Hail Columbus!

Philip Freneau, "Columbus at Cat Island" (Extract)

Columbus:

Hail, beauteous land! the first that greets mine eye

Since, bold, we left the cloud capp'd Teneriffe,

The world's last limit long suppos'd by men.—

Tir'd with dull prospects of the watry waste

And midnight dangers that around us grew,

Faint hearts and feeble hands and traitors vile,

Thee, Holy Saviour, on this foreign land

We still adore, and name this coast from thee!

In these green groves who would not wish to stay,

Where guardian nature holds her quiet reign,

Where beardless men speak other languages,

Unknown to us, ourselves unknown to them.

Antonio:

In tracing o'er the isle no gold I find—

Nought else but barren trees and craggy rocks

Where screaming sea-fowl mix their odious loves,

And fields of burning marle, where devils play

And men with copper skins talk barbarously;—

What merit has our chief in sailing hither,

Discovering countries of no real worth!

Spain has enough of barren sands, no doubt,

And savages in crowds are found at home;—

Why then surmount the world's circumference

Merely to stock us with this Indian breed?