see how he bathes, ’gendering the crocodile,
th’ Abassian land, where man to Christ is true.
behold, how lacking ramparts (novel style!)
he fights heroic battle with the foe.
see Meroe, island erst of ancient fame,
Nobá amongst the peoples now its name.’[[3]]
Lusiad, Canto x. 95.
This is happier and truer to antiquity than the doubts of José Basilio da Gama:—
‘—the sombre range
Virginal, ne’er by foot of man profaned,