[15] There is a Scandinavian legend that Siegfried, the “Viking,” feeling that he was at the point of death, caused himself to be placed on the deck of his ship; the sails were hoisted, the vessel set on fire, and in this manner he drifted out to sea, alone, and finished his career.
[16] In the “days of old, the days of gold, and the days of ’49,” water was brought from the Sierran heights in wooden viaducts, or “flumes,” to be used in the mines. The fifth stanza refers to the process of hydraulic mining, where the water, projected through huge nozzles (somewhat after the fashion used by fire-engines), washed down the mountain-sides into the sluice-boxes where the dirt was washed away and the gold retained. Now the flume’s waters are mainly diverted to purposes of irrigation.
[17] “‘The Arrow and the Song’ came into my mind and glanced on to the paper with an arrow’s speed—literally an improvisation,” said Longfellow. The poem has been exceedingly popular, both when recited and also when sung to the beautiful music composed for it by the Italian song-writer, Ciro Pinsuti.
[18] Here is a variant of the last two lines:
“Has twenty-eight and this in fine
One year in four has twenty-nine.”
INDEX
All titles to chapters are in capitals.
All titles to selections are in italics.