The Ivory Trail

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The Ivory Trail (1919)
by Talbot Mundy
3005803The Ivory Trail1919Talbot Mundy


"This song's of youth, and strength, and health, and time that's on the wing

THE
IVORY TRAIL

By TALBOT MUNDY



Frontispiece by
Joseph Clement Coll


A. L. BURT COMPANY

Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with the Bobb-Merrill Company


Copyright 1919
The Bobb-Merrill Company

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

Chapters (not listed in original)

THE NJO HAPA[1] SONG

Green, ah greener than emeralds are, tree-tops beckon the dhows to land,
White, oh whiter than diamonds are, blue waves burst on the amber sand,
And nothing is fairer than Zanzibar from the Isles o’ the West to the Marquesand.

I was old when the world was wild with youth.
(All love was lawless then!)
Since ‘Venture’s birth from ends of earth
I ha’ called the sons of men,
And their women have wept the ages out
In travail sore to know
What lure of opiate art can leach
Along bare seas from reef to beach
Until from port and river reach
The fever’d captains go.

Red, oh redder than red lips are my flowers that nod in the blazing noon,
Blue, oh bluer than maidens’ eyes are the breasts o’ my waves in the young monsoon,
And there are cloves to smell, and musk, and lemon trees, and cinnamon.


  1. The words “Njo Hapa” in the Kiswahili tongue are the equivalent of “come hither!”

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1919, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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