The lands they take, well does my brother know,
They fairly purchase of the nations red;
E'en thus would I on Seekonk's marge abide,
If peaceful nations dwelt on either side.

LVII.

"On Seekonk's bank, betwixt my brothers white
And the red nations I might friendly stand,
And help them still to understand aright

Whate'er was doubtful from each other's hand;
The chain of friendship hold, and keep it bright,
And strengthen thus all Narraganset's band;
Till 'gainst our common foes we all unite,
And conquer safety through resistless might.

LVIII.

"This question seeks the Sachem's plain reply:
Takes he the pipe — lays he the axe aside?
Have I his peace, or does he peace deny,
Nor in my honest counsels aught confide?

Still chooses he the doubtful strife to try,

And brave the Yengees with his foes allied?

Say― can he listen to an exiled man,

Whose words and deeds might still befriend his clan ?”

LIX.

Brother," the Sachem said in milder tone,

"Six fragments of the pipe, as well explained,

My willing hand receives I ponder on

The last in doubt the three, thou hast retained, Send to Awanux

may he answer soon,

And show our blindness has of them complained; Thy heart seems open, and its speech is brave;

Queries of weight demand an answer grave.

LX.

"Large is our regal lodge, and furnished well
With skins of beaver, bear, and buffalo;
Nausamp and venison is its royal meal;

And its warm fire is like the summer's glow:
There, with that Wampanoag shalt thou dwell,
And all our comforts in full safety know;
The whilst, our old chiefs shall, in council great,
Upon thy questions gravely meditate."

LXI.

Here closed the long debate, and, from the ground,
Rose the thronged warriors, and hoarse murmurs past
Through all that concourse, like the hollow sound
Of Narraganset's waters, when the blast

Begins to roll the tumbling billows round

The rock-bound cape, which had so lately glassed
Its imaged self-its pendant crags and wood-
In the calm bosom of the silent flood.

CANTO FIFTH.

[SCENES. A Sequestered Dale-Open Glade and Grand National Council -The SUMMIT OF HAUP.]

DEEP in the dale's sequestered solitude,

Screened from the winter's storm and chilling blast By branching cedars and thick underwood, And ever with their shadows overcast, Old Narraganset's regal wigwam stood,

Where dwelt her chief, while yet the cold did last, And tempests, driving from the frozen north, Detained his warriors from the work of wrath.

II.

And near it rose an ample council hall,

Where oft the Narraganset senate sate,
When came the wise men, at their Sachem's call,
On schemes of high emprise to hold debate;
And in the shade were shelters meet, for all
His grave advisers who should on him wait;
And, with the red men just as with the white,
Such free provision did delays invite.

III.

Here Father Williams must a while remain.
And, with apt converse born of feelings mild,
Soothe the stern natures of the warlike train,
His destined neighbors in that barbarous wild;
Allay distrust and confidence obtain,

Until suspicion and fierce wrath, despoiled
Of all their terrors, leave the vanquished mind
To generous friendship and full faith inclined.

IV.

Day after day he passed from man to man,
Whome'er of note the mightier Sachems swayed,
And, to the chieftains of each martial clan,

In paints all grim — in horrid arms arrayed-
He talked of peace; then o'er the dangers ran,
Were war against the Wampanoag made;
And then besought them that with friendly eyes,
They would behold his smoke from Seekonk rise.

V.

Betwixt the tribes, on either side the stream,

Still he the belt would hold - the pipe would bear; But never in his hand should lightning gleam

For either Sachem when he rushed to war;
And with the Yengees still might it beseem
Him to promote an understanding fair,

Till wide the tree of peace its branches spread,
And white and red men smoked beneath its shade.

VI.

But chiefly did he this free converse hold

With M'antonomi, Sachem young and brave,

And great Canonicus, sagacious, old

And in his speech deliberate and grave.

One eve they sate - the storm without was cold,

'Twas ere the council their decision gave, And thus the talk went on among the three, The questions simple and the answers free.

VII.
ΜΙΑΝΤΟΝΟΜΙ.

Why will my brother dwell amid our foes,

Yet seek from us a peaceful neighborhood? May we not think he'll bend their battle bows,

And thirst like them for Narraganset's blood?

Why has he Seekonk's eastern border chose,

And not surveyed Mooshausick's winding flood? Its banks are green, its forests waving fair,

Its fountains cool, the deer abundant there.

VIII.

WILLIAMS.

Ne'er will I dwell among my brother's foes,
To make them friends is now thy brother's toil;
Too weak I am to bend their battle bows,

Had I the heart for such unseemly broil.
The forest fair that by Mooshausick grows,
Would long withstand the hardy woodman's toil.
The Seekonk's marge will easy tillage yield,
And soon the spiry maize will clothe its field.

IX.

CANONICUS.

How could my brother's thoughts his friends offend ?
Why flies he to the red from faces pale?
How can he still the nations red befriend?
What can his speeches with his foes avail?
No arms he bears, no Yengees him attend,

How dares his foot to print this distant vale?
The path was shut between the nations red,
How dared my brother on that path to tread ?

X.
WILLIAMS.

The white man labors to enthrall the mind,
He will not let its thoughts of God be free;
I come the soul's hard bondage to unbind,
And clear her access to the Deity;