Page:The Lusiad (Camões, tr. Mickle, 1791), Volume 2.djvu/229

While thus the Moor his faithful tale reveal'd,
Wide o'er the coast the voice of rumour swell'd;
As first some upland vapour seems to float
Small as the smoke of lonely shepherd cot,
Soon o'er the dales the rolling darkness spreads,
And wraps in hazy clouds the mountain heads,
The leafless forest and the utmost lea;
And wide its black wings hover o'er the sea:
The tear-dropt bough hangs weeping in the vale,
And distant navies rear the mist-wet sail.
So fame increasing, loud and louder grew,
And to the sylvan camp resounding flew;
A lordly band, she cries, of warlike mien,
Of face and garb in India never seen,
Of tongue unknown, through gulfs undared before,
Unknown their aim, have reach'd the Indian shore.
To hail their chief the Indian lord prepares,
And to the fleet he sends his banner'd Nayres:
As to the bay the nobles press along,
The wondering city pours th' unnumber'd throng.
And now brave GAMA and his splendid train,
Himself adorn'd in all the pride of Spain,
In gilded barges slowly bend to shore,
While to the lute the gently-falling oar
Now, breaks the surges of the briny tide,
And now, the strokes the cold fresh stream divide.
Pleased with the splendour of the Lusian band,
On every bank the crowded thousands stand.

Begirt