But magic is not the only road by which men have travelled to a throne.
The foregoing evidence may satisfy us that in many lands and many races magic has claimed to control the great forces of nature for the good of man. If that has been so, the practitioners4 of the art must necessarily be personages of importance and influence in any society which puts faith in their extravagant6 pretensions7, and it would be no matter for surprise if, by virtue9 of the reputation which they enjoy and of the awe10 which they inspire, some of them should attain11 to the highest position of authority over their credulous12 fellows. In point of fact magicians appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings. Not that magic is the only or perhaps even the main road by which men have travelled to a throne. The lust13 of power, the desire to domineer over our fellows, is among the commonest and the strongest of human passions, and no doubt men of a masterful character have sought to satisfy it in many different ways and have attained14 by many different means to the goal of their ambition. The sword, for example, in a strong hand has unquestionably done for many what the magician’s wand in a deft15 hand appears to have done for some. He who investigates the history of institutions should constantly bear in mind the extreme complexity of the causes which have built up the fabric16 of human society, and should be on his guard against a subtle danger incidental to all science, the tendency to simplify unduly the infinite variety of the phenomena by fixing our attention on a few of them to the exclusion17 of the rest. The propensity18 to excessive simplification is indeed natural to the mind of man, since it is only {p333} by abstraction and generalisation, which necessarily imply the neglect of a multitude of particulars, that he can stretch his puny19 faculties20 so as to embrace a minute portion of the illimitable vastness of the universe. But if the propensity is natural and even inevitable21, it is nevertheless fraught22 with peril23, since it is apt to narrow and falsify our conception of any subject under investigation24. To correct it partially—for to correct it wholly would require an infinite intelligence—we must endeavour to broaden our views by taking account of a wide range of facts and possibilities; and when we have done so to the utmost of our power, we must still remember that from the very nature of things our ideas fall immeasurably short of the reality.
This propensity to excessive simplification has done much to discredit25 the study of primitive26 mythology27 and religion.
In no branch of learning, perhaps, has this proneness28 to an attractive but fallacious simplicity29 wrought31 more havoc32 than in the investigation of the early history of mankind; in particular, the excesses to which it has been carried have done much to discredit the study of primitive mythology and religion. Students of these subjects have been far too ready to pounce33 on any theory which adequately explains some of the facts, and forthwith to stretch it so as to cover them all; and when the theory, thus unduly strained, has broken, as was to be expected, in their unskilful hands, they have pettishly36 thrown it aside in disgust instead of restricting it, as they should have done from the outset, to the particular class of facts to which it is really applicable. So it fared in our youth with the solar myth theory, which after being unreasonably37 exaggerated by its friends has long been quite as unreasonably rejected altogether by its adversaries38; and in more recent times the theories of totemism, magic, and taboo39, to take only a few conspicuous40 examples, have similarly suffered from the excessive zeal41 of injudicious advocates. This instability of judgment42, this tendency of anthropological43 opinion to swing to and fro from one extreme to another with every breath of new discovery, is perhaps the principal reason why the whole study is still viewed askance by men of sober and cautious temper, who naturally look with suspicion on idols44 that are set up and worshipped one day only to be knocked down and trampled45 under foot the next. To these cool observers Max {p334} Müller and the rosy46 Dawn in the nineteenth century stand on the same dusty shelf with Jacob Bryant and Noah’s ark in the eighteenth, and they expect with a sarcastic47 smile the time when the fashionable anthropological topics of the present day will in their turn be consigned48 to the same peaceful limbo49 of forgotten absurdities50. It is not for the anthropologist51 himself to anticipate the verdict of posterity52 on his labours; still it is his humble53 hope that the facts which he has patiently amassed54 will be found sufficiently55 numerous and solid to bear the weight of some at least of the conclusions which he rests upon them, so that these can never again be lightly tossed aside as the fantastic dreams of a mere56 bookish student. At the same time, if he is wise, he will be forward to acknowledge and proclaim that our hypotheses at best are but partial, not universal, solutions of the manifold problems which confront us, and that in science as in daily life it is vain to look for one key to open all locks.
The practice of magic explains the rise of kings in some communities, but not in all.
Therefore, to revert59 to our immediate60 subject, in putting forward the practice of magic as an explanation of the rise of monarchy61 in some communities, I am far from thinking or suggesting that it can explain the rise of it in all, or, in other words, that kings are universally the descendants or successors of magicians; and if any one should hereafter, as is likely enough, either enunciate64 such a theory or attribute it to me, I desire to enter my caveat65 against it in advance. To enumerate66 and describe all the modes in which men have pushed, or fought, or wormed their way by force or by fraud, by their own courage and wisdom or by the cowardice67 and folly68 of others, to supreme69 power, might furnish the theme of a political treatise70 such as I have no pretension8 to write; for my present purpose it suffices if I can trace the magician’s progress in some savage71 and barbarous tribes from the rank of a sorcerer to the dignity of a king. The facts which I am about to lay before the reader seem to exhibit various steps of this development from simple conjuring72 up to conjuring compounded with despotism.
Social importance of magicians among the aborigines of Central Australia.
Let us begin by looking at the lowest race of men as to whom we possess comparatively full and accurate information, the aborigines of Australia. These savages73 are ruled neither by chiefs nor kings. So far as their tribes can be {p335} said to have a political constitution, it is a democracy or rather an oligarchy74 of old and influential75 men, who meet in council and decide on all measures of importance to the practical exclusion of the younger men. Their deliberative assembly answers to the senate of later times: if we had to coin a word for such a government of elders we might call it a gerontocracy.?[1193] The elders who in aboriginal76 Australia thus meet and direct the affairs of their tribe appear to be for the most part the headmen of their respective totem clans78. Now in Central Australia, where the desert nature of the country and the almost complete isolation79 from foreign influences have retarded81 progress and preserved the natives on the whole in their most primitive state, the headmen of the various totem clans are charged with the important task of performing magical ceremonies for the multiplication82 of the totems, and as the great majority of the totems are edible83 animals or plants, it follows that these men are commonly expected to provide the people with food by means of magic. Others have to make the rain to fall or to render other services to the community. In short, among the tribes of Central Australia the headmen are public magicians. Further, their most important function is to take charge of the sacred storehouse, usually a cleft84 in the rocks or a hole in the ground, where are kept the holy stones and sticks (churinga) with which the souls of all the people, both living and dead, are apparently85 supposed to be in a manner bound up. Thus while the headmen have certainly to perform what we should call civil duties, such as to inflict86 punishment for breaches87 of tribal88 custom, their principal functions are sacred or magical.?[1194]
Social importance of magicians among the aborigines of South-Eastern Australia.
Again, in the tribes of South-Eastern Australia the headman was often, sometimes invariably, a magician. Thus in the southern Wiradjuri tribe the headman was always a wizard or a medicine-man. There was one for each local {p336} division. He called the people together for the initiation89 ceremonies or to discuss matters of public importance.?[1195] In the Yerkla-mining tribe the medicine-men are the headmen; they are called Mobung-bai, from mobung, “magic.” They decide disputes, arrange marriages, conduct the ceremonies of initiation, and in certain circumstances settle the formalities to be observed in ordeals90 of battle. “In fact, they wield91 authority in the tribe, and give orders where others only make requests.”?[1196] Again, in the Yuin tribe there was a headman for each local division, and in order to be fitted for his office he had, among other qualifications, to be a medicine-man; above all he must be able to perform magical feats92 at the initiation ceremonies. The greatest headman of all was he who on these occasions could bring up the largest number of things out of his inside.?[1197] In fact the budding statesman and king must be first and foremost a conjuror93 in the most literal sense of the word. Some forty or fifty years ago the principal headman of the Dieri tribe was a certain Jalina piramurana, who was known among the colonists94 as the Frenchman on account of his polished manners. He was not only a brave and skilful35 warrior95, but also a powerful medicine-man, greatly feared by the neighbouring tribes, who sent him presents even from a distance of a hundred miles. He boasted of being the “tree of life,” for he was the head of a totem consisting of a particular sort of seed which forms at certain times the chief vegetable food of these tribes. His people spoke96 of him as the plant itself (manyura) which yields the edible seed.?[1198] Again, an early writer on the tribes of South-Western Australia, near King George’s Sound, tells us that “the individuals who possess most influence are the mulgarradocks, or doctors. . . . A mulgarradock is considered to possess the power of driving away wind or rain, as well as bringing down lightning or disease upon any object of their or others’ hatred,” and they also attempted to heal the sick.?[1199] On the {p337} whole, then, it is highly significant that in the most primitive society about which we are accurately97 informed it is especially the magicians or medicine-men who appear to have been in process of developing into chiefs.
Social importance of magicians in New Guinea.
When we pass from Australia to New Guinea we find that, though the natives stand at a far higher level of culture than the Australian aborigines, the constitution of society among them is still essentially98 democratic or oligarchic99, and chieftainship exists only in embryo100. Thus Sir William MacGregor tells us that in British New Guinea no one has ever arisen wise enough, bold enough, and strong enough to become the despot even of a single district. “The nearest approach to this has been the very distant one of some person becoming a renowned101 wizard; but that has only resulted in levying102 a certain amount of blackmail104.”?[1200] To the same effect a Catholic missionary105 observes that in New Guinea the nepu or sorcerers “are everywhere. They boast of their misdeeds; everybody fears them, everybody accuses them, and, after all, nothing positive is known of their secret practices. This cursed brood is as it were the soul of the Papuan life. Nothing happens without the sorcerer’s intervention106: wars, marriages, diseases, deaths, expeditions, fishing, hunting, always and everywhere the sorcerer. . . . One thing is certain for them, and they do not regard it as an article of faith, but as a fact patent and indisputable, and that is the extraordinary power of the nepu; he is the master of life and of death. Hence it is only natural that they should fear him and obey him in everything and give him all that he asks for. The nepu is not a chief, but he domineers over the chiefs, and we may say that the true authority, the only effective influence in New Guinea, is that of the nepu. Nothing can resist him.”?[1201] We are told that in the Toaripi or Motumotu tribe of British New Guinea chiefs have not necessarily supernatural powers, but that a sorcerer is looked upon as a chief. Some years ago, for example, one man of the tribe was a chief because he was supposed to rule the sea, calming it or rousing it to fury at his pleasure. {p338} Another owed his power to his skill in making the rain to fall, the sun to shine, and the plantations107 to bear fruit.?[1202] It is believed that the chief of Mowat in British New Guinea, can affect the growth of crops for good or ill, and coax108 the turtle and dugong to come from all parts of the sea and allow themselves to be caught.?[1203] At Bartle Bay in British New Guinea there are magicians (taniwaga) who are expected to manage certain departments of nature for the good of the community by means of charms (pari) which are known only to them. One of these men, for example, works magic for rain, another for taro109, another for wallaby, and another for fish. A magician who is believed to control an important department of nature may be the chief of his community. Thus the present chief of Wedau is a sorcerer who can make rain and raise or calm the winds. He is greatly respected by all and receives many presents.?[1204] A chief of Kolem, on Finsch Harbour, in German New Guinea, enjoyed a great reputation as a magician; it was supposed that he could make wind and storm, rain and sunshine, and visit his enemies with sickness and death.?[1205]
Supposed magical or supernatural powers of chiefs in Melanesia.
Turning now to the natives of the Melanesian islands, which stretch in an immense quadrant of a circle round New Guinea and Australia on the east, we are told by Dr. Codrington that among these savages “as a matter of fact the power of chiefs has hitherto rested upon the belief in their supernatural power derived110 from the spirits or ghosts with which they had intercourse111. As this belief has failed, in the Banks’ Islands for example some time ago, the position of a chief has tended to become obscure; and as this belief is now being generally undermined a new kind of chief must needs arise, unless a time of anarchy112 is to begin.”?[1206] According to a native Melanesian account, the origin of the power of chiefs lies entirely113 in the belief that they have communication with mighty114 ghosts (tindalo), and wield that {p339} supernatural power (mana) whereby they can bring the influence of the ghosts to bear. If a chief imposed a fine, it was paid because the people universally dreaded116 his ghostly power, and firmly believed that he could inflict calamity117 and sickness upon such as resisted him. As soon as any considerable number of his people began to disbelieve in his influence with the ghosts, his power to levy103 fines was shaken.?[1207] In Malo, one of the New Hebrides, the highest nobility consists of those persons who have sacrificed a thousand little pigs to the souls of their ancestors. No one ever resists a man of that exalted118 rank, because in him are supposed to dwell all the souls of the ancient chiefs and all the spirits who preside over the tribe.?[1208] In the Northern New Hebrides the son does not inherit the chieftainship, but he inherits, if his father can manage it, what gives him the chieftainship, namely, his father’s supernatural power, his charms, magical songs, stones and apparatus119, and his knowledge of the way to approach spiritual beings.?[1209] A chief in the island of Paramatta informed a European that he had the power of making rain, wind, storm, thunder and lightning, and dry weather. He exhibited as his magical instrument a piece of bamboo with some parti-coloured rags attached to it. In this bamboo, he said, were kept the devils of rain and wind, and when he commanded them to discharge their office or to lie still, they were obliged to obey, being his subjects and prisoners. When he had given his orders to these captive devils, the bamboo had to be fastened to the highest point of his house.?[1210] In the Marshall Bennet Islands to the east of New Guinea it was the duty of each chief of a clan77 to charm the gardens of his clan so as to make them productive. The charm consisted of turning up part of the soil with a long stick and muttering an appropriate spell. Each special crop, such as yams, bananas, {p340} sugar-cane120, and coco-nuts, had its special kind of stick and its special spell.?[1211]
Magicians as chiefs in New Britain.
With regard to government among the Melanesians of New Britain or the Bismarck Archipelago, I may cite the evidence of an experienced missionary, the Rev58. Dr. George Brown, who settled in the islands at a time when no other white man was living in the group, and who resided among the savage islanders for some five or six years. He says: “There was no government so called in New Britain except that form of jurisdiction121 or power represented by the secret societies and that exercised by chiefs, who were supposed to possess exceptional powers of sorcery and witchcraft122. These powers were very real, owing, I think, principally to two reasons—one of which was that the men themselves thoroughly123 believed that they were the possessors of the powers which they claimed, and the other was that the people themselves believed that the men really possessed124 them. There was indeed the title of chief (todaru) claimed and also given to them by the people; but this was not the result of any election or necessarily by inheritance, it was simply that a certain man claimed to be the possessor of these powers and succeeded in convincing the people that he really possessed them.”?[1212] Again, Dr. Brown tells us that in New Britain “a ruling chief was always supposed to exercise priestly functions, that is, he professed125 to be in constant communication with the tebarans (spirits), and through their influence he was enabled to bring rain or sunshine, fair winds or foul126 ones, sickness or health, success or disaster in war, and generally to procure127 any blessing128 or curse for which the applicant129 was willing to pay a sufficient price. If his spells did not produce the desired effect he always had a plausible130 explanation ready, which was generally accepted as a sufficient excuse. I think much of the success which these men undoubtedly131 had was due to their keen observations of natural phenomena, and to the effects of fear upon the people.”?[1213] {p341}
Dr. Turner on the power of the magical disease-makers in Tana.
According to Dr. Turner, “The real gods at Tana may be said to be the disease-makers. It is surprising how these men are dreaded, and how firm the belief is that they have in their hands the power of life and death. There are rain-makers and thunder-makers, and fly and mosquito-makers, and a host of other ‘sacred men,’ but the disease-makers are the most dreaded. It is believed that these men can create disease and death by burning what is called nahak. Nahak, means rubbish, but principally refuse of food. Everything of the kind they bury or throw into the sea, lest the disease-makers should get hold of it. These fellows are always about, and consider it their special business to pick up and burn, with certain formalities, anything in the nahak line which comes in their way. If a disease-maker sees the skin of a banana, for instance, he picks it up, wraps it in a leaf, and wears it all day hanging round his neck. The people stare as they see him go along, and say to each other, ‘He has got something; he will do for somebody by-and-by at night.’ In the evening he scrapes some bark off a tree, mixes it up with the banana skin, rolls all up tightly in a leaf in the form of a cigar, and then puts the one end close enough to the fire to cause it to singe132, and smoulder, and burn away very gradually. Presently he hears a shell blowing. ‘There,’ he says to his friends, ‘there it is; that is the man whose rubbish I am now burning, he is ill; let us stop burning, and see what they bring in the morning.’ When a person is taken ill he believes that it is occasioned by some one burning his rubbish. Instead of thinking about medicine, he calls some one to blow a shell, a large conch or other shell, which, when perforated and blown, can be heard two or three miles off. The meaning of it is to implore133 the person who is supposed to be burning the sick man’s rubbish and causing all the pain to stop burning; and it is a promise as well that a present will be taken in the morning. The greater the pain the more they blow the shell, and when the pain abates135 they cease, supposing that the disease-maker has been kind enough to stop burning.” Night after night the silence is broken by the dismal136 too-too-tooing of these shells; and in the morning the friends of the sufferer repair to the disease-maker with presents of pigs, mats, hatchets137, beads138, {p342} whales’ teeth, or suchh like things.?[1214] Thus these sorcerers attain to a position of immense power and influence and acquire wealth by purely140 maleficent magic; it is not by the imaginary benefits which they confer on the community, but by the imaginary evils which they inflict on individuals, that they climb the steps of a throne or the ladder that leads to heaven; for according to Dr. Turner these rascals141 are on the highroad to divinity. The process which they employ to accomplish their ends is a simple application of the principles of contagious142 magic: whatever has once been in contact with a person remains144 in sympathetic connexion with him always, and harm done to it is therefore harm done to him. Side by side with the evil which this superstition145 produces, on the one hand by inspiring men with baseless terrors, and on the other by leading them to neglect effectual remedies for real evils, we must recognise the benefit which it incidentally confers on society by causing people to clear away and destroy the refuse of their food and other rubbish, which if suffered to accumulate about their dwellings147 might, by polluting the atmosphere, prove a real, not an imaginary source of disease. In practice, cleanliness based on motives148 of superstition may be just as effective for the preservation149 of health as if it were founded on the best-ascertained principles of sanitary150 science.?[1215]
Evolution of chiefs or kings out of magicians, especially out of rain-makers, in Africa.
Power of magicians among the Wambugwe, Wataturu, and Wagogo of East Africa.
Among the Masai the supreme chief is always a powerful medicine-man.
Still rising in the scale of culture we come to Africa, where both the chieftainship and the kingship are fully151 developed; and here the evidence for the evolution of the chief out of the magician, and especially out of the rain-maker, is comparatively plentiful152. Thus among the Wambugwe, a Bantu people of East Africa, the original form of government was a family republic, but the enormous power of the sorcerers, transmitted by inheritance, soon raised them to the rank of petty lords or chiefs. Of the three chiefs living in the country in 1894 two were much dreaded as magicians, and the wealth of cattle they possessed came to them almost wholly in the shape of presents bestowed153 for their services in that capacity. Their principal art was that of rain-making.?[1216] The chiefs of the Wataturu, another {p343} people of East Africa, are said to be nothing but sorcerers destitute154 of any direct political influence.?[1217] Again, among the Wagogo of German East Africa the main power of the chiefs, we are told, is derived from their art of rain-making. If a chief cannot make rain himself, he must procure it from some one who can.?[1218] Again, in the powerful Masai nation of the same region the medicine-men are not uncommonly155 the chiefs, and the supreme chief of the race is almost invariably a powerful medicine-man. These Laibon, as they are called, are priests as well as doctors, skilled in interpreting omens156 and dreams, in averting157 ill-luck, and in making rain.?[1219] The head chief or medicine-man, who has been called the Masai pope,?[1220] is expected not only to make rain, but to repel159 and destroy the enemies of the Masai in war by his magic art.?[1221] The following is Captain Merker’s account of the Masai pope: “The most prominent clan of the whole Masai people is the En gidon, because to it belong not only the family of the chief (ol oiboni), but also the family of the magicians. The designation chief is, strictly160 speaking, not quite correct, since the chief (ol oiboni) does not govern directly and exercises no real administrative161 function. He rules only indirectly162; the firm belief of his subjects in his prophetic gifts and in his supernatural power of sorcery gives him an influence on the destinies of the people. Despotism and cruelty, such as we find among all negro rulers, are alien to him. He is not so much a ruler as a national saint or patriarch. The people speak of his sacred person with shy awe, and no man dares to appear before this mighty personage without being summoned. The aim of his policy is to unite and strengthen the Masai. While he allows free play to the predatory instincts of the warriors163 in raids on other tribes, he guards his own people from the scourge164 of civil war, to which the ceaseless quarrels of the various districts with each other would otherwise continually give occasion. This influence of his is rendered possible by the belief that {p344} victory can only be achieved through the secret power of the war-medicine which none but he can compound, and that defeat would infallibly follow if he were to predict it. Neither he nor his nearest relatives march with the army to war. He supplies remedies, generally in the shape of magical medicines, for plagues and sicknesses, and he appoints festivals of prayer in honour of the Masai god ’Ng ai. He delivers his predictions by means of an oracular game like the telling of beads.”?[1222] And just as Samson’s miraculous165 strength went from him when his hair was shorn, so it is believed that the head chief of the Masai would lose his supernatural powers if his chin were shaved.?[1223] According to one writer, the Masai pope has never more than one eye: the father knocks out his son’s eye in order to qualify him for the holy office.?[1224]
Among the Nandi of British East Africa the principal medicine-man is the supreme chief.
Among the Nandi of British East Africa “the Orkoiyot, or principal medicine man, holds precisely166 the same position as the Masai Ol-oiboni, that is to say, he is supreme chief of the whole race.” He is a diviner, and foretells167 the future by casting stones, inspecting entrails, interpreting dreams, and prophesying169 when he is drunk. The Nandi believe implicitly170 in his powers. He tells them when to begin planting their crops: in time of drought he procures171 rain for them either directly or by means of the rainmakers: he makes women and cattle fruitful; and no war-party can expect to be successful if he has not approved of the foray. His office is hereditary172 and his person is usually regarded as absolutely sacred. Nobody may approach him with weapons in his hand or speak in his presence unless the great man addresses him; and it is most important that nobody should touch his head, else it is feared that his powers of divination173 and so forth34 would depart from him. However, one of these sacred pontiffs was clubbed to death, being held responsible for several public calamities174, to wit, famine, sickness, and defeat in war.?[1225] The Suk and Turkana, {p345} two other peoples of British East Africa, distinguish between their chiefs and their medicine-men, who wield great power; but very often the medicine-man is a chief by virtue of his skill in medicine or the occult arts.?[1226]
Rain-makers as chiefs among the tribes of the Upper Nile.
Rain-makers as chiefs among the Latuka.
Again, among the tribes of the Upper Nile the medicine-men are generally the chiefs.?[1227] Their authority rests above all upon their supposed power of making rain, for “rain is the one thing which matters to the people in those districts, as if it does not come down at the right time it means untold175 hardships for the community. It is therefore small wonder that men more cunning than their fellows should arrogate176 to themselves the power of producing it, or that having gained such a reputation, they should trade on the credulity of their simpler neighbours.” Hence “most of the chiefs of these tribes are rainmakers, and enjoy a popularity in proportion to their powers to give rain to their people at the proper season. . . . Rain-making chiefs always build their villages on the slopes of a fairly high hill, as they no doubt know that the hills attract the clouds, and that they are, therefore, fairly safe in their weather forecasts.” Each of these rain-makers has a number of rain-stones, such as rock-crystal, aventurine, and amethyst177, which he keeps in a pot. When he wishes to produce rain he plunges178 the stones in water, and taking in his hand a peeled cane, which is split at the top, he beckons179 with it to the clouds to come or waves them away in the way they should go, muttering an incantation the while. Or he pours water and the entrails of a sheep or goat into a hollow in a stone and then sprinkles the water towards the sky. Though the chief acquires wealth by the exercise of his supposed magical powers, he often, perhaps generally, comes to a violent end; for in time of drought the angry people assemble and kill him, believing that it is he who prevents the rain from falling. Yet the office is usually hereditary and passes from father to son. Among the tribes which cherish these beliefs and observe these customs are the Latuka, Bari, Laluba, and Lokoiya.?[1228] Thus, {p346} for example, with regard to the Latuka we are told that “amongst the most important but also the most dangerous occupations of the greater chiefs is the procuring180 of rain for their country. Almost all the greater chiefs enjoy the reputation of being rainmakers, and the requisite181 knowledge usually passes by inheritance from father to son. However, there are also here and there among the natives persons who, without being chiefs, busy themselves with rain-making. If there has been no rain in a district for a long time and the people wish to attract it for the sake of the sowing, they apply to their chief, bringing him a present of sheep, goats, or, in urgent cases, cattle or a girl, and if the present seems to him sufficient he promises to furnish rain; but if it appears to him too little he asks for more. If some days pass without rain, it gives the magician an opportunity for claiming fresh presents, on the ground that the smallness of the offered gifts hinders the coming of the rain.” When the cupidity182 of the rain-maker is satisfied, he goes to work in the usual way, pouring water over two flat stones, one called the male and the other the female, till they are covered to a depth of three inches. The “male” stone is a common white quartz183; the “female” is brownish. If still no rain falls, he makes a smoky fire in the open with certain herbs, and if the smoke mounts straight up, rain is near. Although an unsuccessful rain-maker is often banished184 or killed, his son always succeeds him in the dignity.?[1229] Amongst the Bari the procedure of the rain-making chief to draw down the water of heaven is somewhat elaborate. He has many rain-stones, consisting of rock crystal and pink and green granite185. These are deposited in the hollows of some twenty slabs186 of gneiss, and across the hollows are laid numerous iron rods of various shapes and sizes. When rain is to be made, these iron rods are set up in a perpendicular187 position, and water is poured on the crystals and stones. Then the rain-maker takes up the stones one by one and oils them, praying to his dead father to send the rain. One of the iron rods is {p347} provided with a hook, and another is a two-headed spear. With the hook the rain-maker hooks and attracts the rain-clouds; with the two-headed spear he attacks and drives them away. In this procedure the prayer to the dead ancestor is religious, while the rest of the ceremony is magical. Thus, as so often happens, the savage seeks to compass his object by combining magic with religion. The logical inconsistency does not trouble him, provided he attains188 his end. Further, the rain-maker chief of the Bari is supposed to be able to make women fruitful. For this purpose he takes an iron rod with a hollow bulb at each end, in which are small stones. Grasping the rod by the middle he shakes it over the would-be mother, rattling189 the stones and muttering an incantation.?[1230]
Magical powers of chiefs among the Bongo and Dinkas.
Again, among the Bongo, a tribe of the same region, the influence of the chiefs is said to rest in great part on a belief in their magical powers; for the chief is credited with the knowledge of certain roots, which are the only means of communicating with the dangerous spirits of whose mischievous190 pranks191 the Bongo stand in great fear.?[1231] In the Dinka or Denka nation, to the north-east of the Bongo, men who are supposed to be in close communication with spirits pass for omnipotent192; it is believed that they make rain, conjure193 away all calamities, foresee the future, exorcise evil spirits, know all that goes on even at a distance, have the wild beasts in their service, and can call down every kind of disaster on their enemies. One of these men became the richest and most esteemed194 chief of the Ki? tribe through his skill in ventriloquism. He kept a cage from which the roars of imaginary lions and the howls of imaginary hyaenas were heard to proceed; and he gave out that these beasts guarded his house and were ready at his bidding to rush forth on his enemies. The dread115 which he infused into the tribe and its neighbours was incredible; from all sides oxen were sent to him as presents, so that his herds196 were the most numerous in the country. Another of these conjurers in the Tui? tribe had a real tame {p348} lion and four real fat snakes, which slept in front of his door, to the great awe of the natives, who could only attribute the pacific demeanour of these ferocious197 animals to sorcery.?[1232] But it does not appear that the real lion inspired nearly so much terror as the imaginary one; from which we may perhaps infer that among these people ventriloquism is a more solid basis of political power even than lion-taming.
Chiefs and kings as rain-makers in Central Africa.
In Central Africa, again, the Lendu tribe, to the west of Lake Albert, firmly believe that certain people possess the power of making rain. Among them the rain-maker either is a chief or almost invariably becomes one.?[1233] The Banyoro also have a great respect for the dispensers of rain, whom they load with a profusion198 of gifts. The great dispenser, he who has absolute and uncontrollable power over the rain, is the king; but he can depute his power to other persons, so that the benefit may be distributed and the heavenly water laid on over the various parts of the kingdom.?[1234] A Catholic missionary observes that “a superstition common to the different peoples of equatorial Africa attributes to the petty kings of the country the exclusive power of making the rain to fall; in extreme cases the power is ascribed to certain kings more privileged than the rest, such as those of Huilla, Humbé, Varé, Libebé, and others. These kings profit by the superstition in order to draw to themselves many presents of cattle; for the rain must fall after the sacrifice of an ox, and if it tarries, the king, who is never at a loss for excuses to extricate199 himself from the scrape, will ascribe the failure to the defects of the victim, and will seize the pretext200 to claim more cattle.”?[1235] Among the Ba-Yaka, a tribe of the Kasai district in the Congo Free State, magicians are exempt201 from justice, and the chief is the principal magician;?[1236] and among the Ba-Yanzi, another {p349} tribe of the same district, there is, or was a few years ago, a chief who passed for the greatest magician in the country.?[1237]
Medicine-men as chiefs in Western Africa.
In Western as well as in Eastern and Central Africa we meet with the same union of chiefly with magical functions. Thus in the Fan tribe the strict distinction between chief and medicine-man does not exist The chief is also a medicine-man and a smith to boot; for the Fans esteem195 the smith’s craft sacred, and none but chiefs may meddle202 with it.?[1238] The chiefs of the Ossidinge district in the Cameroons have as such very little influence over their subjects; but if the chief happens to be also the fetish-priest, as he generally is among the Ekois, he has not only powerful influence in all fetish matters (and most of the vital interests of the people are bound up with fetish worship), but he also enjoys great authority in general.?[1239] A few years ago the head chief of Etatin on the Cross River, in Southern Nigeria, was an old man whom the people had compelled to take office in order that he should look after the fetishes or jujus and work magic for the benefit of the community. In accordance with an old custom, which is binding204 on the head chief, he was never allowed to leave his compound, that is, the enclosure in which his house stands. He gave the following account of himself to an English official, who paid him a visit: “I have been shut up ten years, but, being an old man, I don’t miss my freedom. I am the oldest man of the town, and they keep me here to look after the jujus, and to conduct the rites205 celebrated206 when women are about to give birth to children, and other ceremonies of the same kind. By the observance and performance of these ceremonies, I bring game to the hunter, cause the yam crop to be good, bring fish to the fisherman, and make rain to fall. So they bring me meat, yams, fish, etc. To make rain, I drink water, and squirt it out, and pray to our big deities207. If I were to go outside this compound, I should fall down dead on returning to this hut. {p350} My wives cut my hair and nails, and take great care of the parings.”?[1240]
Chiefs as rain-makers in Southern Africa.
As to the relation between the offices of chief and rain-maker in South Africa a well-informed writer observes: “In very old days the chief was the great Rain-maker of the tribe. Some chiefs allowed no one else to compete with them, lest a successful Rain-maker should be chosen as chief. There was also another reason: the Rain-maker was sure to become a rich man if he gained a great reputation, and it would manifestly never do for the chief to allow any one to be too rich. The Rain-maker exerts tremendous control over the people, and so it would be most important to keep this function connected with royalty208. Tradition always places the power of making rain as the fundamental glory of ancient chiefs and heroes, and it seems probable that it may have been the origin of chieftainship. The man who made the rain would naturally become the chief. In the same way Chaka [the famous Zulu despot] used to declare that he was the only diviner in the country, for if he allowed rivals his life would be insecure.”?[1241] These South African rain-makers smear209 themselves with mud and sacrifice oxen as an essential part of the charm; almost everything is thought to turn on the colour of the beasts. Thus Umbandine, the old king of the Swazies, had huge herds of cattle of a peculiar210 colour, which was particularly well adapted for the production of rain. Hence deputations came to him from distant tribes praying and bribing211 him to make rain by the sacrifice of his cattle; and he used to threaten to “bind203 up the sky” if they did not satisfy his demands. The power {p351} which by this means he wielded212 was enormous.?[1242] Similarly Mablaan, a chief of the Bawenda, in the north-eastern corner of the Transvaal, enjoyed a wide reputation and was revered213 beyond the limits of his own tribe because he was credited with the power of rain-making, “a greater power in the eyes of natives than that of the assegai.” Hence he was constantly importuned214 by other chiefs to exercise his power and received valuable presents of girls, oxen, and red and green beads as inducements to turn on the heavenly water-tap.?[1243]
Power of rain-makers among the Matabeles.
The king of the Matabeles as rain-maker.
Among the Matabeles of South Africa the witch-doctors are supposed to be on speaking terms with spirits, and their influence is described as tremendous; in the time of King Lo Bengula some years ago “their power was as great as, if not greater than, the king’s.”?[1244] Similarly speaking of the South African tribes in general, Dr. Moffat says that “the rain-maker is in the estimation of the people no mean personage, possessing an influence over the minds of the people superior even to that of the king, who is likewise compelled to yield to the dictates215 of this arch-official.”?[1245] In Matabeleland the rainy season falls in November, December, January, and February. For several weeks before the rain sets in, the clouds gather in heavy banks, dark and lowering. Then the king is busy with his magicians compounding potions of wondrous216 strength to make the labouring clouds discharge their pent-up burden on the thirsty earth. He may be seen gazing at every black cloud, for his people flock from all parts to beg rain from him, “their rain-maker,” for their parched217 fields; and they thank and praise him when a heavy rain has fallen.?[1246] A letter dated from Bulawayo, the twentieth of November 1880, records that Lo Bengula, king of the Matabeles, “arrived yesterday evening at his kraal of ‘the White Rocks.’ He brought with him the rain to his people. For according to the ideas of the Matabeles, it is the king who ought to ‘make the rain {p352} and the good season’ in all senses of the word. Now Lo Bengula had chosen well the day and the hour, for it was in the midst of a tremendous storm that the king made his solemn entrance into his capital.” “You must know that the arrival of the king and of the rain gives rise every year to a little festival. For the rain is the great benefit conferred by the king, the pledge of future harvests and of plenty, after eight months of desolating218 drought.” To bring down the needed showers the king of the Matabeles boils a magic hell-broth in a cauldron, which sends up volumes of steam to the blue sky. But to make assurance doubly sure, he has recourse to religion as well as to magic; for he sacrifices twelve black oxen to the spirits of his fathers, and prays to them: “O great spirits of my father and grandfather, I thank you for having granted last year to my people more wheat than to our enemies the Mashonas. This year also, in gratitude219 for the twelve black oxen which I am about to dedicate to you, make us to be the best-fed and the strongest people in the world!”?[1247] Thus the king of the Matabeles acts not only as a magician but as a priest, for he prays and sacrifices to the spirits of his forefathers220.
Thus in Africa kings have probably often been developed out of magicians, and especially out of rain-makers.
The foregoing evidence renders it probable that in Africa the king has often been developed out of the public magician, and especially out of the rain-maker. The unbounded fear which the magician inspires and the wealth which he amasses222 in the exercise of his profession may both be supposed to have contributed to his promotion223. But if the career of a magician and especially of a rain-maker offers great rewards to the successful practitioner5 of the art, it is beset224 with many pitfalls225 into which the unskilful or unlucky artist may fall. The position of the public sorcerer is indeed a very precarious226 one; for where the people firmly believe that he has it in his power to make the rain to fall, the sun to shine, and the fruits of the earth to grow, they naturally impute227 drought and dearth to his culpable228 negligence229 or wilful230 obstinacy231, and they punish him accordingly. We have seen that in Africa the chief who fails to procure rain is often exiled or killed.?[1248] Examples of such punishments could be multiplied. {p353} Thus, in some parts of West Africa, when prayers and offerings presented to the king have failed to procure rain, his subjects bind him with ropes and take him by force to the grave of his forefathers that he may obtain from them the needed rain.?[1249] The Banjars in West Africa ascribe to their king the power of causing rain or fine weather. So long as the weather is fine they load him with presents of grain and cattle. But if long drought or rain threatens to spoil the crops, they insult and beat him till the weather changes.?[1250] When the harvest fails or the surf on the coast is too heavy to allow of fishing, the people of Loango accuse their king of a “bad heart” and depose232 him.?[1251] On the Grain Coast the high priest or fetish king, who bears the title of Bodio, is responsible for the health of the community, the fertility of the earth, and the abundance of fish in the sea and rivers; and if the country suffers in any of these respects the Bodio is deposed233 from his office.?[1252] In Ussukuma, a great district on the southern bank of the Victoria Nyanza, “the rain and locust234 question is part and parcel of the Sultan’s government. He, too, must know how to make rain and drive away the locusts235. If he and his medicine-men are unable to accomplish this, his whole existence is at stake in times of distress236. On a certain occasion, when the rain so greatly desired by the people did not come, the Sultan was simply driven out (in Ututwa, near Nassa). The people, in fact, hold that rulers must have power over Nature and her phenomena.”?[1253] Again, we are told of the natives of the Nyanza region generally that “they are persuaded that rain only falls as a result of magic, and the important duty of causing it to descend63 devolves on the chief of the tribe. If rain does not come at the proper time, everybody complains. More than one petty king has been banished his country because of drought.”?[1254] Similarly {p354} among the Antimores of Madagascar the chiefs are held responsible for the operation of the laws of nature. Hence if the land is smitten237 with a blight238 or devastated239 by clouds of locusts, if the cows yield little milk, or fatal epidemics240 rage among the people, the chief is not only deposed but stripped of his property and banished, because they say that under a good chief such things ought not to happen.?[1255] So, too, of the Antaimorona we read that “although the chiefs of this tribe are chosen by the people, during their tenure241 of power they enjoy a respect which borders on adoration242; but if a crop of rice fails or any other calamity happens, they are immediately deposed, sometimes even killed; and yet their successor is always chosen from the family.”?[1256] Among the Latukas of the Upper Nile, when the crops are withering243 in the fields and all the efforts of the chief to bring down rain have proved fruitless, the people commonly attack him by night, rob him of all he possesses, and drive him away. But often they kill him.?[1257]
In other parts of the world kings have been punished for failing to regulate the course of nature.
In many other parts of the world kings have been expected to regulate the course of nature for the good of their people and have been punished if they failed to do so. It appears that the Scythians, when food was scarce, used to put their king in bonds.?[1258] In ancient Egypt the sacred kings were blamed for the failure of the crops,?[1259] but the sacred beasts were also held responsible for the course of nature. When pestilence244 and other calamities had fallen on the land, in consequence of a long and severe drought, the priests took the animals by night and threatened them, but if the evil did not abate134 they slew245 the beasts.?[1260] On the coral island of Niuē or Savage Island, in the South Pacific, there formerly246 reigned247 a line of kings. But as the kings were also high priests, and {p355} were supposed to make the food grow, the people became angry with them in times of scarcity248 and killed them; till at last, as one after another was killed, no one would be king, and the monarchy came to an end.?[1261] Ancient Chinese writers inform us that in Corea the blame was laid on the king whenever too much or too little rain fell and the crops did not ripen249. Some said that he must be deposed, others that he must be slain250.?[1262] The Chinese emperor himself is deemed responsible if the drought is at all severe, and many are the self-condemnatory edicts on this subject published in the pages of the venerable Peking Gazette. In extreme cases the emperor, clad in humble vestments, sacrifices to heaven and implores251 its protection.?[1263] So, too, the kings of Tonquin used to take blame to themselves when the country was visited by such calamities as scanty252 harvests, dearth, floods, destructive hurricanes and cholera253. On these occasions the monarch62 would sometimes publicly confess his guilt254 and impose on himself a penance255 as a means of appeasing256 the wrath257 of Heaven.?[1264] In former days it sometimes happened that when the country suffered from drought and dearth the king of Tonquin was obliged to change his name in the hope that this would turn the weather to rain. But if the drought continued even after the change of name the people would sometimes resort to stronger measures and transfer the title of king from the legitimate258 monarch to his brother, son, or other near relation.?[1265]
Power of medicine-men among the North American Indians.
Among the American Indians the furthest advance towards civilisation259 was made under the monarchical260 and {p356} theocratic261 governments of Mexico and Peru; but we know too little of the early history of these countries to say whether the predecessors262 of their deified kings were medicine-men or not. Perhaps a trace of such a succession may be detected in the oath which the Mexican kings took when they mounted the throne: they swore that they would make the sun to shine, the clouds to give rain, the rivers to flow, and the earth to bring forth fruits in abundance.?[1266] Certainly, in aboriginal America the sorcerer or medicine-man, surrounded by a halo of mystery and an atmosphere of awe, was a personage of great influence and importance, and he may well have developed into a chief or king in many tribes, though positive evidence of such a development appears to be lacking. Thus Catlin tells us that in North America the medicine-men “are valued as dignitaries in the tribe, and the greatest respect is paid to them by the whole community; not only for their skill in their materia medica, but more especially for their tact143 in magic and mysteries, in which they all deal to a very great extent. . . . In all tribes their doctors are conjurors—are magicians—are sooth-sayers, and I had like to have said high-priests, inasmuch as they superintend and conduct all their religious ceremonies; they are looked upon by all as oracles263 of the nation. In all councils of war and peace, they have a seat with the chiefs, are regularly consulted before any public step is taken, and the greatest deference264 and respect is paid to their opinions.”?[1267] Among the Loucheux of North-West America each band is “headed by a chief and one or more medicine-men. The latter, however, do not possess any secular265 power as chiefs, but they acquire an authority by shamanism to which even the chiefs themselves are subject.” “The Loucheux are very superstitious266, and place implicit30 faith in the pretended incantations of their medicine-men, for whom they entertain great fear. . . . The power of the medicine-men is very great, and they use every means they can to increase it by working on the fears and credulity of the people. Their influence exceeds even that of the chiefs. The power of the {p357} latter consists in the quantity of beads they possess, their wealth and the means it affords them to work ill to those to whom they may be evil-disposed; while the power of the medicine-man consists in the harm they believe he is able to do by shamanism, should they happen to displease267 him in any way. It is when sickness prevails that the conjuror rules supreme; it is then that he fills his bead139 bags and increases his riches.”?[1268] Amongst the Tinneh Indians of the same region “the social standing268 of a medicine-man is, on the whole, a desirable one; but it has also its drawbacks and its dark side. The medicine-man is decidedly influential among his fellow savages. He is consulted and listened to, on account of the superior knowledge imparted to him by the spirits. He is feared, on account of his power to do evil, viz. to cause the death of a person, to ruin his undertakings270, to render him unsuccessful in the hunt by driving away the game from his path, to cause the loss of his property, of his strength, of his health, of his faculties, etc. The medicine-man is rich, because his services, when summoned, or even when accepted though uncalled for, are generously remunerated. He is respected on account of his continual intercourse with the supernatural world. His words, when said in a peculiar low tone, with a momentary271 glow in the eyes, which [he] seems able to control at will, or when uttered during his sleep (real or feigned) are taken as oracles, as the very words of the spirit. In short, for these tribes who have no chiefs, no religion, no medical knowledge, he is the nearest approach to a chief, a priest, and a physician.”?[1269] Similarly in California “the shaman was, and still is, perhaps the most important individual among the Maidu. In the absence of any definite system of government, the word of a shaman has great weight: as a class they are regarded with much awe, and as a rule are obeyed much more than the chief.”?[1270] As leader of the local branch {p358} of a secret society the most noted272 Maidu shaman of each district was supposed to make rain when it was needed, to ensure a good crop of edible acorns273 and a plentiful supply of salmon275, and to drive away evil spirits, disease, and epidemics from the village. Further, it was his business to inflict disease and death on hostile villages, which he did by burning certain roots and blowing the smoke towards the doomed276 village, while he said, “Over there, over there, not here! To the other place! Do not come back this way. We are good. Make those people sick. Kill them, they are bad people.”?[1271] Among the Yokuts, another tribe of Californian Indians, the rain-makers exercised great influence. One of them by his insinuating277 address, eloquence278, and jugglery279 spread his fame to a distance of two hundred miles, and cunningly availed himself of two years of drought to levy contributions far and wide from the trembling Indians, who attributed to his magic the fall of the rain.?[1272] In the same tribe the wizards drew large profits from the rattlesnake dance which they danced every spring, capering281 about with rattlesnakes twined round their arms; for after this exhibition many simpletons paid them for complete immunity282 from snake-bites, which the wizards were believed able to grant for a year.?[1273]
Power of medicine-men among the South American Indians.
In South America also the magicians or medicine-men seem to have been on the highroad to chieftainship or kingship. One of the earliest settlers on the coast of Brazil, the Frenchman Thevet, reports that the Indians “hold these pages (or medicine-men) in such honour and reverence283 that they adore, or rather idolise them. You may see the common folk go to meet them, prostrate284 themselves, and pray to them, saying, ‘Grant that I be not ill, that I do not die, neither I nor my children,’ or some such request. And he answers, ‘You shall not die, you shall not be ill,’ and such like replies. But sometimes if it happens that these pages do not tell the truth, and things turn out otherwise than they predicted, the people make no scruple285 of killing286 them as unworthy of the title and dignity {p359} of pages.”?[1274] The Indians of Brazil, says a modern writer who knew them well, “have no priests but only magicians, who at the same time use medical help and exorcism in order to exert influence over the superstition and the dread of spirits felt by the rude multitude. We may perfectly287 compare them with the shamans of the north-eastern Asiatic peoples. But like the shamans they are not mere magicians, fetish-men, soothsayers, interpreters of dreams, visionaries, and casters-out of devils; their activity has also a political character in so far as they influence the decisions of the leaders and of the community in public business, and exert a certain authority, more than anybody else, as judges, sureties, and witnesses in private affairs.”?[1275] Among the Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco every clan has its cazique or chief, but he possesses little authority. In virtue of his office he has to make many presents, so he seldom grows rich and is generally more shabbily clad than any of his subjects. “As a matter of fact the magician is the man who has most power in his hands, and he is accustomed to receive presents instead of to give them.” It is the magician’s duty to bring down misfortune and plagues on the enemies of his tribe, and to guard his own people against hostile magic. For these services he is well paid and by them he acquires a position of great influence and authority.?[1276] Among the Indians of Guiana also the magician or medicine-man (piai, peaiman) is a personage of great importance. By his magic art he alone, it is believed, can counteract288 the machinations of the great host of evil spirits, to which these savages attribute all the ills of life. It is almost impossible, we are told, to overestimate289 the dreadful sense of constant and unavoidable danger in which the Indian would live were it not for his trust in the protecting power of the magician. Every village has one such spiritual guardian290, who is physician, priest, and magician in one. His influence is immense. No Indian dare refuse him anything he takes a fancy to, {p360} from a trifle of food up to a man’s wife. Hence these cunning fellows live in idleness on the fat of the land and acquire a large harem; their houses are commonly full of women who serve them in the capacity of beasts of burden as well as of wives, plodding291 wearily along under the weight of the baggage on long journeys, while their lord and master, fantastically tricked out in feathers and paint, strolls ahead, burdened only with his magic rattle280 and perhaps his bow and arrows.?[1277]
Power of medicine-men among the pagan tribes of the Malay Peninsula.
Among the wild pagan tribes of the Malay peninsula the connexion between the offices of magician and chief is very close; indeed the two offices are often united in the same person. Among these savages, “as among the Malays, the accredited292 intermediary between gods and men is in all cases the medicine-man or sorcerer. In the Semang tribes the office of chief medicine-man appears to be generally combined with that of chief, but amongst the Sakai and Jakun these offices are sometimes separated, and although the chief is almost invariably a medicine-man of some repute, he is not necessarily the chief medicine-man, any more than the chief medicine-man is necessarily the administrative head of the tribe. In both cases there is an unfailing supply of aspirants293 to the office, though it may be taken for granted that, all else being equal, a successful medicine-man would have much the best prospect294 of being elected chief, and that in the vast majority of cases his priestly duties form an important part of a chief’s work. The medicine-man is, as might be expected, duly credited with supernatural powers. His tasks are to preside as chief medium at all the ceremonies, to instruct the youth of the tribe, to ward57 off as well as to heal all forms of sickness and trouble, to foretell168 the future (as affecting the results of any given act), to avert158 when necessary the wrath of heaven, and even when re-embodied295 after death in the shape of a wild beast, to extend a benign296 protection to his devoted297 descendants. Among the Sakai and the Jakun he is provided with a distinctive298 form of dress and {p361} body-painting, and carries an emblematic299 wand or staff by virtue of his office.”?[1278]
Development of kings out of magicians among the Malays.
Throughout the Malay region the rajah or king is commonly regarded with superstitious veneration300 as the possessor of supernatural powers, and there are grounds for thinking that he too, like apparently so many African chiefs, has been developed out of a simple magician. At the present day the Malays firmly believe that the king possesses a personal influence over the works of nature, such as the growth of the crops and the bearing of fruit-trees. The same prolific301 virtue is supposed to reside, though in a lesser302 degree, in his delegates, and even in the persons of Europeans who chance to have charge of districts. Thus in Selangor, one of the native states of the Malay Peninsula, the success or failure of the rice crops is often attributed to a change of district officers.?[1279] The Toorateyas of southern Celebes hold that the prosperity of the rice depends on the behaviour of their princes, and that bad government, by which they mean a government which does not conform to ancient custom, will result in a failure of the crops.?[1280]
Belief of the Dyaks in the power of the rajah to fertilise the rice.
The Dyaks of Sarawak believed that their famous English ruler, Rajah Brooke, was endowed with a certain magical virtue which, if properly applied303, could render the rice-crops abundant. Hence when he visited a tribe, they used to bring him the seed which they intended to sow next year, and he fertilised it by shaking over it the women’s necklaces, which had been previously304 dipped in a special mixture. And when he entered a village, the women would wash and bathe his feet, first with water, and then with the milk of a young coco-nut, and lastly with water again, and all this water which had touched his person they preserved for the purpose of distributing it on their farms, believing that it ensured an abundant harvest. Tribes which were too far {p362} off for him to visit used to send him a small piece of white cloth and a little gold or silver, and when these things had been impregnated by his generative virtue they buried them in their fields, and confidently expected a heavy crop. Once when a European remarked that the rice-crops of the Samban tribe were thin, the chief immediately replied that they could not be otherwise, since Rajah Brooke had never visited them, and he begged that Mr. Brooke might be induced to visit his tribe and remove the sterility305 of their land.?[1281]
Links between Malay rajahs and magicians.
Among the Malays the links which unite the king or rajah with the magician happen to be unusually plain and conspicuous. Thus the magician shares with the king the privilege of using cloth dyed yellow, the royal colour; he has considerable political influence, and he can compel people to address him in ceremonial language, of which indeed the phraseology is even more copious306 in its application to a magician than to a king. Moreover, and this is a fact of great significance, the Malay magician owns certain insignia which are said to be exactly analogous308 to the regalia of the king, and even bear the very same name (kab?saran).?[1282] Now the regalia of a Malay king are not mere jewelled baubles309 designed to impress the multitude with the pomp and splendour of royalty; they are regarded as wonder-working talismans311,?[1283] the possession of which carries with it the right to the throne; if the king loses them, he thereby312 forfeits313 the allegiance of his subjects. It seems, therefore, to be a probable inference that in the Malay region the regalia of the kings are only the conjuring apparatus of their predecessors the magicians, and that in this part of the world accordingly the magician is the humble grub or chrysalis which in due time bursts and discloses that gorgeous butterfly the rajah or king.
In Celebes the regalia are talismans or fetishes, the possession of which carries with it the right to the throne.
Nowhere apparently in the Indian Archipelago is this view of the regalia as the true fount of regal dignity carried to such lengths as in southern Celebes. Here the royal {p363} authority is supposed to be in some mysterious fashion embodied in the regalia, while the princes owe all the power they exercise, and all the respect they enjoy, to their possession of these precious objects. In short, the regalia reign80, and the princes are merely their representatives. Hence whoever happens to possess the regalia is regarded by the people as their lawful314 king. For example, if a deposed monarch contrives315 to keep the regalia, his former subjects remain loyal to him in their hearts, and look upon his successor as a usurper316 who is to be obeyed only in so far as he can exact obedience317 by force. And on the other hand, in an insurrection the first aim of the rebels is to seize the regalia, for if they can only make themselves masters of them, the authority of the sovereign is gone. In short, the regalia are here fetishes, which confer a title to the throne and control the fate of the kingdom. Houses are built for them to dwell in, as if they were living creatures; furniture, weapons, and even lands are assigned to them. Like the ark of God, they are carried with the army to battle, and on various occasions the people propitiate318 them, as if they were gods, by prayer and sacrifice and by smearing319 them with blood. Some of them serve as instruments of divination, or are brought forth in times of public disaster for the purpose of staying the evil, whatever it may be. For example, when plague is rife320 among men or beasts, or when there is a prospect of dearth, the Boogineese bring out the regalia, smear them with buffalo’s blood, and carry them about. For the most part these fetishes are heirlooms of which the origin is forgotten; some of them are said to have fallen from heaven. Popular tradition traces the foundation of the oldest states to the discovery or acquisition of one of these miraculous objects—it may be a stone, a piece of wood, a fruit, a weapon, or what not, of a peculiar shape or colour. Often the original regalia have disappeared in course of time, but their place is taken by the various articles of property which were bestowed on them, and to which the people have transferred their pious307 allegiance. The oldest dynasties have the most regalia, and the holiest regalia consist of relics322 of the bodies of former princes, which are kept in golden caskets wrapt in silk. At Paloppo, the {p364} capital of Loowoo, a kingdom on the coast of Celebes, two toy cannons323, with barrels like thin gas-pipes, are regalia; their possession is supposed to render the town impregnable. Other regalia of this kingdom are veiled from vulgar eyes in bark-cloth. When a missionary requested to see them, the official replied that it was strictly forbidden to open the bundle; were he to do so, the earth would yawn and swallow them up. In Bima the principal part of the regalia or public talismans consists of a sacred brown horse, which no man may ride. It is always stabled in the royal palace. When the animal passes the government fort on high days and holidays, it is saluted324 with the fire of five guns; when it is led to the river to bathe, the royal spear is carried before it, and any man who does not give way to the beast, or crosses the road in front of it, has to pay a fine. But the horse is mortal, and when it goes the way of all horse-flesh, another steed chosen from the same stud reigns325 in its place.?[1284]
Magical virtue of regalia in Egypt and Africa.
But if in the Malay region the regalia are essentially wonder-working talismans or fetishes which the kings appear to have derived from their predecessors the magicians, we may conjecture327 that in other parts of the world the emblems328 of royalty may at some time have been viewed in a similar light and have had a similar origin. In ancient Egypt the two royal crowns, the white and the red, were supposed to be endowed with magical virtues329, indeed to be themselves divinities, embodiments of the sun god. One text declares: “The white crown is the eye of Horus; the red crown is the eye of Horus.” Another text speaks of a crown as a “great magician.” And applied to the image of a god, the crown was supposed to confirm the deity330 in the possession of his soul and of his form.?[1285] Among the Yorubas of West Africa {p365} at the present time the king’s crown is sacred and is supposed to be the shrine331 of a spirit which has to be propitiated332. When the king (Oni) of Ife visited Lagos some years ago, he had to sacrifice five sheep to his crown between Ibadan and Ife, a two days’ journey on foot.?[1286] Among the Ashantees “the throne or chair of the king or chief is believed to be inhabited by a spirit to which it is consecrated333, and to which human sacrifices were formerly offered: at present the victims are sheep. It is the personification of power; hence a king is not a king and a chief is not a chief until he has been solemnly installed on the throne.”?[1287] Among the Hos, a Ewe tribe of Togoland in German West Africa, the king’s proper throne is small and the king does not sit on it. Usually it is bound round with magic cords and wrapt up in a sheep’s skin; but from time to time it is taken out of the wrappings, washed in a stream, and smeared334 all over with the blood of a sheep which has been sacrificed for the purpose. The flesh of the sheep is boiled and a portion of it eaten by every man who has been present at the ceremony.?[1288] In Cambodia the regalia are regarded as a palladium on which the existence of the kingdom depends; they are committed to Brahmans for safe keeping.?[1289] In antiquity335 the Scythian kings treasured as sacred a plough, a yoke336, a battle-axe, and a cup, all of gold, which were said to have fallen from heaven; they offered great sacrifices to these sacred things at an annual festival; and if the man in charge of them fell asleep under the open sky, it was believed that he would die within the year.?[1290] The sceptre of king Agamemnon, or what passed for such, was worshipped as a god at Chaeronea; a man acted as priest of the sceptre for a year at a time, and sacrifices were offered to it daily.?[1291] The golden lamb of Mycenae, on the possession of which, according to legend, the two rivals Atreus and Thyestes based their claim to the throne,?[1292] may have been a royal talisman310 of this sort. {p366}
The belief that kings possess magical or supernatural powers to control the course of nature for the good of their subjects seems to have been shared by the ancestors of all the Aryan races from India to Ireland.
Swedish and Danish kings.
Irish kings.
Magical virtue attributed to the chiefs of the Macleods.
The belief that kings possess magical or supernatural powers by virtue of which they can fertilise the earth and confer other benefits on their subjects would seem to have been shared by the ancestors of all the Aryan races from India to Ireland, and it has left clear traces of itself in our own country down to modern times. Thus the ancient Hindoo law-book called The Laws of Manu describes as follows the effects of a good king’s reign: “In that country where the king avoids taking the property of mortal sinners, men are born in due time and are long-lived. And the crops of the husbandmen spring up, each as it was sown, and the children die not, and no misshaped offspring is born.”?[1293] In Homeric Greece kings and chiefs were spoken of as sacred or divine; their houses, too, were divine and their chariots sacred;?[1294] and it was thought that the reign of a good king caused the black earth to bring forth wheat and barley337, the trees to be loaded with fruit, the flocks to multiply, and the sea to yield fish.?[1295] A Greek historian of a much later age tells us that in the reign of a very bad king of Lydia the country suffered from drought, for which he would seem to have held the king responsible.?[1296] There is a tradition that once when the land of the Edonians in Thrace bore no fruit, the god Dionysus intimated to the people that its fertility could be restored by putting their king Lycurgus to death. So they took him to Mount Pangaeum and there caused him to be torn in pieces by horses.?[1297] When the crops failed, the Burgundians used to blame their kings and depose them.?[1298] In the time of the Swedish king Domalde a mighty famine broke out, which lasted several years, and could be stayed by the blood neither of beasts nor of men. Therefore, in a great popular {p367} assembly held at Upsala, the chiefs decided269 that King Domalde himself was the cause of the scarcity and must be sacrificed for good seasons. So they slew him and smeared with his blood the altars of the gods. Again, we are told that the Swedes always attributed good or bad crops to their kings as the cause. Now, in the reign of King Olaf, there came dear times and famine, and the people thought that the fault was the king’s, because he was sparing in his sacrifices. So, mustering338 an army, they marched against him, surrounded his dwelling146, and burned him in it, “giving him to Odin as a sacrifice for good crops.”?[1299] In the Middle Ages, when Waldemar I., King of Denmark, travelled in Germany, mothers brought their infants and husbandmen their seed for him to lay his hands on, thinking that children would both thrive the better for the royal touch, and for a like reason farmers asked him to throw the seed for them.?[1300] It was the belief of the ancient Irish that when their kings observed the customs of their ancestors, the seasons were mild, the crops plentiful, the cattle fruitful, the waters abounded339 with fish, and the fruit trees had to be propped340 up on account of the weight of their produce. A canon attributed to St. Patrick enumerates341 among the blessings342 that attend the reign of a just king “fine weather, calm seas, crops abundant, and trees laden343 with fruit.” On the other hand, dearth, dryness of cows, blight of fruit, and scarcity of corn were regarded as infallible proofs that the reigning344 king was bad. For example, in the reign of the usurper king Carbery Kinncat, “evil was the state of Ireland: fruitless her corn, for there used to be only one grain on the stalk; fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for there used to be {p368} but one acorn274 on the stalk.”?[1301] Superstitions345 of the same sort seem to have lingered in the Highlands of Scotland down to the eighteenth century; for when Dr. Johnson travelled in Skye it was still held that the return of the laird to Dunvegan, after any considerable absence, produced a plentiful capture of herring.?[1302] The laird of Dunvegan is chief of the clan of the Macleods, and his family still owns a banner which is called “Macleods Fairy Banner,” on account of the supernatural powers ascribed to it. When it is unfurled, victory in war attends it, and it relieves its followers346 from imminent347 danger. But these virtues it can exert only thrice, and already it has been twice unfurled. When the potato crop failed, many of the common people desired that the magical banner should be displayed, apparently in the belief that the mere sight of it would produce a fine crop of potatoes. Every woman with child who sees it is taken with premature348 labour, and every cow casts her calf349.?[1303]
English kings touching for scrofula.
Perhaps the last relic of such superstitions which lingered about our English kings was the notion that they could heal scrofula by their touch. The disease was accordingly known as the King’s Evil. Queen Elizabeth often exercised this miraculous gift of healing. On Midsummer Day 1633, Charles the First cured a hundred patients at one swoop351 in the chapel352 royal at Holyrood.?[1304] But it was under his son Charles the Second that the practice seems to have attained its highest vogue353. In this respect the Merry Monarch did not let the grass grow under his feet. It was the twenty-ninth of May 1660 when he was brought home in triumph from exile amid a shouting multitude and a forest of brandished354 swords, over roads strewed355 with flowers and through streets hung with tapestry356, while the fountains ran wine and all the bells of London rang for joy. And it was on the sixth of July that he began to touch for the King’s {p369} Evil. The ceremony is thus described by Evelyn, who may have witnessed it. “His Majestie began first to touch for ye evil, according to costome, thus: His Matie sitting under his state in the Banquetting House, the chirurgeons cause the sick to be brought or led up to the throne, where they kneeling, ye King strokes their faces or cheekes with both his hands at once, at which instant a chaplaine in his formalities says, ‘He put his hands upon them and he healed them.’ This is sayd to everyone in particular. When they have been all touch’d they come up again in the same order, and the other chaplaine kneeling, and having angel gold strung on white ribbon on his arme, delivers them one by one to his Matie, who puts them about the necks of the touched as they pass, whilst the first chaplaine repeats, ‘That is ye true light who came into ye world.’ Then follows an Epistle (as at first a Gospell) with the liturgy357, prayers for the sick, with some alteration358, lastly ye blessing; and then the Lo. Chamberlaine and the Comptroller of the Household bring a basin, ewer359 and towell, for his Majesty360 to wash.”?[1305] Pepys witnessed the same ceremony at the same place on the thirteenth of April in the following year and he has recorded his opinion that it was “an ugly office and a simple.”?[1306] It is said that in the course of his reign Charles the Second touched near a hundred thousand persons for scrofula. The press to get near him was sometimes terrific. On one occasion six or seven of those who came to be healed were trampled to death. While the hope of a miraculous cure attracted the pious and sanguine361, the certainty of receiving angel gold attracted the needy362 and avaricious363, and it was not always easy for the royal surgeons to distinguish between the motives of the applicants364. This solemn mummery cost the state little less than ten thousand pounds a year. The cool-headed William the Third contemptuously refused to lend himself to the hocus-pocus; and when his palace was besieged365 by the usual unsavoury crowd, he ordered them to be turned away {p370} with a dole366. On the only occasion when he was importuned into laying his hand on a patient, he said to him, “God give you better health and more sense.” However, the practice was continued, as might have been expected, by the dull bigot James the Second?[1307] and his dull daughter Queen Anne. In his childhood Dr. Johnson was touched for scrofula by the queen, and he always retained a faint but solemn recollection of her as of a lady in diamonds with a long black hood367.?[1308] To judge by the too faithful picture which his biographer has drawn368 of the doctor’s appearance in later life we may conclude that the touch of the queen’s hand was not a perfect remedy for the disorder369; perhaps the stream of divine grace which had flowed so copiously370 in the veins371 of Charles the Second had been dried up by the interposition of the sceptical William.
Other kings and chiefs have claimed to heal diseases by a touch.
The kings of France also claimed to possess the same gift of healing by touch, which they are said to have derived from Clovis or from St. Louis, while our English kings inherited it from Edward the Confessor.?[1309] We may suspect that these estimates of the antiquity of the gift were far too modest, and that the barbarous, nay372 savage, predecessors both of the Saxon and of the Merovingian kings had with the same justice claimed the same powers many ages before. Down to the nineteenth century the West African tribe of the Walos, in Senegal, ascribed to their royal family a like power of healing by touch. Mothers have been seen to bring their sick children to the queen, who touched them solemnly with her foot on the back, the stomach, the head, and the legs, after which the women departed in peace, convinced that {p371} their children had been made whole.?[1310] Similarly the savage chiefs of Tonga were believed to heal scrofula and cases of indurated liver by the touch of their feet; and the cure was strictly homoeopathic, for the disease as well as the cure was thought to be caused by contact with the royal person or with anything that belonged to it.?[1311] In fact royal personages in the Pacific and elsewhere have been supposed to live in a sort of atmosphere highly charged with what we may call spiritual electricity, which, if it blasts all who intrude373 into its charmed circle, has happily also the gift of making them whole again by a touch.?[1312] We may conjecture that similar views prevailed in ancient times as to the predecessors of our English monarchs374, and that accordingly scrofula received its name of the King’s Evil from the belief that it was caused as well as cured by contact with a king.?[1313] In Loango palsy is called the king’s disease, because the negroes imagine it to be heaven’s punishment for treason meditated375 against the king.?[1314]
On the whole kings seem to have been often evolved out of magicians, but in course of time to have exchanged magical for religious functions, in other words, to have become priests instead of sorcerers.
On the whole, then, we seem to be justified376 in inferring that in many parts of the world the king is the lineal successor of the old magician or medicine-man. When once a special class of sorcerers has been segregated377 from the community and entrusted378 by it with the discharge of duties on which the public safety and welfare are believed to depend, these men gradually rise to wealth and power, till their leaders blossom out into sacred kings. But the great social revolution which thus begins with democracy and ends in despotism is attended by an intellectual revolution which affects both the conception and the functions of royalty. {p372} For as time goes on, the fallacy of magic becomes more and more apparent to the acuter minds and is slowly displaced by religion; in other words, the magician gives way to the priest, who renouncing379 the attempt to control directly the processes of nature for the good of man, seeks to attain the same end indirectly by appealing to the gods to do for him what he no longer fancies he can do for himself. Hence the king, starting as a magician, tends gradually to exchange the practice of magic for the priestly functions of prayer and sacrifice. And while the distinction between the human and the divine is still imperfectly drawn, it is often imagined that men may themselves attain to godhead, not merely after their death, but in their lifetime, through the temporary or permanent possession of their whole nature by a great and powerful spirit. No class of the community has benefited so much as kings by this belief in the possible incarnation of a god in human form. The doctrine380 of that incarnation, and with it the theory of the divinity of kings in the strict sense of the word, will form the subject of the following chapter.
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1 complexity | |
n.复杂(性),复杂的事物 | |
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2 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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3 unduly | |
adv.过度地,不适当地 | |
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4 practitioners | |
n.习艺者,实习者( practitioner的名词复数 );从业者(尤指医师) | |
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5 practitioner | |
n.实践者,从事者;(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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6 extravagant | |
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的 | |
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7 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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8 pretension | |
n.要求;自命,自称;自负 | |
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9 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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10 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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11 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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12 credulous | |
adj.轻信的,易信的 | |
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13 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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14 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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15 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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16 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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17 exclusion | |
n.拒绝,排除,排斥,远足,远途旅行 | |
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18 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
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19 puny | |
adj.微不足道的,弱小的 | |
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20 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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21 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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22 fraught | |
adj.充满…的,伴有(危险等)的;忧虑的 | |
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23 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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24 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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25 discredit | |
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑 | |
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26 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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27 mythology | |
n.神话,神话学,神话集 | |
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28 proneness | |
n.俯伏,倾向 | |
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29 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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30 implicit | |
a.暗示的,含蓄的,不明晰的,绝对的 | |
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31 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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32 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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33 pounce | |
n.猛扑;v.猛扑,突然袭击,欣然同意 | |
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34 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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35 skilful | |
(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的 | |
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36 pettishly | |
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37 unreasonably | |
adv. 不合理地 | |
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38 adversaries | |
n.对手,敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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39 taboo | |
n.禁忌,禁止接近,禁止使用;adj.禁忌的;v.禁忌,禁制,禁止 | |
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40 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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41 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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42 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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43 anthropological | |
adj.人类学的 | |
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44 idols | |
偶像( idol的名词复数 ); 受崇拜的人或物; 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物; 神像 | |
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45 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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46 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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47 sarcastic | |
adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的 | |
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48 consigned | |
v.把…置于(令人不快的境地)( consign的过去式和过去分词 );把…托付给;把…托人代售;丟弃 | |
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49 limbo | |
n.地狱的边缘;监狱 | |
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50 absurdities | |
n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 );荒谬;谬论;荒谬的行为 | |
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51 anthropologist | |
n.人类学家,人类学者 | |
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52 posterity | |
n.后裔,子孙,后代 | |
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53 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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54 amassed | |
v.积累,积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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56 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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57 ward | |
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开 | |
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58 rev | |
v.发动机旋转,加快速度 | |
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59 revert | |
v.恢复,复归,回到 | |
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60 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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61 monarchy | |
n.君主,最高统治者;君主政体,君主国 | |
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62 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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63 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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64 enunciate | |
v.发音;(清楚地)表达 | |
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65 caveat | |
n.警告; 防止误解的说明 | |
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66 enumerate | |
v.列举,计算,枚举,数 | |
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67 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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68 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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69 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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70 treatise | |
n.专著;(专题)论文 | |
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71 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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72 conjuring | |
n.魔术 | |
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73 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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74 oligarchy | |
n.寡头政治 | |
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75 influential | |
adj.有影响的,有权势的 | |
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76 aboriginal | |
adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的 | |
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77 clan | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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78 clans | |
宗族( clan的名词复数 ); 氏族; 庞大的家族; 宗派 | |
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79 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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80 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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81 retarded | |
a.智力迟钝的,智力发育迟缓的 | |
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82 multiplication | |
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法 | |
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83 edible | |
n.食品,食物;adj.可食用的 | |
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84 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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85 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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86 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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87 breaches | |
破坏( breach的名词复数 ); 破裂; 缺口; 违背 | |
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88 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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89 initiation | |
n.开始 | |
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90 ordeals | |
n.严峻的考验,苦难的经历( ordeal的名词复数 ) | |
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91 wield | |
vt.行使,运用,支配;挥,使用(武器等) | |
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92 feats | |
功绩,伟业,技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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93 conjuror | |
n.魔术师,变戏法者 | |
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94 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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95 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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96 spoke | |
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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97 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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98 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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99 oligarchic | |
adj.寡头政治的,主张寡头政治的 | |
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100 embryo | |
n.胚胎,萌芽的事物 | |
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101 renowned | |
adj.著名的,有名望的,声誉鹊起的 | |
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102 levying | |
征(兵)( levy的现在分词 ); 索取; 发动(战争); 征税 | |
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103 levy | |
n.征收税或其他款项,征收额 | |
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104 blackmail | |
n.讹诈,敲诈,勒索,胁迫,恫吓 | |
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105 missionary | |
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士 | |
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106 intervention | |
n.介入,干涉,干预 | |
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107 plantations | |
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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108 coax | |
v.哄诱,劝诱,用诱哄得到,诱取 | |
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109 taro | |
n.芋,芋头 | |
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110 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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111 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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112 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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113 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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114 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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115 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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116 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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117 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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118 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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119 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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120 cane | |
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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121 jurisdiction | |
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权 | |
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122 witchcraft | |
n.魔法,巫术 | |
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123 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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124 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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125 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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126 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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127 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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128 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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129 applicant | |
n.申请人,求职者,请求者 | |
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130 plausible | |
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
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131 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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132 singe | |
v.(轻微地)烧焦;烫焦;烤焦 | |
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133 implore | |
vt.乞求,恳求,哀求 | |
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134 abate | |
vi.(风势,疼痛等)减弱,减轻,减退 | |
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135 abates | |
减少( abate的第三人称单数 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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136 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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137 hatchets | |
n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 );恶毒攻击;诽谤;休战 | |
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138 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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139 bead | |
n.念珠;(pl.)珠子项链;水珠 | |
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140 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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141 rascals | |
流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人 | |
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142 contagious | |
adj.传染性的,有感染力的 | |
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143 tact | |
n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
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144 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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145 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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146 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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147 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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148 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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149 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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150 sanitary | |
adj.卫生方面的,卫生的,清洁的,卫生的 | |
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151 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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152 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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153 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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154 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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155 uncommonly | |
adv. 稀罕(极,非常) | |
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156 omens | |
n.前兆,预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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157 averting | |
防止,避免( avert的现在分词 ); 转移 | |
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158 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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159 repel | |
v.击退,抵制,拒绝,排斥 | |
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160 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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161 administrative | |
adj.行政的,管理的 | |
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162 indirectly | |
adv.间接地,不直接了当地 | |
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163 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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164 scourge | |
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏 | |
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165 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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166 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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167 foretells | |
v.预言,预示( foretell的第三人称单数 ) | |
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168 foretell | |
v.预言,预告,预示 | |
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169 prophesying | |
v.预告,预言( prophesy的现在分词 ) | |
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170 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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171 procures | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的第三人称单数 );拉皮条 | |
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172 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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173 divination | |
n.占卜,预测 | |
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174 calamities | |
n.灾祸,灾难( calamity的名词复数 );不幸之事 | |
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175 untold | |
adj.数不清的,无数的 | |
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176 arrogate | |
v.冒称具有...权利,霸占 | |
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177 amethyst | |
n.紫水晶 | |
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178 plunges | |
n.跳进,投入vt.使投入,使插入,使陷入vi.投入,跳进,陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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179 beckons | |
v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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180 procuring | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的现在分词 );拉皮条 | |
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181 requisite | |
adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
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182 cupidity | |
n.贪心,贪财 | |
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183 quartz | |
n.石英 | |
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184 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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185 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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186 slabs | |
n.厚板,平板,厚片( slab的名词复数 );厚胶片 | |
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187 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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188 attains | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的第三人称单数 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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189 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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190 mischievous | |
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的 | |
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191 pranks | |
n.玩笑,恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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192 omnipotent | |
adj.全能的,万能的 | |
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193 conjure | |
v.恳求,祈求;变魔术,变戏法 | |
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194 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
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195 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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196 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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197 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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198 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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199 extricate | |
v.拯救,救出;解脱 | |
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200 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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201 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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202 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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203 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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204 binding | |
有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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205 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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206 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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207 deities | |
n.神,女神( deity的名词复数 );神祗;神灵;神明 | |
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208 royalty | |
n.皇家,皇族 | |
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209 smear | |
v.涂抹;诽谤,玷污;n.污点;诽谤,污蔑 | |
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210 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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211 bribing | |
贿赂 | |
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212 wielded | |
手持着使用(武器、工具等)( wield的过去式和过去分词 ); 具有; 运用(权力); 施加(影响) | |
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213 revered | |
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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214 importuned | |
v.纠缠,向(某人)不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 );(妓女)拉(客) | |
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215 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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216 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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217 parched | |
adj.焦干的;极渴的;v.(使)焦干 | |
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218 desolating | |
毁坏( desolate的现在分词 ); 极大地破坏; 使沮丧; 使痛苦 | |
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219 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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220 forefathers | |
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人 | |
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221 dearth | |
n.缺乏,粮食不足,饥谨 | |
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222 amasses | |
v.积累,积聚( amass的第三人称单数 ) | |
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223 promotion | |
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传 | |
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224 beset | |
v.镶嵌;困扰,包围 | |
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225 pitfalls | |
(捕猎野兽用的)陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 ); 意想不到的困难,易犯的错误 | |
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226 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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227 impute | |
v.归咎于 | |
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228 culpable | |
adj.有罪的,该受谴责的 | |
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229 negligence | |
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意 | |
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230 wilful | |
adj.任性的,故意的 | |
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231 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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232 depose | |
vt.免职;宣誓作证 | |
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233 deposed | |
v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 );(在法庭上)宣誓作证 | |
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234 locust | |
n.蝗虫;洋槐,刺槐 | |
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235 locusts | |
n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 );贪吃的人;破坏者;槐树 | |
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236 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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237 smitten | |
猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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238 blight | |
n.枯萎病;造成破坏的因素;vt.破坏,摧残 | |
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239 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
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240 epidemics | |
n.流行病 | |
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241 tenure | |
n.终身职位;任期;(土地)保有权,保有期 | |
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242 adoration | |
n.爱慕,崇拜 | |
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243 withering | |
使人畏缩的,使人害羞的,使人难堪的 | |
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244 pestilence | |
n.瘟疫 | |
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245 slew | |
v.(使)旋转;n.大量,许多 | |
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246 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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247 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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248 scarcity | |
n.缺乏,不足,萧条 | |
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249 ripen | |
vt.使成熟;vi.成熟 | |
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250 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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251 implores | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的第三人称单数 ) | |
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252 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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253 cholera | |
n.霍乱 | |
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254 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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255 penance | |
n.(赎罪的)惩罪 | |
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256 appeasing | |
安抚,抚慰( appease的现在分词 ); 绥靖(满足另一国的要求以避免战争) | |
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257 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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258 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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259 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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260 monarchical | |
adj. 国王的,帝王的,君主的,拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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261 theocratic | |
adj.神权的,神权政治的 | |
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262 predecessors | |
n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 );前辈;(被取代的)原有事物;前身 | |
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263 oracles | |
神示所( oracle的名词复数 ); 神谕; 圣贤; 哲人 | |
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264 deference | |
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
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265 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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266 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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267 displease | |
vt.使不高兴,惹怒;n.不悦,不满,生气 | |
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268 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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269 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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270 undertakings | |
企业( undertaking的名词复数 ); 保证; 殡仪业; 任务 | |
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271 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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272 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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273 acorns | |
n.橡子,栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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274 acorn | |
n.橡实,橡子 | |
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275 salmon | |
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的 | |
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276 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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277 insinuating | |
adj.曲意巴结的,暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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278 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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279 jugglery | |
n.杂耍,把戏 | |
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280 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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281 capering | |
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的现在分词 );蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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282 immunity | |
n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权 | |
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283 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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284 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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285 scruple | |
n./v.顾忌,迟疑 | |
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286 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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287 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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288 counteract | |
vt.对…起反作用,对抗,抵消 | |
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289 overestimate | |
v.估计过高,过高评价 | |
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290 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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291 plodding | |
a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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292 accredited | |
adj.可接受的;可信任的;公认的;质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 );委托;委任;把…归结于 | |
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293 aspirants | |
n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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294 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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295 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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296 benign | |
adj.善良的,慈祥的;良性的,无危险的 | |
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297 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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298 distinctive | |
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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299 emblematic | |
adj.象征的,可当标志的;象征性 | |
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300 veneration | |
n.尊敬,崇拜 | |
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301 prolific | |
adj.丰富的,大量的;多产的,富有创造力的 | |
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302 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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303 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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304 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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305 sterility | |
n.不生育,不结果,贫瘠,消毒,无菌 | |
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306 copious | |
adj.丰富的,大量的 | |
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307 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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308 analogous | |
adj.相似的;类似的 | |
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309 baubles | |
n.小玩意( bauble的名词复数 );华而不实的小件装饰品;无价值的东西;丑角的手杖 | |
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310 talisman | |
n.避邪物,护身符 | |
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311 talismans | |
n.护身符( talisman的名词复数 );驱邪物;有不可思议的力量之物;法宝 | |
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312 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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313 forfeits | |
罚物游戏 | |
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314 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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315 contrives | |
(不顾困难地)促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 ); 巧妙地策划,精巧地制造(如机器); 设法做到 | |
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316 usurper | |
n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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317 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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318 propitiate | |
v.慰解,劝解 | |
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319 smearing | |
污点,拖尾效应 | |
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320 rife | |
adj.(指坏事情)充斥的,流行的,普遍的 | |
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321 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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322 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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323 cannons | |
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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324 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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325 reigns | |
n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 );君主统治时期;任期;当政期 | |
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326 venerated | |
敬重(某人或某事物),崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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327 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
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328 emblems | |
n.象征,标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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329 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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330 deity | |
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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331 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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332 propitiated | |
v.劝解,抚慰,使息怒( propitiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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333 consecrated | |
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
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334 smeared | |
弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
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335 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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336 yoke | |
n.轭;支配;v.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶 | |
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337 barley | |
n.大麦,大麦粒 | |
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338 mustering | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的现在分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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339 abounded | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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340 propped | |
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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341 enumerates | |
v.列举,枚举,数( enumerate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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342 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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343 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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344 reigning | |
adj.统治的,起支配作用的 | |
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345 superstitions | |
迷信,迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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346 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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347 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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348 premature | |
adj.比预期时间早的;不成熟的,仓促的 | |
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349 calf | |
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮 | |
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350 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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351 swoop | |
n.俯冲,攫取;v.抓取,突然袭击 | |
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352 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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353 Vogue | |
n.时髦,时尚;adj.流行的 | |
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354 brandished | |
v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 );炫耀 | |
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355 strewed | |
v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 );散落于;点缀;撒满 | |
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356 tapestry | |
n.挂毯,丰富多采的画面 | |
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357 liturgy | |
n.礼拜仪式 | |
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358 alteration | |
n.变更,改变;蚀变 | |
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359 ewer | |
n.大口水罐 | |
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360 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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361 sanguine | |
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的 | |
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362 needy | |
adj.贫穷的,贫困的,生活艰苦的 | |
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363 avaricious | |
adj.贪婪的,贪心的 | |
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364 applicants | |
申请人,求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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365 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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366 dole | |
n.救济,(失业)救济金;vt.(out)发放,发给 | |
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367 hood | |
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 | |
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368 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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369 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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370 copiously | |
adv.丰富地,充裕地 | |
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371 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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372 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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373 intrude | |
vi.闯入;侵入;打扰,侵扰 | |
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374 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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375 meditated | |
深思,沉思,冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 ); 内心策划,考虑 | |
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376 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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377 segregated | |
分开的; 被隔离的 | |
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378 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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379 renouncing | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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380 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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