"The joys that were felt when we pass'd by the shore
Where no footsteps of Man had e'er yet been imprest,
When rose in the distance no mountain-tops hoar
As the sun of the ev'ning bright gilded the west,
Full swiftly they fled—and that hour, too, is gone
When we gain'd the meridian, assign'd as a bound
To entitle our crews to their country's first boon,
Hail'd by all as an omen the passage was found.
"And pass'd with our pleasures are moments of pain,
Of anxious suspense, and of eager alarm.