Daily national Democrat., 1860-03-11
Humboldt River

humboldt river Oh, most horrible ~
rivers, let us rename it. Let us call - AZ
River OF Death" For three hundrod - no
1ts oanks are one continuous buryinp ground
Like the monster serpent, which oroo ;n'
peded the march and thinned the ranl,s 80
the Roman army, by filling the atmosnbota 70
WIN ms pestlferous and death DEALING hsnotL
50 do'h TINS monster stretch itself alone tbo
route and lying in wait for the great annual
army OF emigration, fill the air with deotb.
producing miasma. 1t literally fattens its
lean sides with the flesh of The en,ioror,
nusoahd, wife and babe. If, as some t6inE
departed spirits remain in the vicinity v,homo
lie In corruption the feshly tenements onco
inhabited by them, then indeed must tbo
o"'ihs vi this stream, at midnight. when
spirits are supposed to commence their night.
" roaming upon the earth, present to the
splrlG vision sadder sight than ever caused
human eye to fill with tears of sorrow
Naught but the ghosts of worn out and starved
fathers, mothers and babes Oh borr;hla
most horrible of rivers Let us cali thee
the River of Death-iShasta Courier
Iae River of Death, as it rolls
WIN sound like the wailng of souls
ana, nursing their dust NAV be seen
Inc Inc ghosts OF the dead by the green
BilIowy heaps on the shore
Dlm shapes, as they crouch by the graves.
And wall with the rush of the waves
On-seeking the desert beforel
Nursing their dust gainst the morn
Mnlcn surely shall see us, newborn,
ARISE from the womb of the Earth
That through rain or through dearth.
Through calm or through storm.
Through seasons and times, no part NAV he lost
by the ruthless winds tost. O''
OF the marital which sboI (
No leaf that NAV bud
by that dark, sullen food.
No flower that may bloom.
With its tomb-like perfume,
In That region infectious of gloom:
No subtilized breath
That may ripple that River of Death
Or, vapory, float in the desolate air.
put is watched, with vigilant, miserlv care.
Lest steal from the dust of the dead that are there
TOT the elements aye are in league,
WI b patience unknowing fatigue.
10 scatter mortahty's mould,
And sweep from the graves what thev hold
!, would not, ween, be the wight
To roam by that river at night,
When the souls are abroad in the glooms.
Enough that the daytime is weird
With such mystical sights as are feared
MID the silence of moonlightod tombs
NeTu suoTeS, WIN tnelr alkaline white,
That loom in the glare of the light;
Weird bones as they bleach In the sun,
Where the beast from his labors IS done:
Weird frost-work Of poisonous dews
On shrub and on herb which effuse
The death they have drank to their core:
Weird columns up.borne from the floor
of the white-crusted deserts which boil
With the whirlwinds' hot, blasting turmoil
As ghost-like he glides on his way
Each ghastly, worn pilgrim looks gray
With the dust the envenomed winds fail:
And the beast he bestrides is as pale
AS the steed of the Vision of John,
With him, the DESTROYER, thereon.
Dark river, foul river, tbs we'll
That into the jaws of thy He'll
The Open-mouthed Desert*-should fall
Thy waves that so haunt and appall.
'Tis fit that thou seek the profound
of the all-hiding Night underground;
Like the river which nine times around
The realm of grim Erebus wound,
To roll in that region Of dread
A Stygian Stream Of the Dead!