But who in love is wise?
Who reckons worldly wealth when love, the spirit and spring of the
universe, awakens in the soul? Like birds who call their mates with
love-learned songs, Anna and I loved each other, so that nothing bid,
death could part us. I had promised Anna I would return rich from my
voyage as others had done, when her father might be the more inclined
to look with favour upon my suit. Well--here was the and of my
promises, and my hopes--death, or, still worse, life among a savage and
barbarous people.
CHAPTER II
THE BLACK CANNIBALS OF NEW HOLLAND
On the morning after my capture by the black cannibals of New Holland,
at daybreak, I was driven, out of the gunyah in which I had passed the
night, to be looked at by the tribe, who had now collected in great
numbers, and who encircled me with a ring of hazel eyes. Their
complexion was black, their hair woolly, and many of them were quite
naked, as though they lived in a state of brute nature. There did not
appear to be anyone in recognized authority among them, for they all
talked their outlandish jargon at the same time, and, presently, they
began to search me for such small articles of personal property as I
possessed.
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