.

But if it was with many regrets, that in the sight of Yillah, I
perceived myself thus dwarfing down to a mortal; it was with quite
contrary emotions, that I contemplated the extinguishment in her
heart of the notion of her own spirituality. For as such thoughts
were chased away, she clung the more closely to me, as unto one
without whom she would be desolate indeed.

And now, at intervals, she was sad, and often gazed long and fixedly
into the sea. Nor would she say why it was, that she did so; until at
length she yielded; and replied, that whatever false things Aleema
might have instilled into her mind; of this much she was certain:
that the whirlpool on the coast of Tedaidee prefigured her fate; that
in the waters she saw lustrous eyes, and beckoning phantoms, and
strange shapes smoothing her a couch among the mosses.

Her dreams seemed mine. Many visions I had of the green corse of the
priest, outstretching its arms in the water, to receive pale Yillah,
as she sunk in the sea.

But these forebodings departed, no happiness in the universe like
ours. We lived and we loved; life and love were united; in gladness
glided our days.

CHAPTER LII
World Ho!

Five suns rose and set. And Yillah pining for the shore, we turned
our prow due west, and next morning came in sight of land.

It was innumerable islands; lifting themselves bluely through the
azure air, and looking upon the distant sea, like haycocks in a hazy
field. Towering above all, and mid-most, rose a mighty peak; one
fleecy cloud sloping against its summit; a column wreathed. Beyond,
like purple steeps in heaven at set of sun, stretched far away, what
seemed lands on lands, in infinite perspective.

Gliding on, the islands grew more distinct; rising up from the
billows to greet us; revealing hills, vales, and peaks, grouped
within a milk-white zone of reef, so vast, that in the distance all
was dim. The jeweled vapors, ere-while hovering over these violet
shores, now seemed to be shedding their gems; and as the almost level
rays of the sun, shooting through the air like a variegated prism,
touched the verdant land, it trembled all over with dewy sparkles.

Still nearer we came: our sail faintly distended as the breeze died
away from our vicinity to the isles. The billows rolled listlessly
by, as if conscious that their long task was nigh done; while gleamed
the white reef, like the trail of a great fish in a calm. But as yet,
no sign of paddl