LONDON:

HENRY BAYLIS, JOHNSON'S-COURT, FLEET-STREET.

ADVENTURES

OF

A YOUNGER SO N.

And I will war, at least in words, (and-should
My chance so happen-deeds) with all who war
With thought;-and of thought's foes by far most rude,
Tyrants and sycophants have been and are.

I know not who may conquer: if I could
Have such a prescience, it should be no bar
To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation
Of every despotism in every nation.

BYRON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

LONDON:

HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,

NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

1831.

ADVENTURES

OF

A YOUNGER SON.

CHAPTER I.

A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love,
And beauty, all concentrating like rays
Into one focus, kindled from above;

Such kisses as belong to early days,

When heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move,
And the blood's lava, and the pulse a blaze,
Each kiss a heart-quake ;-for a kiss's strength,
I think it must be reckon'd by its length.

BYRON.

THE Beajus are supposed to be part of the aborigines of the immense island of Borneo. They have been driven to the interior, which is composed of hills and huge mountains, dark,

rugged and precipitous. A chain of these mountains approached that part of the island, off which we lay; and stretching their roots, as it were, far out into the sea, rendered the approach dangerous. Had it not been for the little islands, like excrescences or suckers from the roots, which sheltered us, we could have found no anchorage there, nor within many leagues. The sea lies on both sides without port or pasturage, while the immense morass and high mountains form a barrier in-land, so that, with the exception of occasional marauders pillaging in proas a few scattered villages on a plain bordering on the morass, the Beajus here live undisturbed, in consideration of a tribute paid to a Malay settlement on the western coast. Left to be governed by their own chiefs, they live in patriarchal simplicity. Hunting and fishing are their principal occupations; nevertheless they have a sufficient quantity of rice, Indian corn, and some other grain, with abundance of fruits, roots, and herbs. The rainy season begins in April, and continues for more than half the and year; the great morass, the boundary of their territory, it rains for ever, with frightful storms, thunder and lightning. Nothing living dares to enter, except wild beasts, which sometimes prowl thither. It was called the land of the destroying power, and believed to be peopled by demons,

on