Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/17

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IRCÉMA
3

CHAPTER II.

Far, very far from that Serra which purples the hori-
zon, was born Iraçéma.

Iraçéma, the virgin with the honey lips,[1] whose hair, hanging below her palm-like[2] waist, was jetty as the Graúna[3] bird՚s wing.

The comb of the Játy-bee[4] was less sweet than her smile, and her breath excelled the perfume exhaled by the vanilla[5] of the woods.

Fleeter than the wild roe, the dark virgin wandered freely through the plains and forests of Ipú,[6] where her warlike tribe, a part of the great Tabajára[7] nation, lay wigwamed. Her subtle, naked foot scarcely pressed to earth the thin green garment with which the early rains clothe the ground.

One day, when the sun was in mid-day height, she was reposing in a forest-clearing. The shade of the Oitycíca,[8] more refreshing than the dew of night, bathed her form. The arms of the wild acacia dropped their blossoms upon her wet hair. The birds hidden in the foliage sang for her their sweetest songs.

Iraçéma left the bath. Pearl drops of water stood upon her, like the sweet Mangába,[9] which blushes in

  1. ↑ Iraçéma literally means "Lips of Honey."
  2. ↑ The Indians, speaking of a tall straight graceful figure, generally use the palm-tree as a simile.
  3. ↑ Graúna is a bird known by its shining black plumage and sweet song.
  4. ↑ Játy is a little bee which makes delicious honey.
  5. ↑ The vanilla tree, Baunilha.
  6. ↑ Itú, a district in Ceará, in which there were spots of wonder-
    fully fertile land.
  7. ↑ Tabajára literally means "Lord of the Villages."
  8. ↑ Oitycica, a leafy tree whose shade exhales a delicious fresh-
    ness.
  9. ↑ Mangába, the fruit of the Mangábeira, the milk of which tree resembles indiarubber.
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