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CHAPTER IV—THE CASTLES ON THE GUINEA COAST
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Jamaica is a thickly populated country. The last census1 taken in 1911 gave a population of 197 to the square mile, and this is mostly black, for the same statistics give something under 16,000 white people to close on 800,000 black and coloured, and in all probability among the so-called white there would be a trace of colour.

Now I was warned not to touch on the colour question when I wrote on Jamaica, which is really like writing about the present times without mentioning the Great War. You must mention the colour question. If a man is charming and courteous2 and well educated, what can it matter what his shade, and I who was brought up in Australia, where the colour question is a burning one, can say this with feeling.

I have listened to a white woman, whose only recommendation was that she was white, draw herself up and sniff4 when speaking of a highly cultivated man whose only fault in her eyes could be that there was a trace of colour in his veins5.

“Well, I promised my husband I’d receive him, but his wife—I do draw the line at his wife.”

I could see no reason why she should not receive his wife, who had seen a great deal more of the world than she had and was a much more interesting personality. Every man has a right to choose his personal friends, but it seems to me the only reason why a community should ban a race is when that race lowers the standard of living and so imperils the life of the master people. This, of course, is at the root of the colour question, and I could write a book about it.

Men and women with just a dash of the tar6 brush are often extremely good looking, in fact, never have I seen more beautiful children than in Jamaica, save possibly in Sicily, where a dash of colour from Africa thrown into the stock long, long ago, makes for beauty. But the black man, however good looking, however well educated, has one handicap; a stiffly starched7 white shirt-front and a black evening coat bear very heavily indeed on him. He may be college bred, have the softest and most cultivated of voices, but the dress imposed upon him by civilisation8 is apt to take away from his dignity. In Africa they are beginning to realise this, and the Ashanti Chief is never allowed to dress in European costume, and he looks every inch a Chief in the beautiful silken robes, the gay colours of which set off the complexion9 the sun has kissed.

And if a black man looks bad in fashionable clothes, the black woman looks even worse. How this can be mended I know not, but I feel sure that as soon as the black people find a style of dress that will set off their beauty, much of the feeling against coloured blood will vanish.



0098

It is coming. I went to church one day in Kingston, and, I think, with the exception of the minister in black Geneva gown and white bands, I was the only full-blooded white person present. But the church was full and the people struck me as being very good looking and well dressed, especially the little children. A dainty little girl of African blood with flashing dark eyes and milk-white teeth, dressed in white embroidery11 with white socks and shoes and a white ribbon in her dark hair, is a thing of beauty.

The most lovely girl I have ever seen in my life is a Creole with a little coloured blood in her veins. She has long brown hair, splendid dark eyes, white teeth, and a clear skin of pale brown that is soft as velvet12. She is more than common tall, but so well proportioned that you do not think so until you see her beside some other woman. She is an athlete, she can ride, she can dance, and she can swim and dive like a fish. Truly a daughter of the Gods is she, and Jamaica may be proud of her.

There are people who will say, “Yes, at nineteen, but these Creoles always go off, their beauty does not last. They grow old so soon.” Exactly the same was said of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. The Creole who lives wisely, as women are beginning to live everywhere nowadays, is quite as likely to be good looking at forty, or even at sixty, I think, as the daughter of a cooler clime. Of course if she yield to indolence and do nothing but suck sweets or smoke cigarettes and sleep, why, the inevitable13 will happen.

My daughter of the tropics is abounding14 in life. She owns a canoe, the Dodo, a little light boat, with which she can go skimming over the waters of Montego Bay.

“I only take the children who can swim well,” says she, “and when I was younger, they won’t let me now I’m grown up, we used to visit all the schooners15 and cutters that came into the bay.”

The logwood schooners are manned by Norwegians, big fair men, who complimented her on her skill in managing a boat, and said she ought to have come from the North, “though why,” said she, “shouldn’t a Creole sail a boat?” And there are big brown men from the Cayman Islands, descendants of the buccaneers, giants with the blood of all the nations of the world in their veins. They trade in salt. And men of all shades, from palest yellow to the blackest black, go dodging16 in and out of Jamaican ports, and one and all they carry on their bowsprits a shark’s fin10 to make their little ships sail well.

“But why,” I asked, “did you only take children who could swim?”

“Because,” she laughed, “if you fall out of a canoe you can’t get in again.” And she told me how on one occasion the laden17 canoe became extremely interested in an electric eel3 lying on the bottom, for the water of the bay is beautifully clear, and all rushed to one side to inspect. Over went the little craft, and then the biggest boy, aged18 I think 12, saw the danger and flung himself to the other side. He was just in time. The boat righted itself, but he lost his balance and fell into the water, with more than a mile to go before he reached the shore. No wonder young Diana insists that all her passengers should be able to swim well.

There are some useful citizens growing up in Montego Bay for a nation that counts herself the ruler of the seas.

I set out to write about the Castles on the Guinea Coast, and I have wandered to the shores of Montego Bay on the other side of the Atlantic, and yet they are not as far apart as one would think.

It is a far, far cry from the days when the Portuguese19, and the English, and Dutch, and Danes, and Brandenburgers, and Swedes, built with slave labour great stone castles with walls and bastions, towers, and portcullises, all along the Guinea Coast from the mouth of the Gambia River to Whydah in Dahomey. The castles are there to-day to tell the tale, and some years ago before the war I travelled along 300 miles of that coast in a hammock borne on men’s heads, and again and again as we moved along, our pace regulated by that of the slowest carrier who bore my goods upon his head, there loomed20 up before us either on a jutting21 headland, or at the head of some shallow bay, the grey and massive walls of some long-forgotten Castle. Truly one may say forgotten, only a few officials remember these trading strongholds of the past, and if some care, those in authority declare they are not worth keeping up since they are but relics22 of an iniquitous23 trade that is best not remembered.

But the past cannot be wiped out. I hardly understood that till I came to Jamaica, till I watched the black women in ragged24 frocks and dilapidated hats weeding my garden, till I saw the roads thronged25 with them bearing burdens on their heads. It was forced upon me more emphatically when there came into my compound in Montego Bay one of the men who helped mend the roads in the forlornest remains26 of what had once been a shirt and trousers, while on his arm he wore what made him look like the savage27 he was, a bracelet28 of some red composition which had doubtless by its bright colour caught his eye. These were the same people, the very same people who had been brought from the Guinea Coast, more than one hundred, more than two hundred years ago. They are the same people you see on the Guinea Coast to-day. They called the people from this coast Koromantyns, and though they were, they said, the best slaves to be had, strong and vigorous, yet the French and Spanish refused to buy them, for they were warlike and were apt to rise and tight fiercely for their liberty. Probably many of them had Ashanti blood in their veins, and the Ashantis made good fighting men. The Krobos, too, were a little more to the East, and the Krobos were savages29 who, even in this century, allowed no young man to marry until he had killed his man.

Often these fortified30 castles of the different European nations were within a stone’s throw of each other, often they were destroyed, often they changed hands as the power of one nation waxed or waned31, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the trade was the great thing and these men of old held their little scraps32 of land, held them though the holding cost them many lives.

Koromantyn, a Castle not far from Cape33 Coast, was the chief trading place of the English along that shore, till De Ruyter knocked it about their ears. The custom of the English, I judged, when they built a Castle for themselves, and did not take it from some one else, was to choose a site at the head of a bay and build close down to the water’s edge, but Koromantyn departs from the usual practice and was built on high rising ground, a site the Portuguese (Portugais the old mariners34 called them) themselves might have chosen. I have thought of it many a time since I came to Jamaica, for always the slave risings—and the risings were many—were headed by the Koromantyns. Even now, guarding nothing, for the courtyard is overgrown with tropical vegetation, its ruined walls rise up tall and steep and straight, and at their foot among the rubble36 and coarse grass, lie rusting38 the cannon39 that once made them formidable.

Remember, it was not only the black men who suffered, for if with cruel force upon the sons of Ham fell the primeval curse, the venturesome men who dared so much for greed and adventure were not exempt40. And they were venturesome. Reading between the lines as we look up the old records,-we feel that the trials endured in the finding of the Poles were more than equalled by what these traders of old must have borne in their search for wealth, the wealth ofttimes being for someone else. The gold is only found further inland now, the elephant is gone, and the trade in men is dead. Dead, yes; but it is impossible to forget here in Jamaica, or as you wander along the Guinea Coast. The sands of the sea cry the story, the shame, shame, shame of it! the tumbling waves take it up, and insist as they crash on the sand in the still hot noonday, or in the glory of the moonlight night, that the end is not yet. I did not understand what they cried to me then, but Jamaica cries out, “Here, here, is the unfinished work of those old time slavers, here is the job incomplete, left for Britain to finish as best she may.” One hot day in March I left Cape Coast and came by the sea-shore, ten miles or more, along the yielding sand, just beyond reach of the furious white surf, but not out of the reach of its spray, and the memories of the men of old, the men who traded here when Cromwell ruled in England, when Queen Anne sat on the throne, when the unwelcome Georges came over from Hanover, crowded thick in every grove41 of coconut42 palms, rose to meet me on every grassy43 headland. The footsteps of the hammock bearers were clearly marked, and the waves came sweeping44 up and swept them away, the black crabs45, like so many pincushions on stilts46, raced after the receding47 waters, and the wading-birds stalked over the half-liquid sand seeking their livelihood48. Overhead was the heavy blue African sky, on the right, the dark blue sea with white-topped breakers that rushed from the Pole, half a world away, to fling themselves in thunderous clamour upon the Guinea Coast, and on the left was a low sandy ridge49 covered with sparse50 sea-grass and broad-leaved creeping bean. Just such a bean grows on the sea-shore, outside the gates of my house here in Montego Bay, where I write this book. Here and there was a little low undergrowth and coarse elephant grass, and again and again were palm-thatched villages, with surf boats drawn51 up on the sand, and groves52 of coconut palms that added beauty to the scene. The brawny53, dark men fished, flinging their nets into the sea, or launched their surf boats on a wider venture, and the women beat their cassava or banana into kenky or fufu, and the little naked pot-bellied children played in the shade as children play all the world over, and raced to see the unusual sight of a white woman who had departed from the usual custom of the white folks and come along the shore.

Such is the scene now, such was the scene more than three hundred years ago, when the maiden54 Queen sat on the throne of England and Hawkins made his first expedition, such was the scene a hundred years later when Phillips in the Hannibal of 450 tons and 36 guns came on an expedition trading for gold, elephants’ teeth, and slaves—more especially for slaves. I thought of those old-world men as we passed along, and the sea kept wiping out all traces of the passing of my hammock bearers. But the people would remember that in such a year a white woman had passed that way, even as I remembered that Phillips had passed. And the cool of the morning passed, and the breathless sweltering March midday of the Guinea Coast held all the land, and grey stone walls loomed up clear-cut against the blue of the sky.

“Annamabu, Ma. You chop?” That was all my headman thought. For him there was no past. He had come from Cape Coast this morning—if he could only make me see that it was fit and suitable that I should stay at Annamabu till the following morning, that was all the future he asked.

Annamabu is right on the sea-shore, built upon the rocks that crop out of the surrounding sand. So did the English keep watch and ward55 over their trade here. It is a great square grey pile, dignified56 in its very simplicity57, and the only entrance is through a low tunnel in the great wall, narrow, and nowhere more than five feet four high. Once the dark people of the land took Annamabu, how, I cannot imagine, for those straight grim walls would seem to defy anything that a savage people could bring against them. There was a town at a little distance, built for the most part with the swish walls and thatched roofs common to the country, but here and there, shabby with the shabbiness of the tropics and the negro combined, were stone houses built on European lines that must have been miniature forts in their time. There is no need of a fort now, there is peace in the land, even the mighty58 pile of the Castle is delivered over to the care of the negroes, and the glory is departed. I went up the slanting59 path to the narrow entrance, the entrance, grim and dark and damp, and I got out of my hammock for it was too narrow to admit a hammock, and walked into the courtyard where the powers that be, represented by a medical officer some miles away along the shore, had piled up a store of boards to make certain accommodation for the town of Annamabu, which the inhabitants of the town of Annamabu, being children of nature, will never use. The sun beat down in that courtyard and took one’s energy away. How, how in this languid, languishing60 heat were these mighty stones ever piled one upon the other? Only, surely, by slave labour, only, surely, by the aid of the whip and the goad61.



0108

“The negro inhabitants are accounted very bold and stout62 fellows,” said Phillips of the Hannibal who had come to enslave them, “but the most desperate, treacherous63 villains64 and great cheats upon the whole coast, for the gold here is accounted the worst and most mixed with brass65 of any in Guiny. The Castle, pretty strong, of about 18 guns.”

It was an offshoot of Koromantyn and was built by the Royal Adventurers of England in 1624, but Admiral de Ruyter, the Dutchman, in 1665 drove them out and took the castle, not without a good deal of bloodshed. But in 1673 a new company, the Royal African Company was formed, and out of the wrecked66 remains of what de Ruyter had left they built up the present castle. It was mysterious to go out of the garish67 sunshine of the courtyard into the gloom of the tunnelled staircase that led to the bastion, and to remember that Phillips and men of his ilk had passed up that self-same staircase more than two hundred years before, had stood on that self-same bastion in like hot sunshine, had watched the vultures settle on the roof of the little ammunition68 house in the corner, and the flag of Britain flutter out from the flag-staff that the hard cement foundation supported. Beyond was the sea, whence had come those grim old slavers, and I, a woman from the South, the land of liberty. All round the walls from their embrasures grinned those eighteen guns that defended the castle and terrorised the negroes. And round them is piled up the shot that has never been used and will never be used now. On the west side the coconut palms have grown up, the wind whispers among the fronds69 that overshadow the guns, whispers that though their day is done the problem that they started still remains, and has only been taken with blood and bitter tears to the other side of the Atlantic. By the sea-shore of this lovely island I hear its echo crying mournfully. In one of the embrasures of the wall from among the piled shot had grown up a green pawpaw tree. The pawpaw is but an ephemeral thing, a tree of a year or so, but its fruit is good to eat. Shall good come out of evil? It marks decay too. Not so would they have kept the castle when Phillips saluted70 with seven guns to show he was minded to trade for those “stalwart villains,” the men of Annamabu.

Everything is very straight up and down, very square and grey and solid. Possibly Mr Searle, the factor Phillips talks about, and his young mulatto wife dwelt in those rooms-or in rooms not unlike them, very tall and large, with great window spaces. There was little furniture in my time, though this was supposed to be a rest-house. But no man ever comes along the coast now, now that the slaves are not, and the gold is not, and the elephants are gone. The place is held solely71 for the benefit of the negro, and the dust has settled on everything. There are customs clerks and telegraph clerks, but they are negro, and as yet they do not care. Neither do the English who dwell and rule from Accra, for Accra is far, when the only means of progression is a man’s pace, and the rulers say, “These old shells of castles are not worth preserving.” Are they not?

But, indeed and indeed, the air is thick with memories. Here, in these dark rooms on the ground floor, hot and airless, did they store their goods in olden days, “perpetuanos and sayes, knives, old sheets, pewter basons and muskets,” which Phillips has left on record were the best goods with which to buy slaves on the Gold Coast in the seventeenth century. They did not bring out their women, but they took to themselves wives of the daughters of the land, comely72, smooth-skinned, dark-eyed girls, with full, round bosoms73 and a carriage like queens, and the daughters of these unions were much sought after.

“Then came Mrs Rankin,” writes Phillips, of a factor’s temporary wife, “who was a pretty young mulatto with a rich silk cloth about her middle, and a silk cap upon her head, flowered with gold and silver, under which her hair was combed out at length, for the mulattoes covet74 to wear it so in imitation of the whites”—remember the white men wore their hair long in those days—“never curling it up or letting it frizzle as the blacks do. She was accompanied, or rather attended by the second’s and doctor’s wives, who were young blacks about thirteen years of age. This is a very pleasant way of marrying,” goes on the gossipy mariner35, “for they can turn them off and take others at pleasure, which makes them very careful to humour their husbands in washing their linen75, cleaning their chambers76, etc., and the charge of keeping them is little or nothing.”

Poor children, poor, happy, sad, pitiful children, bearing children and taking a woman’s part in ministering to the pleasures of these their masters at an age when our children would still be babies in the nursery. It was a custom that died hard. Twelve years ago the nursing sister at Sekondi told me that when first she was stationed there she saw a girl, just arrived at marriageable age, sent round to all the likely white men in the town, tricked out in all the bravery common to the occasion. She saw her return, too, return in tears, not because she had been chosen, but because she had not! The standard of morals is higher on the coast in these times.

And the end of these women? No one has ever told us of their end. I remember when I was in Sekondi a sad-faced mulatto woman with the remains—only the remains—of great beauty about her, though possibly she was barely thirty-five, and the nursing sister shook her head over Adjuah.

“She is going to die,” she said. “She does not care to live.” It appears she had lived with some white man who had been fond of her as he passed by, and she had given him her whole soul. Then came the inevitable, the time when he departed for Accra, and Adjuah was distracted. She could not believe he had left her for ever, and she, too, started along the coast for the distant town. Like many another loving woman she felt if he could only see her all would be well. But barely a day’s journey along the coast came the great Prah river, and it passed her powers to cross it. She waited there for days, and then, reluctantly, all along the burning sands she crawled back wearily to the shelter of the woman she knew would care for her, and there she waited listlessly—to die. Is that what happened to these little girls flaunting77 it so proudly in their silken clothes? Indeed, worse things might happen to them. Possibly they were sold as slaves; most surely their children were, for it is said in Jamaica that every overseer and book-keeper took a mistress from among the slaves, a girl who came to him gladly for the betterment of her lot, but she knew and he knew that their children must be born into servitude, and the father, when the time came for him to go, left them as lightly as he would so many cattle.

Spear, in his book on the American slave trade, tells how, in the days when the trade was being suppressed, the British warship78 Medina, on boarding a slaver off the Gallinas River, found no slaves on board. “The officers learned afterwards, however, that her captain really had had a mulatto girl in the cabin. He kept her for some time after the cruiser appeared, but seeing that he was to be boarded, and knowing that the presence of one slave was enough to condemn79 the ship, he tied her to a kedge anchor and dropped her into the sea. And so, as is believed, he drowned his own unborn flesh and blood, as well as the slave girl.” Think of the state of public opinion when a whole crew could stand calmly by, or even give a hand to perpetrate such an atrocious deed. Is it any wonder that, on any land where was such slavery as this, there seems to have fallen a curse; less favoured lands have flourished, but gorgeous tropical countries, where vegetation runs riot, have not kept abreast80 in the race. Surely those unconscious little girls, unconscious of their own woes81, sometimes the pampered82 slave, bound to be the out-cast slave in the end, have brought a curse upon them. It broods over Africa. It is here in Jamaica, it will take much wisdom and many many years to work it off.

Of course it was not only the women who suffered. Slavery was the custom of the time, and men and women alike were chattels83. It was the pitiful pretence84 to place and power that makes us feel more keenly the case of these little girls who were wives and yet no wives, and gained honour for a brief season by being associated with the white men.

And in Annamabu came home to me clearly, the cargoes85, the thrice-accursed cargoes these men had set their hearts upon, the cargoes that were the raison d’être of these heavily armed castles. In Phillips’ day a really good negro might be bought on the Coast at a cost of about £4 for the most expensive, while he might be sold for about £19 in Jamaica or Barbadoes.

“I had two little negro boys presented to me here,” says he with a certain satisfaction, “by our honest factors, and two more at Cape Corso.” Nobody considered the feelings of the boys torn from their homes. And well might he be pleased, for these presumably were his private property, and not to be accounted among the cargo86. When Ansumanah, my own serving boy, sat in the shade at the bottom of the flight of stairs that led up to the bastion, I remembered Phillips’ two little boys who had attended their master here. The stone steps are worn, worn in the years by the passing of many unshod feet, sad and glad and hopeful and despairing, but what had the little boys that Phillips was taking to the Indies to hope for?

Exactly at Annamabu he did not gather his slaves, but a little farther along the Coast. Here he took on board 180 chests of corn with which to feed them. The little squat87 ship having laid in her provisions, went slowly along the coast, and in the daylight the people came off in their canoes, and at night they lighted fires along the shore as a sign they had something to trade, and their trade goods were always the same, gold, elephants’ teeth, that is, ivory, or men, and generally they required the captain to come down over the side of his ship and drop three drops of sea water in his eye as a pledge of friendship and of safety for them to come aboard, “which” says Phillips, “I very readily consented to and performed in hopes of a good market.”

Sometimes he got ivory, but his ship was a slaver, slaves she was looking for and slaves she would get, for might was right and wars were perpetually waged—by the black men be it understood—in order that there might be plenty of the commodity. The commodity, being flesh and blood, suffered.

“The master of her brought in three women and four children to sell,” he remarks casually88 of a canoe that hailed him from the shore, “but he asked very dear for them and they were almost dead from want of victuals89, looking like mere90 skeletons and so weak they could not stand, so that they were not worth buying. He promised to procure91 us two or three hundred slaves if we would anchor and come ashore92 and stay two or three days, but, judging what the others might be by the sample he brought us, and being loth to venture ashore upon his bare word, where we did not use to trade and had no factory, we sent him away and resumed our voyage.” He has left us a very graphic93 account of the manner in which he and the captain of the East Indian Merchant bought their wares94. The slaves were evidently got in small parcels, secured in the factories and shipped off on calm days, for the surf of the Guinea Coast would not always allow of a landing. Where they kept them at Annamabu or in the dominant95 factory at Koromantyn, I do not know, probably in the court-yard or in the dark dungeons96, dark and hot and airless that surrounded it, and the reek97 of them must have gone up to heaven, calling down a curse upon those captors who were apparently98 so unconscious of wrongdoing. At Whidah, to which Phillips traded from Annamabu, it is not very far away, there was only a small factory, and the local chief or “king” collected the slaves for sale and kept them in a “trunk,” which Phillips and the captain of the East Indian Merchant, attended by their respective doctors and pursers, visited daily to make their purchases.

The purser’s business was to pay for the goods I suppose, and the surgeon he considers absolutely necessary.

“Our surgeon examined them well in all kinds to see that they were sound, wind and limb, making them jump, stretch out their arms swiftly, looking in their mouths to judge of their age; for the cappashiers are so cunning that they shave them all close before we see them, so that, let them be never so old, we can see no grey hairs in their heads or beards, and then, having liquored them well and sleek99 with palm oil, ‘tis no easy matter to know an old one from a middle-aged100 one but by the teeth’s decay... therefore our surgeon is forced to examine... both men and women with the nicest scrutiny101 which is a great slavery but can’t be omitted.”

“This place where the slaves were kept day and night,” he records, putting the matter very plainly, “was so foul102 that I often fainted with the horrid103 stink104 of the negroes.” And he was a hard-bitten sailor of the seventeenth century accustomed to the close evil-smelling ships of his period! But he has no particular word of pity for the closely-herded negroes whose condition produced such a state of affairs.

“We marked the slaves we had bought in the breast or shoulder with a hot iron having the letter of the ship’s name upon it, the place being before anointed with a little palm oil which caused but little pain, the mark being usually well in four or five days, appearing very plain and white after.” And this is an allegory surely. The mark that slavery made has always appeared very plain after.

And when the surf allowed, the slaves were marched down to the shore and “our canoes carry them off to the long boat, and she conveyed them aboard ship where the men were all put in irons two and two, shackled106 together, to prevent their mutiny or swimming ashore.”

“The negroes are so wilful107 and loth to leave their own country,” he records mournfully as a man who may expect sympathy, “that they have often leaped out of the canoe, boat, and ship, into the sea, and kept under water till they were drowned, to avoid being taken up and saved by our boats which pursued them, they having a more dreadful apprehension108 of Barbadoes than we can have of hell, tho’ in reality they live much better there than in their own country.” The shackling109 as an introduction to this improved home life was perhaps not calculated to inspire confidence. “But home is home,” moralises Phillips. “We have likewise seen divers110 of them eaten by sharks, of which a prodigious111 number kept about the ships in this place. We had about twelve negroes did wilfully112 drown themselves, and others starved themselves to death, for ‘tis their belief that when they die they return home to their own country and friends again. I have been informed that some commanders have cut off the legs of the most wilful to terrify the rest, for they believe if they lose a member they cannot return home again. I was advised by some of my officers to do the same, but I could not be persuaded to entertain the least thoughts of it, much less to put in practice such barbarous cruelty to poor creatures who, excepting their want of Christianity, true religion (their misfortune, more than fault) are as much the works of God’s Hands and no doubt as dear to Him as ourselves.” Surprising words from a slaver!

He himself has but a poor opinion of the men of his calling.

“They commonly undermine, betray, and outbid one another,” he writes, “and the Guiney commanders’ words and promises are the least to be depended upon of any I know use the sea, for they would deceive their fathers in their trade if they could.”

And then when the slaves were on board, and the grey castles were down on the horizon, and the long, long voyage was begun, there were troubles not only for the wretched merchandise, but for those who carried them.

“When our slaves are aboard,” he says again, “we shackle105 them two and two while we lie in port, and in sight of their own country, for ‘tis then they attempt to make their escape or mutiny, to prevent which we always keep sentinels upon the hatchways, and have a chest of small arms ready loaden and trim’d, constantly lying at hand upon the quarterdeck together with some granada shells, and two of our quarterdeck guns pointing on the deck thence, and two more out of the steerage, the door of which is always kept shut and well barred.

“They are fed twice a day, at 10 in the morning, and 4 in the evening, which is the time they are apt to mutiny, being all upon the deck; therefore, all that time what of our men who are not employed in distributing their victuals to them and settling them, stand to their arms with lighted matches at the great guns that yawn upon them, loaden with cartridge113, till they have done and gone below to their kennels114 between decks.”

What a picture of life aboard a slaver!

“Great mortality among the slaves,” he writes wearily later on, “which together with their stink and nastiness”—and he goes on feelingly to tell of a Dutch skipper, Clause, who said if his owners would give him £100 per month to go and carry negroes again, he would not take it, but would sooner go elsewhere a common sailor, for 20 guilders a month.

No wonder. Out of 700 taken on board the Hannibal some died every day, and by the time they reached Barbadoes they had thrown overboard 320 of them, and all the comment her master makes is that it was a clear loss to the owners, the African Company, of £10 for every negro that so died.

But there is another thing he notices with intense surprise. He was “forced to clap one Lord, the trumpeter, in irons, for his being the promoter of unseasonable carousing115 bouts116,” we can understand it would never have done for the crew to indulge in such bouts with such a cargo, “and though he remained upon the poop day and night in irons for two months, without any other shelter than the canopy117 of heaven, he was never troubled with any sickness, but made good the proverb that ‘Naught’s never in danger.’” And while he goes on complaining of enduring so “much misery118 and stench among a parcel of creatures nastier than swine,” it never occurs to him, or to anybody else for that matter, for many a long day, that he had provided his recreant119 trumpeter with at least one safeguard in plenty of air.

Three hundred and twenty negroes murdered on that voyage alone. No wonder “Ichabod” is written over those old castles. Koromantyn that was once the chief stronghold, head castle of the English, is no more, its guns are red with rust37, its walls are crumbling120 to ruin, its courtyards are desolate121 and grass-grown, and the people from the neighbouring villages go there when they want shaped stones. Annamabu still stands a model of what these castles used to be—with the exception of Elmina, the best model and best preserved along the 300 miles of coast. Cape Coast has been used for many purposes, but no white man can live there, because no servant will stay there, they declare it is haunted. Well it might be, for the dungeons are deep and dark, and assuredly they have been used. Kommenda is a shell, and no native will go into the courtyard where the bush is beginning to grow up because there is ju-ju upon it, and the evil spirits make it their home. At Annamabu, as I sat at luncheon122, there came up a quick tropical storm. The roar of the wind hushed the sound of the ceaseless surf, the coconut palms bent123 before it, and the rain came down in torrents124. It blotted125 out the sea, it swept off the bastion in streams, it beat down the breakers, and like a grey mist it shut out the surrounding landscape.

“You stop here, Ma,” said my head man with a satisfaction he did not conceal126.

Stop there? With all the ghosts of the past? Would not the mulatto girl, who was the factor’s wife, come back and walk along this bastion, as she must have done more than two hundred years ago? Would she be sad? Or glad? Or proud? Would not the men and women who had been driven so unwillingly127 through that long-tunnelled entrance, been shut up in those dark dungeons on the ground floor, come back mourning and wailing128? Would not the white man, who had looked out over the sea with longing129 eyes, come tramping those stones again, heedless of dark mistress or coffers slowly piling with gold, counting the days, as he had counted them so often, when in his own pleasant land again he would enjoy the fruits of his labour? Stay? No, a thousand times, no, no. And the tropical storm passed, the golden rays of the afternoon sun fell through the slanting rain drops, and then the rain stopped and a mist rose up from the wet stones, and the sea lay blue, reflecting the blue sky above, and I went down the steps and into the tunnel, and out of the courtyard and away along the sea-shore past Koromantyn, and only in Jamaica did I realise that by the merest chance, I had seen and appreciated the beginnings of the iniquitous Middle Passage, that I had come upon the place whence came all the slaves who led the insurrections in that island for close on two hundred years.

I have wandered in my life, far and wide, east and west, but that remote castle on the Guinea Coast made a far deeper impression than many a more important place.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 census arnz5     
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查
参考例句:
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
2 courteous tooz2     
adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的
参考例句:
  • Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一,但她总是很谦恭有礼。
  • He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善,而且彬彬有礼。
3 eel bjAzz     
n.鳗鲡
参考例句:
  • He used an eel spear to catch an eel.他用一只捕鳗叉捕鳗鱼。
  • In Suzhou,there was a restaurant that specialized in eel noodles.苏州有一家饭馆,他们那里的招牌菜是鳗鱼面。
4 sniff PF7zs     
vi.嗅…味道;抽鼻涕;对嗤之以鼻,蔑视
参考例句:
  • The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
  • When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候,他们会彼此嗅一会儿。
5 veins 65827206226d9e2d78ea2bfe697c6329     
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理
参考例句:
  • The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的,感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 tar 1qOwD     
n.柏油,焦油;vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于
参考例句:
  • The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
  • We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。
7 starched 1adcdf50723145c17c3fb6015bbe818c     
adj.浆硬的,硬挺的,拘泥刻板的v.把(衣服、床单等)浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • My clothes are not starched enough. 我的衣服浆得不够硬。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The ruffles on his white shirt were starched and clean. 白衬衫的褶边浆过了,很干净。 来自辞典例句
8 civilisation civilisation     
n.文明,文化,开化,教化
参考例句:
  • Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
  • This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。
9 complexion IOsz4     
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格
参考例句:
  • Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
  • Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。
10 fin qkexO     
n.鳍;(飞机的)安定翼
参考例句:
  • They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
  • The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。
11 embroidery Wjkz7     
n.绣花,刺绣;绣制品
参考例句:
  • This exquisite embroidery won people's great admiration.这件精美的绣品,使人惊叹不已。
  • This is Jane's first attempt at embroidery.这是简第一次试着绣花。
12 velvet 5gqyO     
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的
参考例句:
  • This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
  • The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。
13 inevitable 5xcyq     
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
参考例句:
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
14 abounding 08610fbc6d1324db98066903c8e6c455     
adj.丰富的,大量的v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Ahead lay the scalloped ocean and the abounding blessed isles. 再往前是水波荡漾的海洋和星罗棋布的宝岛。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
  • The metallic curve of his sheep-crook shone silver-bright in the same abounding rays. 他那弯柄牧羊杖上的金属曲线也在这一片炽盛的火光下闪着银亮的光。 来自辞典例句
15 schooners 88eda1cebb18c03d16c7c600a86ade6c     
n.(有两个以上桅杆的)纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • You've already drunk three schooners of sherry. 你已经喝了三大杯雪利酒了。 来自辞典例句
  • Might l beg the honour of pouring the privileged schooners myself? 请问我能不能自己倒尊贵的大杯酒? 来自电影对白
16 dodging dodging     
n.避开,闪过,音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 );回避
参考例句:
  • He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
  • I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句
17 laden P2gx5     
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的
参考例句:
  • He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
  • Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。
18 aged 6zWzdI     
adj.年老的,陈年的
参考例句:
  • He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了,也老点了。
  • He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老,然而记忆力还好。
19 Portuguese alRzLs     
n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语
参考例句:
  • They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
  • Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。
20 loomed 9423e616fe6b658c9a341ebc71833279     
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近
参考例句:
  • A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
  • The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》
21 jutting 4bac33b29dd90ee0e4db9b0bc12f8944     
v.(使)突出( jut的现在分词 );伸出;(从…)突出;高出
参考例句:
  • The climbers rested on a sheltered ledge jutting out from the cliff. 登山者在悬崖的岩棚上休息。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soldier saw a gun jutting out of some bushes. 那士兵看见丛林中有一枝枪伸出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
22 relics UkMzSr     
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸
参考例句:
  • The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
  • Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。
23 iniquitous q4hyK     
adj.不公正的;邪恶的;高得出奇的
参考例句:
  • Many historians,of course,regard this as iniquitous.当然,许多历史学家认为这是极不公正的。
  • Men of feeling may at any moment be killed outright by the iniquitous and the callous.多愁善感的人会立即被罪恶的人和无情的人彻底消灭。
24 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
25 thronged bf76b78f908dbd232106a640231da5ed     
v.成群,挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
26 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
27 savage ECxzR     
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
参考例句:
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
28 bracelet nWdzD     
n.手镯,臂镯
参考例句:
  • The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
  • She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。
29 savages 2ea43ddb53dad99ea1c80de05d21d1e5     
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
  • That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。
30 fortified fortified     
adj. 加强的
参考例句:
  • He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
  • The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。
31 waned 8caaa77f3543242d84956fa53609f27c     
v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡
参考例句:
  • However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而,我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
  • The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
32 scraps 737e4017931b7285cdd1fa3eb9dd77a3     
油渣
参考例句:
  • Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
  • A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。
33 cape ITEy6     
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
参考例句:
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
34 mariners 70cffa70c802d5fc4932d9a87a68c2eb     
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • Mariners were also able to fix their latitude by using an instrument called astrolabe. 海员们还可使用星盘这种仪器确定纬度。
  • The ancient mariners traversed the sea. 古代的海员漂洋过海。
35 mariner 8Boxg     
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者
参考例句:
  • A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.平静的大海决不能造就熟练的水手。
  • A mariner must have his eye upon rocks and sands as well as upon the North Star.海员不仅要盯着北极星,还要注意暗礁和险滩。
36 rubble 8XjxP     
n.(一堆)碎石,瓦砾
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后,花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
  • After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。
37 rust XYIxu     
n.锈;v.生锈;(脑子)衰退
参考例句:
  • She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
  • The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。
38 rusting 58458e5caedcd1cfd059f818dae47166     
n.生锈v.(使)生锈( rust的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • There was an old rusting bolt on the door. 门上有一个生锈的旧门闩。 来自辞典例句
  • Zinc can be used to cover other metals to stop them rusting. 锌可用来涂在其他金属表面以防锈。 来自辞典例句
39 cannon 3T8yc     
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮
参考例句:
  • The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
  • The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。
40 exempt wmgxo     
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者
参考例句:
  • These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
  • He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。
41 grove v5wyy     
n.林子,小树林,园林
参考例句:
  • On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
  • The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。
42 coconut VwCzNM     
n.椰子
参考例句:
  • The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
  • The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。
43 grassy DfBxH     
adj.盖满草的;长满草的
参考例句:
  • They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
  • Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。
44 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的
参考例句:
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗?
45 crabs a26cc3db05581d7cfc36d59943c77523     
n.蟹( crab的名词复数 );阴虱寄生病;蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》
46 stilts 1d1f7db881198e2996ecb9fc81dc39e5     
n.(支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的)桩子,支柱( stilt的名词复数 );高跷
参考例句:
  • a circus performer on stilts 马戏团里踩高跷的演员
  • The bamboo huts here are all built on stilts. 这里的竹楼都是架空的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
47 receding c22972dfbef8589fece6affb72f431d1     
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题
参考例句:
  • Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远,他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
  • Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句
48 livelihood sppzWF     
n.生计,谋生之道
参考例句:
  • Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
  • My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。
49 ridge KDvyh     
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭
参考例句:
  • We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
  • The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。
50 sparse SFjzG     
adj.稀疏的,稀稀落落的,薄的
参考例句:
  • The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区,那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
  • The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。
51 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
52 groves eb036e9192d7e49b8aa52d7b1729f605     
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
  • The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林,还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。
53 brawny id7yY     
adj.强壮的
参考例句:
  • The blacksmith has a brawny arm.铁匠有强壮的胳膊。
  • That same afternoon the marshal appeared with two brawny assistants.当天下午,警长带着两名身强力壮的助手来了。
54 maiden yRpz7     
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的
参考例句:
  • The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
  • The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。
55 ward LhbwY     
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开
参考例句:
  • The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
  • During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时,我要点根火把,抵挡蚊虫。
56 dignified NuZzfb     
a.可敬的,高贵的
参考例句:
  • Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中,他始终沉默以保持尊严。
  • He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。
57 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯
参考例句:
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
58 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
59 slanting bfc7f3900241f29cee38d19726ae7dce     
倾斜的,歪斜的
参考例句:
  • The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
  • The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。
60 languishing vpCz2c     
a. 衰弱下去的
参考例句:
  • He is languishing for home. 他苦思家乡。
  • How long will she go on languishing for her red-haired boy? 为想见到她的红头发的儿子,她还将为此烦恼多久呢?
61 goad wezzh     
n.刺棒,刺痛物;激励;vt.激励,刺激
参考例句:
  • The opposition is trying to goad the government into calling an election.在野反对党正努力激起政府提出选举。
  • The writer said he needed some goad because he was indolent.这个作家说他需要刺激,因为他很懒惰。
63 treacherous eg7y5     
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的
参考例句:
  • The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
  • The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。
64 villains ffdac080b5dbc5c53d28520b93dbf399     
n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 );罪犯;(小说、戏剧等中的)反面人物;淘气鬼
参考例句:
  • The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
65 brass DWbzI     
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
参考例句:
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
66 wrecked ze0zKI     
adj.失事的,遇难的
参考例句:
  • the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
  • the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞
67 garish mfyzK     
adj.华丽而俗气的,华而不实的
参考例句:
  • This colour is bright but not garish.这颜色艳而不俗。
  • They climbed the garish purple-carpeted stairs.他们登上铺着俗艳的紫色地毯的楼梯。
68 ammunition GwVzz     
n.军火,弹药
参考例句:
  • A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
  • They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。
69 fronds f5152cd32d7f60e88e3dfd36fcdfbfa8     
n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • You can pleat palm fronds to make huts, umbrellas and baskets. 人们可以把棕榈叶折叠起来盖棚屋,制伞,编篮子。 来自百科语句
  • When these breezes reached the platform the palm-fronds would whisper. 微风吹到平台时,棕榈叶片发出簌簌的低吟。 来自辞典例句
70 saluted 1a86aa8dabc06746471537634e1a215f     
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂
参考例句:
  • The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
  • He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
71 solely FwGwe     
adv.仅仅,唯一地
参考例句:
  • Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
  • The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。
72 comely GWeyX     
adj.漂亮的,合宜的
参考例句:
  • His wife is a comely young woman.他的妻子是一个美丽的少妇。
  • A nervous,comely-dressed little girl stepped out.一个紧张不安、衣着漂亮的小姑娘站了出来。
73 bosoms 7e438b785810fff52fcb526f002dac21     
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形
参考例句:
  • How beautifully gold brooches glitter on the bosoms of our patriotic women! 金光闪闪的别针佩在我国爱国妇女的胸前,多美呀!
  • Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there weep our sad bosoms empty. 我们寻个僻静的地方,去痛哭一场吧。
74 covet 8oLz0     
vt.垂涎;贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)
参考例句:
  • We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
  • Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。
75 linen W3LyK     
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的
参考例句:
  • The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
  • Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。
76 chambers c053984cd45eab1984d2c4776373c4fe     
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅
参考例句:
  • The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间:Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网
77 flaunting 79043c1d84f3019796ab68f35b7890d1     
adj.招摇的,扬扬得意的,夸耀的v.炫耀,夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 );有什么能耐就施展出来
参考例句:
  • He did not believe in flaunting his wealth. 他不赞成摆阔。
  • She is fond of flaunting her superiority before her friends and schoolmates. 她好在朋友和同学面前逞强。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
78 warship OMtzl     
n.军舰,战舰
参考例句:
  • He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
  • The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。
79 condemn zpxzp     
vt.谴责,指责;宣判(罪犯),判刑
参考例句:
  • Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他,而有些人谴责他。
  • We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。
80 abreast Zf3yi     
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地
参考例句:
  • She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
  • We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习,就会跟不上形势。
81 woes 887656d87afcd3df018215107a0daaab     
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉
参考例句:
  • Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
  • She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。
82 pampered pampered     
adj.饮食过量的,饮食奢侈的v.纵容,宠,娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The lazy scum deserve worse. What if they ain't fed up and pampered? 他们吃不饱,他们的要求满足不了,这又有什么关系? 来自飘(部分)
  • She petted and pampered him and would let no one discipline him but she, herself. 她爱他,娇养他,而且除了她自己以外,她不允许任何人管教他。 来自辞典例句
83 chattels 285ef971dc7faf3da51802efd2b18ca7     
n.动产,奴隶( chattel的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • An assignment is a total alienation of chattels personal. 动产转让是指属人动产的完全转让。 来自辞典例句
  • Alan and I, getting our chattels together, struck into another road to reassume our flight. 艾伦和我收拾好我们的财物,急匆匆地走上了另一条路,继续过我们的亡命生活。 来自辞典例句
84 pretence pretence     
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰
参考例句:
  • The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
  • He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。
85 cargoes 49e446283c0d32352a986fd82a7e13c4     
n.(船或飞机装载的)货物( cargo的名词复数 );大量,重负
参考例句:
  • This ship embarked cargoes. 这艘船装载货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The crew lashed cargoes of timber down. 全体船员将木材绑牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
86 cargo 6TcyG     
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
参考例句:
  • The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
  • A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
87 squat 2GRzp     
v.蹲坐,蹲下;n.蹲下;adj.矮胖的,粗矮的
参考例句:
  • For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
  • He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。
88 casually UwBzvw     
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地
参考例句:
  • She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
  • I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。
89 victuals reszxF     
n.食物;食品
参考例句:
  • A plateful of coarse broken victuals was set before him.一盘粗劣的剩余饭食放到了他的面前。
  • There are no more victuals for the pig.猪没有吃的啦。
90 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
91 procure A1GzN     
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条
参考例句:
  • Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗?
  • I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。
92 ashore tNQyT     
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸
参考例句:
  • The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前,孩子们就上岸了。
  • He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。
93 graphic Aedz7     
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的
参考例句:
  • The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
94 wares 2eqzkk     
n. 货物, 商品
参考例句:
  • They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
  • The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。
95 dominant usAxG     
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
参考例句:
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
96 dungeons 2a995b5ae3dd26fe8c8d3d935abe4376     
n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句
97 reek 8tcyP     
v.发出臭气;n.恶臭
参考例句:
  • Where there's reek,there's heat.哪里有恶臭,哪里必发热。
  • That reek is from the fox.那股恶臭是狐狸发出的。
98 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
99 sleek zESzJ     
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢
参考例句:
  • Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
  • The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。
100 middle-aged UopzSS     
adj.中年的
参考例句:
  • I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
  • The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。
101 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查,仔细观察
参考例句:
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好,但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
102 foul Sfnzy     
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规
参考例句:
  • Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
  • What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气!
103 horrid arozZj     
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的
参考例句:
  • I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
  • The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃,她咽不下去。
104 stink ZG5zA     
vi.发出恶臭;糟透,招人厌恶;n.恶臭
参考例句:
  • The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
  • The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。
105 shackle NEkzq     
n.桎梏,束缚物;v.加桎梏,加枷锁,束缚
参考例句:
  • He's too young to shackle himself with the responsibilities of a family.他还太年轻,不能用家庭责任来束缚自己。
  • This issue always is a shackle which confines the brand building of industry product.这个问题一直是限制工业品品牌塑造的桎梏。
106 shackled 915a38eca61d93140d07ef091110dab6     
给(某人)带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The hostage had been shackled to a radiator. 当时人质被铐在暖气片上。
  • He was shackled and in darkness of torment. 他被困在黑暗中备受煎熬。
107 wilful xItyq     
adj.任性的,故意的
参考例句:
  • A wilful fault has no excuse and deserves no pardon.不能宽恕故意犯下的错误。
  • He later accused reporters of wilful distortion and bias.他后来指责记者有意歪曲事实并带有偏见。
108 apprehension bNayw     
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑
参考例句:
  • There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑,于是她越来越担心。
  • She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。
109 shackling 0edc452bd3f803e9e2c74bdccfa6d101     
给(某人)带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
110 divers hu9z23     
adj.不同的;种种的
参考例句:
  • He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人,要他们和他作伴。
  • Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作,同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。
111 prodigious C1ZzO     
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的
参考例句:
  • This business generates cash in prodigious amounts.这种业务收益丰厚。
  • He impressed all who met him with his prodigious memory.他惊人的记忆力让所有见过他的人都印象深刻。
112 wilfully dc475b177a1ec0b8bb110b1cc04cad7f     
adv.任性固执地;蓄意地
参考例句:
  • Don't wilfully cling to your reckless course. 不要一意孤行。 来自辞典例句
  • These missionaries even wilfully extended the extraterritoriality to Chinese converts and interfered in Chinese judicial authority. 这些传教士还肆意将"治外法权"延伸至中国信徒,干涉司法。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
113 cartridge fXizt     
n.弹壳,弹药筒;(装磁带等的)盒子
参考例句:
  • Unfortunately the 2G cartridge design is very difficult to set accurately.不幸地2G弹药筒设计非常难正确地设定。
  • This rifle only holds one cartridge.这支来复枪只能装一发子弹。
114 kennels 1c735b47bdfbcac5c1ca239c583bbe85     
n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处,养狗场;狗窝( kennel的名词复数 );养狗场
参考例句:
  • We put the dog in kennels when we go away. 我们外出时把狗寄养在养狗场。
  • He left his dog in a kennels when he went on holiday. 他外出度假时把狗交给养狗场照管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
115 carousing b010797b2c65f4c563ad2ffac1045fdd     
v.痛饮,闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • During the next nine years he alternated between service in several armies and carousing in Paris. 在那以后的九年里,他时而在几个军队中服役,时而在巴黎狂欢作乐。 来自辞典例句
  • In his youth George W. Bush had a reputation for carousing. 小布什在年轻时有好玩的名声。 来自互联网
116 bouts 2abe9936190c45115a3f6a38efb27c43     
n.拳击(或摔跤)比赛( bout的名词复数 );一段(工作);(尤指坏事的)一通;(疾病的)发作
参考例句:
  • For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
117 canopy Rczya     
n.天篷,遮篷
参考例句:
  • The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。
  • They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。
118 misery G10yi     
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦
参考例句:
  • Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
119 recreant QUbx6     
n.懦夫;adj.胆怯的
参考例句:
  • How can I overcome recreant psychology?我该如何克服胆小的心理?
  • He is a recreant knight.他是个懦弱的骑士。
120 crumbling Pyaxy     
adj.摇摇欲坠的
参考例句:
  • an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
  • The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
121 desolate vmizO     
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂
参考例句:
  • The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
  • We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后,我们都觉得万分孤寂。
122 luncheon V8az4     
n.午宴,午餐,便宴
参考例句:
  • We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
  • I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。
123 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
124 torrents 0212faa02662ca7703af165c0976cdfd     
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断
参考例句:
  • The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Sudden rainstorms would bring the mountain torrents rushing down. 突然的暴雨会使山洪暴发。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
125 blotted 06046c4f802cf2d785ce6e085eb5f0d7     
涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 ); (用吸墨纸)吸干
参考例句:
  • She blotted water off the table with a towel. 她用毛巾擦干桌上的水。
  • The blizzard blotted out the sky and the land. 暴风雪铺天盖地而来。
126 conceal DpYzt     
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽
参考例句:
  • He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方,他只好隐瞒身份。
  • He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。
127 unwillingly wjjwC     
adv.不情愿地
参考例句:
  • He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
  • Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访,他也是很不情愿地接待我。
128 wailing 25fbaeeefc437dc6816eab4c6298b423     
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱
参考例句:
  • A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
  • The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
129 longing 98bzd     
n.(for)渴望
参考例句:
  • Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
  • His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。


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