Port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre,
Death after life,
Doth greatly please.”
Spenser’s “Fa?rie Queene.”
"I
T was there he fell, boss. He struck right on top of them gibbers (stones). I caught at him, and fell too,—there’s the mark where I struck the mud by the broken stem of that cooliebar there.”
It is Billy who is speaking, as, with tears in his eyes, and his affectionate heart overflowing1 with genuine 339 grief, he looks up at the rugged2 cliffs and points out to Claude and Williams the place where Dyesart met with his fatal fall.
On the ninth day out from Murdaro the expedition has reached the long blue line of gum-trees, towards which it has been toiling3 since daybreak across the desert plain. And here, at no great distance from the little water-hole, near which the horses are now being unsaddled by the rest of the party, Claude pays a first visit to the lonely mound4 where, beneath a protecting cairn of stones and tree-stems, his explorer-uncle has begun his long, well-earned rest. As the young man stands there in the scanty5 shade of she-oaks and box-trees, a thousand solemn thoughts gather around him. What strange power is it that has seemed to guard and guide his footsteps so far in the fulfilment of his appointed task? Will it pilot him to the end? And what is to be the climax6 of this journey? By Claude’s side is Don, who has filled out wonderfully since our hero found him a little waif upon the Sydney streets. The boy, not having been enlightened as to his parentage, still bears his old name, and Angland making more of a companion of him since Billy’s discovery, has noticed with delight that the youth, who by a strange procession of circumstances seems likely to become his brother-in-law some day, is developing a kindly8 disposition9 and an engaging manner.
Billy now arrives and unearths10 a small tin box, the contents of which Claude feels much tempted11 to investigate forthwith; but, acting12 on Williams’s advice, he postpones13 the operation, and determines to make the most of what remains14 of the day in searching for the supposed mine at the “Golden Cliffs,”—which our 340 readers will remember as being set down upon the secret map discovered by Angland on the back of his uncle’s posthumous15 communication. About two miles from the grave there rises, white and weird16 against the violet sky, a barren, isolated17 mountain, or rather a collection of rugged peaks. And thither18, across the red, rock-strewn plain,—bounded by a phantom19 sea of desert mirage,—the white men and Billy proceed, and, having traversed the gentle slope that rises from the dried-up course of the river to the hill, they now stand beneath the shadow of the rocks.
“And you carried my uncle all the way to the water, over those gibbers, without once putting him down!” Claude exclaims, as he stands wiping the moisture from his forehead at the summit of the boulder20-strewn glacis that surrounds the mount, and hears once more the story of the accident. “Why, you were hurt yourself!”
“When I carry the doctor I pikaued (Anglicé, carried) all I cared about in the world. ’Spose that made it easy,” Billy replies simply, and leaning his head upon his arms against a rock, he allows his exuberance21 of emotion caused by the painful remembrance to wash itself away in tears.
As Angland regards the weeping black he cannot but feel half ashamed of his own want of feeling. “Surely this is rather incongruous,” he thinks, “that Billy, who after all is only an aboriginal22 servant of the dead man, should thus appropriate the position of chief mourner, whilst I can look on with only a strange, solemn feeling in my heart, and certainly with dry eyes. But it seems all like a dream to me. Of course, however, with Billy it’s very different.”
341
Williams calls at this instant and disturbs the young man’s meditations23.
“Look here, Mr. Angland!” The old miner’s short, thick thumb points to a copy of the secret map which he holds in his toil-worn hands.
“Here’s where we’ve got to go; follow the dotted line. Right up the gully there.” The old man points to a narrow opening in the side of the hill, not far from where they are standing24.
“Yes, but we must find out where this place marked by the cross is, Williams,—the point of departure, you know.”
“It’s here, lad. The doctor knew the boy’d lead us to where the accident happened; and see, there’s the gully. A storm creek25 running from some hollow in the hill I take it to be.”
Billy meanwhile observes what is going on with some considerable surprise, for this is the first inkling he has received of the existence of a map of the hill—so carefully had Dyesart apparently26 guarded the secret that he wished only to reach his sister’s child.
The men now move on again, Williams leading, and enter a dark, gloomy defile27, the walls of which, rising to a height of some eighty feet, are composed of rain-furrowed masses of hard, grey mud. Enormous flakes28 and slabs29 of transparent30 gypsum protrude31 from the sun-dried mass in places, and some of these, catching32 the rays of the afternoon sun, blaze and scintillate33 like gems34 of priceless value. The gorge35 is, in fact, just what Williams has termed it, a storm creek, and the dark cliffs of hardened clay on either hand are formed of débris which has washed down from an open basin or depression in the centre of the mount.
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After following the watercourse upwards36 for two or three hundred yards, Claude and his companions find themselves in a great, crater-like valley, about three hundred yards across, grey and blasted, a picture of desolation. On all sides rise the sun-scarred domes37 of mud-springs of various sizes, some of which are twenty feet in height, but all appear non-active; in consequence, no doubt, of the long drought. Around the valley, across which Williams proceeds to lead the way, stopping here and there to consult his map or examine a stone, is an encircling, battlemented array of strangely weird and broken cliffs, some three hundred feet in height, of a hard, flinty rock, varying in colour from light red to pure white. At intervals38 along the scarped and tortured summit of the precipices39 strange, turret-headed peaks rise like giant sentries41 posted upon the heights to guard its sacred loneliness, and these, as the sun lowers in the heavens, cast protracted42 shadows over the silent, ghastly valley below. In many places heaps of honey-combed boulders43 of a kind of quartzite, which have fallen from the overhanging cliffs, form slopes that reach halfway44 up the walls of this wild-looking amphitheatre, and here and there the explorers have to turn to avoid the mysterious openings of vast, ancient fumaroles, whose orifices and walls are grandly blotched with black, purple, and Indian-red incrustations.
At last Williams comes to a halt where numerous nodules of ironstone-clay litter the ground, and, turning towards Claude, places his hand upon the young man’s shoulder, and whispers in a mysterious and impressive manner “that them’s the ‘Golden Cliffs.’”
343
Stretching across the valley, and apparently barring further progress in that direction, is a dark mass of brown and purple rock, which Claude can see differs in many respects from the material of which the other cliffs already passed are composed.
But why “golden”? There seems nothing, as far as he can judge, to make the sombre pile—which appears to be some kind of ironstone deposit—worthy of the auriferous title bestowed45 upon it on the map. Claude’s heart sinks within him. He knows what a gold-bearing reef is like; he has seen plenty in New Zealand, and some also about Cairns and Mount Silver, but there is no trace of a reef here. But perhaps Williams has made a mistake. The map is examined and re-examined with the sole result of proving that the old miner has guided his companions correctly. Then Claude begins, for the first time since he started, to feel that he has been somewhat rash in going to all this trouble, risk, and expense when after all the mysterious message from his uncle may have been only the result of the feverish46 promptings of a brain disordered by accident, and at the same time haunted with the desire to leave something behind for that loved sister from whom he had been estranged47 so long.
Neither can our young friend gather any comfort from either of his companions, who, although far more experienced than he is with rocks and minerals, seem also puzzled and disappointed. But happy is the man who, under adverse48 circumstances, can gather fresh stores of energy and strength such as now come to relieve Angland from the desponding frame of mind into which the frowning, barren rocks have 344 plunged49 him for the moment. The memory of a loving, girlish face comes like a peaceful messenger of hope to cheer yet softly chide50 the heart that fails when it should be strong for her sake. And Claude remembers that, however barren his journey through the desert may prove in other ways, the strange message from the dead has been the cause of his meeting Glory, at any rate, and a deep feeling of thankfulness makes his heart glow with renewed determination and courage.
At the foot of the cliffs Williams and Billy are closely examining the rocks. The former, breaking off chips with a short-handled prospecting51 pick, bends now and again to observe a likely fragment with a pocket-lens; whilst close by the black boy is at work shovelling53 up the sandy soil from between the fallen fragments of stone with the blade of his tomahawk, winnowing54 the same cleverly from hand to hand for the canary-coloured particles of heavy metal, that, judging from the sulky look of the operator, have not yet come to reward his busy efforts.
“What do you make of it?” Williams turns to Angland at the question, and, carefully pocketing his lens, stands looking up at the cliff with his arms akimbo.
“Well I’m blowed if I know, to tell you straight, Mr. Angland. I don’t see nary a colour. Fact is, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” As the old man speaks he affectionately pats a boulder by his side. For just as an M.R.C.S. loves to meet an interesting and complicated case of human infirmity, to correctly diagnose which will redound55 to his credit in the scientific world, so does old Williams, enthusiastic345 prospector56 and geologist57 that he is, feel quite a warm regard for this strange mass of rock whose hidden secrets it is now his business to unravel58.
“It might be a big kind of gozzen out-crop,—the rock’s got a lot of iron in it, there’s no doubt about that. An old mate of mine used to say,—
Er hat einen eisernen hut.’
He was a German, but a good miner for all that, and quite right about an ‘iron hat,’ for them’s the best reefs. But,” Williams goes on as he heaves a sigh, “blest if this is a real gozzen out-crop either. And, moreover, it ain’t likely-looking to my thinking.”
“Well, it can’t be helped,” says Claude, watching the stalwart old miner’s face with some amusement as he stands rubbing his stubby chin, and screwing up his mouth and eyebrows60, like some art-critic engaged in reviewing an enormous piece of sculpture. “I’ll carry out the instructions in the letter, and if it all turns out to be nothing,—well, I can’t help it.”
Both men hear a shout at this instant, and Billy, who has climbed up the cliff a little way, is seen waving excitedly to the white men, and calling to them to follow him to his elevated perch61. Claude is not long in scrambling62 up, but he has to descend63 again to assist Williams, whose knees are getting a bit stiff with age, although the muscles of his arms and shoulders are as good as ever. Arrived at Billy’s post of vantage, the black proudly shows them a remarkable64 tunnel opening into the cliff: it has smooth, shiny walls, and is evidently not the result of human labour.
346
“Look!” the dark youth shouts, stooping and pointing to the floor of the cavern65, upon which the winds of heaven have spread a thin covering of desert sand; “look!”
A compound exclamation66 of surprise and annoyance67 bursts from two pairs of lips, for there, stamped into the soft, yellow carpeting of silicious particles, are the marks of numerous human feet. Not those that wandering natives might have made, but boot-marks, and, what is worst of all, apparently quite fresh.
“Somebody been here afore us,” exclaims Williams. Claude simply looks downwards68, and whistles a musical execration69.
Billy, who stands behind, grins extensively as he sees the discomfited70 faces of his white companions, and hesitates for the best part of a minute before he proceeds to relieve their minds. Then he whispers huskily,—
“That been the doctor come along here.”
“Dr. Dyesart! What on earth do you mean?” exclaims Claude excitedly, as the wild hope of his uncle still being alive flashes through his brain. Billy, like most persons possessed71 of some superior instinct or talent, can hardly appreciate the fact that others may be deficient72 in the same, so he grins again when he finds that the white men are still unable to distinguish between an ancient and a recent footmark.
“How long since my uncle was here?” asks Angland sharply. But our hero’s hopes are dashed out of sight as Billy replies sadly,—
“He been dead over four months now.”
“How the dickens are these marks so recent then?”
“They very old, boss,” replies the black, and turning 347 away, he lights a match, and boldly leads the way into the black mouth of the natural tunnel, which slopes downwards at an easy incline.
All the men are smokers73, therefore provided with the means of producing an impromptu74 illumination. Claude carries his matches, after the fashion of most settlers in the New Zealand bush, in a small but stout75 glass bottle,—the moist atmosphere of the Land of Ferns rendering76 this precaution necessary,—and as he creeps after his black guide, he examines the dark, glossy77 surface of the walls and roof of the cave, which are covered with ripple-like corrugations. The party has not proceeded far, when Claude slips upon a long, smooth object lying across his path, and as he falls is horrified78 to hear Billy, who is immediately in front, sing out that a snake has bitten him. In an instant the party are in darkness. Williams has tripped over Angland, and the black boy having leapt wildly upwards against the rock overhead—with a force that would have demolished80 any but an aboriginal skull—lies rubbing his head where he has rolled to, which is some yards on in advance, for the tunnel descends81 pretty steeply here.
To be left thus suddenly in perfect darkness, in a steep, subterranean82 passage, with the dread83 possibility of coming in contact at any moment with a furious and probably poisonous reptile84, which has just bitten one’s companion, is an awkward if not an uncomfortable position to be placed in. But in addition to this our friend Claude has had all his breath crushed out of him by the superincumbent Williams. It is not surprising, therefore, that some seconds, which appear minutes, elapse before a match is struck and a light348 thrown upon the scene. It is then discovered, to the great relief of poor Billy, and for the matter of that of all three men, that the snake-bite which the dark youth is expecting every moment to prove fatal has been occasioned by Claude, who, stepping upon a dead bough85, has caused it to turn over, and inflict86 a wound upon the black’s hairy calf87 with the broken end of one of its lateral88 branches.
A few other pieces of wood being also found lying about, torches are now manufactured; and by the extra amount of light thus procured89, the travellers discover that they are following a kind of tortuous90, rocky artery91, from whose jetty sides numerous vein-like smaller channels open in all directions. In places the tunnel widens, and the red glare of the flames dances upon the polished surfaces of curious, twisted columns, stalactite-like roof pendants, and marvellous bunches of natural filigree-work.
“Well, this is a rum kind of diggings!” exclaims Williams presently. “Did you ever see anything like this before in your travels, Mr. Angland?”
“I was just thinking that it is a sort of black edition of some of the limestone92 caves I’ve been in,” replies Claude, adding, “But they’re as miserably93 wet and cold as this is hot and dry.”
The explorers have now been some fifteen minutes in the tunnel, and the white men have decided94 to return, and prospect52 the cave further upon the morrow, when Billy, who is some way on ahead, shouts “Daylight!”
A minute afterwards and the party stand blinking their eyes on a kind of undercliff, overhanging another valley, similar in some respects to that which they have already traversed, but smaller in size and with349 a much fairer aspect. For here and there trees and shrubs95 are growing amongst the fallen rocks, and these, although stunted96 and bleached-looking, convey a certain softening97 effect to the otherwise wildly barren slopes. It is as if the goddess Flora98 had once smiled into the valley of death long ages ago, and some of the gentle radiance of her glance still remained behind to tell of her passing visit. And there, too, are a couple of wallaby, of the rare black and chestnut99 kind, skipping noiselessly away from the immediate79 vicinity of the intruders, to sit motionless upon adjacent boulders, watching with awful tameness the movements of these strange visitors who have come to disturb them in their quiet domain100.
On either side of the valley, which, sloping westward101, opens upon the desert plain below, rise the scarped and pinnacled102 buttresses104 of great, crumbling105 granite106 cliffs. These grey heights are crowned with a dark red stratum107 of rock, which Claude recognizes as part of the desert sandstone formation, which has, in all probability, at one period covered the greater portion of Northern Central Queensland.
It is now getting late in the day, so a council is held as to whether to retire campwards by the road they have come, or by proceeding108 down the valley to return on the outside of the hill, which they will then have passed completely through. The latter route is quickly selected, and the rosy109 tints110 of sundown are just beginning to stain the whole landscape when our friends commence clambering over the boulders towards the lower ground. The route selected lies over and amongst enormous masses of coarse-grained 350 porphyritic granite, from whose weather-worn surfaces great square crystals of feldspar project, catching the sun’s ruby111 rays and flashing them back amidst the glints of light off flakes of ice-like mica112. And Claude, looking round him, thinks of the valley of gems into which Sinbad was carried by the mighty113 Roc, and how, perhaps, Dr. Dyesart may have also recalled that wondrous114 Eastern story, when he, the first and solitary115 explorer of the mountain, saw the jewel-like crystals blazing round him on the rocks. The descent to the valley is not by any means so facile as the bird’s-eye view taken from above seemed to promise; and a small precipice40 presently necessitates116 our friends to travel along to the left, beneath the undercliff upon which they had emerged when leaving the tunnel. A hundred yards brings them to a great black buttress103, which, projecting from the cliff, threatens to bar the way. But the active Billy, who declares he sees signs of the doctor having been in that direction, soon finds a narrow ledge117, and by its means the rocky corner is safely rounded, after a rather risky118 passage. And here the men are suddenly arrested in their further progress by a most strangely beautiful sight.
A large portion of the cliff immediately before them, probably from the action of some ancient earthquake, has fallen forwards into the valley below, leaving exposed a bay or recess119 about three hundred feet in height and nearly as much across. The walls of this kind of alcove120 are formed of some dark rock, but here and there it is blotched and clouded with an almost luminous121 coating of iridescent122 colours—such as one sees on soap-bubbles and decaying glass—that 351 burns and shimmers123 in green, golden, and violet hues124, as though a hundred rainbows were trembling on the sombre surface of the mountain steep.
Around the summit of the semi-circular precipice is suspended a kind of rocky cornice composed of great icicle-like pendants, as if some mighty torrent125 of lava126 plunging127 over the cliff had suddenly cooled in mid-air and become converted into stone.
Some of these o’erhangings appear to be tipped with burnished128 copper129, others with silver, others again shine bright and golden against the dark, purple shadows behind. And all of them in the evening light—which bathes the whole scene with a soft crimson130 veil—glow and blush like molten drops of metals oozing131 from the edge of the wonderful rocky valance above.
Some little time elapses before the men have recovered sufficiently132 to speak; and then it is the sun which, sinking with true tropical celerity, releases them from the enthralling133 beauty of the scene. And, as the glowing hues fade into cold indigo134 shadow, each individual member of the party experiences that curious emotion—a mixed feeling of relief and disappointment—which some of our readers may remember to have been keenly sensible of, when, as children, the green-baize curtain dropped slowly upon the limelit fairyland of their first pantomime.
Then are three tongues unloosed, and three pair of legs hurry their owners toward the darkening cliffs.
Claude, being gifted with a scientific and artistic135 mind, forgets to think about the practical value of the discovery, and exclaims characteristically, “That is beautiful! I wonder what’s the cause of those colours!”
352
Billy, remembering the prismatic tints of a material sulphide known to miners by the name of “peacock ore,” concludes that what lies before him is an immense deposit of the same, and shouts gleefully, “Copper!” To which Williams, who likes to have a good-humoured “dig” at his black companion when he advances any opinion upon mining matters, observes “Grandmother!” and further explains, for Claude’s benefit, “that them colours are iron oxides. Couldn’t think at first where I’d seen the same kind of thing before,” he adds, as he stoops to pick up a piece of stone, “but I recollect136 now. It was just the same as this here on the top of Mount Morgan, when they first opened up the top bench, only on a much smaller scale.”
“Mount Morgan eh!” exclaims Claude, as he hears the old authority at his side compare this discovery of theirs to the richest goldmine in Australia.
“Oh, don’t you jump to conclusions yet, Mr. Angland,” observes Williams, whose lengthy137 experience amongst those most disappointing affairs, goldmines, has left him incapable138 of putting any faith in one till he has fully7 examined it. “Many a man’s burnt his fingers with the idea that because stone resembles the Mount it’s auriferous. It don’t follow in the least.”
It is late when the men reach camp, but, tired as he is, Claude spends the greater part of the night in making assays139 of the specimens142 of stone brought back from the mount; and so interested are Williams and Billy in the experiments that they sit round the blazing logs with him, keeping up a running fire of mining anecdotes143, and lending him a hand, when he requires it, at pounding pieces of stone to powder in a353 big iron mortar144 with a heavy pestle145, called technically146 a “dolly.”
Having Angland’s diary before us as we write, we perhaps cannot do better than copy an extract therefrom which was, apparently, written on the next evening to that on which our friends discovered the now famous “Golden Cliffs”:—
“Weather: fine, clear, hot.
“Barometer: 29·250, 29·350.
“Thermometer: 72, 84, 91.
“Minimum last night: 52.
“Spent day prospecting ‘Golden Cliffs.’ There is no doubt but that, like Mount Morgan, the formation there is the result of a vast thermal147 spring, and what I took to be a hollow in the cliffs is the half of the old basin, the other half having fallen into the valley. My rough assays made last night of the best specimen141 of stone, gave a result of about fifteen ounces to the ton.
“By grinding the stone very fine under water, in an agate148 mortar I have fortunately brought with me, I can obtain more than half the gold in the stone, as shown by assay140. Neither W. or B. can obtain a colour by means of the ordinary panning process. Williams says this is what he expected, but he is one of those worldly-wise people who seldom venture an opinion till they are certain to be right.
“Our Myalls say the name of the Mountain is Pillythilcha Doolkooro, which seems to mean, according to Billy, the Valley of Glowing Charcoal149. There appears to be a belief amongst the blacks that the place is the abode150 of Kootchie, or devils; also that all 354 men are unlucky who go near the hill, and those who venture into its secret valleys will surely die. Billy and Williams both agree, for a wonder, that there is a strong probability of this being the Sacred Hill, that, according to them, is believed in by the natives throughout Australia as the place from which Moora-moora, the native Supreme151 Being, will some day arise to protect them from the cruelties of the white settlers.
“To-morrow Williams leaves for Palmerville to register claim, and on his return I shall go to Murdaro with Don. Killed a big black snake just now which had crept under my blankets.”
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1
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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unearths
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| 发掘或挖出某物( unearth的第三人称单数 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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postpones
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| v.延期，推迟( postpone的第三人称单数 ) | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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posthumous
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| adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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isolated
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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slabs
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| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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protrude
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| v.使突出，伸出，突出 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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scintillate
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| v.闪烁火光；放出火花 | |
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34
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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35
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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36
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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37
domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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38
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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39
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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40
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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41
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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42
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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43
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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44
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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45
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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47
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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48
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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49
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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50
chide
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| v.叱责；谴责 | |
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51
prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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52
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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53
shovelling
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| v.铲子( shovel的现在分词 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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54
winnowing
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| v.扬( winnow的现在分词 )；辨别；选择；除去 | |
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55
redound
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| v.有助于；提；报应 | |
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56
prospector
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| n.探矿者 | |
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57
geologist
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| n.地质学家 | |
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58
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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59
gut
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| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
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60
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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61
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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62
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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63
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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64
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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65
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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66
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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67
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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68
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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69
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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70
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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71
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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72
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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73
smokers
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| 吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 ) | |
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74
impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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76
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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77
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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78
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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79
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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80
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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81
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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82
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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83
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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84
reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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85
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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86
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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87
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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88
lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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89
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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90
tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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91
artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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92
limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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93
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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94
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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95
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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96
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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97
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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98
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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99
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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100
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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101
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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102
pinnacled
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| 小尖塔般耸立的，顶处的 | |
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103
buttress
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| n.支撑物；v.支持 | |
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104
buttresses
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| n.扶壁，扶垛( buttress的名词复数 )v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的第三人称单数 ) | |
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105
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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106
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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107
stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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108
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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109
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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110
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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111
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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112
mica
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| n.云母 | |
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113
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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114
wondrous
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| 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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115
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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116
necessitates
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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117
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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118
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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119
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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120
alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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121
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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122
iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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123
shimmers
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| n.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的名词复数 )v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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124
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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125
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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126
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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127
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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128
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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129
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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130
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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131
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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132
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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133
enthralling
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| 迷人的 | |
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134
indigo
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| n.靛青，靛蓝 | |
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135
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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136
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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137
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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138
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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139
assays
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| n.化验( assay的名词复数 )；试验；尝试；试金 | |
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140
assay
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| n.试验，测定 | |
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141
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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142
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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143
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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144
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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145
pestle
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| n.杵 | |
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146
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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147
thermal
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| adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的 | |
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148
agate
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| n.玛瑙 | |
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149
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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150
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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151
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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