There once existed in the Pacific Ocean a beautiful island, called the
Island of Gracia. In the early ages of the world, before the human race
had begun to explore the more distant regions of the globe, it was
probably a wild and barren rock, with abrupt sharp-edged hills and dark
pools of stagnant water, without a patch of green herbage, or animal or
vegetable life of any description to enliven its solitude; while the
only sound heard around it was that of the wild waves dashing
ceaselessly on its rugged shores. Ages passed away, and those
indefatigable insects, the coral worms, built up their wonderful
habitations, like lofty walls, around it; toiling, seemingly, for no
other purpose than to show how for their structures can surpass in size
the most mighty efforts of men. The reefs thus created broke the force
of the fierce waves; a soft yellow sand was formed, and shells of many
shapes and delicate tints were washed up uninjured on the beach. The
sun and rain, with alternate influence, softened also the hard rock, and
a soil was formed, and birds of the air rested there in their passage
across the ocean, and brought seeds of various descriptions from
far-distant lands, which took root and sprung up; and the hills became
clothed with fragrant shrubs and gorgeous flowers, and tall trees with
luscious fruits grew in the valleys, and a soft green herbage covered
the banks of the silent lakes and murmuring streams. Thus the island
became a fit habitation for man. Now, it happened that a canoe or a
galley with many oars, or a vessel of some description, such as was used
in ancient times, with a chief and his followers, and their wives and
children, set sail from a remote country. Either they fled from their
victorious enemies, or they were driven by a storm so far from their
native shores that they could not return. Thus they floated over the
ocean, till they reached the Island of Gracia. So shattered was their
vessel by the tempest, and so delighted were the chief and his people
with the appearance of that beautiful land, that they were well
contented to remain. Their chief now became their King.
In the course of a few generations the descendants of the first
adventurers had thickly peopled the whole island, and had lost all
record of the land from whence they came, nor did they know whether it
lay to the north or south, or to the east or west.
Monarch succeeded monarch, till King Zaphor came to the throne of
Gracia. Everybody loved King Zaphor, for he was a benignant and
paternal sovereign, who attended to the wants of his subjects. The King
had a daughter, the Princess Serena; he loved his people, but he
absolutely doted on his daughter. She was the child of his affections,
the sole relic of a departed wife, the soother of his regal cares, the
companion of his hours of retirement. The people loved their King, but
they almost adored the Princess, and there was not a man in the island
who would not have gladly died to protect her from harm.
Her heart was tender and good, and if she heard of any persons who were
ill or in trouble, she was not contented till she had done her utmost to
relieve them. Her blooming countenance was radiant with smiles and
animation, and she was beautiful, too, as she was amiable. The poets of
Gracia used to liken her to a graceful sea-bird floating on the calm
bosom of the deep, as, followed by her attendant maidens, as was her
daily custom, she tripped across the flowery mead, or through the shady
woods, or along the yellow sands, herself the fairest and most agile of
them all!
The Princess and her youthful maids loved to pluck the sweet-scented
flowers to make chaplets for their hair, or wreaths to twine round their
sylph-like forms. At other times they would amuse themselves by dancing
on the smooth sands, or they would plunge fearlessly into the water, and
would sport like sea-nymphs in the clear bright waves within the coral
reefs, while the rocks and adjacent woods rang with their joyous
laughter.
The Princess also had a beautiful bower, where none but her own
attendants dared intrude. It was formed of branches of red and white
coral, beautifully polished and interlaced. The roof was covered with
the long, thick leaves of the palmetto, and the outside walls were built
of the long-enduring bamboo, so closely placed together that neither
wind nor rain could penetrate; while the whole was shaded by a
wide-spreading palm-tree, and surrounded by a grove of cocoa-nut and
plantain-trees. In front, through an opening in the wood, the sands of
the sea-shore and its fantastic-shaped rocks, and the blue ocean,
glittering in the sunshine, could be seen.
Here the Princess Serena and her attendants used to retire during the
heat of the day, to partake of their simple but delicious repasts of
bread made from the quick-growing cariaca or the cassada root, the
nutritive and luscious plantain, the heads of the cockarito-palm, and
boiled pappaws, with sea-side grapes, and other fruits and vegetables
too numerous to mention; or they would ply the distaff, or would make
dresses of feathers and baskets of reeds, while they amused themselves
with pleasant talk; and thus their days passed innocently and happily
away.