human
This is but a poor country, Jan, observed the older man, after a few contented puffs at his huge pipe.
gpt
There be no treasure of gold or silver buried here.
human
Nought but forest and rock, with a biting wind o' nights, replied Hoevenden.
gpt
I wish for none of that. Give me the south. Hast ever been in Florida?
human
Nay. Is that land as fruitful as men say?
gpt
It knows no winter, and even in the midst of the year the heat is never so great that a man may not endure to work. The soil is so rich that grain dropped upon the ground shall spring into harvest in a month. Sugar and fruit grow there, and much timber for building. There is also game for the pot, and furs for a man's back.
human
There are pestilent beasts, they tell me,
gpt
Well, man, there was never a paradise without serpents. True there are mighty reptiles, twenty feet in length, within the rivers, and monstrous scorpions upon land. But what of it? There are perils upon every shore. A man may sit out at night under a big moon, beside trees covered with white or pink blooms, every bloom as great as his head and smelling like wine, and he may listen to the Tritons singing as they splash through the sea, and watch the mermaidens--passing fair they say who have seen them--lying upon the rocks, wringing salt water from their hair. 'Tis a wondrous shore. I would rather own an acre of it than be master of all this country of cold forest where there is neither fruit nor flower.
human
The fog arises yonder,