And then, just at that moment, an event occurred which added greatly to the ill name of this route. A few days before I reached San José, a gentleman resident there had started for England with his wife, and they had decided3 upon going by the San Juan. It seems that the lady had reached San José, as all people do reach it, by Panamá and Punta-arenas, and had suffered on the route. At any rate, she had taken a dislike to it, and had resolved on returning by the San Juan and the Serapiqui rivers, a route which is called the Serapiqui road.
To do this it is necessary for the traveller to ride on mules5 for four, five, or six days, according to his or her capability6. The Serapiqui river is then reached, and from that point the further journey is made in canoes down the Serapiqui river till it falls into the San Juan, and then down that river to Greytown.
This gentleman with his wife reached the Serapiqui in safety; though it seems that she suffered greatly on the road. But when once there, as she herself said, all her troubles were over. That weary work of supporting herself on her mule4, through mud and thorns and thick bushes, of scrambling7 over precipices9 and through rivers, was done. She had been very despondent10, even from before the time of her starting; but now, she said, she believed that she should live to see her mother again. She was seated in the narrow canoe, among cloaks and cushions, with her husband close to her, and the boat was pushed into the stream. Almost in a moment, within two minutes of starting, not a hundred yards from the place where she had last trod, the canoe struck against a snag or upturned fragment of a tree and was overset. The lady was borne by the stream among the entangled11 branches of timber which clogged12 the river, and when her body was found life had been long extinct.
This had happened on the very day that I reached San José, and the news arrived two or three days afterwards. The wretched husband, too, made his way back to the town, finding himself unable to go on upon his journey alone, with such a burden on his back. What could he have said to his young wife's mother when she came to meet him at Southampton, expecting to throw her arms round her daughter?
I was again lucky in having a companion for my journey. A young lieutenant13 of the navy, Fitzm—— by name, whose vessel14 was lying at Greytown, had made his way up to San José on a visit to the Ouseleys, and was to return at the same time that I went down. He had indeed travelled up with the bereaved15 man who had lost his wife, having read the funeral service over the poor woman's grave on the lonely shores of the Serapiqui. The road, he acknowledged, was bad, too bad, he thought, for any female; but not more than sufficiently16 so to make proper excitement for a man. He, at any rate, had come over it safely; but then he was twenty-four, and I forty-four; and so we started together from San José, a crowd of friends accompanying us for the first mile or two. There was that Secretary of Legation prophesying17 that we should be smothered18 in the mud; there was the Consul19 and the Consul's brother; nor was female beauty wanting to wish us well on our road, and maybe to fling an old shoe after us for luck as we went upon our journey.
We took four mules, that was one each for ourselves, and two for our baggage; we had two guides or muleteers, according to bargain, both of whom travelled on foot. The understanding was, that one mule lightly laden21 with provisions and a pair of slippers22 and tooth-brush should accompany us, one man also going with us; but that the heavy-laden mule should come along after us at its own pace. Things, however, did not so turn out: on the first day both the men and both the mules lagged behind, and on one occasion we were obliged to wait above an hour for them; but after that we all kept in a string together, having picked up a third muleteer somewhere on the road. We had also with us a distressed23 British subject, who was intrusted to my tender mercies by the Consul at San José. He was not a good sample of a Britisher; he had been a gold-finder in California, then a filibuster24, after that a teacher of the piano in the country part of Costa Rica, and lastly an omnibus driver. He was to act as interpreter for us, which, however, he did not do with much honesty or zeal25.
Our road at first lay through the towns of Aredia and Barba, the former of which is a pleasant-looking little village, where, however, we found great difficulty in getting anything to drink. Up to this, and for a few leagues further, the road was very fair, and the land on each side of us was cultivated. We had started at eight a.m., and at about three in the afternoon there seemed to be great doubt as to where we should stop. The leading muleteer wished to take us to a house of a friend of his own, whereas the lieutenant and I resolved that the day's work had not been long enough. I take it that on the whole we were right, and the man gave in with sufficient good humour; but it ended in our passing the night in a miserable26 rancho. That at the potrero, on the road to the volcanic27 mountain, had been a palace to it.
And here we got into the forest; we had hitherto been ascending29 the whole way from San José, and had by degrees lost all appearance of tillage. Still, however, there had been open spaces here and there cleared for cattle, and we had not as yet found ourselves absolutely enveloped30 by woods. This rancho was called Buena-vista; and certainly the view from it was very pretty. It was pretty and extensive, as I have seen views in Baden and parts of Bavaria; but again there was nothing about which I could rave2.
I shall not readily forget the night in that rancho. We were, I presume, between seven and eight thousand feet above the sea-level; and at night, or rather early in the morning, the cold was very severe. Fitzm—— and I shared the same bed; that is, we lay on the same boards, and did what we could to cover ourselves with the same blankets. In that country men commonly ride upon blankets, having them strapped31 over the saddles as pillions, and we had come so provided; but before the morning was over I heartily32 wished for a double allowance.
We had brought with us a wallet of provisions, certainly not too well arranged by Sir William Ouseley's most reprehensible33 butler. Travellers should never trust to butlers. Our piece de résistance was a ham, and lo! it turned out to be a bad one. When the truth of this fact first dawned upon us it was in both our minds to go back and slay34 that butler: but there was still a piece of beef and some chickens, and there had been a few dozen of hard-boiled eggs. But Fitzm—— would amuse himself with eating these all along the road: I always found when the ordinary feeding time came that they had not had the slightest effect upon his appetite.
On the next morning we again ascended35 for about a couple of leagues, and as long as we did so the road was still good; the surface was hard, and the track was broad, and a horseman could wish nothing better. And then we reached the summit of the ridge36 over which we were passing; this we did at a place called Desenganos, and from thence we looked down into vast valleys all running towards the Atlantic. Hitherto the fall of water had been into the Pacific.
At this place we found a vast shed, with numberless bins37 and troughs lying under it in great confusion. The facts, as far as I could learn, were thus: Up to this point the government, that is Don Juan Mora, or perhaps his predecessor38, had succeeded in making a road fit for the transit39 of mule carts. This shed had also been built to afford shelter for the postmen and accommodation for the muleteers. But here Don Juan's efforts had been stopped; money probably had failed; and the great remainder of the undertaking40 will, I fear, be left undone41 for many a long year.
And yet this, or some other road from the valley of San José to the Atlantic, would be the natural outlet42 of the country. At present the coffee grown in the central high lands is carried down to Punta-arenas on the Pacific, although it must cross the Atlantic to reach its market; consequently, it is either taken round the Horn, and its sale thus delayed for months, or it is transported across the isthmus43 by railway, at an enormous cost. They say there is a point at which the Atlantic may be reached more easily than by the present route of the Serapiqui river; nothing, however, has as yet been done in the matter. To make a road fit even for mule carts, by the course of the present track, would certainly be a work of enormous difficulty.
And now our vexations commenced. We found that the path very soon narrowed, so much so that it was with difficulty we could keep our hats on our heads; and then the surface of the path became softer and softer, till our beasts were up to their knees in mud. All motion quicker than that of a walk became impossible; and even at this pace the struggles in the mud were both frequent and uncomfortable. Hitherto we had talked fluently enough, but now we became very silent; we went on following, each at the other's tail, floundering in the mud, silent, filthy44, and down in the mouth.
"I tell you what it is," said Fitzm—— at last, stopping on the road, for he had led the van, "I can't go any further without breakfast." We referred the matter to the guide, and found that Careblanco, the place appointed for our next stage, was still two hours distant.
"Two hours! Why, half an hour since you said it was only a league!" But what is the use of expostulating with a man who can't speak a word of English?
So we got off our mules, and draped out our wallet among the bushes. Our hard-boiled eggs were all gone, and it seemed as though the travelling did not add fresh delights to the cold beef; so we devoured45 another fowl46, and washed it down with brandy and water.
As we were so engaged three men passed us with heavy burdens on their backs. They were tall, thin, muscular fellows, with bare legs, and linen47 clothes,—one of them apparently48 of nearly pure Indian blood. It was clear that the loads they carried were very weighty. They were borne high up on the back, and suspended by a band from the forehead, so that a great portion of the weight must have fallen on the muscles of the neck. This was the post; and as they had left San José some eight hours after us, and had come by a longer route, so as to take in another town, they must have travelled at a very fast pace. It was our object to go down the Serapiqui river in the same boat with the post. We had some doubt whether we should be able to get any other, seeing that the owner of one such canoe had been drowned, I believe in an endeavour to save the unfortunate lady of whom I have spoken; and any boat taken separately would be much more expensive.
So, as quick as might be, we tied up our fragments and proceeded. It was after this that I really learned how all-powerful is the force of mud. We came at last to a track that was divided crossways by ridges50, somewhat like the ridges of ploughed ground. Each ridge was perhaps a foot and a half broad, and the mules invariably stepped between them, not on them. Stepping on them they could not have held their feet. Stepping between them they came at each step with their belly51 to the ground, so that the rider's feet and legs were trailing in the mud. The struggles of the poor brutes52 were dreadful. It seemed to me frequently impossible that my beast should extricate53 himself, laden as he was. But still he went on patiently, slowly, and continuously; splash, splash; slosh, slosh! Every muscle of his body was working; and every muscle of my body was working also.
For it is not very easy to sit upon a mule under such circumstances. The bushes were so close upon me that one hand was required to guard my face from the thorns; my knees were constantly in contact with the stumps55 of trees, and when my knees were free from such difficulties, my shins were sure to be in the wars. Then the poor animal rolled so from side to side in his incredible struggles with the mud that it was frequently necessary to hold myself on by the pommel of the saddle. Added to this, it was essentially56 necessary to keep some sort of guide upon the creature's steps, or one's legs would be absolutely broken. For the mule cares for himself only, and not for his rider. It is nothing to him if a man's knees be put out of joint57 against the stump54 of a tree.
Splash, splash, slosh, slosh! on we went in this way for hours, almost without speaking. On such occasions one is apt to become mentally cross, to feel that the world is too hard for one, that one's own especial troubles are much worse than those of one's neighbours, and that those neighbours are unfairly favoured. I could not help thinking it very unjust that I should be fifteen stone, while Fitzm—— was only eight. And as for that distressed Britisher, he weighed nothing at all.
Splash, splash, slosh, slosh! we were at it all day. At Careblanco—the place of the white-faced pigs I understood it to mean;—they say that there is a race of wild hogs58 with white faces which inhabit the woods hereabouts—we overtook the post, and kept close to them afterwards. This was a pasture farm in the very middle of the forest, a bit of cleared land on which some adventurer had settled himself and dared to live. The adventurer himself was not there, but he had a very pretty wife, with whom my friend the lieutenant seemed to have contracted an intimate acquaintance on his previous journey up to San José.
But at Careblanco we only stopped two minutes, during which, however, it became necessary that the lieutenant should go into the rancho on the matter of some article of clothes which had been left behind on his previous journey; and then, again, on we went, slosh, slosh, splash, splash! My shins by this time were black and blue, and I held myself on to my mule chiefly by my spurs. Our way was still through dense59 forest, and was always either up or down hill. And here we came across the grandest scenery that I met with in the western world; scenery which would admit of raving60, if it were given to me to rave on such a subject.
We were travelling for the most part along the side of a volcanic mountain, and every now and then the declivity61 would become so steep as to give us a full view down into the ravine below, with the prospect62 of the grand, steep, wooded hill on the other side, one huge forest stretching up the mountain for miles. At the bottom of the ravine one's eye would just catch a river, looking like a moving thread of silver wire. And yet, though the descent was so great, there would be no interruption to it. Looking down over the thick forest trees which grew almost from the side of a precipice8, the eye would reach the river some thousand feet below, and then ascend28 on the other side over a like unbroken expanse of foliage63.
Of course we both declared that we had never seen anything to equal it. In moments of ecstasy64 one always does so declare. But there was a monotony about it, and a want of grouping which forbids me to place it on an equality with scenery really of the highest kind, with the mountains, for instance, round Colico, with the head of the Lake of the Four Cantons, or even with the views of the upper waters of Killarney.
And then, to speak the truth, we were too much engulfed65 in mud, too thoughtful as to the troubles of the road, to enjoy it thoroughly66. "Wonderful that; isn't it?" "Yes, very wonderful; fine break; for heaven's sake do get on." That is the tone which men are apt to adopt under such circumstances. Five or six pounds of thick mud clinging round one's boots and inside one's trousers do not add to one's enjoyment67 of scenery.
Mud, mud; mud, mud! At about five o'clock we splashed into another pasture farm in the middle of the forest, a place called San Miguel, and there we rested for that night. Here we found that our beef also must be thrown away, and that our bread was all gone. We had picked up some more hard-boiled eggs at ranchos on the road, but hard-boiled eggs to my companion were no more than grains of gravel68 to a barn-door fowl; they merely enabled him to enjoy his regular diet. At this place, however, we were able to purchase fowls—skinny old hens which were shot for us at a moment's warning. The price being, here and elsewhere along the road, a dollar a head. Tea and candles a ministering angel had given to me at the moment of my departure from San José. But for them we should have indeed been comfortless, thirsty, and in utter darkness. Towards evening a man gets tired of brandy and water, when he has been drinking it since six in the morning.
Our washing was done under great difficulties, as in these districts neither nature nor art seems to have provided for such emergencies. In this place I got my head into a tin pot, and could hardly extricate it. But even inside the houses and ranchos everything seemed to turn into mud. The floor beneath one's feet became mud with the splashing of the water. The boards were begrimed with mud. We were offered coffee that was mud to the taste and touch. I felt that the blood in my veins70 was becoming muddy.
And then we had another day exactly like the former, except that the ground was less steep, and the vistas71 of scenery less grand. The weather also was warmer, seeing that we were now on lower ground. Monkeys chattered72 on the trees around us, and the little congo ape roared like a lion. Macaws flew about, generally in pairs; and we saw white turkeys on the trees. Up on the higher forests we had seen none of these animals.
There are wild hogs also in these woods, and ounces. The ounce here is, I believe, properly styled the puma73, though the people always call them lions. They grow to about the size of a Newfoundland dog. The wild cat also is common here, the people styling them tigers. The xagua is, I take it, their proper name. None of these animals will, I believe, attack a man unless provoked or pressed in pursuit; and not even then if a way of escape be open to him.
We again breakfasted at a forest clearing, paying a dollar each for tough old hens, and in the evening we came to a cacao plantation74 in the middle of the forest which had been laid out and settled by an American of the United States residing in Central America. This place is not far from the Serapiqui river, and is called Padregal. It was here that the young lieutenant had read the funeral service over the body of that unfortunate lady.
I went with him to visit the grave. It was a spot in the middle of a grass enclosure, fenced off rudely so as to guard it from beasts of prey75. The funeral had taken place after dusk. It had been attended by some twelve or fourteen Costa Rican soldiers who are kept in a fort a little below, on the banks of the Serapiqui. Each of these men had held a torch. The husband was there, and another Englishman who was travelling with him; as was also, I believe, the proprietor76 of the place. So attended, the body of the Englishwoman was committed to its strange grave in a strange country.
Here we picked up another man, an American, who also had been looking for gold, and perhaps doing a turn as a filibuster. Him too the world had used badly, and he was about to return with all his golden dreams unaccomplished.
We had one more stage down to the spot at which we were to embark78 in the canoe—the spot at which the lady had been drowned—and this one we accomplished77 early in the morning. This place is called the Muelle, and here there is a fort with a commandant and a small company of soldiers. The business of the commandant is to let no one up or down the river without a passport; and as a passport cannot be procured79 anywhere nearer than San José, here may arise a great difficulty to travellers. We were duly provided, but our recently-picked-up American friend was not; and he was simply told that he would not be allowed to get into a boat on the river.
"I never seed such a d——d country in my life," said the American. "They would not let me leave San José till I paid every shilling I owed; and now that I have paid, I ain't no better off. I wish I hadn't paid a d——d cent."
I advised him to try what some further operation in the way of payment would do, and with this view he retired81 with the commandant. In a minute or two they both returned, and the commandant said he would look at his instructions again. He did so, and declared that he now found it was compatible with his public duty to allow the American to pass. "But I shall not have a cent left to take me home," said the American to me. He was not a smart man, though he talked smart. For when the moment of departure came all the places in the boat were taken, and we left him standing20 on the shore. "Well, I'm darned!" he said; and we neither heard nor saw more of him.
That passage down the Serapiqui was not without interest, though it was somewhat monotonous82. Here, for the first time in my life, I found my bulk and size to be of advantage to me. In the after part of the canoe sat the master boatman, the captain of the expedition, steering83 with a paddle. Then came the mails and our luggage, and next to them I sat, having a seat to myself, being too weighty to share a bench with a neighbour. I therefore could lean back among the luggage; and with a cigar in my mouth, with a little wooden bicher of weak brandy and water beside me, I found that the position had its charms.
On the next thwart84 sat, cheek by jowl, the lieutenant and the distressed Britisher. Unfortunately they had nothing on which to lean, and I sincerely pitied my friend, who, I fear, did not enjoy his position. But what could I do? Any change in our arrangements would have upset the canoe. And then close in the bow of the boat sat the two natives paddling; and they did paddle without cessation all that day, and all the next till we reached Greytown.
The Serapiqui is a fine river; very rapid, but not so much so as to make it dangerous, if care be taken to avoid the snags. There is not a house or hut on either side of it; but the forest comes down to the very brink85. Up in the huge trees the monkeys hung jabbering86, shaking their ugly heads at the boat as it went down, or screaming in anger at this invasion of their territories. The macaws flew high over head, making their own music, and then there was the constant little splash of the paddle in the water. The boatmen spoke49 no word, but worked on always, pausing now and again for a moment to drink out of the hollow of their hands. And the sun became hotter and hotter as we neared the sea; and the musquitoes began to bite; and cigars were lit with greater frequency. 'Tis thus that one goes down the waters of the Serapiqui.
About three we got into the San Juan. This is the river by which the great lake of Nicaragua empties itself into the sea; which has been the channel used by the transit companies who have passed from ocean to ocean through Nicaragua; which has been so violently interfered87 with by filibusters88, till all such transit has been banished89 from its waters; and which has now been selected by M. Belly as the course for his impossible canal. It has seen dreadful scenes of cruelty, wrong, and bloodshed. Now it runs along peaceably enough, in its broad, shallow, swift course, bearing on its margin90 here and there the rancho and provision-ground of some wild settler who has sought to overcome
"The whips and scorns of time—
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,"
by looking for bread and shelter on those sad, sunburnt, and solitary91 banks.
We landed at one such place to dine, and at another to sleep, selecting in each place some better class of habitation. At neither place did we find the owner there, but persons left in charge of the place. At the first the man was a German; a singularly handsome and dirty individual, who never shaved or washed himself, and lived there, ever alone, on bananas and musk-melons. He gave us fruit to take into the boat with us, and when we parted we shook hands with him. Out here every one always does shake hands with every one. But as I did so I tendered him a dollar. He had waited upon us, bringing water and plates; he had gathered fruit for us; and he was, after all, no more than the servant of the river squatter92. But he let the dollar fall to the ground, and that with some anger in his face. The sum was made up of the small silver change of the country, and I felt rather little as I stooped under the hot sun to pick it up from out the mud of the garden. Better that than seem to leave it there in anger. It is often hard for a traveller to know when he is wished to pay, and when he is wished not to pay. A poorer-looking individual in raiment and position than that German I have seldom seen; but he despised my dollar as though it had been dirt.
We slept at the house of a Greytown merchant, who had maintained an establishment up the river, originally with the view of supplying the wants of the American travellers passing in transit across the isthmus. The flat-bottom steamers which did some five or six years since ply80 upon the river used to take in wood here and stop for the night. And the passengers were wont93 to come on shore, and call for rum and brandy; and in this way much money was made. Till after a time filibusters came instead of passengers; men who took all the wood that they could find there—hundreds of dollars' worth of sawn wood, and brandy also—took it away with them, saying that they would give compensation when they were established in the country, but made no present payment. And then it became tolerably clear that the time for making money in that locality had passed away.
They came in great numbers on one such occasion, and stripped away everything they could find. Sawn wood for their steam-boilers was especially desirable, and they took all that had been prepared for the usual wants of the river. Having helped themselves to this, and such other chattels95 as were at the moment needed and at hand, they went on their way, grimly rejoicing. On the following day most of them returned; some without arms, some without legs, some even without heads; a wretched, wounded, mutilated, sore-struck body of filibusters. The boiler94 of their large steamer had burst, scattering96 destruction far and near. It was current among the filibusters that the logs of wood had been laden with gunpowder97 in order to effect this damage. It is more probable, that being filibusters, rough and ready as the phrase goes, they had not duly looked to their engineering properties. At any rate, they all returned. On the whole, these filibusters have suffered dire98 punishment for their sins.
At any rate, the merchant under whose roof we slept received no payment for his wood. Here we found two men living, not in such squalid misery99 as that independent German, but nevertheless sufficiently isolated100 from the world. One was an old Swedish sailor, who seemed to speak every language under the sun, and to have been in every portion of the globe, whether under the sun or otherwise. At any rate, we could not induce him to own to not having been in any place. Timbuctoo; yes, indeed, he had unfortunately been a captive there for three years. At Mecca he had passed as an Arab among the Arabs, having made the great pilgrimage in company with many children of Mahomet, wearing the green turban as a veritable child of Mahomet himself. Portsmouth he knew well, having had many a row about the Head. We could not catch him tripping, though we put him through his facings to the best of our joint geographical101 knowledge. At present he was a poor gardener on the San Juan river, having begun life as a lieutenant in the Swedish navy. He had seen too much of the world to refuse the dollar which was offered to him.
On the next morning we reached Greytown, following the San Juan river down to that pleasant place. There is another passage out to the sea by the Colorado, a branch river which, striking out from the San Juan, runs into the ocean by a shorter channel. This also has been thought of as a course for the projected canal, preferable to that of the San Juan. I believe them to be equally impracticable. The San Juan river itself is so shallow that we were frequently on the ground even in our light canoe.
And what shall I say of Greytown? We have a Consul-General there, or at least had one when these pages were written; a Consul-General whose duty it is, or was, to have under his special care the King of Mosquitia—as some people are pleased to call this coast—of the Mosquito coast as it is generally styled. Bluefields, further along the coast, is the chosen residence of this sable102 tyrant103; but Greytown is the capital of his dominions104. Now it is believed that, in deference105 to the feelings of the United States, and to the American reading of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and in deference, I may add, to a very sensible consideration that the matter is of no possible moment to ourselves, the protectorate of the Mosquito coast is to be abandoned. What the king will do I cannot imagine; but it will be a happy day I should think for our Consul when he is removed from Greytown. Of all the places in which I have ever put my foot, I think that is the most wretched. It is a small town, perhaps of two thousand inhabitants, though this on my part is a mere69 guess, at the mouth of the San Juan, and surrounded on every side either by water or impassable forests. A walk of a mile in any direction would be impossible, unless along the beach of the sea; but this is of less importance, as the continual heat would prevent any one from thinking of such exercise. Sundry106 Americans live here, worshipping the almighty107 dollar as Americans do, keeping liquor shops and warehouses108; and with the Americans, sundry Englishmen and sundry Germans. Of the female population I saw nothing except some negro women, and one white, or rather red-faced owner of a rum shop. The native population are the Mosquito Indians; but it seems that they are hardly allowed to live in Greytown. They are to be seen paddling about in their canoes, selling a few eggs and chickens, catching109 turtle, and not rarely getting drunk. They would seem from their colour and physiognomy to be a cross between the negro and the Indian; and such I imagine to be the case. They have a language of their own, but those on the coast almost always speak English also.
My gallant110 young friend, Fitzm——, was in command of a small schooner111 inside the harbour of Greytown. As the accommodation of the city itself was not inviting112, I gladly took up my quarters under his flag until the English packet, which was then hourly expected, should be ready to carry me to Colon113 and St. Thomas. I can only say that if I was commander of that schooner I would lie outside the harbour, so as to be beyond the ill-usage of those frightful114 musquitoes. The country has been well named Mosquitia.
There was an American man-of-war and also an English man-of-war—sloops-of-war both I believe technically—lying off Greytown; and we dined on board them both, on two consecutive115 days. Of the American I will say, speaking in their praise, that I never ate such bacon and peas. It may be that the old hens up the Serapiqui river had rendered me peculiarly susceptible117 to such delights; but nevertheless, I shall always think that there was something peculiar116 about the bacon and peas on board the American sloop-of-war 'St. Louis.'
And on the second day the steamer came in; the 'Trent,' Captain Moir; we then dined on board of her, and on the same night she sailed for Colon. And when shall I see that gallant young lieutenant again? Putting aside his unjust, and I must say miraculous118 consumption of hard-boiled eggs, I could hardly wish for a better travelling companion.
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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capability
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| n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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13
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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14
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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16
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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17
prophesying
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的现在分词 ) | |
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18
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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19
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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20
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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21
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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22
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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23
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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24
filibuster
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| n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠 | |
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25
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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26
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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27
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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28
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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29
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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30
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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32
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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33
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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34
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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35
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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37
bins
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| n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 ) | |
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38
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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39
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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40
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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41
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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42
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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43
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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44
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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45
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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46
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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47
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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48
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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49
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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50
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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51
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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52
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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53
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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54
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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55
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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56
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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57
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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58
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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59
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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60
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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61
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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62
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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63
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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64
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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65
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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67
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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68
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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69
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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70
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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71
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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72
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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73
puma
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| 美洲豹 | |
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74
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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75
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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76
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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77
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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78
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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79
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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80
ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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81
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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82
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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83
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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84
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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85
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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86
jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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87
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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88
filibusters
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| n.掠夺兵( filibuster的名词复数 )；暴兵；（用冗长的发言）阻挠议事的议员；会议妨碍行为v.阻碍或延宕国会或其他立法机构通过提案( filibuster的第三人称单数 )；掠夺 | |
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89
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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91
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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92
squatter
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| n.擅自占地者 | |
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93
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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94
boiler
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| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
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95
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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96
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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97
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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98
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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99
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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100
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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101
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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102
sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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103
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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104
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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105
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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106
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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107
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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108
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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109
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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110
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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111
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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112
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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113
colon
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| n.冒号，结肠，直肠 | |
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114
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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115
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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116
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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117
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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118
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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