whole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where sometimes we spied a
vessel coming from Europe, or returning thither. On this rock the two
families assembled in the evening, and enjoyed, in silence, the freshness
of the air, the fragrance of the flowers, the murmurs of the fountains, and
the last blended harmonies of light and shade.

"Nothing could be more agreeable than the names which were bestowed upon
some of the charming retreats of this labyrinth. That rock, of which I was
speaking, and from which my approach was discerned at a considerable
distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and Virginia, amidst
their sports, had planted a bamboo on that spot; and whenever they saw me
coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief, by way of signal of my
approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the neighbouring mountain at
the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me of engraving an
inscription upon the stalk of this reed. Whatever pleasure I have felt,
during my travels, at the sight of a statue or monument of antiquity, I
have felt still more in reading of well written inscription. It seems to me
as if a human voice issued from the stone and making itself heard through
the lapse of ages, addressed man in the midst of a desert, and told him
that I was not alone; that other men, on that very spot, have felt, and
thought, and suffered like himself. If the inscription belongs to an
ancient nation which no longer exists, it leads the soul through infinite
space, and inspires the feeling of its immortality, by showing that a
thought has survived the ruins of an empire.

"I inscribed then, on the little mast of Paul and Virginia's flag, those
lines of Horace:

Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
Ventorumque regat pater,