DAMPIER'S EARLY LIFE—CAMPECHé—HE JOINS THE BUCCANEERS
There is an account of Dampier's early life written by himself in the second volume of his Travels. I do not know that anything is to be added to what he there tells us. A man should be accepted as an authority on his own career when it comes to a question of dates and adventures. The interest of this sailor's life really begins with his own account of his first voyage round the world; and though he is a very conspicuous2 figure in English maritime3 history, the position he occupies scarcely demands the curious and minute inquiry4 into those parts of his career on which he is silent that we should bestow5 on the life of a great genius.
William Dampier was born at East Coker in the year 1652. His parents intended him for a commercial life, but the idea of shopkeeping was little likely to suit the genius of a lad who was a rover in heart whilst he was still in petticoats; and on the death of his father and mother his friends, finding him bent6 upon an ocean life, bound him apprentice7 to the master of a ship belonging to Weymouth. This was in or about the year 1669. [Pg 16] With this captain he made a short voyage to France, and afterwards proceeded to Newfoundland in the same ship, being then, as he tells us, about eighteen years of age. The bitter cold of Newfoundland proved too much for his seafaring resolutions, and, procuring9 the cancellation10 of his indentures11, he went home to his friends. But the old instinct was not to be curbed12. Being in London some time after his return from the Newfoundland voyage, he heard of an outward-bound East Indiaman named the John and Martha, the master of which was one Earning. The idea of what he calls a “warm voyage” suited him. He offered himself as a foremast hand and was accepted. The voyage was to Bantam, and he was away rather longer than a year, during which time he says he kept no journal, though he enlarged his knowledge of navigation. The outbreak of the Dutch war seems to have determined13 him to stay at home, and he spent the summer of the year 1672 at his brother's house in Somersetshire. He soon grew weary of the shore, and enlisted15 on board the Royal Prince, commanded by the famous Sir Edward Spragge, [6] under whom he served during a part of the year 1673. He fought in two engagements, and then falling sick a day or two before the action in which Sir Edward lost his life (August 11th), he was sent on board the hospital ship, whence he was removed to Harwich. Here he lingered for a great while in suffering, and at last, to recover his health, went to his brother's house. As he gained strength so did his longing8 for the sea increase upon him. His inclination16 was soon to be humoured, for there lived near his brother one Colonel Hellier, who, taking a fancy to Dampier, offered him the [Pg 17] management of a plantation17 of his in Jamaica under a person named Whalley; for which place he started in the Content of London, Captain Kent master, he being then twenty-two years old. Lest he should be kidnapped and sold as a servant on his arrival, he agreed with Captain Kent to work his passage out as a seaman19. They sailed in the beginning of the year 1674, but the date of their arrival at Jamaica is not given.
His life on that island is not of much interest. He lived with Whalley for about six months, and then agreed with one Captain Heming to manage his plantation on the north side of the island; but repenting20 his resolution, he took passage on board a sloop21 bound to Port Royal. He made several coasting voyages in this way, by which he tells us he became intimately acquainted with all the ports and bays of Jamaica, the products and manufactures of the island, and the like. In this sort of life he spent six or seven months, and then shipped himself aboard one Captain Hudsel, who was bound to the Bay of Campeché to load logwood. They sailed from Port Royal in August 1675; their cargo22 to purchase logwood was rum and sugar. There were about two hundred and fifty men engaged in cutting the wood, and these fellows gladly exchanged the timber for drink. They were nearly all Englishmen, and on the vessel23 dropping anchor, numbers of them flocked aboard clamorous24 for liquor. “We were but 6 Men and a Boy in the Ship,” says Dampier, “and all little enough to entertain them: for besides what Rum we sold by the Gallon or Ferkin, we sold it made into Punch, wherewith they grew Frolicksom.” It was customary in those times to shoot off guns when healths were drunk, but in Dampier's craft there was nothing [Pg 18] but small-arms, “and therefore,” he says, “the noise was not very great at a distance, but on Board the Vessels25 we were loud enough till all our Liquor was spent.” Dampier was well entertained by these fellows ashore26. They hospitably27 received him in their wretched huts, and regaled him with pork and peas and beef and dough-boys. He thought this logwood-cutting business so profitable, and the life so free and pleasant, that he secretly made up his mind to return to Campeché after his arrival at Jamaica. Having filled up with wood, they sailed in the latter end of September, and not very long afterwards narrowly escaped being wrecked30 on the Alacran Reef, a number of low, sandy islands situated31 about twenty-five leagues from the coast of Yucatan. The vessel was a ketch, the weather very dirty. Dampier was at the helm, or whipstaff as the tiller was called, and describes the vessel as plunging32 and labouring heavily: “Not going ahead,” he says, “but tumbling like an egg-shell in the sea.” In spite of their being in the midst of a dangerous navigation, the crew, finding the weather improving, lay down upon the deck and fell asleep. The stout33 build of the round-bowed craft saved her, otherwise it is highly improbable that anything more would ever have been heard of William Dampier.
Young as he was, his powers of observation, the accuracy of his memory, and what I may call the sagacity of his inquisitiveness34, are forcibly illustrated35 in this passage of his account of his early life. Even while his little ship is bumping ashore, and all hands are running about thinking their last moment arrived, Dampier is taking a careful view of the sandy islands, observing the several depths of water, remarking the various channels, and mentally [Pg 19] noting the best places in which to drop anchor. He has a hundred things to tell us about the rats and sea-fowl he saw there, of the devotion of the booby to its young, of the sharks, sword-fish, and “nurses,” of the seals, and the Spaniard's way of making oil of their fat. In this little voyage Dampier and his mates suffered a very great deal of hardship. They ran short of provisions, and must have starved but for two barrels of beef which had formed a portion of their cargo for purposes of trucking, but which proved so rotten that nobody would buy them. Of this beef they boiled every day two pieces; their peas were consumed and their flour almost gone, and in order to swallow the beef they were forced to cut it into small bits after it was cooked, and then to boil it afresh in water thickened with a little flour. This savoury broth14 they ate with spoons. Speaking of this trip Dampier says: “I think never any Vessel before nor since made such traverses in coming out of the Bay as we did; having first blundered over the Alcrany Riff, and then visited those islands; from thence fell in among the Colorado Shoals, afterwards made a trip to Grand Caymanes; and lastly visited Pines, tho' to no purpose. In all these Rambles36 we got as much experience as if we had been sent out on a design.”
They were thirteen weeks on their way, and eventually anchored at Nigril. Here occurred an incident curiously37 illustrative of the customs and habits of nautical38 men in the good old times. Their vessel was visited by Captain Rawlings, commander of a small New England craft, and one Mr. John Hooker, a logwood-cutter. These men were invited into the cabin, and a great bowl of punch [Pg 20] was brewed39 to regale28 them as well as their entertainers. Dampier says there might be six quarts in it. Mr. Hooker, being drunk to by Captain Rawlings, lifted the bowl to his lips, and pausing a moment to say that he was under an oath to drink but three draughts40 of strong liquor a day, he swallowed the whole without a breath: “And so,” adds Dampier, “making himself drunk, disappointed us of our expectations till we made another bowl.” Six quarts equal twenty-four glasses. Probably no bigger drink than this is on record! But those were days when men mixed gunpowder41 with brandy, and honestly believed themselves the stouter-hearted for the dose.
On the vessel's arrival at Port Royal the crew were discharged. Dampier, whose hankering was after the logwood trade, embarked42 as passenger on board a vessel bound to Campeché, and sailed about the middle of February 1676. He went fully43 provided for the toilsome work—that is to say, with hatchets45, axes, a kind of long knives which he calls “macheats,” saws, wedges, materials for a house, or, as he terms it, a pavilion to sleep in, a gun, ammunition46, and so forth47. His account of the origin and growth of the business he had now entered upon is interesting. The Spaniards had long known the value of the logwood, and used to cut it down near a river about thirty miles from Campeché, whence they loaded their ships with it. The English, after possessing themselves of Jamaica, whilst cruising about in the Gulf48, frequently encountered many vessels freighted with this wood; but being ignorant of the value of such cargoes49, they either burnt or sent the ships adrift, preserving only the nails and iron-work. At last one Captain James, [Pg 21] having captured a big vessel full of wood, navigated50 her to England with the intention of fitting her out as a privateer. He valued his prize's cargo so lightly that on the way home he consumed a portion of it as fuel. On his arrival he, to his great surprise, was offered a large sum for the remainder. This being noised about started the trade amongst the English. Of course the Spaniards opposed the cutting down of the trees, and sent soldiers to protect their property; but the English speedily learnt to recognise the timber as it grew, and, hunting for it elsewhere, met with large forests, and so without regard to the Spaniards they settled down to the trade and did pretty well at it. The work previous to the arrival of Dampier employed nearly three hundred men who had originally been privateersmen and gained a living by plundering52 the Spaniards, but who, on peace being made with Spain, lost their occupation and were driven to logwood-cutting by hunger. But their tastes as pirates remained tenacious53, and perhaps by way of keeping their hand in, they formed into little troops, attacked and plundered54 the adjacent Indian towns, brought away the women and sent the men to Jamaica to be sold as slaves. Dampier further informs us that these privateersmen had not “forgot their old drinking bouts,” but would “still spend thirty or forty pounds at a sitting on board the ships that came hither from Jamaica, carousing55 and firing off guns three and four days together.” Eventually their evil habits led to their ruin, for the Spaniards finding them nearly continually drunk, fell upon them one by one, seizing them chiefly in their huts, where they lay stupefied with liquor, and carried them to prison or to a servitude harder than slavery. Logwood was then worth [Pg 22] fourteen or fifteen pounds a ton. The toil44 must have been great, for some of the trees were upwards56 of six feet round, and the labourer had to cut them into logs small enough to enable a man to carry a bundle of them. Dampier speaks also of the bloodwood which fetched thirty pounds a ton, but he does not tell us that he dealt with it. He speedily found employment amongst the logwood-cutters. On his arrival he met with six men who had one hundred tons of the wood ready cut, but not yet removed to the creek57 side. These fellows offered Dampier pay at the rate of a ton of the wood per month to help them to transport what they had cut to the water. The work was laborious58. They had not only to transport the heavy timber, but to make a road to enable them to convey it to the place of shipment. They devoted59 five days a week to this work, and on Saturdays employed themselves in killing60 cattle for food. During one of these hunting excursions Dampier came very near to perishing through losing his way. He started out alone with a musket61 on his shoulder, intending to kill a bullock on his own account, and wandered so far into the woods that he lost himself. After much roaming he sat down to wait till the sun should decline, that he might know by the course it took how to direct his steps. The wild pines appeased62 his craving63 for drink, otherwise he must have perished of thirst. At sunset he started afresh, but the night, coming down dark, forced him to stop. He lay on the grass at some distance from the woods, in the hope that the breeze of wind that was blowing would keep the mosquitoes from him; “but in vain,” says he, “for in less than an Hour's time I was so persecuted64, that though I endeavoured to keep them off by fanning [Pg 23] myself with boughs65 and shifting my Quarters 3 or 4 times; yet still they haunted me so that I could get no Sleep.” At daybreak he struck onwards, and after walking a considerable distance, to his great joy saw a pole with a hat upon it, and a little farther on another. These were to let him know that his companions understood that he was lost, and that at sunrise they would be out seeking him. So he sat down to wait for them; for though by water the distance to the settlement was only nine miles, the road by land was impracticable by reason of the dense66 growths coming down to the very side of the creek where Dampier sat waiting. Within half an hour after his arrival at the poles with the hats upon them, “his Consorts67 came,” he says, “bringing every Man his Bottle of Water, and his Gun, both to hunt for Game and to give me notice by Firing that I might hear them; but I have known several Men lost in the like manner and never heard of afterwards.” At the expiration68 of the month's agreement he received his ton of logwood, and was made free of the little colony of cutters. Some of the men, quitting the timber-cutting, went over to Beef Island to kill bullocks for their hides, but Dampier remained behind with a few others to cut more logwood. He worked laboriously69, but his career in this line of business was ended not long afterwards by the most violent storm “that,” he says, “was ever known in those Parts.” He has described this storm in his Discourse70 of Winds. He there says: “The Flood still increased and ran faster up the Creek than ever I saw it do in the greatest Spring Tide, which was somewhat strange, because the wind was at South, which is right off the Shore on this Coast. Neither did the Rain [Pg 24] anything abate71, and by 10 a Clock in the Morning the Banks of the Creeks72 were all overflowing73. About 12 at Noon we brought our Canao to the side of our Hut and fastened it to the Stump74 of a Tree that stood by it; that being the only refuge that we could now expect; for the Land a little way within the Banks of the Creek is much lower than where we were: so that there was no walking through the Woods because of the Water. Besides the Trees were torn up by the Roots and tumbled so strangely across each other that it was almost impossible to pass through them.” Their huts were demolished75, their provisions ruined. It was in vain to stay, so the four men who formed Dampier's party embarked in their canoe and rowed over to One-Bush-Key, about sixteen miles from the creek. There had been four ships riding off that key when the storm began, but only one remained, and from her they could obtain no refreshment76 of any kind, though they were liberal in their offers of money. So they steered77 away for Beef Island, and on approaching it observed a ship blown ashore amongst the trees with her flag flying over the branches. Her people were in her, and Dampier and his companions were kindly78 received by them. Whilst on Beef Island he was nearly devoured79 by an alligator80. He and his comrades started to kill a bullock. In passing through a small savannah they detected the presence of an alligator by the strong, peculiar81 scent82 which the huge reptile83 throws upon the air, and on a sudden Dampier stumbled against the beast and fell over it. He shouted for help, but his comrades took to their heels. He succeeded in regaining84 his legs, then stumbled and fell over the animal a second time; “and a third time also,” he says, [Pg 25] “expecting still when I fell down to be devoured.” He contrived85 to escape at last, but he was so terrified that he tells us he never cared for going through the water again so long as he was in the Bay.
Much of his narrative86 here is devoted to accurate and well-written descriptions of the character of the country, and of its animals, reptiles87, and the like. There is an amusing quaintness88 in some of his little pictures, as, for instance: “The Squash is a four-footed Beast, bigger than a Cat: Its Head is much like a Foxes; with short Ears and a long Nose. It has pretty short Legs and sharp Claws; by which it will run up trees like a Cat. The skin is covered with short, fine Yellowish Hair. The flesh is good, sweet, wholesome89 Meat. We commonly skin and roast it; and then we call it pig; and I think it eats as well. It feeds on nothing but good Fruit; therefore we find them most among the Sapadillo-Trees. This Creature never rambles very far: and being taken young, will become as tame as a Dog; and be as roguish as a Monkey.”
The minuteness of his observation is exhibited in a high degree in his account of the beasts, birds, and fish of Campeché and the district. He uses no learned terms. A child might get to know more from him about the thing he describes than from a dozen pages of modern writing on the subject supplemented even by illustrations. It was wonderland to him, as it had been to other plain and sagacious sailors before him. His accounts remind us again and again of the exquisitely90 na?ve but admirably faithful descriptions of beasts and fish by the navigators whose voyages are found in the collections of Hackluyt and Purchas.
[Pg 26]
It is not very long after he had quitted Campeché that we find him associating with privateers, and becoming one of their number. He writes of this in a half-apologetic manner, complaining of failure through a violent storm and of a futile91 cruise lasting92 for several months, and talks of having been driven at last to seek subsistence by turning pirate. There is no hint in his previous narrative of any leanings this way. Probably thoughts of the golden chances of the rover might have been put into his head by chats with the logwood-cutters. The Spaniard had long been the freebooter's quarry93. His carracks and galleons94, laden95 almost to their ways with the treasure of New Spain, had handsomely lined the pockets of the marauding rogues96, and such was the value of the booty that scores of them might have set up as fine gentlemen in their own country on their shares but for their trick of squandering97 in a night what they had taken months to gain at the hazard of their lives. The temptation was too much for Dampier; besides, he was already seasoned to hardships of even a severer kind than was promised by a life of piracy98. For, as we have seen, he had out-weathered the bitter cold of Newfoundland, he had worked as a common sailor before the mast, he had served against the Dutch, he had knocked about in Mexican waters in a vessel as commodious99 and seaworthy as a Thames barge100, and he was now fresh from the severe discipline of the logwood trade. His associates consisted of sixty men, who were divided between two vessels. Their first step was to attack the fort of Alvarado, in which enterprise they lost ten or eleven of their company. The inhabitants, who had [Pg 27] plenty of boats and canoes, carried away their money and effects before the fort yielded, and as it was too dark to pursue them, the buccaneers were satisfied to rest quietly during the night. Next morning they were surprised by the sight of seven ships which had been sent from Vera Cruz. They got under-weigh and cleared for action. But they had no heart to fight; which is intelligible101 enough when we learn that the Spanish admiral's ship mounted ten guns and carried a hundred men; that another had four guns and eighty men; the rest sixty or seventy men apiece, well armed, whilst the bulwarks102 of the ships were protected with bulls' hides breast-high. Fortunately for them, the Spaniards had no mind to fight either. Some shots were exchanged, and presently the Spanish squadron edged away towards the shore, “and we,” says Dampier, “glad of the deliverance, went away to the eastward103.” How long he remained with the pirates he does not say. Apparently104 he could not find his account with them. He left them to return to the logwood trade, at which he continued for about twelve more months. He then tells us that he resolved to pay a visit to England with a design of returning again to wood-cutting, which no doubt was proving profitable to him, and accordingly set sail for Jamaica in April 1678. After remaining for a short time at that island he embarked for England, and arrived at the beginning of August.
He did not remain long at home. In the beginning of the year 1679 he sailed for Jamaica in a vessel named the Loyal Merchant. He shipped as a passenger, intending when he arrived at Jamaica to proceed to the Bay of Campeché, and there pursue the employment of logwood-cutting. But on his arrival at Port Royal in Jamaica in April 1679, after a good deal of consideration, he made up his mind to delay or abandon his [Pg 28] wood-cutting scheme, for he tells us that he remained in that island for the rest of the year in expectation of some other business. Whatever his hopes were they could not have been greatly disappointed, for we read of him as having, whilst in Jamaica, purchased a small estate in Dorsetshire from a person whose title to it he was well assured of. He was then, it now being about Christmas, 1679, about to sail again for England, when a Mr. Hobby persuaded him to venture on a short trading voyage to what was then termed the country of the Mosquitoes, a little nation which he describes as composed of not more than a hundred men inhabiting the mainland between Honduras and Nicaragua. Dampier consented; he and Mr. Hobby set out, and presently dropped anchor in a bay at the west end of Jamaica, where they found a number of privateersmen, including Captains Coxon, Sawkins, and Sharp. These men were maturing the scheme of an expedition of so tempting105 a character that the whole of Mr. Hobby's men quitted him and went over to the pirates. Dampier stayed with his companion for three or four days, and then joined the pirates also. What became of Mr. Hobby he does not say. There is here a shamefacedness in his avowal106 not hard to distinguish. Perhaps as he sits writing this narrative he wonders at the irresolution107 he exhibited, and his curious caprices of decision. He starts for Jamaica to cut logwood at Campeché; on his arrival he changes his mind and prepares for his return; he is then diverted from his intention by Mr. Hobby, with [Pg 29] whom he embarks108 on a well-considered adventure, which he relinquishes109 to become pirate before his associate's ship has fairly got away from Jamaica! It is these sudden changes of front, however, and the unexpected turns of fortune which they produced, which keeps Dampier's narrative sweet with fresh and ever-flowing interest.
His adventures from the date of his leaving Mr. Hobby down to the month of April 1681 he dismisses in a couple of pages. Ringrose, however, has written very fully of the expedition in which Dampier apparently served as a foremast hand, and to the pages of his work it is necessary to turn to obtain the information which Dampier omits. [7] The fleet of the privateers consisted of nine vessels; the largest of them, commanded by Captain Harris, was of the burden of one hundred and fifty tons, mounted twenty-five guns, and carried one hundred and seven men; whilst the smallest, commanded by Captain Macket, was of fourteen tons, her crew consisting of twenty men. They sailed on March 23rd, 1679, for the province of Darien, their designs being, as Ringrose candidly110 admits, to pillage111 and plunder51 in those parts. But they do not appear to have arrived off the coast until April 1680, this being the date given by Ringrose, who says that there they landed three hundred and thirty-one men, leaving a party of sailors behind them to guard their ships. They marched in companies; Captain Bartholomew Sharp's (in whose troop, I take it, [Pg 30] was Dampier) carried a red flag, with a bunch of white and green ribands; Captain Richard Sawkins's company exhibited a red flag striped with yellow; the third and fourth, commanded by Captain Peter Harris, bore two cream-coloured flags; the fifth and sixth a red flag each; and the seventh a red colour with yellow stripes, and a hand and sword thereon by way of a device. “All or most of them,” adds Ringrose, “were armed with Fuzee, Pistol, and Hanger112.” This is a description that brings the picture before us. We see these troops of sailors carrying banners, dressed as merchant seamen113 always were, and still are, in twenty different costumes, lurching along under the broiling114 equatorial sun, through forests, rivers, and bogs115, trusting to luck for a drink of water, and with no better victuals116 than cakes of bread (four to a man), called by Ringrose “dough-boys,” a name that survives to this day, animated117 to the support of the most extraordinary fatigues118, the most venomous country, and the deadliest climate in the world, by dreams of more gold than they would be able to carry away with them.
But the whole undertaking119 was a failure. They attacked and took the town of Santa Maria, and found the place to consist of a few houses built of cane1, with not so much as the value of a single ducat anywhere to be met with. Their disappointment was rendered the keener by the news that three days before their arrival several hundred-weight of gold had been sent away to Panama in one of those ships which were commonly despatched two or three times a year from that city to convey the treasure brought to Santa Maria from the mountains. Their ill-luck, however, hardened them in [Pg 31] their resolution to attack Panama. The city was a sort of New Jerusalem to the imaginations of these men, who thought of it as half-formed of storehouses filled to their roofs with plate, jewels, and gold. They stayed two days at Santa Maria, and then on April 17th, 1680, embarked in thirty-five canoes and a periagua, and rowed down the river in quest of the South Sea, upon which, as Ringrose puts it, Panama is seated. Their adventures were many; their hardships and distresses121 such as rendered their energy and fortitude123 phenomenal even amongst a community who were incomparably gifted with these qualities. Ringrose, whose narrative I follow, was wrecked in the river by the oversetting of his canoe, and came very near to perishing along with a number of his comrades. He fell into the hands of some Spaniards, with whom, as they understood neither English nor French, whilst he was equally ignorant of their tongue, he was obliged to converse124 in Latin!—a language in which, I suspect, not many mariners125 of to-day could communicate their distresses. He and his shipmates narrowly escaped torture and a miserable126 death, and eventually recovering their canoe, they started afresh on their voyage, and were fortunate enough next morning to fall in with the rest of the buccaneers, who had anchored during the night in a deep bay.
Trifling127 as these incidents are, it is proper to relate them as examples of the life and experiences of Dampier during this period of his career. Unfortunately, until one opens his own books one does not know where to look for him. In whose troop he marched, in whose canoe he sat, in what special adventures he was concerned, whether he was favoured for his intelligence [Pg 32] above the others by the commanders of the expedition, cannot be ascertained128. When Ringrose wrote, Dampier was still a mere129 privateersman, a foremast hand, a man without individuality enough to arrest the attention of the sturdy, plain, and honest historian of the voyage in which they both took part. Indeed, there is no reason to suppose that Dampier at this time was regarded by his fellows as better than the humblest of the shaggy, sun-blackened men who, with fuzees on their shoulders and pistols in their girdles, tramped in little troops through the swamps and creeks and over the swelling130 lands of the Isthmus131, or who in their deep and narrow canoes floated silent and grim upon the hot and creeping river in search of the unexpectant Don and his almost fabulous132 wealth.
Dampier introduces a curious story in connection with Panama and the South Seas in his first volume. He says that when he was on board Captain Coxon's ship, there being three or four privateers in company, they captured a despatch120 boat bound to Cartagena from Porto Bello. They opened many of the letters, and were struck by observing that several of the merchants who wrote from Old Spain exhorted133 their correspondents at Panama to bear in mind a certain prophecy that had been current in Madrid and other centres for some months past, the tenor134 of which was—That there would be English privateers that year in the West Indies, who would make such great discoveries as to open a door into the South Seas. This door, Dampier says, was the passage overland to Darien through the country of the Indians, a people who had quarrelled with the Spaniards and professed135 a friendship for the English. At all events, these Indians had been [Pg 33] for some time inviting136 the privateers to march across their territory and fall upon the Spaniards in the South Seas. Hence when the letters came into their hands they grew disposed to entertain the Indians' proposal in good earnest, and finally made those attempts to which I have referred in quoting from the pages of Ringrose. The cause of the friendship between the English buccaneers and the Darien Indians is a story of some interest. About fifteen years before Dampier crossed the Isthmus a certain Captain Wright, who was cruising in those waters, met with a young Indian lad paddling about in a canoe. He took him aboard his ship, clothed him, and, with the idea of making an Englishman of him, gave him the name of John Gret. Some Mosquito Indians, however, begged the boy from Captain Wright, who gave him to them. They carried him into their own country, and by and by he married a wife from among them. Through the agency of this John Gret, who always preserved an affection for the English, a friendship was established between the buccaneers and the Indians. Presents were made on each side, and a certain secret signal was concerted whereby the Indians might recognise their English friends. It happened that there was a Frenchman among one of the buccaneering captain's crew. He was artful enough to commit this signal, whatever it was, to memory, and on his arrival at Petit Guavres he communicated what he knew to his countrymen there, and represented the facility with which the South Seas might be entered now that he had the secret of winning over the Indians to help him. On this one hundred and twenty Frenchmen formed themselves into a troop, with the buccaneer, whom Dampier calls Mr. la Sound, as their [Pg 34] captain, and marched against Cheapo, an attempt that proved unsuccessful, though the simple Indians, believing them to be English, gave them all the assistance that was in their power. “From such small beginnings,” adds Dampier, “arose those great stirs that have been since made in the South Seas, viz.: from the Letters we took and from the Friendship contracted with these Indians by means of John Gret. Yet this Friendship had like to have been stifled137 in its Infancy138; for within few months after an English trading Sloop came on this Coast from Jamaica, and John Gret, who by this time had advanced himself as a Grandee139 amongst these Indians, together with 5 or 6 more of that quality, went off to the Sloop in their long Gowns, as the custom is for such to wear among them. Being received aboard, they expected to find everything friendly, and John Gret talkt to them in English; but these English Men having no knowledge at all of what had happened, endeavoured to make them Slaves (as is commonly done), for upon carrying them to Jamaica they could have sold them for 10 or 12 Pound apiece. But John Gret and the rest perceiving this, leapt all overboard, and were by the others killed every one of them in the Water. The Indians on Shoar never came to the knowledge of it; if they had it would have endangered our Correspondence.”
On April 23rd the buccaneers entered the Bay of Panama, and the city, offering a fair and lovely prospect140, as Dampier afterwards tells us, lay full in their view. The old town that had been sacked and burnt by Henry Morgan in 1670 lay four miles to the eastward of the new city; but amongst those now suburban141 ruins the cathedral rose stately and splendid, and Ringrose, enraptured142 [Pg 35] by the sight, vows143 that the building viewed from the sea might compare in majesty144 with St. Paul's. The Panama at which Dampier gazed was almost new, built of brick and stone, with eight churches amongst the houses, most of them unfinished. Many of the edifices145 were three stories high. A strong wall circled the place, crowned with seaward-pointing cannon146, and these defences were backed by a garrison147 of three hundred of the king's soldiers, whilst the city itself supplemented that force by a contribution of eleven hundred militiamen. Such was the Panama of which our handful of audacious buccaneers were coolly proposing the sacking, and doubtless the burning. It seems, however, that when they arrived most of the soldiers were absent, and Ringrose tells us that had they attempted the town at once instead of attacking the ships in the bay, they must have made an easy conquest. The desperate energy, the hot and furious courage, of an earlier race of pirates were wanting in them. They lingered long enough to enable the city to render its capture impracticable, and then, feigning148 a sentimental149 interest in the condition of the Indians, they despatched word to the Governor that if he would suffer the natives to enjoy their own “power and liberty,” and send to the buccaneers five hundred pieces of eight for each man, and one thousand pieces of eight for each commander, they would desist from further hostilities150. A civil message was returned, and they were also asked from whom they received their commission; to which Captain Sawkins responded in a style which he may have borrowed from the tragedies of Nathaniel Lee: “That as yet all his company were not come together; but that when they were come up, we would come and [Pg 36] visit him at Panama, and bring our commissions on the muzzles151 of our guns, at which time he should read them as plain as the flame of gunpowder could make them.” All this was mere windy, hectoring talk, and nothing followed it. The buccaneers were growing mutinous152 with famine, and as it was clear there was nothing to be done with Panama, Captain Sawkins, who was chief in command, gave orders to weigh anchor, and the pirates sailed away without a ducat's worth of satisfaction for the prodigious153 hardships they had endured.
Whilst they lay at anchor before Caboa the two chief commanders, Sawkins and Sharp, went ashore with sixty or seventy men to attack Puebla Nueva. Ringrose dates this attempt May 22nd, 1680. The inhabitants were prepared, and the only issue of a sharp engagement was the death of Captain Sawkins and the loss of several of his people. This defeat led to a mutiny among the buccaneers. Eventually Captain Sharp, who was now chief in command, called the men together and proposed to them to remain in the South Sea and then go home by way of the Horn, adding that he would guarantee that every man who stayed with him should be worth a thousand pounds by the time he arrived in England. This scheme of cruising in the South Sea against the Spaniards had been Sawkins's fixed154 project, and he was so great a favourite that had he lived it is probable the whole of the crew would have accompanied him; but Sharp did not enjoy the general confidence of his people, and a number of the men sullenly155 and obstinately156 refused to linger any longer in these waters. Ringrose was amongst those who were weary of the hazardous157 and unremunerative adventures of the buccaneers, and [Pg 37] would have been glad to leave the ship. Had he done so there would have been no record of this voyage of Dampier; but he was wise enough to fear the Indians and to dread158 the sufferings of an overland journey in the rainy season. He therefore resolved to remain with Captain Sharp, amongst whose adherents159 was William Dampier. Sixty-three of the men left them, and then on Sunday, June 6th, 1680, Captain Sharp and his people steered away to the southward with the intention of plundering Arica.
On approaching the coast they found the bay guarded by numerous parties of horsemen, whilst the tops of the hills were also lined with men. They withdrew without firing a gun. Better luck, however, befell them on October 29th at Hilo. This place they took without difficulty, and found it stored with quantities of pitch, tar18, wine, oil, and flour. The sacking of Hilo was a sort of holiday jaunt160 for the freebooters, who feasted delightfully161 on olives, lemons, and limes; on cakes, on flagons of cool wines, on great strawberries, and sweetmeats and other delicacies162. As they marched up the valley the Spaniards accompanied their progress upon the hill-tops, and rolled great stones down upon them, but no man was hurt; whilst to the explosion of a single musket every visible Spanish head was instantly ducked out of sight. Much that strikes one as marvellous in the achievements of the buccaneers in the South Sea vanishes when one thinks of the abject163 cowardice164 of the American Spaniards. Had their troops been composed of priests and old women, they could not have fled with livelier hysterical165 nimbleness from the sight of the English colours. The picture is humiliating, though it is not wanting in the ridiculous. [Pg 38] All through the buccaneering annals, as in Anson's and the voyages of others, one is incessantly166 meeting with this sort of thing:—A boat filled with armed privateersmen approaches the beach. A numerous party of horsemen, bristling167 with sabres, lances, and muskets168, stand as in a posture169 to dispute their landing. But as the boat draws near the horsemen retreat, and in no very good order, back to behind the town as the seamen spring ashore. They are finally seen on the summit of a hill in company with several troops of foot soldiers, who, whilst their bands play and their banners proudly flutter, gaze downwards170 at the twenty or thirty sailors who are firing the houses of their town and lurching seawards with sacks of silver on their backs.
Ringrose calls a halt at the “Isle171 of Plate,” as he writes it, to tell us a little story: “This Island received its Name from Sir Francis Drake, and his famous Actions. For it is reported that he here made the Dividend172 of that vast quantity of Plate which he took in the Armada of this sea, distributing it to each Man of his Company by whole Bowls full. The Spaniards affirm to this Day that he took at that Time twelvescore Tons of Plate, and sixteen bowls of coined Money a Man; his number being then forty-five Men in all; insomuch that they were forced to heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all. Hence this Island was called by the Spaniards the Isle of Plate, from this great Dividend, and by us Drake's Isle.”
Traditions of this kind were very nicely calculated to keep the buccaneering heart high. Our genial173 freebooter has also another yarn174 to spin in connection with this [Pg 39] coast. He says that in the time of Oliver Cromwell the merchants of Lima fitted out a ship armed with seventy brass175 guns, with a treasure in her hold of no less than thirty millions of dollars, “all which vast sum of money,” he says, “was given by the merchants of Lima, and sent as a present to our Gracious King (or rather his father) who now reigneth, to supply him in his exile and distress122, but that this great and rich ship was lost by keeping along the shore in the Bay of Manta above mentioned or thereabouts. The truth whereof is much to be questioned.” Be his stories true or false, however, it is pleasant to sail in the company of an old seaman who has an anecdote176 to fit every bay or headland of the coast along which he jogs. Unhappily Ringrose, who begins very well, drifts fast into the unsuggestive trick of “loggings,” telling us in twenty pages at a stretch that on Monday the sun rose at such and such an hour, that on Tuesday it blew a fresh gale29, that on Wednesday there was a ring round the moon, that on Thursday they had made thirty leagues in twenty-four hours, and so forth. It is by comparing the best of the early mariners' narratives177 with Dampier's that one remarks his eminent178 superiority as a writer, observer, and describer.
As they sailed down the American seaboard they captured a few small vessels, but their booty was inconsiderable. On December 3rd, 1680, they attacked the city of La Serena. They routed the Spaniards, who, in flying, carried away the best of their goods and jewels. An offer of ransom179 was made, and the price fixed was ninety-five thousand pieces of eight. It was soon rendered plain, however, that the enemy had no intention of paying, whereupon the buccaneers fired every house in the town [Pg 40] to the end that the whole place might be reduced to ashes. Before the ship sailed she was very nearly burnt by a curious Spanish stratagem180. A horse's hide was blown out with wind to the condition of a bladder. A man got upon it and silently paddled himself under the stern of the privateer, between whose rudder and sternpost he crammed181 a mass of oakum, brimstone, and other combustible182 matter. This done, he softly fired it with a match and sneaked183 away ashore. The buccaneers observing the dark mass on the water, concluded it to be a dead horse, and gave it no particular heed184. On a sudden the alarm of fire was raised; the rudder was seen to be burning and the ship was full of smoke. After some trouble the flames were extinguished, and then suspecting some stratagem in the object they had previously185 lightly glanced at, they sent the boat ashore, where the puffed-out hide was found with a match burning at both ends of it.
By Christmas Day they were at anchor off the Island of Juan Fernandez. It is noteworthy that Ringrose, in his journal under date of January 3rd, says that their pilot told them that many years ago a ship was cast away upon this island and only one man saved, who lived alone upon it for over five years before any vessel came that way to carry him off. It is curious that none of the biographers of Defoe should refer to this statement in dealing186 with the inspirations of the great writer's masterpiece. Whilst lying at this island there was trouble amongst the men, which resulted in Captain Sharp being deposed187. A number of the crew wanted to go home at once; others were for remaining in those seas until they had got more money. A man [Pg 41] named John Watling, an old privateer and a seaman of experience, was chosen in the room of Sharp. It was shortly after this that the buccaneers were alarmed by the unexpected apparition188 of three men-of-war. They instantly slipped their cables and stood out to sea, leaving behind them in their hurry that famous Mosquito Indian, of whom it is uncertain whether it was to his or to Selkirk's adventures that Defoe owed the idea of Robinson Crusoe. The vessels which surprised them were large and heavily armed, one of them being eight hundred and another six hundred tons. They hoisted189 the “bloody flag,” as it was called, meaning that no quarter would be given. The buccaneers did the same, but they were in truth very unwilling190 to fight. Watling, indeed, either could not or would not dissemble his fears. Fortunately the Spaniards proved thorough cowards. Despite the bluster191 of their no-quarter signal flying at the masthead, they never offered to approach the privateer, which, glad enough to escape, next day stood away north-east for Arica.
I will not charge Watling with cowardice, but he exhibits a quality of timidity sufficiently192 accentuated193 to account for a very cruel disposition194. Of this man, who had manifested many signs of alarm at sight of the Spanish ships-of-war, a black act of wickedness is recorded a few days later. Amongst the prisoners on board was an old white-haired Spaniard. Watling questioned him about Arica, and believing that he lied in his answers ordered him to be shot. The former commander, Captain Sharp, vehemently195 opposed the execution of this cruel sentence, but finding his appeal disregarded he plunged196 his hands in water and, [Pg 42] washing them, exclaimed, “Gentlemen, I am clear of the blood of this old man, and I will warrant you a hot day for this piece of cruelty whenever we come to fight at Arica.” The prophecy was fulfilled. On January 13th, 1680, the buccaneers were off that town, and ninety-two men going ashore attacked the place with incredible fury. We read of them filling every street in the city with dead bodies. In a short time Captain Watling was shot through the heart, whilst there were slain197 besides two quartermasters and so many of the men that further efforts were rendered hopeless. The survivors198 appealed to Captain Sharp to lead them out of their difficulties and get them back to the ship. The enemy surrounded them, they were in great disorder199, and there was no one to command them. Sharp, bitterly resenting their behaviour to him, which had led to his being supplanted200 by Watling, hesitated. “But,” says Ringrose, “at our earnest request and petition he took up the command-in-chief again, and began to distribute his orders for our safety.” They succeeded in fighting their way to the beach, and got on board at ten o'clock at night, after a desperate battle that had lasted the whole day. On putting to sea again there was much mutinous growling201, and when off the Island of Plata, on April 17th, 1681, the quarrels rose to such a pitch that there was nothing for it but separation. The trouble lay in a number of the men, now that Watling was dead, desiring the reappointment of Sharp. This was warmly opposed by others. The matter was put to the vote, and the Sharpites proving the more numerous, the dissentients agreed to leave them—the arrangement being that the majority should keep the [Pg 43] ship, whilst the others should take the long-boat and canoes and return by way of the Isthmus, or seek their fortunes as they chose in other directions. The out-voted party numbered forty-seven men, one of whom was William Dampier.
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1
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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4
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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5
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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6
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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7
apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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8
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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10
cancellation
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| n.删除，取消 | |
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indentures
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| vt.以契约束缚（indenture的第三人称单数形式） | |
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12
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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14
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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15
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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16
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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18
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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repenting
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的现在分词 ) | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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23
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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24
clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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regale
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| v.取悦，款待 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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31
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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32
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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inquisitiveness
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| 好奇，求知欲 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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38
nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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39
brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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40
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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41
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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42
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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43
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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44
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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45
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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46
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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47
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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48
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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49
cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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50
navigated
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的过去式和过去分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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51
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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52
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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53
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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54
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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56
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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57
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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58
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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59
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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60
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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61
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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62
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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63
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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64
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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65
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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66
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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67
consorts
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| n.配偶( consort的名词复数 )；（演奏古典音乐的）一组乐师；一组古典乐器；一起v.结伴( consort的第三人称单数 )；交往；相称；调和 | |
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68
expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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69
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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70
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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71
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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72
creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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73
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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74
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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75
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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76
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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77
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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78
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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79
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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80
alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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81
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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82
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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83
reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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84
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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85
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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86
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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87
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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88
quaintness
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| n.离奇有趣，古怪的事物 | |
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89
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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90
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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91
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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92
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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93
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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94
galleons
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| n.大型帆船( galleon的名词复数 ) | |
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95
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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96
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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97
squandering
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| v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的现在分词 ) | |
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98
piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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99
commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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100
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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101
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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102
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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103
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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104
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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105
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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106
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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107
irresolution
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| n.不决断，优柔寡断，犹豫不定 | |
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108
embarks
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| 乘船( embark的第三人称单数 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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109
relinquishes
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的第三人称单数 )； 放弃 | |
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110
candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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111
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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112
hanger
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| n.吊架，吊轴承；挂钩 | |
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113
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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114
broiling
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| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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115
bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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116
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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117
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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118
fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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119
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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120
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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121
distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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122
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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123
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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124
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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125
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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126
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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127
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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128
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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129
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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130
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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131
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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132
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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133
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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135
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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136
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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137
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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138
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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139
grandee
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| n.贵族；大公 | |
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140
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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141
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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142
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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143
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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144
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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145
edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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146
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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147
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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148
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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149
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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150
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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151
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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152
mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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153
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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154
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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155
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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156
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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157
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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158
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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159
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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160
jaunt
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| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
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161
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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162
delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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163
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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164
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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165
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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166
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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167
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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168
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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169
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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170
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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171
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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172
dividend
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| n.红利，股息；回报，效益 | |
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173
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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174
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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175
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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176
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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177
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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178
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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179
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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180
stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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181
crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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182
combustible
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| a. 易燃的,可燃的; n. 易燃物,可燃物 | |
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183
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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184
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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185
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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186
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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187
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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188
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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189
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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190
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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191
bluster
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| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
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192
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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193
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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194
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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195
vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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196
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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197
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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198
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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199
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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200
supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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201
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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