Multnomah Falls.
As the canoe glided on amid the still fishermen of other tribes, the Indian maiden began to sing. It was a strange song, of immortality, and of spiritual horizons beyond the visible life. The Umatillas have poetic minds. To them white Tacoma with her gushing streams means a mother's breast, and the streams themselves, like the Falls of the distant Shoshone, were "falling splendors."
She sang in Chinook, and the burden of her song was that horizons will lift forever in the unknown future. The Chinook word tamala means "to-morrow"; and to-morrow, to the Indian mind, was eternal life.
The young warrior joined in the refrain, and the old Indian listened. The thought of the song was something as follows:
"Aha! it is ever to-morrow, to-morrow—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we row;
Lift thine eye to the mount; to the wave give thy sorrow;
The river is bright, and the rivulets flow;
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! tamala!
"Happy boat, it is ever to-morrow, to-morrow—
Tamala, whisper the waves as they flow;
The crags of the sunset the smiles of light borrow,
And soft from the ocean the Chinook winds blow:
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! tamala!
"Aha! the night comes, but the light is to-morrow—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we go;
The waves ripple past, like the heart-beats of sorrow,
And the oar beats the wave to our song as we row:
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! tamala!
"For ever and ever horizons are lifting—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we row;
And life toward the stars of the ocean is drifting,
Through death will the morrow all endlessly glow—
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go,
Tamala! tamala!"
The paddle dipped in the wave at the word tamala, and lifted high to mark the measure of the song, and strew in the warm, soft air the watery jewels colored by the far fires of the Sound. So the boat swept on, like a spirit bark, and the beautiful word of immortality was echoed from the darkening bluffs and the primitive pine cathedrals.