nat Zoan nimbly flies, 
 
 And lo, upon the coral reef, where he 
 Was ruthless cast, a fated vessel lies 
 
 At the rude mercy of the raging sea, 
 
 While oft her people s cries resounded dismally. 
 
 8 
 
 Those cries Nat Zoan heard in keen distress, 
 
 And fain would aid the death-environed crew, 
 Yet little thought that in his loneliness 
 
 He more than their unhappy fate could rue ; 
 
 Albeit from the ruined tower he drew 
 A Leila, (i) long in peaceful age grown old, 
 
 But still for service fit. From this he threw 
 A massive link, within whose iron fold 
 A sounding-cord, well bent, its airy flight controlled. 
 
 (r) See note. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 15 
 
 The charge disparts the ponderous missive rings, 
 And with a lightning whirl the air divides ; 
 
 Well-aimed it shoots beyond the vessel springs, 
 And o er her waist the uncoiling cordage glides, 
 Despite the seas which lash her riven sides. 
 
 Soon as it falls the junkmen rush amain, 
 And seize it as across the rail it slides ; 
 
 A hawser to it bend fit to sustain 
 
 Themselves above the surge while they the land regain. 
 
 10 
 
 The hawser landed ; thence around a tree 
 
 The end in many a sturdy warp is wound ; 
 Then, to convey the shipwreckt company, 
 
 A wooden heart is to the hawser bound 
 
 Ingenious thought ! which Fate with triumph crowned. 
 Fixed on this traveller, the crew in fours 
 
 Were hauled ashore save three, who slipping, found 
 A grave upon these rude, sea-beaten shores, 
 Where, o er the coral-ledge, the hoarse-tongued breaker roars. 
 
1 6 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 ii 
 
 Save these, all on the beach were grouped as dawn 
 Looked through the cloud-rifts of the leaden sky ; 
 
 A haggard crew, by the bleak tempest shorn 
 Of all they owned, save what might haply lie 
 Upon the sea-lashed marge, upcast so high 
 
 As to escape the greedy waves, that still 
 Tumultuous wrought, as if they would defy 
 
 Fate s law supreme, and loose the rock-ribbed hill 
 
 While round the caverned shore the blasts vibrated shrill. 
 
 12 
 
 They were a curious race, these castaways ; 
 
 From Chuzan they as South Sea traders sailed , 
 Nor ill encountered, till amid a haze, 
 
 Which long upon the restless seas prevailed, 
 
 Their junk a Prahu (2) suddenly assailed. 
 They boldly fought, but as it hapt in vain, 
 
 Till night in shade the struggling crews envailed ; 
 Then by a breeze which favored, o er the main 
 Far from their plunderous foe they safety sought to gain. 
 
 (2) See note. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 17 
 
 Three days they scud, when from the lookout rang 
 
 At midnight s hour, the startling cry of Land ! 
 Dismayed they heard on deck immediate sprang, 
 
 And the surrounding waste in horror scanned. 
 
 Sad was the prospect almost them unmanned, 
 For dangers loomed where er their gaze explored ; 
 
 Tremendous crags rose frowning on each hand, 
 And quicksands yawned with death insiduous stored, 
 While surges o er their ship in mighty cascades poured. 
 
 In frantic haste the anchor they let go, 
 And for a while rode safely on the main ; 
 
 But every hour the winds increasing blow, 
 And rising surges tauter stretch d the chain, 
 Till snapt at last it rent beneath the strain ; 
 
 Then helpless drove the shattered junk ashore, 
 Nor hope of life her seamen entertain ; 
 
 Yet last appeal they bid the cannon roar, 
 
 And aid, if aid there be, in hollow tones implore. 
 
1 8 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 Those tones Nat Zoan from his dreams awoke, 
 And him unto the beach in wonder brought, 
 
 Where, though the waves in lawless anger broke, 
 And seemed with more than wonted horrors fraught, 
 His ready mind, in scenes of trial taught 
 
 No hope to banish and no toil forego, 
 
 When helpless souls the boon of succor sought, 
 
 Did with inventive skill fit aid bestow 
 
 Relieved the hapless crew from their despairing woe. 
 
 16 
 
 Him, when in safety on the beach they stood, 
 Their chief Hocampi, a Labuan famed 
 
 For deeds of valor, and whose sullen mood 
 No genial warmth, no tender kindness tamed, 
 But haughty alway, soon with ire inflamed 
 
 Unto Nat Zoan came and did present 
 
 A jewelled Kris, (3) which once as master claimed 
 
 That mighty soldier, who on power intent, 
 
 As Sha Jehan all Ind unto his sceptre bent. 
 
 (3) See note. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 19 
 
 It was a Kris of wond rous make and fame, 
 
 With which great sultans, thirsting for renown, 
 Rose to magnificence or sank to shame. 
 
 Upon the hilt there gleamed a golden crown, 
 
 And in a dazzling line the blade adown 
 A mystic text from the Alcoran wrought, 
 
 In Yemen s tongue, did, charged with evil frown 
 And vengeance launched gainst him who malice fraught 
 In guile or battle-broil, its master s life-blood sought. 
 
 18 
 
 The edge was like unto a razor keen, 
 
 Of tempered steel, by cunning workmen wrought, 
 Equal the blade to the best Damascene 
 
 That e er against Saladin s foemen fought, 
 
 Or to the dust crusading champions brought ; 
 And on the scabbard, carved in arabesque, 
 
 Were silver figures of unearthly sort, 
 Inlaid with pearls, devised with skill grotesque, 
 Or formed with magic art in mazes picturesque. 
 
20 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 This gallant weapon did Hocampi yield 
 To the bold sailor for his conduct brave, 
 
 Without which his and his men s fates were sealed 
 And all ere this engulfed beneath the wave, 
 Now rumbling o er their comrades coral grave. 
 
 The splendid gift Nat Zoan well-pleased took, 
 And in return a cordial welcome gave ; 
 
 Yet could his spirit ill the donor brook, 
 
 Or bide his murderous eye, his crafty underlook. 
 
 20 
 
 Yet, despite these, he bade the Labuan bring 
 
 His swarthy troop into the pirate tower, 
 Where he so long enthroned a lonely king 
 
 Had ruled the Isle with none to thwart his power. 
 
 His wish obeyed ; there, hungered, they devour 
 Delicious fruits of many natured taste ; 
 
 Then in convivial joys beguile the hour, 
 While palmy wine their nerves inspiring braced, 
 And sense of life secure, all present ills effaced. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 21 
 
 21 
 
 But still their thoughts upon the future dwelt, 
 
 And wove in secret many a varied plan 
 By which they hoped, if Fate propitious dealt, 
 
 To leave the islet scape the girding ban 
 
 Which here inclosed them since they chanced to scan 
 Its rock-girt shores ; but every project failed, 
 
 Till one Ki Lang, an old, experienced man, 
 Who on the junk as tiller- man had sailed, 
 Bade them a pinnace build, and over all prevailed. 
 
 22 
 
 By Ki Lang led, they to the forest went, 
 
 And there a craft to build with ardor fell ; 
 Four weary months, upon the work intent, 
 They tireless wrought, until at length the shell 
 Into a pinnace rose. This, launching well, 
 Swam like a gull upon the sea-green tide ; 
 
 And now their grief they did with hope dispel- 
 To leave the island joyfully decide, 
 And soon across the wave their little vessel guide. 
 
22 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 2 3 
 
 Once more afloat, the roving men pursue 
 
 Their wonted course across the heaving main, 
 
 Rejoiced to bid the desert isle adieu 
 And feel the freedom of the seas again, 
 Free as the winds that own no curbing rein. 
 
 Southeast they stretch toward Borneo s sultry shores 
 Those sultry shores to many a crew the bane, 
 
 Where death-engendering mist insiduous soars, 
 
 And Dyak, plunder-bent, the stranded bark explores. 
 
 24 
 
 Again at large, Nat Zoan wandering drifts 
 
 Like a sad waif upon the cheerless deep, 
 While as he floats the fateful curtain lifts, 
 
 And direful scenes in black procession sweep ; 
 
 But him in safety still the angels keep, 
 Obedient to that Power which all obey. 
 
 So through the night, whilst we are lockt in sleep, 
 The holy spirits near our pillows stay 
 And watch, while we inert while we defenceless lay. 
 
w 
 
 OF THB 
 
 UNIVERSIT 
 
 NAT ZOAN. 23 
 
 Oh, blessed spirits, by a Sovereign kind 
 
 Sent from your beauteous homes to mortals base 
 To guard the world, while we in sleep reclined 
 
 Feel not the presence of your sacred race ; 
 
 Oh, lovely angels ! how endowed with grace 
 Are ye to shield so vile a thing as man 
 
 To quit your shining thrones and o er him place 
 Your saintly guarding forms. Oh, wondrous plan ! 
 Mete attribute of Him who all with love doth scan. 
 
 26 
 
 But while the sailor held his devious way, 
 The shade of sadness Memory o er him shed, 
 
 And oft a voice in whispers seemed to say 
 That in the future, ever charged with dread, 
 Affliction marked the path he was to thread ; 
 
 A still small voice, as that Elijah heard 
 When he an outcast unto Horeb fled, 
 
 When gainst the Lord the peevish man demurred, 
 
 Till taught by wondrous works how wofully he erred. 
 
24 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 27 
 
 A voice like that which smote the Tishbite s soul 
 Unto Nat Zoan oft presaging spoke ; 
 
 And oft in visions spectres round him stole, 
 And nameless terrors in his bosom woke, 
 As from their lips portentous warnings broke, 
 
 And him they counselled in prophetic tones 
 His present aimless journey to revoke ; 
 
 But he, persistent, only deeply groans, 
 
 And his predestined fate in keenest grief bemoans. 
 
 28 
 
 So must he on : the ill-starred lot was cast, 
 
 And he in vain the issue may rebate ; 
 Still must he on, though perils rise to ghast, 
 
 And various sorrows on his spirit wait. 
 
 No rest has man in this terrestrious state ; 
 On he must drive to peace or pause unknown 
 
 Till in the tomb he end his troubled fate, 
 Or high or low alike in sorrow groan ; 
 Beggar and king alike the equal worm must own. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 25 
 
 29 
 
 Death levels all ; he pulls the tyrant down 
 
 And casts his ashes to the idle wind, 
 Mingling with those of the unlettered clown, 
 
 Who seemed in life scarce as a serf designed, 
 
 Or fit the despot s latchets to unbind. 
 Death levels all ; and when beneath his scythe 
 
 All in one sepulchre decay inclined, 
 Fates be reversed : the clown in regions blithe 
 Perpetual joys may taste in pangs the tyrant writhe. 
 
 But all alike a resting place can claim 
 
 In earth s cold bosom, as their meed at last ; 
 
 And since to all the end is here the same, 
 What matters it how low our lot be cast, 
 Or how exalted on Fame s lofty mast 
 
 We stand, the beacon of admiring eyes ? 
 Soon as we fall, like some gay fancy past, 
 
 Forgotten we shall sink, while others rise 
 
 To fill our posts and seek the ever-fleeting prize. 
 
26 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 3 1 
 
 All ends in naught ; Time bears us all away, 
 And blots our actions in eternal gloom ; 
 
 Great men who flourished yesterday, to-day 
 Corroding lie forgotten in the tomb, 
 Nor leave a gap for instantly their room 
 
 Is filled by an aspiring, struggling race. 
 
 Ay, even bards must own the cankering doom, 
 
 And mingle in the dust with creatures base, 
 
 Though years all vainful strive their glories to efface. 
 
 Still the cerulean waves the pinnace cleaves, 
 
 While countless isles her veering course surround, 
 
 And as Manoa s reef she sternward leaves, 
 A lonely peak with golden vapors crowned 
 Lifts its tall head amid the blue profound. 
 
 With joy the wanderers hail that goodly hight, 
 Since it the tedious voyage s end doth bound ; 
 
 So Christian, worn with his unceasing fight, 
 
 Saw Beulah s smiling hills auspicious greet his sight. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 27 
 
 33 
 
 Still on the pinnace flies ; the sunbeams fade, 
 
 And azure mists across the waters creep ; 
 Still rising high, in darker hues arrayed, 
 
 That lonely peak emerges from the deep ; , 
 
 Keeney Ballu (4), fewof doomed to keep f/+\, $ 
 Unending wardship o er the glimmering land, 
 
 Where as the winds at midnight wildly sweep, 
 The Dyak dead arise a ghostly band 
 And on its mighty brow in shivering terror stand. 
 
 34 
 
 Yet while the wanderers hailed the lofty cone, 
 Beneath whose shadow lay their destined goal, 
 
 Nat Zoan s spirits owned a graver tone, 
 And still those secret voices weirdly stole 
 In boding tones upon his pensive soul ; 
 
 He from his comrades sadly turned away, 
 With his dark thoughts in silence to condole, 
 
 And musing by the fading evening ray, 
 
 His dismal fancy did through scenes distressful stray. 
 
 (4) See note. 
 
28 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 35 
 
 But as he mused, the breakers hollow roar 
 
 In deeper murmurs from the island swelled, 
 As currents urged the pinnace toward the shore, 
 
 By no tenacious wind or anchor held ; 
 
 But as she drives, by dread of wreck impelled, 
 Her crew, alert, cast out the rattling chain ; 
 
 By this against the billowy force withheld, 
 She anchored swings, till o er the eastern main 
 Uprising Dawn alights her rosy torch again. 
 
 " Unmoor ! " Hocampi cries ; his comrades all 
 The windlass mann, and from its oozy bed 
 
 The grimy anchor to the catheads haul ; 
 
 Then to the winds the matty sails they spread, 
 And trim their course by Sipang s distant head. 
 
 Fair blow the winds the land ere noon they gain, 
 And Sarawak s meandering waters thread, 
 
 With laboring oars the inland voyage maintain, 
 
 Till they in Kuchin moor, far from the stormy main. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 29 
 
 37 
 
 Here moored they pause ; the weary voyage was o er- 
 
 The wished-for port they now at ease survey ; 
 Here Hossein lived, whose ruthless power before 
 
 A servile race in deep abasement lay, 
 
 And him as master tremblingly obey. 
 Here he, uncurbed, his cruel sceptre sways, 
 
 And marks with death the closing of each day, 
 Yet not one vassal dare against him raise 
 The regicidal hand, and end the monster s days. 
 
 Tyrant s should die ; not by the gradual lapse 
 Of passing time, which all of earth decays 
 
 But by the quicker stroke, that nerved perhaps 
 By selfish vengeance, on the despot preys, 
 And from the world a public curse conveys. 
 
 What is the man who calls himself a king, 
 That he with awe a nation should amaze, 
 
 When like an offal one bold hand could fling 
 
 Him to the loathsome worm a foul, corrupting thing ? 
 
30 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 39 
 
 And sooth tis strange that thousands of brave men 
 Will to one being stoop in abject fear 
 
 Will shake like aspens at his very ken, 
 And to his words as oracles give ear, 
 Fearful lest they their own death-vollies hear ; 
 
 Ay, more will passive stand, when at his frown 
 A host of victims find a gory bier, 
 
 All knockt like oxen unresisting down, 
 
 Without one manly blow their dying throes to crown 
 
 40 
 
 Withal at intervals a hero springs 
 
 From the down-trodden multitude among, 
 Whose daring soul with generous ardor rings, 
 
 To deadly hate by deep oppression stung ; 
 
 He like a wolf hath on the tyrant sprung, 
 And at a blow avenged a groaning race : 
 
 Oh, glorious man ! whose fame with deathless tongue 
 Should ages sing who in his pride of place 
 Smites down the king as he would smite the helot base. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 31 
 
 Oh, for a hate such as Damiens (5) bore 
 
 Such as Chastel (6) with endless glory crowned 
 
 That here upon this despot-ridden shore 
 A glorious regicide might now be found 
 To strike the oppressor with a fatal wound. 
 
 One will like theirs would liberate a land 
 
 Long in the coils of chains tyrannic bound 
 
 Its power, its wealth, its glory all expand, 
 
 And hurl from life a fiend whose rage none can withstand. 
 
 42 
 
 Nat Zoan lands : the haughty raja seeks, 
 
 In council seated midst a glittering band ; 
 But smooth this day his humor, soft he speaks, 
 
 And bids the sailor welcome to his land 
 
 Desiring him anon to take command 
 Of a fleet prahu as a pirate built, 
 
 Which oft on many a circumjacent strand 
 Had human gore in battle s ordeal spilt ; 
 Shuddering the sailor hears, loathing such fearful guilt. 
 
 (5) (6) See note. 
 
32 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 43 
 
 The raja scowled ; his falcon eye discerned 
 The tumult struggling in Nat Zoan s breast ; 
 
 At once to "Wrath his joyous humor turned, 
 Which scarce awhile his reason could arrest, 
 While sternly he the wavering man addrest, 
 
 And charged him ere the morrow s solar ray 
 Had veiled its brightness in the dusky west, 
 
 Decision give : and should he answer nay, 
 
 Low in the dust at once his stripling form should lay. 
 
 44 
 
 The sailor heard : in anxious haste withdrew, 
 And rest again upon the pinnace found, 
 
 W^here still a fragment of the shipwreckt crew 
 Upon the deck in rest enervate bound, 
 By matty awnings shaded, dozed around. 
 
 Here too, Hocampi, the Labuan brave, 
 
 Like his tired comrades lay in sleep profound 
 
 But roused, Nat Zoan calmly to him gave 
 
 The story of his visit to the raja grave. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 33 
 
 Hocampi heard : that evil-minded man 
 
 Would fain the Christian to perdition draw ; 
 Him thus advised, ere day its circuit ran 
 
 To shun by flight the chieftain s ruthless law ; 
 
 (In this his fatal doom the fiend foresaw,) 
 For he did hate in wild, fanatic zeal, 
 
 As mete in Moslem with all creeds at war, 
 Whoso did not an equal faith reveal, 
 Or scorned the turbaned Seer, whose law hath no appeal. (7) 
 
 46 
 
 Well-pleased, Nat Zoan heard the Labuan s speech, 
 As he the raja s offer loathed to take 
 
 And vowed that ere the flaming orb should reach 
 The western rim, he would the isle forsake, 
 Or sink at sea or perish in the brake. 
 
 So, head -strong bent, all reason urged was vain 
 Though life itself he boldly placed at stake 
 
 And as night darkened o er the palm-girt plain 
 
 A Tanka boatman bore him to the open main. 
 
 (7) See note. 
 
34 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 47 
 
 But when as Dawn upreared his lurid crown 
 
 And flushed the curling seas with crimson light 
 
 When from his cloudy throne Sipang lookt down 
 On that lone boat, which through the lingering night 
 With steady course pursued its seaward flight 
 
 Far up the stream, near a projecting bend, 
 A fleet of war-junks slowly heave in sight ; 
 
 Toward the retreating skiff their prows extend, 
 
 And from their bow-guns oft a random shot they send. 
 
 " Pursued ! " Nat Zoan cries ; " the curst Malay 
 
 Has to his chief made my defection known 
 Has led his hirelings on my life to prey, 
 
 And every hope of freedom overthrown. 
 
 May Allah curse him ! May my spirit groan 
 In fires Satanic, feeling endless pain, 
 
 If the dog scape me, though I stand alone 
 And with this single kris the strife maintain ; 
 If he but fall, my blood shall not be shed in vain." 
 
NAT ZOAN. 35 
 
 49 
 
 With gleaming sword all naked to the hilt, 
 He like some beast enraged in fury stood, 
 
 As roused to frenzy by the blood it spilt, 
 Still longed to join again the gory feud 
 And in fierce battle quench its fiery mood. 
 
 While thus at bay, the boatman spreads the sails 
 And toward a sheltering cape his course pursued, 
 
 While rising blow the winds the chase prevails, 
 
 And oft a threatening shot along the billow wails. 
 
 Nat Zoan saw, and for the event prepared 
 
 Though oft he scanned the looming headland o er, 
 
 Which could he reach, by seas upsurging spared, 
 A refuge he might find upon its shore 
 From the swart crew he scudded now before. 
 
 But as he gazed upon the snowy line 
 
 Of surf that fiercely gainst the ledges bore, 
 
 He every hope of safety did resign 
 
 Resolved upon the deep to meet his foes condign. 
 
36 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 But as he stood, uncertain how to act, 
 
 A leila on the foremost chaser roared ; 
 The fragile mast, in splinters rudely hackt, 
 
 Fell with its sail in ruin overboard 
 
 And as it fell a second salvo poured 
 From the bow-chaser of another junk. 
 
 The Tanka-man, sore wounded, aid implored, 
 And weltering in his gore, in terror shrunk, 
 While down the yesty waves the barge slow-settling sunk. 
 
 But still Nat Zoan all-defiant stood, 
 
 And nerved with hate prepared to meet his foes ; 
 Ay, fearless stood, though welled the briny flood 
 
 Through countless leaks no present skill could close 
 
 More deadly they than his assailants blows ; 
 But daring all his kris aloft he waves, 
 
 For at oar s length the first pursuer rose 
 Yet the dread issue Fate opposing staves, 
 And him from seeming death with gracious mercy saves. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 37 
 
 53 
 
 A surging billow breaks against the wreck, 
 And o er it casts a foaming sheet of spray, 
 
 In which at random urged, a floating speck, 
 Drifts a lone waif upon the watery way- 
 All that the searching eye may now survey 
 
 Of the lost boat, which thus so sudden found 
 A tomb amid the deep, unsheltered bay ; 
 
 Nor it alone its fated owner drowned, 
 
 Among its ruins slept upon the ocean-ground. 
 
 54 
 
 Nat Zoan rose he like a cork could swim 
 
 And bouyant floated on the heaving main, 
 While the exultant foes surrounding him 
 
 Made all his efforts at resistance vain ; 
 
 Though still his kris, girt by its silver chain, 
 To his wrist hung, despite the breaking surge 
 
 But useless now, it might as well have lain 
 On the tall mount that edged the eastern verge, 
 For he, exhausted quite, no more the brand could urge. 
 
38 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 55 
 
 Him to the foremost junk the Dyaks drew, 
 
 And firmly on the deck with fetters bound ; 
 To Kuchin then their homeward course pursue, 
 
 Exulting that success the venture crowned. 
 
 And when at length their mooring place they found, 
 The luckless captive far inland they bore 
 
 The glebe to delve and toil in ceaseless round, 
 As Hossein s bounden servant evermore 
 A friendless outcast on this isolated shore. 
 
 It was a lovely spot where he, immured, 
 
 His arduous task each circling day pursued 
 A vernal plain by pathless woods secured, 
 
 With gorgeous flowers and tufted grasses strewed ; 
 
 Where stately palms the spicy breezes wooed, 
 And o er the mead continual tributes flung. 
 
 A beauteous place, where hearts with grief endued 
 Might comfort find the soothing scenes among 
 Such scenes hath Persia s bard in strains immortal sung. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 39 
 
 57 
 
 O er all there breathed a dream of hallowed ease, 
 Unbroken save by drone of purling rills, 
 
 Or chirp of bird, or hum of flitting bees, 
 
 Or slaves vociferous on the palm-crowned hills, 
 Or campanero s voice with silvery trills, 
 
 Sweet-warbling from the groves dark solitude 
 Or that mysterious sound the ear enthrills 
 
 When Nature broods, in slumber s spell imbued, 
 
 And seems each mystic pause with spirit tones endued. 
 
 Each scene to pensive languishment inclined, 
 
 And lulled each sense in sweetly-soothing rest 
 A witching music trilled upon the wind, 
 
 And on the soul a tender shade imprest. 
 
 A spot in sooth it was by nature blest 
 Here man the joys of Aden might foretaste 
 
 Were he with no corrosive guile distrest, 
 And of those godlike attributes defaced, 
 Which in a sinless age the first of mortals graced. 
 
40 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 59 
 
 But Sin here spread its ever-blighting shade, r \ 
 
 And filled the goodly scene with endless woe/ 
 The captives sighs these cloudless skies invade, 
 
 And o er these meads the tears of sorrow flow ; 
 
 These palms full many a tale of anguish know 
 Oft have they seen the victim doomed to bleed, 
 
 The toiler writhe beneath the master s blow 
 By piecemeal die to swell a tyrant s greed, 
 And with his closing breath for mercy vainly plead. 
 
 60 
 
 Yet in this lovely, calm, secluded haunt 
 
 A fairy being in seclusion dwelt 
 From crowds aloof ; nor voice had she to vaunt 
 
 Her glowing charms ; nor yet her bosom felt 
 
 Those tender pangs that hearts of maidens melt. 
 A child of nature, still untoucht by love, 
 
 Her guileless mind with themes ethereal dealt 
 Pure as the skies that brightly shone above, 
 Sweet as the dreams that soothe the breast of turtle-dove. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 41 
 
 61 
 
 And such Oloa Hossein s favored child 
 
 Whom he with jealous care had here concealed, 
 
 A sweet exotic in the woodland wild. 
 
 Here, like the flowers that bloomed upon the field, 
 To Nature s eye alone her charms revealed 
 
 Charms which with those of Aden s nymphs might vie, 
 And soon ordained a mighty power to wield ; 
 
 At soft affection s shrine an offering lie, 
 
 And mix with wildering joy the soul-depressing sigh. 
 
 62 
 
 Love o er all hearts his tender influence flings, 
 And tempers them in an enduring fire ; 
 
 Beggars his power confess, as well as kings 
 But fellest he to those who strike the lyre, 
 Whose souls sublimed with an emotion higher 
 
 Than such as doth the lower race infuse, 
 Love with a loftier, warmer, fixed desire 
 
 Than those whose souls a coarser vein imbues, 
 
 And scape the shafts that gall the children of the muse. 
 
42 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 By love impelled, melodious Orpheus led 
 
 His wandering steps to Pluto s gloomy shore 
 
 There sought his bride among the ghostful dead, 
 And from his harp, which minstrel-like lie bore, 
 Bade mournful strains the darkened vault explore. 
 
 Those mournful strains the ghosts in sorrow bound, 
 Touched by a music never heard before, 
 
 Like the grim tyrant saddened. at each sound, 
 
 In dumb amazement shook at anguish so profound. 
 
 64 
 
 Musaaus too, who on the Athenian strand 
 The Queen of Night a glorious tribute laid 
 
 Smote his resounding lyre with nervous hand 
 And hymned the praises of the Theban maid, 
 Whose glance his heart in deepest grief arrayed. 
 
 Sadly his passion sang ; his tones prevail 
 With equal grief the maiden s heart invade ; 
 
 Pensive, she bids him hush the plaintive tale, 
 
 And from her gentle love celestial brightness hail. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 43 
 
 65 
 
 Love, Tasso s heart with withering fire consumed, 
 
 And marked his days with unavailing tears ; 
 Petraca s sun to cheerless shadow doomed, 
 
 And dimmed the lustre of Camoen s years. 
 
 To minstrel souls the god a curse appears ; 
 Ay, that majestic bard, by Heaven sent, 
 
 Whose genius like a meteor still careers 
 E en Byron s haughty soul in anguish bent, 
 By Love s resistless will with countless horrors shent. 
 
 66 
 
 Yes, all have loved ; nor scathless pass the fair, 
 Though softer fires their gentler natures feel : 
 
 Those burning throes which sterner beings share, 
 Through their soft breasts in smoother currents steal, 
 And in their hearts to mild respect congeal. 
 
 Unlike the hardier race whom passion sways, 
 Love rarely woe to them can bring, or weal ; 
 
 Rarely their souls to joy ecstatic raise, 
 
 Or plunged in funeral grief o ercast their sunless days. 
 
44 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 67 
 
 Yet some there are of womankind, who love 
 With all the ardor of impassioned souls 
 
 Who lift the chosen idol far above 
 All that this sublunary state controls, 
 And as the globe on ceaseless axle rolls, 
 
 So their affection never has an end. 
 Each as a god the cherished one extols, 
 
 And to his will submissively doth bend 
 
 Or hazard death if him she can from ill defend. 
 
 68 
 
 And chief among this winsome sisterhood 
 The raja s daughter, fair Oloa, reigned ; 
 
 Since first her star-like eyes Nat Zoan viewed, 
 Had love her soul in mystic influence chained 
 And all her thoughts in one direction trained. 
 
 Twas one calm eve, when by the glimmering light 
 He homeward toiled, with arduous labor pained, 
 
 That she beneath a cassia, hid from sight, 
 
 First saw the pensive man and rued his hapless plight. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 45 
 
 69 
 
 And then it chanced that as she gazed on him, 
 A lengthened hiss vibrated near her side ; 
 
 Shrieking she turned, and from the covert dim 
 A mighty serpent saw meandering glide, 
 With head erect and jaws extended wide 
 
 While flashed his eyes of deep vermillion red, 
 And fierce his glance as the fair prey he eyed 
 
 That glance which held her fast in spell-bound dread, 
 
 Till statue-like she stood, all sense of feeling fled. 
 
 70 
 
 In horror dazed, nailed to the spot she stood 
 Beneath the spell of those mesmeric eyes 
 
 For these huge monsters of the python brood 
 Are armed with powers that vainly man defies, 
 Which yield him oft a helpless sacrifice ; 
 
 On whom soe er they fix their baneful glance, 
 Less help besteads, a willing victim dies : 
 
 Their gaze, magnetic, every sense enchants 
 
 Dispels all fear, and lulls the soul in dream-like trance. 
 
4 6 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 But from the maid one piercing cry arose, 
 And roused Nat Zoan from his reverie ; 
 
 With agile bound unto her aid he goes, 
 And boldly dares the hideous enemy 
 Her bent to save, whate er his fate might be. 
 
 Then from his belt a Sum-pi-tan (8) he drew, 
 And trained the reed with skillful energy 
 
 Applied his lip, then toward the serpent flew, 
 
 And from his lusty lungs a breath tremendous blew. 
 
 72 
 
 Sure was his aim outsped the subtle dart, 
 Whose barb the dew of deathful ipo stained ; 
 
 Fateful it sped, and smote in vital part 
 
 The fearful monster, and his rage restrained 
 Numbed with the venomed death the shaft contained ; 
 
 No longer gliding o er the crackling brake 
 
 His rapid course the serpent huge maintained, 
 
 But prone at length his coils spasmodic shake, 
 
 And frantic throes the woods resounding echoes wake. 
 
 (8) See note. 
 
OF THB 
 
 UNIVERSIT 
 
 NAT ZOAN. 47 
 
 73 
 
 Ere long the deadly venom through his veins > 
 
 Corrosive swept upon its errand dire, 
 And whilst he raged in death s convulsive pains, 
 
 Sudden he gaspt, and quivering did expire. 
 
 So falls the palm when struck by lightning-fire 
 So on the sward its ponderous length is laid, 
 
 Ne er more to rise, with vernal life aspire 
 And tower the lofty monarch of the shade, 
 But low it sinks in dust, as all of earth must fade. 
 
 74 
 
 Meanwhile Nat Zoan, freed from evil strife 
 
 The python numb gazed on the beauteous maid, 
 
 Who still enchanted, caring naught for life, 
 A frozen image near the monster stayed, 
 Hard by a spring, beneath a plane-tree s shade ; 
 
 And soon her steadfast glance the sailor s gaze 
 Drew from the serpent, now quiescent laid. 
 
 O er her sweet charms his eye delighted strays, 
 
 And moth-like o er each starry orb all fluttering plays. 
 
48 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 75 
 
 While thus he gazed upon her lovely face 
 A tender interest kindled in his breast, 
 
 For heavenly beauty had with magic grace 
 Its signet on each rounded line imprest, 
 And with attractive power the maiden blest. 
 
 Then, as her eyes with jasper light imbued, 
 On his with mingled awe and joy did rest, 
 
 He felt his soul awake half-crazed he viewed, 
 
 And deemed to Aden turned the tangled solitude. 
 
 As bronze engilded by the setting sun, 
 
 Her skin gave forth a mystic shining light 
 
 A lustre known but to these people dun, 
 Where wheels the Disk his equatorial flight, 
 Glazing to gold or shading into night. 
 
 Strange was her hue, yet wondrous to behold 
 Her beauty matchless, ravishing the sight, 
 
 Nor fairer shell did lovelier soul infold, 
 
 For cast she truly seemed in nature s perfect mould. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 49 
 
 77 
 
 And dark her eyes as hyperborean shade 
 
 When midnight drops her deepest curtain down 
 
 A tone intense, with phosphor beams inlaid, 
 Akin to those which on eve s dusky crown 
 In glittering radiance flash. Of ebon brown 
 
 Her locks elf-like in festoons swept the ground 
 In wanton richness, seeming bent to drown 
 
 Her sylphine form, so thick they clustered round ; 
 
 Yet chief of all her charms, her eyes did most astound. 
 
 There is a wondrous strength in woman s eye 
 A strength which man, alas ! cannot withstand 
 
 When Love s electric glances from it fly, 
 Like bolts dismissed by an immortal hand, 
 Black ruin casting where e er they expand. 
 
 The softest glance the sternest bosom thrills 
 With tumults Reason vainly can withstand ; 
 
 New hopes, new thoughts, new joys, new griefs instills, 
 
 And man with heavenly bliss or hellish sorrow fills. 
 
50 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 79 
 
 But most in eyes of raven-colored hue 
 
 Exists this subtle power, this mystic spell 
 As if from them a spirit-shape lookt through 
 
 And bound the gazer s soul invincible. 
 
 In this all other colors they excel ; 
 All other shades a will less potent own 
 
 Grey orbs mayhap of minds sagacious tell, 
 The azure-hued are scarce with passion flown, 
 Cold are the hazel-eyed as monumental stone. 
 
 80 
 
 But ebon orbs with torrid passion glow 
 
 The windows they whence deep affection shines, 
 Which steadfast burns whatever tempests blow, 
 
 And to one object steadily inclines ; 
 
 Round the loved idol as the ivy twines 
 The solid oak, enwreaths with changeless fold, 
 
 Nor but when chilled in secret grief repines. 
 Such love, alas ! not often we behold, 
 Yet such there was in one my harp hath oft extolled. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 
 
 81 
 
 One whose sea-urn is now my only shrine, 
 Where all I worship rests in endless gloom, 
 
 Forgotten save by this lone heart of mine, 
 That sighs its sad oblations o er her tomb 
 And so will sigh, till hushed in equal doom 
 
 It sinks in earth, unsignalled and unknown 
 Another atom vanished to make room 
 
 For some new pilgrim, haply doomed to groan, 
 
 And for the boon of life with constant pangs atone. 
 
 82 
 
 Oloa s eyes upon Nat Zoan glanced, 
 
 Those star-like eyes, where glowing passion beamed, 
 With hectic pangs his heaving bosom lanced, 
 
 Till in delirium lost his spirit seemed 
 
 Some heavenly vision to have sweetly dreamed. 
 Such Love s effect when Beauty s radiant grace 
 
 Hath on a mortal like an angel gleamed ; 
 Nor time nor turmoil can its stamp erase 
 It haunts his dragging hours till death his pangs efface. 
 
52 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 Nat Zoan spoke : his voice like music fell 
 In silvery accents on the maiden s ear, 
 
 As he confest the soul-bewildering spell 
 
 Her beauties now, alas ! to him so dear 
 Had on his senses cast. But she in fear 
 
 (For fear doth oft the virgin s passion show) 
 
 Begged him be mute yet strangely hovered near, 
 
 And coyly heard his words in murmurs flow, 
 
 Or, downward gazing, oft a sigh resounded low. 
 
 But as she plead a shout re-echoed round, 
 And lo, among the palms a gaudy train 
 
 Of courtiers press. With hasty steps they bound 
 Across the sward, while Hossein first to gain 
 The eventful spot, with frenzied joy amain 
 
 His daughter folds to his paternal breast. 
 Him had a slave, who overtasked had lain 
 
 Fatigued beneath a palm, set out to quest, 
 
 And shivering to his lord the hideous tale addrest. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 53 
 
 With the warm impulse of unsullied love 
 
 Aged Hossein fiercely clasped his much-loved child, 
 And gazing on the azure vault above, 
 
 To Allah poured his gratulations wild ; 
 
 His prayers done, he on Nat Zoan smiled, 
 And pressed his hand in friendship s fervid zeal : 
 
 Bemoaned his lot from his own land exiled, 
 And forced the crushing weight of toil to feel 
 Beneath unclouded skies, where suns malignant wheel. 
 
 86 
 
 " Brave man," said he, " thou hast our daughter saved, 
 
 And in return full liberty is thine ; 
 Thy gallant act, too, on our archives graved, 
 
 Shall to remotest time illustrious shine ; 
 
 Nor this alone : we furthermore design 
 To show the goodness of our royal will, 
 
 And our best prahu shall to thee resign, 
 To own thy rule and thy unequalled skill 
 Where e er thou wouldst shalt roam, and thy behests fulfill." 
 
54 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 Nat Zoan heard : in courteous tones replied, 
 Wistful the tyrant s mandate to evade 
 
 "Almighty chief, whom Allah ever guide, 
 Thou hast in sooth a goodly offer made, 
 And by this act the service done repaid ; 
 
 Yet ere my course I can decide aright 
 
 Though in all things thy will should be obeyed 
 
 Yet grant a respite till the morrow s night 
 
 Ere I thy boon receive, oh man of boundless might." 
 
 " Thou hast it, or forsooth a longer time, 
 And shall the while within our palace dwell, 
 
 Of all our noble guests the acknowledged prime 
 Whose name likewise the trump of Fame shall swell, 
 Thou the brave Jower (9) of power invincible ! 
 
 Away bold man ! Hocampi hence shall guide 
 Thy footsteps through the dark entangled fell 
 
 To Kassim s walls, a-nigh the river s side, 
 
 There at thy leisure on our offering to decide." 
 
 (9) See note. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 55 
 
 89 
 
 He spoke : imperious waved his jewelled hand, 
 Then bade his train pursue their onward way, 
 
 For now upon the deeply-devious land 
 Gleamed the last blushes of expiring day, 
 And dim the path through the dark forest lay. 
 
 Yet sad, Oloa turned amid the gloom, 
 And often paused, as willing still to stay 
 
 As chained to him who from a hideous doom 
 
 Herself had^Saved and bade new joy her life illume. 
 
 90 
 
 With her she bore a relic of the deed 
 
 The sum-pi-tan from whence the arrow sped 
 Which did the serpent s forward course impede, 
 
 And save her from impending danger dread. 
 
 Nat Zoan saw, and in the action read 
 A language which of tender passion spoke, 
 
 And o er his soul a fair aurora shed ; 
 The mists that round him hung, dispersing broke, 
 And he to newer life, to brighter dreams awoke. 
 
56 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 His eyes the witching maid continual sought, 
 
 Till the thick jungle hid her from his view ; 
 Then with his sullen guide immerst in thought, 
 
 He pushed his tortuous way the forest through, 
 
 And as night lowered within the palace drew. 
 Meanwhile Oloa, in disturbing dreams, 
 
 First learned the pangs of earnest love to rue ; 
 
 Feverish she slept her sleep with visions teems, 
 
 
 
 And in each wildering scene Nat Zoan s viuim gleams. I/V3 
 
CANTO II. 
 
 Ye lithesome winds that curl the sparkling seas 
 
 Which o er Ascian s strands resounding creep, 
 Or hoarsely chant in solemn melodies 
 
 Around the bald and billow-breaking steep ; 
 
 Oh, winds, however high or low ye sweep, 
 Still of soul-stirring themes responsive sing 
 
 Still o er grief-laden love pathetic weep, 
 As when ye touch the sad acolian string, 
 Or moan through hollow caves like sea-sprites murmuring. 
 
 93 
 
 Lo, from her fleecy couch the pensive moon, 
 Pale wanderer of the night, arising glows, 
 
 And softly from her melancholy lune 
 
 A vagueful light upon the landscape throws, 
 While silvery clouds a heavenly crown compose. 
 
 Oh ! chaste, pale-visaged ornament of night, 
 By whom the main in endless pulses flows, 
 
 Who leadest the star-lights in nocturnal flight 
 
 Thee sadly shall I hymn, and hail thy mystic light. 
 
5 8 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 94 
 
 How oft have I exultant hailed thy ray, 
 As o er the hazy verge it mildly shone 
 
 Beheld thee chase the obscuring shades away 
 And soften nature with a brighter tone, 
 Or on the deep descried thy fulgence thrown ; 
 
 And as I owned its spirit-soothing power, 
 
 Sad memories rose of dreams forever flown 
 
 The gilded fancies of a fleeting hour 
 
 Passed like a sunny beam beneath a shadow s glower. 
 
 95 
 
 Thee have I seen in state majestic rise 
 Above the ocean, like me desolate 
 
 Or glare terrific from portentous skies/ 
 The lurid harbinger of storms that wait 
 With gathered powers o er earth to culminate ; 
 
 Or from thy waning face such mildness shed 
 As scarce the nightly shade to dissipate 
 
 Or dim the glittering legions overhead, 
 
 Or on the drowsy lake a skein of lustre spread. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 59 
 
 96 
 
 Oh, amber-visaged queen ! by whose pale ray 
 The love-sick minstrel strolling oft is heard 
 
 To sadly breathe his tuneful roundelay, 
 
 Soft as the tone night s sweetly-singing bird, 
 When by thy pensive light to musie stirred, 
 
 The echoing wood with harmony awakes ; 
 Or sighs in sylvan bower the tender word 
 
 Which on the virgin s ear in sweetness breaks, 
 
 And with electric bliss her heart vibrating shakes. 
 
 97 
 
 Oft, too, by thy mild beam Nat Zoan wound 
 His stealthy steps through the entangled glade, 
 
 And when, inert, the world lay hushed profound, 
 He with Oloa love s sweet power obeyed, 
 And neath the shaded groves in secret strayed ; 
 
 While from his lips the tones of passion fell 
 Those burning tones maids rarely will evade. 
 
 Around her heart they wove a magic spell, 
 
 And chained her spotless soul in love unchangeable. 
 
6o NAT ZOAN. 
 
 Meanwhile he to the raja s wish agreed, 
 
 And of a gallant prahu took command 
 Renowned among the fleet for strength and speed, 
 
 And by a bold and plunder-loving band 
 
 Of Illanoan ro\ers ably manned. 
 This o er the surge to fiery Celebez 
 
 He was to guide assail the teeming strand, 
 And from the natives varied treasures seize, 
 Or stretch for nautic spoils wherever urged the breeze 
 
 99 
 
 But while he seemed to all his swarthy crew 
 
 Composed and on his ruthless course intent, 
 His conscience proved his outward mask untrue, 
 
 And loathed the purpose to which he was bent. 
 
 So doth this keen avenger, ever sent 
 As the stern monitor of erring man 
 
 Though he may strive its will to circumvent 
 Derange, ay, oft destroy some evil plan, 
 Or crushed unheeded writhe the curse of his life s span. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 6 1 
 
 100 
 
 Nat Zoan owned its counsels, yet applied 
 The usual salve of shallow sophistries 
 
 Which man, who would all but himself deride, 
 Has wrought, the weird rebuking sting to ease, 
 And drown its ever sounding homilies. 
 
 By logic he its throbbings partly stilled, 
 And nerved with courage all his energies ; 
 
 So fate resolved, so fate must be fulfilled : 
 
 No man the issue swerves he moves as he is willed. 
 
 101 
 
 He reasoned well : there is a ruling power 
 
 To whose decrees all in obedience bend ; 
 And soon Nat Zoan felt the tyrant s glower 
 
 Upon his fate in darkling wrath descend. 
 
 It was the night on which he did intend 
 To stretch away, when fiercely from the west, 
 
 As drew the sultry day unto an end, 
 A mighty gale the billowy sea distrest, 
 And on the ravaged land its ruthless seal imprest. 
 
62 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 IO2 
 
 He wakeful heard the elemental rage 
 
 At midnight s hour, stretcht on his rushy cot, 
 And musing on such themes as might engage 
 
 One cast in his eventful, dangerous lot ; 
 
 A sudden thought, seeming from Heaven got, 
 Urged him to leave this- scene of war and woe, 
 
 And quiet find in some secluded spot 
 Where with his bride he life s full bliss might know, 
 Nor dread each moment s space the deftly murderous blow. 
 
 103 
 
 Some islet seek there in sequestered ease, 
 
 Secure from toil, from crafty hate secure, 
 He might disown the tempest-roaring seas 
 
 And all the ills fate bade him now endure ; 
 
 There, fenced from guilt, of plenty ever sure, 
 His peaceful years would softly circle round 
 
 Nor grim ambition to destruction lure, 
 Nor glory tempt with laurels sorrow-crowned, 
 But simple joys be his, in sweet contentment found. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 63 
 
 104 
 
 He pondered deeply on this mystic thought 
 
 For lingering hours on that tempestuous night, 
 Veering in doubt, till morn decision brought, 
 
 And cheered his spirit with auspicious light. 
 
 Then he resolved, though perilous the flight, 
 Swart Hossein s tyrant service- to forsake, 
 
 And with Oloa if all fared aright 
 In Sooloo s Isle his secret dwelling make ; 
 His purpose formed no power its rigid force could shake. 
 
 105 
 
 The winds are wild convulsed the murky air, 
 And stooping clouds in blackened masses scud ; 
 
 Red-glancing bolts across the heavens glare, 
 And rains descend a .deluge-pouring flood, 
 While mighty trees and many a fragile bud 
 
 Upon the land in prostrate ruin lie, 
 
 Trembling as launching forth in echoing thud, 
 
 The thundrous peals vibrate along the sky 
 
 And roars the deep, whose rage the cliffs can scarce defy. 
 
64 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 1 06 
 
 On such a night, when horrors bristle round, 
 With cautious feet Nat Zoan threads the brake, 
 
 Nor heeds the tempest s soul-appalling sound, 
 Nor riven trees that o er him wildly shake, 
 Nor lightning flash, nor thundering rolls that wake 
 
 The caverned earth and wrench the vaulted skies ; 
 Not these can make his hardy spirit quake, 
 
 Which tried in peril, can o er peril rise, 
 
 And from his gallant heart all terror exorcise. 
 
 107 
 
 Albeit, as he kept his cheerless way 
 
 A nameless sadness o er his spirit lowered, 
 And a still voice forewarning bade him stay, 
 
 Nor hold a path where danger grimly towered ; 
 
 For should he thus, by passion overpowered, 
 His present wild and desperate course pursue, 
 
 On his devoted head be terrors showered, 
 And hideous pangs which he would sadly rue 
 But he the warning stilled, nor course but onward knew. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 65 
 
 108 
 
 He reached at length Oloa s lone retreat, 
 
 And paused to list if aught his steps betrayed ; 
 
 But all was still though wild the tempest beat, 
 And scowled the skies in vapors black arrayed, 
 Save when the lurid fires across them played. 
 
 But naught was heard to show his presence known 
 No stranger trenched within his ambuscade ; 
 
 He stood amid the stormy gloom alone, 
 
 Eager to grasp the stake on which his life was thrown. 
 
 109 
 
 But sudden on his ear there broke a sound 
 
 Which shook his spirit with emotion strange, 
 And him in terror caused to gaze around, 
 
 And with more cautious steps the forest range ; 
 
 Yet ere his fixed position he could change, 
 Or draw with rapid hand his trusty blade, 
 
 That sound which did his gallant soul derange, 
 Entombed amid the tempest s murmurs laid 
 Yet still upon his mind dark apprehension preyed. 
 
66 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 no 
 
 But reckless still, his scheme he must pursue 
 His fate was sealed were he to hesitate ; 
 
 This he too surely, half-repenting, knew 
 Foresaw his peril, but foresaw too late, 
 No will of his his course could now rebate ; 
 
 Assured of this, he bowed to the decree 
 That mortal plans doth sternly regulate 
 
 That overrules the things that are to be, 
 
 And whirls man ever on to fore-doomed destiny. 
 
 in 
 
 Nat Zoan paused ; an oaten pipe he took 
 
 From his waist-belt, and three times shrilly blew ; 
 
 Scarce died the sounds his heart expectant shook 
 When a small hand the jalousy withdrew, 
 And a sweet face, half-veiled, gazed coyly through. 
 
 "Art thou Oloa?" he in whispers cried, 
 
 As toward the opened window-screen he flew ; 
 
 A silvery voice unto his words replied, 
 
 And on his panting breast the raja s daughter sighed. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 67 
 
 112 
 
 Oh, blissful hour ! when in communion sweet, 
 Two kindred souls in love congenial taste 
 
 That heavenly joy, for more than mortals mete ; 
 When for a time, all thought of earth effaced, 
 The soul seems in celestial realms placed 
 
 On wings aerial floats, while choirs unseen, 
 
 With mystic strains as Nature s waking graced, 
 
 Rise like sweet incense every look between, 
 
 Till joys ecstatic fill the soul-bewildering scene. 
 
 How blissful they to those whose destinies 
 Have felt malignant stars upon them gleam 
 
 Whose hearts, o ercast with sumless miseries, 
 
 Make life one long, one sad, one hopeless dream : 
 Forsaken souls, o er whom no cheering beam, 
 
 No ray of love the lowering gloom dispels 
 As on the tide of life s tumultuous stream, 
 
 Like shattered wrecks on ocean s troubled swells, 
 
 They groaning toss in pangs of self-created hells. 
 
68 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 114 
 
 Nat Zoan clasped Oloa in his arms, 
 
 And from her lips delicious tributes wrung ; 
 
 Soothed with soft words her spirits dark alarms, 
 And round her trembling form his caftan flung 
 Then bade her haste ; she from the window sprung, 
 
 And with her lover trod the open glade, 
 
 Intent a creek to reach, where anchored hung 
 
 A fleet prahu, by whose obedient aid 
 
 The sailor had resolved their flight should be essayed. 
 
 But as the lovers reached the streamlet s marge 
 A bullet past them from the jungle pealed, 
 
 And ere the echoes from the explosive charge 
 In silence died, a figure stood revealed, 
 And a hoarse voice bade the bold sailor yield. 
 
 Nat Zoan paused, o ercome with horror dread 
 For now his fate seemed past a venture sealed, 
 
 Though grimly he resolved to strike till dead, 
 
 And doom more than one ghost the shadeful realms to thread. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 69 
 
 116 
 
 He gazed around : the wood with foemen teemed ; 
 
 No hope against such numbers vast to stand 
 Yet he must strive ; his kris all naked gleamed, 
 
 And gainst a towering palm he met the band, 
 
 Nerving with vigorous strength his skillful hand. 
 Then onward rushed, as wolves upon their prey 
 
 The yelling horde, whose rage Hocampi fanned 
 And fiercely hounded to the unequal fray 
 Bat firm the sailor stood and kept them all at bay. 
 
 117 
 
 Meanwhile Oloa, in oblivion s chain, 
 
 Unconscious on the humid sward reclined 
 
 And her to seize the Dyaks strove in vain, 
 
 For all who sought, Nat Zoan s blade assigned 
 To gory graves, as brave men often find. 
 
 Then grew the combat hot ; the sailor s kris, 
 Begrimed with blood, to every point inclined ; 
 
 Each lightning stroke dismissed a soul from this 
 
 To that unknown abode of mingled pain and bliss. 
 
yo NAT ZOAN. 
 
 118 
 
 But e en the boldest efforts of the brave, 
 
 O ermatched, against less gallant souls will fail ; 
 Repose the long-taxed energies too crave, 
 
 Or strength at last o er courage will prevail. 
 
 So our bold sailor, though he scorned to quail, 
 Yet wearied craved the nervine of repose 
 
 For strokes on strokes upon him rattling hail, 
 And undiminished throng his tigrish foes, 
 Till gashed with countless wounds he sank beneath their blows- 
 
 119 
 
 Then bathed in his own blood he prostrate lay, 
 
 Yet struggling madly on the grimy ground 
 Resolved to struggle till life s sinking ray 
 
 Should in eternal torpor rest profound ; 
 
 But when his vision, wildly glancing round, 
 His stricken love beheld, he sought to press 
 
 Her to his bosom, and with frantic bound 
 Uprising, kissed her lips in fond caress, 
 But staggering sank again, supine in nothingness. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 71 
 
 120 
 
 Then from the sward the Dyaks slowly bore 
 
 Him, still oblivious, to a neighboring hut, 
 Raised on a hillock, high the jungle o er, 
 
 And by a lofty stockade closely shut ; 
 
 Here in .a cell, where heads from wairiors cut (10) 
 Poised from the rafters hung, he rudely thrown 
 
 On withered fronds, stripped from the cocoanut, 
 Was left to die, unshriven and alone, 
 And rackt with grievous ills his frenzied love atone. 
 
 121 
 
 Here as he lay, Oloa too imbound, 
 
 A captive, felt the force of Hossein s ire, 
 
 And rued the fate that darkly o er her frowned 
 That doomed her hopes so rudely to expire, 
 And crowned the hatred of her tyrant sire. 
 
 Nat Zoan would she seek, but guards restrained 
 Her eager feet, and bade her hence retire ; 
 
 Nor tears, nor wiles, nor bribes their hearts unchained, 
 
 But her fast lockt they held, as their grim chief ordained. 
 
 (10) See note. 
 
72 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 122 
 
 Still in the Head-house, closely fettered, lay 
 
 Nat Zoan, markt with many a grievous wound 
 
 Gazing with sickened eyes each dragging day 
 Upon the ghastly trophies swaying round, 
 Moved by the winds that through the port-holes found 
 
 A guardless entrance ; and to him each head 
 Seemed as it swayed, in flaxen nettings bound, 
 
 To hold the spectre of its owner dead, 
 
 Mocking his doleful state and threatening horrors dread. 
 
 123 
 
 He shuddered as he gazed upon them all 
 Those gory relics of departed braves, 
 
 Whom now no warlike signal could recall 
 To frenzied strife a tyrant s willing slaves, 
 Joying for him to fill blood-boltered graves ; 
 
 And musing on them, glimmering in the den, 
 Foresaw the hour unless him Allah saves 
 
 When his head too should glut the Dyaks ken, 
 
 Such the unholy law of these fierce-hearted men. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 73 
 
 124 
 
 Days came and went he still a captive lay, 
 While o er him ever swinging to and fro, 
 
 Like restless phantoms in the shadow gray, 
 
 His grim companions senseless now to woe 
 Scowled on the suffering mortal chained below. 
 
 To him they seemed to revel in his pain, 
 And grin in hideous joy, as wheeling slow 
 
 They showed their shrunken jaws, and scowled as fain 
 
 To rise, a grisly band, and join the fight again. 
 
 He longed for death for more than death was his 
 
 But longed in vain : not yet the troublous field 
 He must forsake ; he still must strive in this, 
 
 And still awhile Life s cumbrous truncheon wield. 
 
 Convinced of this, his heart with strength he steeled, 
 And sullen lived, his dismal state despite ; 
 
 His vigor rose, his wounds all gradual healed, 
 And oft his spirit winged an upward flight, 
 And soared to realms of hope, though still involved in night. 
 
74 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 126 
 
 He longed again to plow the boundless seas, 
 And leave the land and all its ills behind 
 
 To breathe again the spirit-stirring breeze 
 
 And sail where er his wandering soul inclined, 
 Or stretch for some fair isle where he might find 
 
 A refuge from his haunting misery, 
 
 Which like a burden seemed by Fate designed 
 
 To weigh his spirit down unceasingly 
 
 Till crazed, he yearned from his grief-tortured self to flee. 
 
 127 
 
 But vain these wishes : dreams illusive all, 
 
 Since he must die so Hossein had decreed ; 
 The Jower who dared his sacred child to thrall 
 
 Must by the headsman s kris in public bleed, 
 
 And expiate with life so grave a deed. 
 This day the day on which the fleet shall sail, 
 
 While favoring winds the intended passage speed 
 Shall his death-throes the tyrant s sight regale, 
 And soothe his tiger wrath, though wild his daughter wail. 
 
CANTO III. 
 
 128 
 
 There is a sound comes to mine ear, as if 
 A gun was fired upon the distant main, 
 
 And sullen echoes pulsing round yon cliff 
 Told me the tale of tragic love again 
 That tale which in oblivion long hath lain. 
 
 Roused at the sound, my harp anew I seize, 
 And tune again the ever-sad refrain 
 
 That moved me erst to sing, as Fate decrees, 
 
 Of eld-time vivid themes on Borneo s crisp-green seas. 
 
 129 
 
 Tis fervid noon : enveiled in molten haze 
 The tangled forest droops in deep repose 
 
 And ocean hushed, a mirror seems to blaze 
 Beneath the blinding glare the day-king throws, 
 And scarce a ripple on its surface flows, 
 
 And scarce a sound upon the sea-marge fell 
 No longer white with ocean s briny snows, 
 
 For Langour weaved o er all her mystic spell, 
 
 Foreboding direful act hate dark and terrible. 
 
76 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 130 
 
 On this heat-stricken day Nat Zoan s life 
 
 Must end in death its lengthened train of woes, 
 
 And his brave soul, freed by the ruthless knife, 
 Find in some other sphere that blest repose 
 Which here the earth-bound spirit never knows. 
 
 Ay, he must perish perish in the prime 
 
 Of years, when life its brightest aspect shows 
 
 When nerved with courage, with a soul sublime, 
 
 He all must now forego fond love his only crime. 
 
 Still over all his courage nobly rose, 
 
 And steeled his sinews with unflinching pride 
 Taught him his features firmly to compose, 
 
 Nor show how hard the soul beneath was tried, 
 
 But calmly, sternly, the event abide ; 
 Yet twas unreal all mere vainful show, 
 
 Since nature gainst the deed lamenting cried 
 Foresaw with dread her life departing flow, 
 Her fires electric cease, her work in dust laid low. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 77 
 
 132 
 
 Now lost in gloomy dreams the fated man, 
 
 Near a huge porthole, bound in fetters lay, 
 And musing on his fate, his vision ran 
 
 Upon the streams that wound their devious way, 
 
 Till in the Sarawak they mingled stray ; 
 Thence farther sent, his gaze to sea extends, 
 
 To where the billows on the reeflet play 
 And there a prahu to the sea-wind bends, 
 And toward the sheltering port her foaming pathway wends. 
 
 He gazed with curious interest on that barge 
 So strange an interest that it seemed to him 
 
 A bearer of some tidings held in charge, 
 From some wild nation far beyond the rim 
 Of the blue waters she did lightly skim. 
 
 He watched her near the river s winding strand, 
 And new-born hope a-lit his spirit dim ; 
 
 His courage rose, by sorrow long unmanned, 
 
 And freedom s rising star his kindling vision scanned. 
 
78 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 134 
 
 But while he gazed upon the veering bark, 
 
 A gong, deep-sounding, rolled its clanging peal, 
 
 Signalling death ; and troops of warriors dark, 
 In rude array across the plateau wheel, 
 And spear-heads flash a glittering sea of steel. 
 
 The issue speeds : the captive s dream is o er 
 His fleshly essence soon will cease to feel, 
 
 His spirit seek that dread, that shadowy shore, 
 
 Which soul in mortal casket never can explore. 
 
 35 
 
 Again the tocsin rings : the hour is come 
 
 A swarthy band his dismal prison thread ; 
 Pensive he turns, all sense, all feeling numb, 
 
 As one in somnolescent stupor led 
 
 To the oblivious regions of the dead. 
 He moves supine, opprest with brazen chains, 
 
 And halts beneath a wide o er-arching shed 
 The place of death ; here, while deep silence reigns, 
 Awaits the stroke that ends all struggles and all pains. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 79 
 
 136 
 
 But ere it falls, a deep alarming sound 
 
 Rolls from the river, and with dire surprise 
 
 Awakes the crowd in sullen stupor bound. 
 
 Black Hossein starts, rage flashes in his eyes 
 He waves his hand, awhile foregoes the prize, 
 
 Intent to learn ere he the Jower slays 
 
 Why o er the land this note unseemly flies ; 
 
 And as the deadly blow he grimly stays, f 
 
 Before his lofty throne a Dyak prostrate liet* \^ &***\/9 
 
 137 
 
 Dark news he brought, by yonder prahu borne, 
 
 Whose leila fired of woeful tidings told 
 Tidings which many a bosom caused to mourn, 
 
 As from his gasping lips they slowly rolled. 
 
 A tale of rage, of blood, he did unfold : 
 How the false raja of Sooloo arose 
 
 Bribed, so avouched, by Celebezian gold 
 And branding all. the Dyaks as his foes, 
 At midnight s hour they fell beneath the assassin s blows. 
 
8o NAT ZOAN. 
 
 A few escaped, and in a prahu bent 
 
 Their rapid course across the adjacent main, 
 
 That Hossein might the rebel circumvent, 
 And claiming vengeance for his people slain, 
 The tyrant crush and his lost power regain. 
 
 The raja heard : he stroked his snowy beard, 
 And swore by Allah ere the moon should wane 
 
 That the curst isles, which once his vengeance feared, 
 
 .Should feel his wrath till they a dreary waste appeared. 
 
 39 
 
 Should feel his wrath till he the traitor crushed, 
 And headless in the tomb his minions lay : 
 
 Then rose in haste, while all the assembly hushed 
 In terror saw the chieftan stride away, 
 In dreams of blood his vengeance to allay. 
 
 Yet ere he went he gave a hasty sign, 
 And bade the sailor s execution stay 
 
 Till he could glut at ease his hate malign, 
 
 Or to some selfish end the hapless man assign. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 8 1 
 
 140 
 
 Again enchained within his ghastly den, 
 
 Nat Zoan rests, still destined to exist, 
 Yet musing sadly on the future, when 
 
 The headsman s stroke his life-strands should untwist 
 
 And drop him into naught, here hardly missed. 
 Yet as he mused, a stealthy step he heard 
 
 Upon the floor and rising up to list, 
 Hocampi saw, who bore from Hossein word 
 Of talismanic power, and with him thus conferred. 
 
 141 
 
 He pledged him life if he across the wave 
 
 Would guide the fleet for Sooloo s capture meant- 
 
 Those goodly islets from defection save, 
 And curb the rebel chieftain s bold intent, 
 Now with the flush of victory insolent. 
 
 This task performed his life should be his own, 
 But failing from him be immediate rent ; 
 
 His answer now Hocampi must make known 
 
 Tis his to live or die, he must decide alone. 
 
82 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 142 
 
 Nat Zoan heard : new tumults shook his breast, 
 And hope again in light auspicious shone 
 
 As he the dark emissary addrest : 
 
 " Hocampi, to your mighty chief make known 
 These terms on which I serve, and these alone 
 
 I will with steadfast zeal his fleet command, 
 And him as my illustrious master own, 
 
 If he will grant me fair Oloa s hand ; 
 
 Oloa must be mine this is my sole demand." 
 
 Hocampi scowled : a vengeful man was he, 
 
 And like Nat Zoan loved the royal maid ; 
 " Thy terms are high," he muttered sneeringly, 
 
 And passing out no further speech essayed. 
 
 When he was gone the captive to his aid 
 All his philosophy, his courage drew, 
 
 To calm his fears, which through his bosom played, 
 And conjured horrors soon to burst anew 
 For he such bold desire felt he would surely rue. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 83 
 
 144 
 
 But soon the dusky Labuan re-appeared, 
 With darker wrath upon his lowering brow ; 
 
 From his keen eyes malignant hatred leered, 
 Though striving hard to be attempered now, 
 Since Hossein did with power his foe endow. 
 
 " I come," he said, " from our illustrious sire, 
 Who gracious will thy monstrous wish allow, 
 
 If thou the rebel isles wilt blast with fire, 
 
 And doom the traitorous chief in tortures to expire: 
 
 145 
 
 " This done the lovely maid thou shalt secure- 
 But first to Hossein bring the rebel s head, 
 
 Him of thy gallant prowess to assure 
 To prove also his treacherous vassal dead ; 
 But shouldst thou fail or Pulo scape, instead 
 
 Of sweet Oloa s hand, the headsman s blade 
 Shall in the public square thy life-blood shed, 
 
 And thy torn relics, ignominious laid, 
 
 Shall gorge the vulture- flocks that haunt the desert glade. 
 
84 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 146 
 
 Nat Zoan heard then bade the wrathful man 
 
 This answer to his haughty lord convey : j 
 " That he who had so many hazards ran, 
 Whom Fate had cast in so perplext a way, 
 Would not now from her thorny pathway stray- 
 But would in sooth to this compact agree, 
 And even death for the fair maid essay, 
 Since reft of her life was but misery." 
 This his reply whate er the end ordained might be. 
 
 147 
 
 Hocampi frowned and hastily withdrew, 
 While jealous hatred in his bosom boiled, 
 
 And muttering vowed his pale-faced foe should rue 
 His cherished love when in the fight embroiled, 
 Or failing this by crafty art be foiled ; 
 
 For he was one who ne er a wound forgot, 
 But steadfast round it all his venom coiled, 
 
 And nerved his spirit vengeance deep to plot 
 
 And with a heavier pang the cankering injury blot. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 
 
 i 4 8 
 
 But serpent-like his thoughts in secret held, 
 And to his chief Nat Zoan s answer bore 
 
 Who chafing heard, to frantic rage impelled, 
 And longing still to shed the captive s gore 
 Yet conscious that he only could restore 
 
 The rebel isles to his despotic sway 
 
 To staunch his anger for a while forebore, 
 
 And bade Hocampi ere the flush of day 
 
 Unto the council hall the hated Jower convey. 
 
 149 
 
 Nat Zoan went, and with the raja planned 
 The course of action he was soon to take ; 
 
 Then sped to marshal the invading band, 
 Prepared by noon the river to forsake, 
 With thunder charged the rebel isles to shake. 
 
 The order given, away the squadron bears, 
 
 And Sipang s head at twilight doubling make 
 
 Thence forward urged by light but favoring airs, 
 
 Stretch for the shoreless deep to quest the traitorous lairs. 
 
86 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 150 
 
 Again afloat ! Again upon the surge 
 
 Nat Zoan threads at large his briny home 
 
 Free as the birds that round his fleet converge, 
 Free as the winds that drive the billowy foam 
 He knows no lord, free as he lists to roam. 
 
 Light was his heart no sorrow now he knew, 
 And bright his hopes as heaven s star-lit dome ; 
 
 Love still his beacon-ray, still tried and true 
 
 He towered, the captain of an Illanoan crew. 
 
 Twere long to tell the story of that flight 
 
 That baffling passage o er the treacherous main ; 
 
 To paint the terrors of the deadly fight 
 That gave the isles to Hossein s rule again, 
 And fouled their sheen with many a gory stain. 
 
 Twere long to tell nor fits it to narrate 
 How fought the rebel Pulo how half slain 
 
 He fell among the dead, assured his fate, 
 
 But Zoan stayed the blow with hand compassionate. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 87 
 
 152 
 
 Flushed with success the victors homeward steer, 
 
 And bound in chains the traitor chieftain bear, 
 That Hossein may his vengeance launch severe 
 
 And smite the man who did his anger dare 
 
 Ay, roused the tiger in his very lair. 
 Fared well the voyage ; they reach the river tide 
 
 And stretch for Kuchin on the margin there, 
 While as between the winding banks they glide 
 Loud cheers of welcome rise from throngs on either side. 
 
 153 
 
 But evening falls ere they the town attain, 
 And Hossein wearied lay in sleep opprest 
 
 Nor audience from him could Nat Zoan gain, 
 Till day awaking roused him to unrest, 
 When he in solemn state could be addrest. 
 
 Hence on his ship the sailor still remained, 
 
 Slumbering betimes, though dreams his mind infest, 
 
 And horrors o er each vision darkly reigned 
 
 Or wakeful oft, his thoughts a flight perturbed maintained. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 
 
 Tis night s meridian hour, when locked in sleep 
 One-half the sphere in shadow lies imbound 
 
 When shapes immortal mystic vigils keep, 
 And safely guide the wheeling planet round, 
 And to the mortal race in dreams expound 
 
 The secret laws of Fate. Now over all 
 
 Shade broods immense nor rolls a jarring sound, 
 
 Save when the watchmen from .their stations call, 
 
 Or bays some restless dog, linked to yon sea-girt wall. 
 
 155 
 
 Or when with elfin voices warbling low 
 The broken ripples murmur on the shore, 
 
 Or distant heard, the breakers hoarsely flow, 
 And in soul-saddening diapasons roar 
 The coral-reef and quicksand foaming o er ; 
 
 Or when in thicket hid, thy solemn note 
 Oh, Campanero ! doth the maze explore, 
 
 Like chime of bell in silvery tinklings float 
 
 Oft have thy nightly peals mine ear with sadness smote. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 89 
 
 156 
 
 Or when in spirit-whispers, heard afar, 
 
 The voice of night vibrates amid the gloom, 
 
 Or shattered falls in heaven some meteor star, 
 Whose dying flushes for a while illume, 
 Then sink in shade, such lustres certain doom ; 
 
 Or haply borne upon the sighing gale 
 
 The sea-bird s plaint, or bittern s hollow boom, 
 
 In mingled tones the wakeful ear assail, 
 
 And all in chorus joined with grief the soul enveil. 
 
 On such a night, rife with such ghostly sounds, 
 
 Nat Zoan in his cabin restless lay, 
 While thought beyond the reach of reason bounds 
 
 Into chaotic realms, cast away 
 
 Upon the rocks of Fancy deadlier they 
 Than those on which the nautic bard was lost. ( 1 1 ) 
 
 Thus long he wrought, to feverish dreams a prey, 
 Till slumber calmed his spirits, tempest-tost, 
 And him enchained till dawn night s eastern barrier crost. 
 
 (n) See note. 
 
90 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 158 
 
 And whilst his mind these dire chimeras held, 
 A lonely barge adown the river glides ; 
 
 By muffled oars and vigorous arms impelled, 
 Her pointed beak the sullen wave divides, 
 And soon beneath the prahu s stern she rides. 
 
 Then o er the rail an agile figure springs, 
 
 And seeks the cell where Sooloo s chief abides ; 
 
 The lock unclasps, his fetters from him flings, 
 
 And him to subtly guise, a Quelpart mantle brings. 
 
 59 
 
 Then muttered " Haste," (aha ! that guttural tone, 
 That cat-like step the gaunt Hocampi mark.) 
 
 He leads the captive forth, and him alone 
 Seats in the stern- sheets of the little bark 
 Then swiftly cleaves the winding river dark. 
 
 Soon in the gloom the barge is lost to view, 
 Still drifting down the silent Sarawak, 
 
 Till ocean spreads its boundless scope of blue 
 
 Then moors as sunrise glares the lurid vapors through. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 91 
 
 1 60 
 
 Hocampi lands, and with his trusty crew 
 
 The rebel chieftain hurries from the strand 
 
 Fearful, Mest roused, Nat Zoan should pursue, 
 And pour destruction on his faithful bandflfe 
 Arid mar the scheme he had so deftly planned. 
 
 Hence far amid the wood, within a cave 
 That eye of man had rarely ever scanned, 
 
 They hid the chief, avouching him to save 
 
 If he secluded kept, nor sign of being gave. 
 
 161 
 
 Thus hid within the cave, in jungle dense, 
 
 They left him in concealment firmly bound, 
 With three bold Dyaks armed for his defense 
 
 Against the beasts that fiercely prowled around ; 
 
 Then back their devious course for Kuchin wound. 
 The deed was done : Hocampi s daring skill 
 
 His vengeful plot with deep success had crowned ; 
 Nat Zoan now his vow could not fulfil, 
 And him in frenzied wrath would blood-stained Hossein kill. 
 
92 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 162 
 
 Qh, fell is he who nurseth deadly wrath, 
 
 Who darkly broods upon an injury 
 Unceasing horrors dog his thistly path, ft 
 
 A J0)ifc being he must ever be, (^^1^ 
 
 A prey to self-created misery. 
 And such a man Hocampi evil bent, 
 
 Nat Zoan s unrelenting enemy, 
 By hopeless love with ruthless vengeance blent, 
 To madness urged, conspired upon his death intent. 
 
 ,6 3 
 
 Loud peals the gong the tom-tom (12) hoarsely rolls, 
 
 And spear-tops glisten in the rising sun ; 
 Chiefs proudly stalk, and lesser braves in shoals 
 
 To Hossein s palace haste to witness one, 
 
 A faithless Jower, meet due justice done. 
 There sat the raja on a jeweled throne, 
 
 And scowled on all with look the boldest shun 
 For deadliest hate within his eyeballs shone, 
 And glared on him whose fault blood only could condone. 
 
 (12) See note. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 93 
 
 164 
 
 And lo, beside the imperious chief, a maid 
 Of peerless beauty gazes wildly round ; 
 
 Loose her attire no more in pomp arrayed, 
 
 She sadly droops, while fall her locks unbound 
 Dark glistening locks, that trail along the ground. 
 
 At length her glance upon Nat Zoan falls, 
 And at that glance her sire in anger frowned 
 
 For well it spoke of love that life enthralls : 
 
 Love fixed for aye, that naught of danger e er appals. 
 
 As when great Wallace as a captive stood, 
 
 In godlike pride, before the sleuth-hound crew 
 
 Who loathed his genius, shamed that man so good 
 Should as a vivid being blast their view 
 A hero matchless, as a patriot true : 
 
 So mid the swarthy host, with hatred rife, 
 
 Who naught of mercy, naught of honor knew, 
 
 Nat Zoan stood, to answer with his life 
 
 The traitor Pulo s flight in the Sooloosian strife. 
 
94 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 166 
 
 He to fierce Hossein tersely did relate 
 
 The prime events of his successful war : 
 How he the insurrection did abate, 
 
 And on the islets stamp the royal law ; 
 
 How he the rebel chieftain wounded saw 
 Among a heap of slain and him enchained 
 
 In fetters huge and innocent of flaw, 
 A prisoner close, till yesternight remained ; 
 Whence he escaped, forsooth, was mystery unexplained. 
 
 167 
 
 He spoke : unquailing on the raja gazed, 
 
 Who stroked his snowy beard with nervous hand, 
 
 While vengeance in his eyes dilating blazed, 
 As he the sailor s steady features scanned 
 And secretly his murderous purpose planned. 
 
 Then hoarsely forth his broken accents rolled, 
 For frenzied rage his reason had unmanned : 
 
 "Oh, thou who hast so oft escaped our hold, 
 
 Who now our power dost mock with eye and visage bold- 
 
NAT ZOAN. 95 
 
 68 
 
 " Know that at last thy villainy is sealed, 
 
 The due reward of all thy crimes is near ; 
 Unless curst Pulo s lurking place revealed 
 
 Condones thy crime thy punishment severe ; 
 
 His lair avouch, and bid the dog appear." 
 Nat Zoan heard : " I know not where he bides, 
 
 Else had I brought him bound a captive here ; 
 His flight was strange all present search derides, 
 Though in the jungle near I deem he deftly hides. 
 
 169 
 
 " Nay more, oh, chief, I deem some recreant slave 
 
 Him from the prahu led to peril me 
 As false to thee, whose mercy now I crave." 
 
 "Silence, thou cur! must thou still daring be ?" 
 
 Outspoke the raja, chafing furiously. 
 " Ho guards, arise! your krisses draw and slay ; 
 
 Bismillah! he doth utter heresy. 
 To arms ! to arms ! our mandate all obey 
 Down with the white-faced Jower him headless instant lay ! 
 
96 NAT ZOAN. 
 
 170 
 
 Wild was the yell that from the throng arose, 
 And woman s voice was mingled with the strain. 
 
 As round the fated man the warriors close 
 And ceaseless strokes upon him fiercely rain, 
 Resolved he ne er shall scape their lord again. 
 
 High in the air flashed many an ataghan, 
 Whose lustre many a gory clot did stain 
 
 And darts and javelins, scarce a pigmy s span, 
 
 About the sailor glanced, and thus the fray began. 
 
 171 
 
 But he alert, his goodly kris outdrew, 
 
 And like a meteor waved it round his head ; 
 
 Then swift a pathway hewed his foemen through, 
 Bestrewn with heaps of dying and of dead, 
 Till back the living cowered in abject dread ; 
 
 Thence toward Oloa sprang, and her upbore 
 Amid the cowering throng, and swiftly sped 
 
 With his fair burden to the river shore 
 
 Thence his fleet prahu gained, prepared the seas t explore. 
 
NAT ZOAN. 97 
 
 172 
 
 His men he calls his men with cheers respond, 
 And to the sweeps with vigorous sinews bend 
 
 And ere the foes pursue, a mile beyond 
 The uproused town the river they descend, 
 And toward the main their rapid flight extend. 
 
 But still astern careered the raja s crew 
 
 Till sunset, when the hopeless chase they end ; 
 
 Then, as they turned, one shot Nat Zoan threw, 
 
 And charged with death into Hocampi s breast it flew 
 
 END. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 I NOTE i PAGE 14. 
 
 "A Leila , long in peaceful age grown old." 
 
 LEILA. A brass cannon used by the Malays, Usually carrying a two- 
 pound shot, and mounted on the bows of the war prahus. 
 
 NOTE 2 PAGE 16. 
 " Their junk a Prahu suddenly assailed" 
 
 PRAHU. A Malay war-boat, built of timber at the lower part at the 
 upper of bamboo and kedgang, the dried leaf of the Nepa palm. Out 
 side the bends is a narrow gallery, in which the rowers sit cross-legged. 
 A cabin is formed in the after part for the Chief who commands. Over all 
 the vessel runs a strong flat roof, on which the warriors fight their arms 
 being the kris and spear, both of which require elbow room. A piece of 
 artillery called a leila is placed on the bows. Each prahu holds about 
 eighty men is swift, gaily painted, and frequently ornamented with 
 feathers. 
 
ioo NOTES. 
 
 NOTE 3 PAGE 18. 
 A jewelled Kris, which once as master claimed. " 
 
 KRIS. A sword of the Malays, sinuous in shape, and sometimes 
 poisoned. A Kris once possessed by a famous warrior is highly prized ; 
 hence the value of Hocampi s present to Nat Zoan. The handle of this 
 weapon, wrought of wood, is also supposed to possess cabalistic powers, 
 and such as are elaborate in character command fabulous prices. 
 
 NOTE 4 PAGE 27. 
 Ballu, forever doomed to keep.* 
 
 KEENEY BALLU. The highest mountain in Borneo, rising 14,000 feet 
 above the level of the s.ea. It is remarkable for the numerous cascades 
 which fall from its summit, where a lake exists, said by the Dyaks to be 
 haunted by the shadows of the dead. 
 
 NOTES 5 AND 6 PAGE 31. 
 "CVj, for a hate such as Damiens bore* 1 
 
 ROBERT FRANCIS DAMIENS. A native of France, executed March 28, 
 1757, for attempting to assassinate the king. 
 
 " Such as Chastel with endless glory crowned." 
 
 JOHN CHASTEL. The son of a woolen-draper of Paris, who attempted 
 to kill Henry IV of France, December 27, 1594. He and Damiens were 
 put to death with horrid tortures. 
 
NOTES. 101 
 
 NOTE 7 PAGE 33. 
 "Or scorn the turbaned Seer, whose law hath no appeal" 
 
 MOHAMMAD. No name has probably suffered more at the hands of 
 transcribers than that of the founder of Islamism. It is written no less 
 than forty different ways, its pronunciation being almost equally indefi 
 nitely established. The correct form is Mohammad so written and pro 
 nounced on the authority of Senator Wm. J. Shaw, who during a length 
 ened sojourn among the Oriental nations, critically observed their manners 
 customs, religious and social ceremonies, modes of expression, etc. The 
 Senator also takes issue against the popular fallacy of the upas being a 
 deadly plant. During his residence in Java he searchingly investigated its 
 properties, and was convinced of their harmlessness. One strong proof of 
 this is the cultivation of the plant, which, considered exceedingly orna 
 mental, is found in almost every garden. The annihilation of this super 
 stition will fall heavily on the imaginants who have been wont to consider 
 the upas a symbol of extreme malignancy. 
 
 NOTE 8 PAGE 46. 
 Then from his belt a Sum-pi-tan he drew" 
 
 SUM-PI-TAN. A reed through which a small dart is propelled by blow 
 ing. The dart is charged with poison, and the wound usually fatal. 
 Though used chiefly to kill birds, it is often employed against larger 
 game, the huge serpents of these fiery latitudes occasionally falling victims 
 to its deadly attributes. 
 
102 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE 9 PAGE 54. 
 Thou the brave Joiuer of power invincible. 
 
 JOWER. This word, immortalized by Byron, signifies "infidel." It is 
 usually written "Giaour," but as this mode is the cause of much mis- 
 pronouncement, I have ventured to anglicize the word, conforming the or 
 thography to the pronunciation. 
 
 NOTE 10 PAGE 71. 
 tl Here in a cell, where heads from warriors cut." 
 
 Outside most Dyak villages there is a building raised on posts, circular 
 in shape, pointed roofed, and pierced with port-holes. This is the Head- 
 house, in which are suspended the heads of enemies killed in battle. 
 These cerebral mementoes are usually painted in barbaric style pieces of 
 wood, colored to represent eyes, being inserted in the visual sockets, and 
 gaudy-tinted tassels floating from the shrunken chins. The heads are 
 swung from beams, the lines passing through the skulls and being long, 
 allowing considerable vibration when the wind blows strongly through the 
 port-holes. 
 
 NOTE n PAGE 89. 
 "Than those on which the nautic bard was lost." 
 
 Allusion is here made to Falconer, incontestably the greatest marine 
 poet of the world. His untimely fate by shipwreck in the Mozambique 
 channel was a fitting end to him whose muse had been cradled on the 
 surge and nurtured in the tempest. 
 
NOTES. 103 
 
 NOTE 12 PAGE 92. 
 Loud peals the gong the tom-tom hoarsely rolls." 
 
 TOM-TOM. A drum used by the people of the Malaysian Isles. The 
 gong also employed is larger than the Chinese, and has a more sonorous 
 sound. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 In line ninth, verse 91, for "vision" read "visage. 
 

 
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