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Eastward far for many a league.
And not yet the charm is spoken
By the magi of the West,
Bidding crystal streams unbroken
Gush from out its arid breast.*
Fount refreshing, fruit-tree laden —
Vain it were to seek them here !
Must she perish, hapless maiden,
With a freedom bought so dear ?
Melleff, through the air's hot glimmer
Mark'st thou not yon lowly dome,
With its white, its dazzling shimmer ?
'Tis a holy Imaum's tomb !
Ishmael's sons, in death still yearning
As in life, make latest choice
Of the desert bare and burning,
* The French have bored a considerable number of Artesian wells in
the Algerine Sahara, and similar operations have been carried on within
a few years in Egypt, and other parts of Northern Africa. See an inter-
esting article in the Revue de l'Orient, for September, 1858.
