THE BOATS OF THE 'GLEN CARRIG'

_Madre Mia_

People may say thou art no longer young
And yet, to me, thy youth was yesterday,
A yesterday that seems
Still mingled with my dreams.
Ah! how the years have o'er thee flung
Their soft mantilla, grey.

And e'en to them thou art not over old;
How could'st thou be! Thy hair
Hast scarcely lost its deep old glorious dark:
Thy face is scarcely lined. No mark
Destroys its calm serenity. Like gold
Of evening light, when winds scarce stir,
The soul-light of thy face is pure as prayer.




I

The Land of Lonesomeness


Now we had been five days in the boats, and in all this time made no
discovering of land. Then upon the morning of the sixth day came there a
cry from the bo'sun, who had the command of the lifeboat, that there was
something which might be land afar upon our larboard bow; but it was very
low lying, and none could tell whether it was land or but a morning
cloud. Yet, because there was the beginning of hope within our hearts, we
pulled wearily towards it, and thus, in about an hour, discovered it to
be indeed the coast of some flat country.

Then, it might be a little after the hour of midday, we had come so close
to it that we could distinguish with ease what manner of land lay beyond
the shore, and thus we found it to be of an abominable flatness, desolate
beyond all that I could have imagined. Here and there it appeared to be
covered with clumps of queer vegetation; though whether they were small
trees or great bushes, I had no means of telling; but this I know, that
they were like unto nothing which ever I had set eyes upon before.

So much as this I gathered as we pulled slowly along the coast, seeking
an opening whereby we could pass inward to the land; but a weary time
passed or ere we came upon that which we sought. Yet, in the end, we
found it--a slimy-banked creek, which proved to be the estuary of a great
river, though we spoke of it always as a creek. Into this we entered, and
proceeded at no great pace upwards along its winding course; and as we
made forward, we scanned the low banks upon each side, perchance there
might be some spot where we could make to land; but we found none--the
banks being composed of a vile mud which gave us no encouragement to
venture rashly upon them.

Now, having taken the boat something over a mile up the great creek, we
came upon the first of that vegetation which I had chanced to notice from
the sea, and here, being within some score yards of it, we were the
better able to study it. Thus I found that it was indeed composed largely
of a sort of tree, very low and stunted, and having what might be
described as an unwholesome look about it. The branches of this tree, I
perceived to be the cause of my inability to recognize it from a bush,
until I had come close upon it; for they grew thin and smooth through all
their length, and hung towards the earth; being weighted thereto by a
single, large cabbage-like plant which seemed to sprout from the extreme
tip of each.

Presently, having passed beyond this clump of the vegetation, and the
banks of the river remaining very low, I stood me upon a thwart, by which
means I was enabled to scan the surrounding country. This I discovered,
so far as my sight could penetrate, to be pierced in all directions with
innumerable creeks and pools, some of these latter being very great of
extent; and, as I have before made mention, everywhere the country was
low set--as it might be a great plain of mud; so that it gave me a sense
of dreariness to look out upon it. It may be, all unconsciously, that my
spirit was put in awe by the extreme silence of all the country around;
for in all that waste I could see no living thing, neither bird nor
vegetable, save it be the stunted trees, which, indeed, grew in clumps
here and there over all the land, so much as I could see.