How long I stood there, lost in reverie, I have no idea: hours no doubt. I must have fallen into a doze11, for I was awakened12 by the brisk, incisive13 strokes of the ship's bell, echoed, a moment later, by eight fainter strokes coming from the deck below. Then the soft patter of bare feet which meant the changing of the [26]watch. Though the velvety15 darkness into which we were steadily16 ploughing had not perceptibly decreased, it was now cut sharply across, from right to left, by what looked like a tightly stretched wire of glowing silver. Even as I looked this slender fissure17 of illumination widened, almost imperceptibly at first, then faster, faster, until at one burst came the dawn. The sombre hangings of the night were swept aside by an invisible hand as are drawn18 back the curtains at a window. As you have seen from a hill the winking19 lights of a city disappear at daybreak, so, one by one, the stars went out. Masses of angry clouds reared themselves in ominous20, fantastic forms against a sullen21 sky. The hot land breeze changed to a cold wind which made me shiver. Suddenly the mounting rampart of clouds, which seemed about to burst in a tempest, was pierced by a hundred flaming lances coming from beyond the horizon's rim22. Before their onslaught the threatening cloud-wall crumbled23, faded, and abruptly24 dropped away to reveal the sun advancing in all that brazen25 effrontery26 which it assumes in those lawless latitudes27 along the Line. Now the sky was become a huge inverted28 bowl of flawless azure29 porcelain30, the surface of the Sulu Sea sparkled as though strewn with a million diamonds, and, not a league off our bows, rose the jungle-clothed shores of Borneo.
Scattered31 along the fringes of the world are certain places whose names ring in the ears of youth like trumpet-calls. They are passwords to romance and [27]high adventure. Their very mention makes the feet of the young men restless. They mark the places where the strange trails go down. Of them all, the one that most completely captivated my boyish imagination was Borneo. To me, as to millions of other youngsters, its name had been made familiar by that purveyor32 of entertainment to American boyhood, Phineas T. Barnum, as the reputed home of the wild man. In its jungles, through the magic of Marryat's breathless pages, I fought the head-hunter and pursued the boa-constrictor and the orang-utan. It was then, a boyhood dream come true when I stood at daybreak on the bridge of the Negros and through my glasses watched the mysterious island, which I had so often pictured in my imagination, rise with tantalizing33 slowness from the sapphire34 sea.
We forged ahead cautiously, for our charts were none too recent or reliable and we lacked the "Malay Archipelago" volume of The Sailing Directions—the "Sailor's Bible," as the big, orange-covered book, full of comforting detail, is known. As the morning mists dissolved before the sun I could make out a pale ivory beach, and back of the beach a band of green which I knew for jungle, and back of that, in turn, a range of purple mountains which culminated35 in a majestic36, cloud-wreathed peak. An off-shore breeze brought to my nostrils37 the strange, sweet odors of the hot lands. A Malay vinta with widespread bamboo outriggers and twin sails of orange flitted by an enormous butterfly skimming the surface of the water. I was [28]actually within sight of that grim island whose name has ever been a synonym38 for savagery39. For never think that piracy41, head-hunting, poisoned darts43 shot from blow-guns are horrors extinct in Borneo today, for they are not. Ask the mariners44 who sail these waters; ask the keepers of the lonely lighthouses, the officers who command the constabulary outposts in the bush. They know Borneo, and not favorably.
You will picture Borneo, if you please, as a vast, squat45 island the third largest in the world, in fact—half again as large as France, bordered by a sandy littoral46, moated by swamps reeking47 with putrid48 miasmata and pernicious vapors49, covered with dense50 forests and impenetrable jungles, ridged by mile-high mountain ranges, seamed by mighty51 rivers, inhabited by the most savage40 beasts and the most bestial52 savages53 known to man. Lying squarely athwart the Line, the sun beats down upon it like the blast from an open furnace-door. The story is told in Borneo of a dissolute planter who died from sunstroke. The day after the funeral a spirit message reached the widow of the dear departed. "Please send down my blankets" it said. But it is the terrible humidity which makes the climate dangerous; a humidity due to the innumerable swamps, the source of pestilence54 and fever, and to the incredible rainfall, which averages over six and a half feet a year. No wonder that in the Indies Borneo is known as "The White Man's Graveyard55."
Imbedded in the northern coast of the island, like[29] a row of semi-precious stones set in a barbaric brooch, are the states of British North Borneo, Brunei, and Sarawak. Their back-doors open on the wilderness56 of mountain, forest and jungle which marks the northern boundary of Dutch Borneo; their front windows look out upon the Sulu and the China Seas. Of these three territories, the first is under the jurisdiction57 of the British North Borneo Company, a private corporation, which administers it under the terms of a royal charter. The second is ruled by the Sultan of Brunei, whose once vast dominions58 have steadily dwindled59 through cession60 and conquest until they are now no larger than Connecticut. On the throne of the last sits one of the most romantic and picturesque61 figures in the world, His Highness James Vyner Brooke, a descendant of that Sir James Brooke who, in the middle years of the last century, made himself the "White Rajah" of Sarawak, and who might well have been the original of The Man Who Would Be King. Though all three governments are permitted virtually a free hand so far as their domestic affairs are concerned, they are under the protection of Great Britain and their foreign affairs are controlled from Westminster. The remaining three-quarters of Borneo, which contains the richest mines, the finest forests, the largest rivers, and, most important of all, the great oil-fields of Balik-Papan, forms one of the Outer Possessions, or Outposts, of Holland's East Indian Empire.
[30]Long before the yellow ribbon of the coast, with its fringe of palms, became visible we could make out the towering outline of Kina Balu, the sacred mountain, fourteen thousand feet high, which, seen from the north, bears a rather striking resemblance in its general contour to Gibraltar. The natives regard Kina Balu with awe63 and veneration64 as the home of departed spirits, believing that it exercises a powerful influence on their lives. When a man is dying they speak of him as ascending66 Kina Balu and in times of drought they formerly67 practised a curious and horrible custom, known as sumunguping, which the authorities have now suppressed. When the crops showed signs of failing the natives decided68 to despatch69 a messenger direct to the spirits of their relatives and friends in the other world entreating70 them to implore71 relief from the gods who control the rains. The person chosen to convey the message was usually a slave or an enemy captured in battle. Binding72 their victim to a post, the warriors73 of the tribe advanced, one by one, and drove their spears into his body, shouting with each thrust the messages which they wished conveyed to the spirits on the mountain.
With the coming of day we pushed ahead at full speed. Soon we could make out the precipitous sandstone cliffs of Balhalla, the island which screens the entrance to Sandakan harbor. But long before we came abreast74 of the town signs of human habitation became increasingly apparent: little clusters of nipa-thatched huts built on stilts75 over the water; others [31]hidden away in the jungle and betraying themselves only by spirals of smoke rising lazily above the feathery tops of the palms. Sandakan itself straggles up a steep wooded hill, the Chinese and native quarters at its base wallowing amid a network of foul-smelling and incredibly filthy76 sewers77 and canals or built on rickety wooden platforms which extend for half a mile or more along the harbor's edge. A little higher up, fronting on a parade ground which looks from the distance like a huge green rug spread in the sun to air, are the government offices, low structures of frame and plaster, designed so as to admit a maximum of air and a minimum of heat; the long, low building of the Planters Club, encircled by deep, cool verandahs; a Chinese joss-house, its facade78 enlivened by grotesque79 and brilliantly colored carvings80; and a down-at-heels hotel. Close by are the churches erected81 and maintained by the Protestant and Roman Catholic missions—the former the only stone building in the protectorate. At the summit of the hill, reached by a steeply winding82 carriage road, are the bungalows83 of the Europeans, their white walls, smothered84 in crimson85 masses of bougainvill?a and shaded by stately palms and blazing fire-trees, peeping out from a wilderness of tropic vegetation. Viewed from the harbor, Sandakan is one of the most enchanting86 places that I have ever seen. It looks like a setting on a stage and you have the feeling that at any moment the curtain may descend62 and destroy the illusion. It is not until you go ashore87 and wander in the native [32]quarter, where vice88 in every form stalks naked and unashamed, that you realize that the town is like a beautiful harlot, whose loveliness of face and figure belie65 the evil in her heart. Even after I came to understand that the place is a sink of iniquity89, I never ceased to marvel90 at its beauty. It reminded me of the exclamation91 of a young English girl, the wife of a German merchant, as their steamer approached Hong Kong and the superb panorama92 which culminates93 in The Peak slowly unrolled.
"Look, Otto! Look!" she cried. "You must say that it is beautiful even if it is English."
Of those lands which have not yet submitted to the bit and bridle94 of civilization—and they can be numbered on the fingers of one's two hands—Borneo is the most intractable. Of all the regions which the predatory European has claimed for his own, it is the least submissive, the least civilized95, the least exploited and the least known. Its interior remains96 as untamed as before the first white man set foot on its shores four hundred years ago. The exploits of those bold and hardy97 spirits—explorers, soldiers, missionaries98, administrators—who have attempted to carry to the natives of Borneo the Gospel of the Clean Shirt and the Square Deal form one of the epics99 of colonization100. They have died with their boots on from fever, plague and snake-bite, from poisoned dart42 and Dyak spear. Though their lives would yield material for a hundred books of adventure, their story, which is the [33]story of the white man's war for civilization throughout Malaysia, is epitomized in the few lines graven on the modest marble monument which stands at the edge of Sandakan's sun-scorched parade ground:
In
Memory
of
Francis Xavier Witti
Killed near the Sibuco River
May, 1882
of
Frank Hatton
Accidentally shot at Segamah
March, 1883
of
Dr. D. Manson Fraser
and
Jemadhar Asa Singh
the two latter mortally wounded at Kopang
May, 1883
and of
Alfred Jones, Adjutant
Shere Singh, Regimental Sergeant-Major
of the British North Borneo Constabulary
Killed at Ranau 1897-98
and of
George Graham Warder
District Officer, Tindang Batu
Murdered at Marak Parak
28th July 1903
This Monument Is Erected as a Mark of Respect
by their Brother Officers
Though Sandakan is the chief port of British North Borneo, with a population of perhaps fifteen thousand, it has barely a hundred European inhabitants, of whom only a dozen are women. Girls marry [34]almost as fast as they arrive, and the incoming boats are eagerly scanned by the bachelor population, much in the same spirit as that in which a ticket-holder scans the lists of winning numbers in a lottery101, wondering when his turn will come to draw something. If the bulk of the men are confirmed misogynists102 and confine themselves to the club bar and card-room it is only because there are not enough women to go round. The sacrifice of the women who, in order to be near their husbands, consent to sicken and fade and grow old before their time in such a spot, is very great. With their children at school in England, they pass their lonely lives in palm-thatched bungalows, raised high above the ground on piles as a protection against insects, snakes and floods, without amusements save such as they can provide themselves, and in a climate so humid that mushrooms will grow on one's boots in a single night during the rains. They are as truly empire-builders as the men and, though the parts they play are less conspicuous103, perhaps, they are as truly deserving of honors and rewards.
There is no servant problem in Borneo. Cooks jostle one another to cook for you. They will even go to the length of poisoning each other in order to step into a lucrative104 position, with a really big master and a memsahib who does not give too much trouble. But there are other features of domestic life for which the plenitude of servants does not compensate105. Because existence is made almost unendurable by mosquitoes and other insects, within each sleeping room is [35]constructed a rectangular framework, covered with mosquito-netting and just large enough to contain a bed, a dressing106-table and an arm-chair. In these insect-proof cells the Europeans spend all of their sleeping and many of their waking hours. So aggressive are the mosquitoes, particularly during the rains, that, when one invites people in for dinner or bridge, the servants hand the guests long sacks of netting which are drawn over the feet and legs, the top being tied about the waist with a draw-string. Were it not for these mosquito-bags there would be neither bridge nor table conversation. Everyone would be too busy scratching.
The houses, as I have already mentioned, are raised above the ground on brick piles or wooden stilts. Though this arrangement serves the purpose of keeping things which creep and crawl out of the house itself, the custom of utilizing107 the open space beneath the house as a hen-roost offers a standing108 invitation to the reptiles109 with which Borneo abounds111. While we were in Sandakan a python invaded the chicken-house beneath the dwelling112 of the local magistrate113 one night and devoured114 half a dozen of the judge's imported Leghorns. Gorged115 to repletion116, the great reptile110 fell asleep, being discovered by the servants the next morning. The magistrate put an end to its predatory career with a shot-gun. It measured slightly over twenty feet from nose to tail and in circumference117 was considerably118 larger than an inflated119 fire-hose. Imagine [36]finding such a thing coiled up at the foot of your cellar-stairs after you had been indulging in home-brew!
One evening a party of us were seated on the verandah of the Planters Club in Sandakan. The conversation, which had pretty much covered the world, eventually turned to snakes.
"That reminds me," remarked a constabulary officer who had spent many years in Malaysia, "of a queer thing that happened in a place where I was stationed once in the Straits Settlements. It was one of those deadly dull places—only a handful of white women, no cinema, no race course, nothing. But the Devil, you know, always finds mischief120 for idle hands to do. One day a youngster—a subaltern in the battalion121 that was stationed there—returned from a leave spent in England. He brought back with him a young English girl whom he had married while he was at home. A slender, willowy thing she was, with great masses of coppery-red hair and the loveliest pink-and-white complexion122. She quickly adapted herself to the disagreeable features of life in the tropics—with one exception. The exception was that she could never overcome her inherent and unreasoning fear of snakes. The mere123 sight of one would send her into hysterics.
"One afternoon, while she was out at tea with some friends, the Malay gardener brought to the house the carcass of a hamadryad which he had killed in the garden. The hamadryad, as you probably know, is perhaps the deadliest of all Eastern reptiles. Its bite usually causes death in a few minutes. Moreover, it is [37]one of the few snakes that will attack human beings without provocation124. The husband, with two other chaps, both officers in his battalion, was sitting on the verandah when the snake was brought in.
"'I say,' suggested one of the officers, 'here's a chance to break Madge of her fear of snakes. Why not curl this fellow up on her bed? She'll get a jolly good fright, of course, but when she discovers that he's dead and that she's been panicky about nothing, she'll get over her silly fear of the beggars. What say, old chap?'
"To this insane suggestion, in spite of the protests of the other officer, the husband assented125. Probably he had been having too many brandies and sodas126. I don't know. But in any event, they put the witless idea into execution. Toward nightfall the young wife returned. She had on a frock of some thin, slinky stuff and a droopy garden hat with flowers on it and carried a sunshade. She was awfully127 pretty. She hadn't been out there long enough to lose her English coloring, you see.
"'Oh, I say, Madge,' called her husband, 'There's a surprise for you in your bedroom.'
"With a little cry of delighted anticipation128 she hurried into the house. She thought her husband had bought her a gift, I suppose. A moment later the trio waiting on the verandah heard a piercing shriek129. The first shriek was followed by another and then another. Pretty soon, though, the screams died down to a whimper—a sort of sobbing130 moan. Then [38]silence. After a few minutes, as there was no further sound from the bedroom and his wife did not reappear, the husband became uneasy. He rose to enter the house, but the chap who had suggested the scheme pulled him back.
"'She's all right,' he assured him. 'She sees it's a joke and she's keeping quiet so as to frighten you. If you go in there now the laugh will be on you. She'll be out directly.'
"But as the minutes passed and she did not reappear all three of the men became increasingly uneasy.
"'We'd better have a look,' the one who had demurred131 suggested after a quarter of an hour had passed, during which no further sound had come from the bedroom. 'Madge is very high-strung. She may have fainted from the shock. I told you fellows that it was an idiotic132 thing to do.'
"When they opened the door they thought that she had fainted, for she lay in an inert133 heap on the floor at the foot of the bed. But a hasty examination showed them, to their horror, that the girl was dead—heart failure, presumably. But when they raised her from the floor they discovered the real cause of her death, for a second hamadryad, which had been concealed134 by her skirts, darted135 noiselessly under the bed. It was the mate of the one that had been killed—for hamadryads always travel in pairs, you know—and had evidently entered the room in quest of its companion."
"What happened to the husband and to the man [39]who suggested the plan?" I asked. "Were they punished?"
"They were punished right enough," the constabulary officer said dryly. "The chap who suggested the scheme tried to forget it in drink, was cashiered from the army and died of delirium136 tremens. As for the husband, he is still living—in a madhouse."
Even in so far-distant a corner of the Empire as Borneo, ten thousand miles from the lights of the restaurants in Piccadilly, the men religiously observe the English ritual of dressing for dinner, for when the mercury climbs to 110, though the temptation is to go about in pajamas137, one's drenched138 body and drooping139 spirits need to be bolstered140 up with a stiff shirt and a white mess jacket. That the stiffest shirt-front is wilted141 in an hour makes no difference: it reminds them that they are still Englishmen. Nor, in view of the appalling142 loneliness of the life, is it to be wondered at that the Chinese bartenders at the club are kept busy until far into the night, and that every month or so the entire male white population goes on a terrific spree. The government doctor in Sandakan assured me very earnestly that, in order to stand the climate, it is necessary to keep one's liver afloat—in alcohol. He had contributed to thus preserving the livers and lives of his fellow exiles by the invention of two drinks, of which he was inordinately144 proud. One he had dubbed145 "Tarantula Juice;" the other he called "Whisper of Death." He told me that the amateur [40]who took three drinks of the latter would have no further need for his services; the only person whose services he would require would be the undertaker.
There is something of the pathetic in the eagerness with which the white men who dwell in exile along these forgotten seaboards long for news from Home. After dinner they would cluster about me on the club verandah and clamor for those odds-and-ends of English gossip which are not important enough for inclusion in the laconic146 cable despatches posted daily on the club bulletin-board and which the two-months-old newspapers seldom mention. They insisted that I repeat the jokes which were being cracked by the comedians147 at the Criterion and the Shaftesbury. They wanted to know if toppers and tailcoats were again being worn in The Row. They pleaded for the gossip of the clubs in Pall143 Mall and Piccadilly. They begged me to tell them about the latest books and plays and songs. But after a time I persuaded them to do the talking, while I lounged in a deep cane148 chair, a tall, thin glass, with ice tinkling149 in it, at my elbow, and listened spellbound to strange dramas of "the Islands" recited by men who had themselves played the leading roles. At first they were shy, as well-bred English often are, but after much urging an officer of constabulary, the glow from his cigar lighting150 up his sun-bronzed face and the rows of campaign ribbons on his white jacket, was persuaded into telling how he had trailed a marauding band of head-hunters right across Borneo, from coast to coast, [41]his only companions a handful of Dyak police, themselves but a degree removed in savagery from those they were pursuing. A bespectacled, studious-looking man, whom I had taken for a scientist or a college professor, but who, I learned, had made a fortune buying bird-of-paradise plumes151 for the European market, described the strange and revolting customs practised by the cannibals of New Guinea. Then a broad-shouldered, bearded Dutchman, a very Hercules of a man, with a voice like a bass152 drum, told, between meditative153 puffs154 at his pipe, of hair-raising adventures in capturing wild animals, so that those smug and sheltered folk at home who visit the zoological gardens of a Sunday afternoon might see for themselves the crocodile and the boa-constrictor, the orang-utan and the clouded tiger. When, after the last tale had been told and the last glass had been drained, we strolled out into the fragrant155 tropic night, with the Cross swinging low to the morn, I felt as though, in the space of a single evening, I had lived through a whole library of adventure.
I once wrote—in The Last Frontier, if I remember rightly—that when the English occupy a country the first thing they build is a custom-house; the first thing the Germans build is a barracks; the first thing the French build is a railway. As a result of my observations in Malaysia, however, I am inclined to amend156 this by saying that the first thing the English build is a race course. Lord Cromer was fond of telling how, [42]when he visited Perim, a miserable157 little island at the foot of the Red Sea, inhabited by a few Arabs and many snakes, his guide took him to the top of a hill and pointed158 out the race course.
"But what do you want with a race course?" demanded the great proconsul. "I didn't suppose that there was a four-footed animal on the island."
The guide reluctantly admitted that, though they had no horses on the island at the moment, if some were to come, why, there was the race course ready for them. Though I don't recall having seen more than a dozen horses in Borneo, the British have been true to their traditions by building two race courses: one at Sandakan and one at Jesselton. On the latter is run annually159 the North Borneo Derby. It is the most brilliant sporting and social event of the year, the Europeans flocking into Jesselton from the little trading stations along the coast and from the lonely plantations160 in the interior just as their friends back in England flock to Goodwood and Newmarket and Epsom. The Derby is always followed by the Hunt Ball. In spite of the fact that there are at least twenty men to every woman this is always a tremendous success. It usually ends in everyone getting gloriously drunk.
Almost the only other form of entertainment is provided by a company of Malay players which makes periodical visits to Sandakan and Jesselton. Though the actors speak only Malay, this does not deter161 them from including a number of Shakesperian plays in their [43]repertoire (imagine Macbeth being played by a company of piratical-looking Malays in a nipa hut on the shores of the Sulu Sea!) but they attain162 their greatest heights in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. There are no programmes, but, in order that the audience may not be left in doubt as to the identity of the players, the manager introduces the members of his company one by one. "This is Ali Baba," he announces, leading a fat and greasy163 Oriental to the footlights. "This is Fatimah." "These are the Forty Thieves." When the latter announcement is made four actors stalk ten times across the stage in na?ve simulation of the specified164 number. After the thieves have concealed themselves behind pasteboard silhouettes165 of jars, Ali Baba's wife waddles166 on the stage bearing a Standard Oil tin on her shoulder and with a dipper proceeds to ladle a few drops of cocoanut oil on the head of each of the robbers. While she is being introduced one of the thieves seizes the opportunity to take a few whiffs from a cigarette, the smoke being plainly visible to the audience. Another, wearying of his cramped167 position, incautiously shows his head, whereupon Mrs. Ali Baba raps it sharply with her dipper, eliciting168 from the actor an exclamation not in his lines. During the intermissions the clown who accompanies the troupe169 convulses the audience with side-splitting imitations of the pompous170 and frigid171 Governor, who, as someone unkindly remarked, "must have been born in an ice-chest," and of the bemoustached and bemonocled officer who commands the constabulary, locally referred to as the [44]Galloping Major. Compared with the antics of these Malay comedians, the efforts of our own professional laugh-makers seem dull and forced. Until you have seen them you have never really laughed.
His Highness Haji Mohamed Jamalulhiram, Sultan of Sulu, was temporarily sojourning in Sandakan when we were there, having come across from his capital of Jolo for the purpose of collecting the monthly subsidy172 of five hundred pesos paid him by the British North Borneo Company for certain territorial173 concessions174. The company would have sent the money to Jolo, of course, but the Sultan preferred to come to Sandakan to collect it; there are better facilities for gambling176 there.
Because I was curious to see the picturesque personage around whom George Ade wrote his famous opera, The Sultan of Sulu, and because the Lovely Lady and the Winsome177 Widow had read in a Sunday supplement that he made it a practise to present those American women whom he met with pearls of great price, upon our arrival at Sandakan I invited the Sultan to dinner aboard the Negros. When I called on him at his hotel to extend the invitation, I found him clad in a very soiled pink kimono, a pair of red velvet14 slippers178, and a smile made somewhat gory179 by the betel-nut he had been chewing, but when he came aboard the Negros that evening he wore a red fez and irreproachable180 dinner clothes of white linen181. As the crew of the cutter was entirely182 composed of Tagalogs [45]and Visayans, from the northern Philippines, who, being Christians183, regard the Mohammedan Moro with contempt, not unmixed with fear, when I called for side-boys to line the starboard rail when his Highness came aboard, there were distinctly mutinous184 mutterings. Captain Galvez tactfully settled the matter, however, by explaining to the crew that the Sultan was, after all, an American subject, which seemed to mollify, even if it did not entirely satisfy them. The armament of the Negros had been removed after the armistice185, so that we were without anything in the nature of a saluting186 cannon187, but, as we wished to observe all the formalities of naval188 etiquette189, the Doctor and Hawkinson volunteered to fire a royal salute190 with their automatic pistols as the Sultan came over the side. That, in their enthusiasm, they lost count and gave him about double the number of "guns" prescribed for the President of the United States caused Haji Mohamed no embarrassment191; on the contrary, it seemed to please him immensely. (Donald Thompson, who was my photographer in Belgium during the early days of the war, always made it a point to address every officer he met as "General." He explained that it never did any harm and that it always put the officer in good humor.)
When the cocktails192 were served the Sultan gravely explained through the interpreter that, being a devout193 Mohammedan and a Haji, he never permitted alcohol to pass his lips, an assertion which he promptly194 proceeded to prove by taking four Martinis in rapid [46]succession. Now the chef of the Negros possessed195 the faculty196 of camouflaging197 his dishes so successfully that neither by taste, looks nor smell could one tell with certainty what one was eating. So, when the meat, smothered in thick brown gravy198, was passed to the Sultan, his Highness, who, like all True Believers, abhors199 pork, regarded it dubiously200. "Pig?" he demanded of the steward201. "No, sare," was the frightened answer. "Cow."
Over the coffee and cigarettes the Lovely Lady and the Winsome Widow tactfully led the conversation around to the subject of pearls, whereupon the Sultan thrust his hand into his pocket and produced a round pink box, evidently originally intended for pills. Removing the lid, he displayed, imbedded in cotton, half a dozen pearls of a size and quality such as one seldom sees outside the window of a Fifth Avenue jeweler. I could see that the Lovely Lady and the Winsome Widow were mentally debating as to whether they would have them set in brooches or rings. But when they had been passed from hand to hand, accompanied by the customary exclamations202 of envy and admiration203, back they went into the royal pocket again. "And to think," one of the party remarked afterward204, "that we wasted two bottles of perfectly205 good gin and a bottle of vermouth on him!"
It was after midnight when our guest took his departure, the ship's orchestra playing him over the side with a selection from The Sultan of Sulu, which, in view of my ignorance as to whether Sulu possessed [47]a national anthem206, seemed highly appropriate to the occasion. As the launch bearing the Sultan shot shoreward Hawkinson set off a couple of magnesium207 flares208, which he had brought along for the purpose of taking pictures at night, making the whole harbor of Sandakan as bright as day. I heard afterward that the Sultan remarked that we were the only visitors since the Taft party who really appreciated his importance.
Two hours steam off the towering promontory210 which guards the entrance to Sandakan harbor lies Baguian, a sandy islet covered with cocoanut-palms, which is so small that it is not shown on ordinary maps. Though the island is, for some unexplained reason, under the jurisdiction of the British North Borneo Company, it is a part of the Sulu Archipelago and belongs to the United States. Baguian is famed throughout those seas as a rookery for the giant tortoise—testudo elephantopus. Toward nightfall the mammoth211 chelonians—some of them weigh upward of half a ton—come ashore in great numbers to lay their eggs in nests made in the edge of the jungle which fringes the beach, the old Chinaman and his two assistants, who are the only inhabitants of the island, frequently collecting as many as four thousand eggs in a single morning. The eggs, which in size and color exactly resemble ping-pong balls and are almost as unbreakable, are collected once a fortnight by a junk which takes them to China, where they are considered great delicacies212 and command high prices. As [48]we had brought with us a supply of magnesium flares for night photography, we decided to take the camera ashore and attempt to obtain pictures of the turtles on their nests.
As we were going ashore in the gig we caught sight of a huge bull, as large as a hogshead, which was floating on the surface. Ordering the sailors to row quietly, we succeeded in getting within a hundred yards before I let go with my .405, the soft-nosed bullet tearing a great hole in the turtle's neck and dyeing the water scarlet213. Almost before the sound of the shot had died away one of the Filipino boat's crew went overboard with a rope, which he attempted to attach to the monster before it could sink to the bottom, but the turtle, though desperately214 wounded, was still very much alive, giving the sailor a blow on his head with its flapper which all but knocked him senseless. By the time we had hauled the man into the boat the turtle had disappeared into the depths.
Waiting until darkness had fallen, we sent parties of sailors, armed with electric torches, along the beach in both directions with orders to follow the tracks made by the turtles in crossing the sand, and to notify us by firing a revolver when they located one. We did not have long to wait before we heard the signal agreed upon, and, picking up the heavy camera, we plunged215 across the sands to where the sailors were awaiting us in the edge of the bush. While the bluejackets cut off the retreat of the hissing216, snapping monster, Hawkinson set up his camera and, when all [49]was ready, some one touched off a flare209, illuminating217 the beach and jungle as though the search-light of a warship218 had been turned upon them. In this manner we obtained a series of motion-pictures which are, I believe, from the zoological standpoint, unique. Before leaving the island we killed two tortoises for food for the crew—enough to keep them in turtle soup for a month. The larger, which I shot with a revolver, weighed slightly over five hundred pounds and lived for several days with three .45 caliber219 bullets in its brain-pan. Everything considered, it was a very interesting expedition. The only person who did not enjoy it was the old Chinese who held the concession175 for collecting the turtle-eggs. Instead of recognizing the great value of the service we were rendering220 to science, he acted as though we were robbing his hen-roost. He had a sordid221 mind.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
prow
|
|
| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
cleaving
|
|
| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
gondola
|
|
| n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ostrich
|
|
| n.鸵鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
funnel
|
|
| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
canopy
|
|
| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
smeared
|
|
| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
doze
|
|
| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
awakened
|
|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
incisive
|
|
| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
velvet
|
|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
velvety
|
|
| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
fissure
|
|
| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
winking
|
|
| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
crumbled
|
|
| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
brazen
|
|
| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
effrontery
|
|
| n.厚颜无耻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
latitudes
|
|
| 纬度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
inverted
|
|
| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
azure
|
|
| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
porcelain
|
|
| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
purveyor
|
|
| n.承办商，伙食承办商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
tantalizing
|
|
| adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sapphire
|
|
| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
culminated
|
|
| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
majestic
|
|
| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
synonym
|
|
| n.同义词，换喻词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
savagery
|
|
| n.野性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
piracy
|
|
| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dart
|
|
| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
darts
|
|
| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
mariners
|
|
| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
squat
|
|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
littoral
|
|
| adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
reeking
|
|
| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
putrid
|
|
| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
vapors
|
|
| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
bestial
|
|
| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
pestilence
|
|
| n.瘟疫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
graveyard
|
|
| n.坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
jurisdiction
|
|
| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
dominions
|
|
| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
dwindled
|
|
| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
cession
|
|
| n.割让，转让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
veneration
|
|
| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
belie
|
|
| v.掩饰，证明为假 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
ascending
|
|
| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
despatch
|
|
| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
entreating
|
|
| 恳求，乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
implore
|
|
| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
binding
|
|
| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
stilts
|
|
| 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： |
|
|
|
|
76
filthy
|
|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
sewers
|
|
| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
facade
|
|
| n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
carvings
|
|
| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
bungalows
|
|
| n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
enchanting
|
|
| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
vice
|
|
| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
iniquity
|
|
| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
panorama
|
|
| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
culminates
|
|
| v.达到极点( culminate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
bridle
|
|
| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
hardy
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
epics
|
|
| n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
colonization
|
|
| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
lottery
|
|
| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
misogynists
|
|
| n.厌恶女人的人( misogynist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
103
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
lucrative
|
|
| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
compensate
|
|
| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
utilizing
|
|
| v.利用，使用( utilize的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
reptiles
|
|
| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
reptile
|
|
| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
abounds
|
|
| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
magistrate
|
|
| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
devoured
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
gorged
|
|
| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 )；作呕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
repletion
|
|
| n.充满，吃饱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
circumference
|
|
| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
inflated
|
|
| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
battalion
|
|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
complexion
|
|
| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
provocation
|
|
| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
sodas
|
|
| n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
anticipation
|
|
| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
sobbing
|
|
| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
demurred
|
|
| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
idiotic
|
|
| adj.白痴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
inert
|
|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
delirium
|
|
| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
pajamas
|
|
| n.睡衣裤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
drenched
|
|
| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
drooping
|
|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
bolstered
|
|
| v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
wilted
|
|
| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
appalling
|
|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
pall
|
|
| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
inordinately
|
|
| adv.无度地，非常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
dubbed
|
|
| v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
laconic
|
|
| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
comedians
|
|
| n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
cane
|
|
| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
tinkling
|
|
| n.丁当作响声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
plumes
|
|
| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
bass
|
|
| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
meditative
|
|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
puffs
|
|
| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
fragrant
|
|
| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
amend
|
|
| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
plantations
|
|
| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
deter
|
|
| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
attain
|
|
| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
greasy
|
|
| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
specified
|
|
| adj.特定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
silhouettes
|
|
| 轮廓( silhouette的名词复数 )； （人的）体形； （事物的）形状； 剪影 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
waddles
|
|
| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
eliciting
|
|
| n. 诱发, 引出 动词elicit的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
troupe
|
|
| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
pompous
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
frigid
|
|
| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
subsidy
|
|
| n.补助金，津贴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
territorial
|
|
| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
concessions
|
|
| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
concession
|
|
| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
winsome
|
|
| n.迷人的，漂亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
slippers
|
|
| n. 拖鞋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
gory
|
|
| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
irreproachable
|
|
| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
Christians
|
|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
mutinous
|
|
| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
armistice
|
|
| n.休战，停战协定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
saluting
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
cannon
|
|
| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
etiquette
|
|
| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
embarrassment
|
|
| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
cocktails
|
|
| n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
devout
|
|
| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
faculty
|
|
| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
camouflaging
|
|
| v.隐蔽( camouflage的现在分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
gravy
|
|
| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
abhors
|
|
| v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
steward
|
|
| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
exclamations
|
|
| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
anthem
|
|
| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
magnesium
|
|
| n.镁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
flares
|
|
| n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
flare
|
|
| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
promontory
|
|
| n.海角；岬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
mammoth
|
|
| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
delicacies
|
|
| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
hissing
|
|
| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
illuminating
|
|
| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
warship
|
|
| n.军舰，战舰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
caliber
|
|
| n.能力；水准 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
rendering
|
|
| n.表现，描写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
sordid
|
|
| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |