Ivan the Terrible.—Strogonoff.—Yermak, the Robber and Conqueror1.—His Expeditions to Siberia.—Battle of Tobolsk.—Yermak’s Death.—Progress of the Russians to Ochotsk.—Semen Deshnew.—Condition of the Siberian Natives under the Russian Yoke2.—Voyages of Discovery in the Reign3 of the Empress Anna.—Prontschischtschew.—Chariton and Demetrius Laptew.—An Arctic Heroine.—Schalaurow.—Discoveries in the Sea of Bering and in the Pacific Ocean.—The Lächow Islands.—Fossil Ivory.—New Siberia.—The wooden Mountains.—The past Ages of Siberia.
In the beginning of the thirteenth century, the now huge Empire of Russia was confined to part of her present European possessions, and divided into several independent principalities, the scene of disunion and almost perpetual warfare4. Thus when the country was invaded, in 1236, by the Tartars, under Baaty Khan, a grandson of the famous Gengis Khan, it fell an easy prey5 to its conquerors6. The miseries7 of a foreign yoke, aggravated8 by intestine9 discord10, lasted about 250 years, until Ivan Wasiljewitsch I. (1462–1505) became the deliverer of his country, and laid the foundations of her future greatness. This able prince subdued11, in 1470, the Great Novgorod, a city until then so powerful as to have maintained its independence, both against the Russian grand princes and the Tartar khans; and, ten years later, he not only threw off the yoke of the Khans of Khipsack, but destroyed their empire. The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks placed the spiritual diadem12 of the ancient Cæsars on his192 head, and caused him, as chief of the Greek orthodox Church, to exchange his old title of Grand Prince for the more significant and imposing13 one of Czar.
His grandson, Ivan Wasiljewitsch II., a cruel but energetic monarch14, conquered Kasan in 1552, and thus completely and permanently15 overthrew16 the dominion17 of the Tartars. Two years later he subdued Astrakhan, and planted the Greek cross on the borders of the Caspian Sea, where until then only the Crescent had been seen.
In spite of the inhuman18 cruelty that disgraced his character, and earned for him the name of Terrible, Ivan sought, like his illustrious successor, Peter the Great, to introduce the arts and sciences of Western Europe into his barbarous realm, and to improve the Russian manufactures by encouraging German artists and mechanics to settle in the country. It was in his reign that Chancellor19 discovered the passage from England to the White Sea, and Ivan gladly seized the opportunity thus afforded. Soon after this the port of Archangel was built, and thus a new seat was opened to civilization at the northern extremity21 of Europe.
After the conquest of Kasan, several Russians settled in that province; among others, a merchant of the name of Strogonoff, who established some salt-works on the banks of the Kama, and opened a trade with the natives. Among these he noticed some strangers, and having heard that they came from a country ruled by a Tartar Khan, who resided in a capital called Sibir, he sent some of his people into their land. These agents returned with the finest sable22 skins, which they had purchased for a trifling23 sum; and Strogonoff, not so covetous24 as to wish to keep all the advantage of his discovery to himself, immediately informed the Government of the new trade he had opened. He was rewarded with the gift of considerable estates at the confluence25 of the Kama and Tschinsova, and his descendants, the Counts Strogonoff, are, as is well known, reckoned among the richest of the Russian nobility.
Soon after Ivan sent some troops to Siberia, whose prince, Jediger, acknowledged his supremacy26, and promised to pay him an annual tribute of a thousand sable skins. But this connection was not of long duration, for a few years after Jediger was defeated by another Tartar prince, named Kutchum Khan; and thus, after Russian influence had taken the first step to establish itself beyond the Ural, it once more became doubtful whether Northern Asia was to be Christian27 or Mohammedan. The question was soon after decided28 by a fugitive29 robber.
The conquests of Ivan on the Caspian Sea had called into life a considerable trade with Bokhara and Persia, which, however, was greatly disturbed by the depredations30 of the Don Cossacks, who made it their practice to plunder31 the caravans32. But Ivan, not the man to be trifled with by a horde33 of freebooters, immediately sent out a body of troops against the Don Cossacks, who, not venturing to meet them, sought their safety in flight. At the head of the fugitives34, whose number amounted to no less than 6000 men, was Yermak Timodajeff, a man who, like Cortez or Pizarro, was destined35 to lay a new empire at the feet of his master. But while the troops of the Czar were following his track, Yermak was not yet dreaming of future conquests; his only aim was to escape the executioner; and he considered himself extremely fortunate when, leaving his193 pursuers far behind, he at length arrived on the estates of Strogonoff. Here he was well received—better, no doubt, than if he had come single-handed and defenseless; and Strogonoff having made him acquainted with Siberian affairs, he at once resolved to try his fortunes on this new scene of action. As the tyranny of Kutchum Khan had rendered him odious37 to his subjects, he hoped it would be an easy task to overthrow38 his power; the prospect39 of a rich booty of sable skins was also extremely attractive; and, finally, there could be no doubt that the greatest dangers were in his rear, and that any choice was better than to fall into the hands of Ivan the Terrible. Strogonoff, on his part, had excellent reasons for encouraging the adventure. If it succeeded, a considerable part of the profits was likely to fall to his share; if not, he at least was rid of his unbidden guest.
Thus Yermak, in the summer of 1578, advanced with his Cossacks along the banks of the Tschinsova into Siberia. But, either from a want of knowledge of the country, or from not having taken the necessary precautions, he was overtaken by winter before he could make any progress; and when spring appeared, famine compelled him to return to his old quarters, where, as may easily be imagined, his reception was none of the most cordial. But, far from losing courage from this first disappointment, Yermak was firmly resolved to persevere40. He had gained experience—his self-confidence was steeled by adversity; and when Strogonoff attempted to refuse him further assistance, he pointed41 to his Cossacks with the air of a man who has the means of enforcing obedience42 to his orders. This time Yermak took better measures for insuring success; he compelled Strogonoff to furnish him with an ample supply of provisions and ammunition43, and in the June of the following year we again find him, with his faithful Cossacks, on the march to Siberia. But such were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forests, the severity of the climate, and the hostility44 of the natives opposed to his progress, that towards the end of 1580 his force (now reduced to 1500 men) had reached no farther than the banks of the Tara. The subsequent advance of this little band was a constant succession of hardships and skirmishes, which caused it to melt away like snow in the sunshine; so that scarcely 500 remained when, at the confluence of the Tobol and the Irtysch, they at length reached the camp of Kutchum Khan, whose overwhelming numbers seemed to mock their audacity45.
But Yermak felt as little fear at sight of the innumerable tents of the Tartar host, as the wolf when meeting a herd46 of sheep. He knew that his Cossacks, armed with their matchlocks, had long since disdained47 to count their enemies, and, fully48 determined49 to conquer or to die, he gave the order to attack. A dreadful battle ensued, for though the Tartars only fought with their bows and arrows, yet they were no less brave than their adversaries50, and their vast superiority of numbers made up for the inferior quality of their weapons. The struggle was long doubtful—the Tartars repeating attack upon attack like the waves of a storm-tide, and the Cossacks receiving their assaults as firmly and immovably as rocks; until, finally, the hordes51 of Kutchum Khan gave way to their stubborn obstinacy52, and his camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
194 The subsequent conduct of Yermak proved that he had all the qualities of a general and a statesman, and that his talents were not unequal to his fortunes. Without losing a single moment, he, immediately after this decisive battle, sent part of his small band to occupy the capital of the vanquished53 Kutchum, for he well knew that a victory is but half gained if one delays to reap its fruits. The Cossacks found the place evacuated54, and soon after Yermak made his triumphal entry into Sibir. His weakness now became a source of strength, for, daunted55 by the wonderful success of this handful of strangers, the people far and wide came to render him homage56. The Ostiaks of the Soswa freely consented to yield an annual tribute of 280 sable skins, and other tribes of the same nation, who were more backward in their submission57, were compelled by his menaces to pay him a tax, or jassak, of eleven skins for every archer58.
It was not without reason that Yermak thus sought to collect as many of these valuable furs as he possibly could, for his aim was to obtain from Ivan a pardon of his former delinquencies, by presenting him with the richest spoils of his victories, and he well knew that it would be impossible for him to maintain his conquests without further assistance from the Czar. Great was Ivan’s astonishment59 when an envoy60 of the fugitive robber brought him the welcome gift of 2400 sable skins, and informed him that Yermak had added a new province to his realm. He at once comprehended that the hero who with small means had achieved such great successes, was the fittest man to consolidate61 or enlarge his acquisitions; he consequently not only pardoned all his former offenses62, but confirmed him in the dignity of governor and commander-in-chief in the countries which he had subdued. Thus Yermak’s envoy, having been received with the greatest distinction at Moscow, returned to his fortunate master with a robe of honor which had been worn by the Czar himself, and the still more welcome intelligence that re-enforcements were on the march to join him.
Meanwhile Yermak had continued to advance into the valley of the Obi beyond its confluence with the Irtysch; and when at length his force was augmented63 by the arrival of 500 Russians, he pursued his expeditions with increasing audacity. On his return from one of these forays, he encamped on a small island in the Irtysch. The night was dark and rainy, and the Russians, fatigued65 by their march, relied too much upon the badness of the weather or the terror of their name. But Kutchum Khan, having been informed by his spies of their want of vigilance, crossed a ford20 in the river, and falling upon the unsuspecting Russians, killed them all except one single soldier, who brought the fatal intelligence to Sibir. Yermak, when he saw his warriors66 fall around him like grass before the scythe67, without losing his presence of mind for a moment, cut his way through the Tartars, and endeavored to save himself in a boat. But in the medley68 he fell into the water and was drowned.
By the orders of Kutchum, the body of the hero was exposed to every indignity69 which the rage of a barbarian70 can think of; but after this first explosion of impotent fury, his followers71, feeling ashamed of the ignoble72 conduct of their chief, buried his remains73 with princely pomp, and ascribed miraculous74 powers to the grave in which they were deposited. The Russians have also erected75 a195 monument to Yermak in the town of Tobolsk, which was built on the very spot where he gained his first decisive victory over Kutchum. It is inscribed76 with the dates of that memorable77 event, and of the unfortunate day when he found his death in the floods of the Irtysch. His real monument, however, is all Siberia from the Ural to the Pacific; for as long as the Russian nation continues to exist, it will remember the name of Yermak Timodajeff. The value of the man became at once apparent after his death, for scarcely had the news of the disaster arrived, when the Russians immediately evacuated Sibir, and left the country. But they well knew that this retreat was to be but temporary, and that the present ebb78 of their fortunes would soon be followed by a fresh tide of success. After a few years they once more returned, as the definitive79 masters of the country. Their first settlement was Tjumen, on the Tara, and before the end of 1587 Tobolsk was founded. They had, indeed, still many a conflict with the Woguls and Tartars, but every effort of the natives to shake off the yoke proved fruitless.
As gold had been the all-powerful magnet which led the Spaniards from Hispaniola to Mexico and Peru, so a small fur-bearing animal (the sable) attracted the Cossacks farther and farther to the east; and although the possession of fire-arms gave them an immense advantage over the wild inhabitants of Siberia, yet it is as astonishing with what trifling means they subdued whole nations, and perhaps history affords no other example of such a vast extent of territory having been conquered by so small a number of adventurers.
As they advanced, small wooden forts (or ostrogs) were built in suitable places, and became in their turn the starting-posts for new expeditions. The following dates give the best proof of the uncommon80 rapidity with which the tide of conquest rolled onward81 to the east. Tomsk was founded in 1604; and the ostrog Jeniseisk, where the neighboring nomads82 brought their sable skins to market, in 1621. The snow-shoes of the Tunguse, which they sometimes saw ornamented83 with this costly84 fur, induced the Cossacks to follow their hordes, of which many had come from the middle and inferior Tunguska, and thus, in 1630, Wassiljew reached the banks of the Lena. In 1636 Jelissei Busa was commissioned to ascend85 that mighty86 river, and to impose jassak on all the natives of those quarters. He reached the western mouth of the Lena, and after navigating87 the sea for twenty-four hours came to the Olekma, which he ascended88. In 1638 he discovered the Tana, on whose banks he spent another winter; and in 1639, resuming his voyage eastward89 by sea, he reached the Tchendoma, and wintering for two years among the Jukahirs, made them also tributary90 to Russia.
In that same year another party of Cossacks crossed the Altai Mountains, and, traversing forests and swamps, arrived at the coasts of the inhospitable Sea of Ochotsk; while a third expedition discovered the Amoor, and built a strong ostrog, called Albasin, on its left bank. The report soon spread that the river rolled over gold-sand, and colonists91 came flocking to the spot, both to collect these treasures, and to enjoy the fruits of a milder climate and of a more fruitful soil. But the Chinese destroyed the fort in 1680, and carried the garrison92 prisoners to Peking.
196 Albasin was soon after rebuilt; but as Russia at that time had no inclination93 to engage in constant quarrels with the Celestial94 Empire about the possession of a remote desert, all its pretensions95 to the Amoor were given up by the treaty of Nertschinsk (1689). This agreement, however, like so many others, was doomed96 to last no longer than it pleased the more powerful of the contracting parties to keep it, and came to nothing as soon as the possession of the Amoor territory became an object of importance, and the increasing weakness of China was no longer able to dispute its possession. Thus, when Count Nicholas Mourawieff was appointed Governor-general of Eastern Siberia in 1847, one of his first cares was to appropriate or annex97 the Amoor. He immediately sent a surveying expedition to the mouth of the river, where, in 1851, regardless of the remonstrances98 of the Chinese Government, he ordered the stations of Nicolayevsk and Mariinsk to be built; and in 1854 he himself sailed down the Amoor, with a numerous flotilla of boats and rafts, for the purpose of personally opening this new channel of intercourse99 with the Pacific. Other expeditions soon followed, and the Chinese, finding resistance hopeless, ceded100 to Russia in the year 1858, by the treaty of Aigun, the left bank of the Amoor as far as the influx101 of the Ussuri, and both its banks below the latter river. Thus the Czar found some consolation102 for the losses of the Crimean campaign in the acquisition of a vast territory in the distant East, which, though at present a mere103 wilderness104, may in time become a flourishing colony.
80. THE BEACH AT NICOLAYEVSK.
In 1644, a few years after the discovery of the Amoor, the Cossack Michael Staduchin formed a winter establishment on the delta105 of the Kolyma, which has197 expanded into the town of Nishnei-Kolymsk, and afterwards navigated106 the sea eastward to Cape36 Schelagskoi, which may be considered as the north-eastern cape of Siberia.
81. ON THE AMOOR.
In 1648 Semen Deschnew sailed from the Kolyma with the intention of reaching the Anadyr by sea, and by this remarkable107 voyage—which no one else, either before or after him, has ever performed—discovered and passed through the strait, which properly should bear his name, instead of Bering’s, who, sailing from Kamchatka northward108 in 1728, did not go beyond East Cape, being satisfied with the westerly trending of the cape beyond the promontory109. Some of Deschnew’s companions subsequently reached Kamchatka, and were put to death by the people of that peninsula, which was conquered, in 1699, by Atlassoff, a Cossack officer who came from Jakutsk.
After having thus rapidly glanced at the progress of the Russian dominion from the Ural to the Sea of Ochotsk, it may not be uninteresting to inquire whether the natives had reason to bless the arrival of their new masters, or to curse the day when they were first made to understand the meaning of the word jassak, or tribute. Unfortunately, history tells us that, while the conquerors198 of Siberia were fully as bold and persevering110 as the companions of Cortez and Pizarro, they also equalled them in avarice111 and cruelty. Under their iron yoke whole nations, such as the Schelagi, Aniujili, and Omoki, melted away; others, as the Woguls, Jukahires, Koriaks, and Itälmenes, were reduced to a scanty112 remnant.
The history of the subjugation113 of the Itälmenes, or natives of Kamchatka, as described by Steller, may suffice to show how the Cossacks made and how they abused their conquests.
82. VILLAGE ON THE AMOOR.
When Atlassoff, with only sixteen men, came to the river of Kamchatka, the Itälmene chieftain inquired, through a Koriak interpreter, what they wanted, and whence they came; and received for answer that the powerful sovereign, to whom the whole land belonged, had sent them to levy114 the tribute which they owed him as his subjects. The chieftain was naturally astonished at this information, and offering the strangers a present of costly furs, he requested them to leave the country, and not to repeat their visit. But the Cossacks thought proper to remain, and built a small wooden fort, Verchnei Ostrog, whence they fell on the neighboring villages, robbing or destroying all they could lay hands upon. Exasperated115 by these acts, the Itälmenes resolved to attack the fort; but as the wary116 Cossacks had kept up a friendly intercourse with some of them, and had moreover ingratiated themselves with the women, the plans of their enemies were always revealed to them in proper time, and led to a still greater tyranny. At length the savages117 appeared before the ostrog in such overwhelming numbers that the Cossacks began to lose courage;199 yet by their superior tactics they finally managed to gain a complete victory, and those who escaped their bullets were either drowned or taken prisoners, and then put to death in the most cruel manner.
83. KORIAK YOURT.
Convinced that a lasting118 security was impossible as long as the natives retained their numbers, the Cossacks lost no opportunity of goading119 them to revolt, and then butchering as many of them as they could. Thus, in less than forty years, the Kamchatkans were reduced to a twelfth part of their original numbers; and the Cossacks, having made a solitude120, called it peace.
In former times the nomads of the North used freely to wander with their reindeer121 herds122 over the tundra123, but after the conquest they were loaded with taxes, and confined to certain districts. The consequence was that their reindeer gradually perished, and that a great number of wandering herdsmen were now compelled to adopt a fisherman’s life—a change fatal to many.
It would, however, be unjust to accuse the Russian Government of having willfully sought the ruin of the aboriginal124 tribes; on the contrary, it has constantly endeavored to protect them against the exactions of the Cossacks, and in order to secure their existence, has even granted them the exclusive possession of the districts assigned to them. Thus the Ostiaks and Samoïedes, the Koriaks and the Jakuts, have their own land, their own rivers, forests, and tundri. But if it is a common saying in European Russia “that heaven is high, and the Czar distant,” it may easily be imagined that beyond the Ural the weak indigenous125 tribes found the law but a very inefficient126 barrier against the rapacity127 of their conquerors.
Thus, in spite of the Government, the jassak was not unfrequently raised, under various pretenses128, to six or ten times its original amount; and the natives were, besides, obliged to bring the best of their produce, from considerable distances, to the ostrog.
200 Nor could the Government prevent the accumulation of usurious debts, nor the leasing of the best pasturages or fishing-stations for a trifling sum quite out of proportion to their value; so that the natives no longer had the means of feeding their herds, and sank deeper and deeper into poverty.
And if we consider, finally, of what elements Yermak’s band was originally composed, we can easily conceive that, under such masters, the lot of the Siberian natives was by no means to be envied.
* * * * *
The year 1734 opens a new epoch129 in the history of Siberian discoveries. Until then they had been merely undertaken for purposes of traffic; bold Cossacks and Promyschlenniki (or fur-hunters) had gradually extended their excursions to the Sea of Bering; but now, for the first time, scientific expeditions were sent out, for the more accurate investigation130 of the northern coasts of Siberia.
Prontschischtschew, who sailed westward131 from the Lena to circumnavigate the icy capes132 of Taimurland, was accompanied by his youthful wife, who wintered with him at the Olenek, in 72° 54´ of latitude133, and in the following summer took part in his fruitless endeavors to double those most northerly points of Asia. He died in consequence of the fatigues134 he had to undergo, and a few days after she followed him to the grave. A similar example of female devotion is not to be met with in the annals of Arctic discovery.
After Prontschischtschew’s death, Lieutenant135 Chariton Laptew was appointed to carry out the project in which the former had failed. Having been repulsed136 by the drift-ice, he was obliged to winter on the Chatanga (1739–40); but renewed the attempt in the following summer, which however exposed him to still severer trials. The vessel137 was wrecked138 in the ice; the crew reached the shore with difficulty, and many of them perished from fatigue64 and famine before the rivers were sufficiently139 frozen to enable the feeble survivors140 to return to their former winter-station at Chatanga. Notwithstanding the hardships which he and his party had endured, Laptew prosecuted141 the survey of the promontory in the following spring.
Setting out with a sledge-party across the Tundra on April 24, 1741, he reached Taimur Lake on the 30th; and following the Taimur River, as it flows from the lake, ascertained142 its mouth to be situated143 in lat. 75° 36´ N. On August 29 he safely returned to Jeniseisk, after one of the most difficult voyages ever performed by man. The resolution with which he overcame difficulties, and his perseverance144 amid the severest distresses145, entitle him to a high rank among Arctic discoverers.
While Chariton Laptew was thus gaining distinction in the wilds of Taimurland, his brother, Dimitri Laptew, was busy extending geographical146 knowledge to the east of the Lena. He doubled the Sviatoi-noss, wintered on the banks of the Indigirka, surveyed the Bear Islands, passed a second winter on the borders of the Kolyma, and in a fourth season extended his survey of the coast to the Baranow Rock, which he vainly endeavored to double during two successive summers. After having passed seven years on the coasts of the Polar Ocean, he returned to Jakutsk in 1743.
201 Fourteen years later, Schalaurow, a merchant of Jakutsk, who sailed from the Jana in a vessel built at his own expense, at length succeeded in doubling the Baranow Rock, and proceeded eastward as far as Cape Schelagskoi, which prevented his farther progress. After twice wintering on the dreary147 Kolyma, he resolved, with admirable perseverance, to make a third attempt, but his crew would no longer follow him. From a second sea-journey, which he undertook in 1764 to that cape, he did not return. “His unfortunate death is the more to be lamented,” says Wrangell, “as he sacrificed his property and life to a disinterested148 aim, and united intelligence and energy in a remarkable degree.” On his map, the whole coast from the Jana to Cape Schelagskoi is marked, with an accuracy which does him the greatest honor. In 1785 Billings and Sarytchew were equally unsuccessful in the endeavor to sail round the cape which had defeated all Schalaurow’s endeavors; nor has the voyage been accomplished149 to the present day.
84. KAMCHATKA SABLES150
As the sable had gradually led the Russian fur-hunters to Kamchatka, so the still more valuable sea-otter gave the chief impulse to the discovery of the Aleutic chain and the opposite continent of America. When Atlassow and his band arrived at Kamchatka by the end of the seventeenth century, they found the sea-otter abounding151 on its coasts; but the fur-hunters chased it so eagerly that, before the middle of the eighteenth century, they had entirely152 extirpated153 it in that country. On Bering’s second voyage of discovery (1741–42), it was again found in considerable numbers. Tschirigow is said to have brought back 900 skins, and on Bering’s Island 700 sea-otters154—whose skins, according to present prices, would be worth about £20,000—were killed almost without trouble. These facts, of course, encouraged the merchants of Jakutsk and Irkutsk to undertake new expeditions.
Generally, several of them formed an association, which fitted out some hardly seaworthy vessel at Ochotsk, where also the captain and the crew, consisting of fur-hunters and other adventurers, were hired. The expenses of such an expedition amounted to the considerable sum of about 30,000 roubles, as pack-horses had to transport a great part of the necessary outfit155 all the distance from Jakutsk, and the vessel generally remained four or five years on the voyage. Passing through one of the Kurile Straits, these expeditions sailed at first along the east coast of Kamchatka, bartering156 sables and sea-otters for reindeer skins and other articles; and as the precious furs became more rare, ventured out farther into the Eastern Ocean. Thus Michael Nowodsikoff discovered the Western Aleuts in 1745; Paikoff the Fox Islands in 1759; Adrian Tolstych almost all the islands of the central group, which still bear his name, in 1760;202 Stephen Glottoff the island of Kadiak in 1763, and Krenitzin the peninsula of Aljaska in 1768. When we consider the scanty resources of these Russian navigators, the bad condition of their miserable157 barks, their own imperfect nautical158 knowledge, and the inhospitable nature of the seas which they traversed, we can not but admire their intrepidity159.
In the Polar Sea there are neither sables nor otters, and thus the islands lying to the north of Siberia might have remained unknown till the present day, if the search after mammoth160-teeth had not, in a similar manner, led to their discovery.
In March, 1770, while a merchant of the name of Lächow was busy collecting fossil ivory about Cape Sviatoinoss, he saw a large herd of deer coming over the ice from the north. Resolute161 and courageous162, he at once resolved to follow their tracks, and after a sledge-journey of seventy versts, he came to an island, and twenty versts farther reached a second island, at which, owing to the roughness of the ice, his excursion terminated. He saw enough, however, of the richness of the two islands in mammoth-teeth, to show him that another visit would be a valuable speculation163; and on making his report to the Russian Government, he obtained an exclusive privilege to dig for mammoth-bones on the islands which he had discovered, and to which his name had been given. In the summer of 1773 he consequently returned, and ascertained the existence of a third island, much larger than the others, mountainous, and having its coasts covered with drift-wood. He then went back to the first island, wintered there, and returned to Ustjansk in spring with a valuable cargo164 of mammoth-tusks165.
There hardly exists a more remarkable article of commerce than these remains of an extinct animal. In North Siberia, along the Obi, the Jenissei, the Lena, and their tributaries166, from lat. 58° to 70°, or along the shores of the Polar Ocean as far as the American side of Bering Strait, the remains of a species of elephant are found imbedded in the frozen soil, or become exposed, by the annual thawing167 and crumbling168 of the river-banks. Dozens of tusks are frequently found together, but the most astonishing deposit of mammoth-bones occurs in the Lächow Islands, where, in some localities, they are accumulated in such quantities as to form the chief substance of the soil. Year after year the tusk-hunters work every summer at the cliffs, without producing any sensible diminution169 of the stock. The solidly-frozen matrix in which the bones lie thaws170 to a certain extent annually171, allowing the tusks to drop out or to be quarried172. In 1821, 20,000 lbs. of the fossil ivory were procured173 from the island of New Siberia.
The ice in which the mammoth remains are imbedded sometimes preserves their entire bodies, in spite of the countless174 ages which must have elapsed since they walked on earth. In 1799 the carcass of a mammoth was discovered so fresh that the dogs ate the flesh for two summers. The skeleton is preserved at St. Petersburg, and specimens175 of the woolly hair—proving that the climate of Siberia, though then no doubt much milder than at present, still required the protection of a warm and shaggy coat—were presented to the chief museums of Europe.
The remains of a rhinoceros176, very similar to the Indian species, are likewise203 found in great numbers along the shores, or on the steep and sandy river-banks of Northern Siberia, along with those of fossil species of the horse, the musk-ox, and the bison, which have now totally forsaken177 the Arctic wilds.
The Archipelago of New Siberia, situated to the north of the Lächow Islands, was discovered by Sirowatsky in 1806, and since then scientifically explored by Hedenström in 1808, and Anjou in 1823. These islands are remarkable no less for the numerous bones of horses, buffaloes178, oxen, and sheep scattered179 over their desolate180 shores, than for the vast quantities of fossil-wood imbedded in their soil. The hills, which rise to a considerable altitude, consist of horizontal beds of sandstone, alternating with bituminous beams or trunks of trees. On ascending181 them, fossilized charcoal182 is everywhere met with, incrusted with an ash-colored matter, which is so hard that it can scarcely be scraped off with a knife. On the summit there is a long row of beams resembling the former, but fixed183 perpendicularly184 in the sandstone. The ends, which project from seven to ten inches, are for the most part broken, and the whole has the appearance of a ruinous dike185. Thus a robust186 forest vegetation once flourished where now only hardy187 lichens188 can be seen; and many herbivorous animals feasted on grasses where now the reindeer finds but a scanty supply of moss189, and the polar bear is the sole lord of the dreary waste.
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1 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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2 yoke | |
n.轭;支配;v.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶 | |
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3 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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4 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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5 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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6 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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7 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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8 aggravated | |
使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 ); 使更严重; 激怒; 使恼火 | |
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9 intestine | |
adj.内部的;国内的;n.肠 | |
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10 discord | |
n.不和,意见不合,争论,(音乐)不和谐 | |
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11 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12 diadem | |
n.王冠,冕 | |
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13 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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14 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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15 permanently | |
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
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16 overthrew | |
overthrow的过去式 | |
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17 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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18 inhuman | |
adj.残忍的,不人道的,无人性的 | |
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19 chancellor | |
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长 | |
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20 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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21 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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22 sable | |
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的 | |
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23 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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24 covetous | |
adj.贪婪的,贪心的 | |
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25 confluence | |
n.汇合,聚集 | |
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26 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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27 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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28 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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29 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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30 depredations | |
n.劫掠,毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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31 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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32 caravans | |
(可供居住的)拖车(通常由机动车拖行)( caravan的名词复数 ); 篷车; (穿过沙漠地带的)旅行队(如商队) | |
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33 horde | |
n.群众,一大群 | |
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34 fugitives | |
n.亡命者,逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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35 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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36 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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37 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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38 overthrow | |
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
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39 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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40 persevere | |
v.坚持,坚忍,不屈不挠 | |
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41 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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42 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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43 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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44 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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45 audacity | |
n.大胆,卤莽,无礼 | |
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46 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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47 disdained | |
鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 ); 不屑于做,不愿意做 | |
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48 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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49 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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50 adversaries | |
n.对手,敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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51 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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52 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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53 vanquished | |
v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 );战胜;克服;抑制 | |
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54 evacuated | |
撤退者的 | |
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55 daunted | |
使(某人)气馁,威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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57 submission | |
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
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58 archer | |
n.射手,弓箭手 | |
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59 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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60 envoy | |
n.使节,使者,代表,公使 | |
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61 consolidate | |
v.使加固,使加强;(把...)联为一体,合并 | |
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62 offenses | |
n.进攻( offense的名词复数 );(球队的)前锋;进攻方法;攻势 | |
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63 Augmented | |
adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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64 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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65 fatigued | |
adj. 疲乏的 | |
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66 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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67 scythe | |
n. 长柄的大镰刀,战车镰; v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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68 medley | |
n.混合 | |
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69 indignity | |
n.侮辱,伤害尊严,轻蔑 | |
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70 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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71 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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72 ignoble | |
adj.不光彩的,卑鄙的;可耻的 | |
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73 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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74 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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75 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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76 inscribed | |
v.写,刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 );内接 | |
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77 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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78 ebb | |
vi.衰退,减退;n.处于低潮,处于衰退状态 | |
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79 definitive | |
adj.确切的,权威性的;最后的,决定性的 | |
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80 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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81 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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82 nomads | |
n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 );流浪者;游牧生活;流浪生活 | |
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83 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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85 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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86 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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87 navigating | |
v.给(船舶、飞机等)引航,导航( navigate的现在分词 );(从海上、空中等)横越;横渡;飞跃 | |
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88 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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90 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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91 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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92 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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93 inclination | |
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好 | |
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94 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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95 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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96 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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97 annex | |
vt.兼并,吞并;n.附属建筑物 | |
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98 remonstrances | |
n.抱怨,抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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99 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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100 ceded | |
v.让给,割让,放弃( cede的过去式 ) | |
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101 influx | |
n.流入,注入 | |
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102 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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103 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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104 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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105 delta | |
n.(流的)角洲 | |
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106 navigated | |
v.给(船舶、飞机等)引航,导航( navigate的过去式和过去分词 );(从海上、空中等)横越;横渡;飞跃 | |
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107 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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108 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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109 promontory | |
n.海角;岬 | |
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110 persevering | |
a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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111 avarice | |
n.贪婪;贪心 | |
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112 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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113 subjugation | |
n.镇压,平息,征服 | |
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114 levy | |
n.征收税或其他款项,征收额 | |
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115 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
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116 wary | |
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的 | |
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117 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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118 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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119 goading | |
v.刺激( goad的现在分词 );激励;(用尖棒)驱赶;驱使(或怂恿、刺激)某人 | |
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120 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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121 reindeer | |
n.驯鹿 | |
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122 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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123 tundra | |
n.苔原,冻土地带 | |
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124 aboriginal | |
adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的 | |
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125 indigenous | |
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的 | |
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126 inefficient | |
adj.效率低的,无效的 | |
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127 rapacity | |
n.贪婪,贪心,劫掠的欲望 | |
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128 pretenses | |
n.借口(pretense的复数形式) | |
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129 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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130 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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131 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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132 capes | |
碎谷; 斗篷( cape的名词复数 ); 披肩; 海角; 岬 | |
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133 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
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134 fatigues | |
n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 );杂役;厌倦;(士兵穿的)工作服 | |
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135 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
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136 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
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137 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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138 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
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139 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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140 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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141 prosecuted | |
a.被起诉的 | |
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142 ascertained | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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143 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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144 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
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145 distresses | |
n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 );痛苦;贫困;危险 | |
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146 geographical | |
adj.地理的;地区(性)的 | |
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147 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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148 disinterested | |
adj.不关心的,不感兴趣的 | |
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149 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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150 sables | |
n.紫貂( sable的名词复数 );紫貂皮;阴暗的;暗夜 | |
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151 abounding | |
adj.丰富的,大量的v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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152 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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153 extirpated | |
v.消灭,灭绝( extirpate的过去式和过去分词 );根除 | |
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154 otters | |
n.(水)獭( otter的名词复数 );獭皮 | |
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155 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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156 bartering | |
v.作物物交换,以货换货( barter的现在分词 ) | |
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157 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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158 nautical | |
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的 | |
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159 intrepidity | |
n.大胆,刚勇;大胆的行为 | |
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160 mammoth | |
n.长毛象;adj.长毛象似的,巨大的 | |
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161 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
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162 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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163 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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164 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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165 tusks | |
n.(象等动物的)长牙( tusk的名词复数 );獠牙;尖形物;尖头 | |
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166 tributaries | |
n. 支流 | |
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167 thawing | |
n.熔化,融化v.(气候)解冻( thaw的现在分词 );(态度、感情等)缓和;(冰、雪及冷冻食物)溶化;软化 | |
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168 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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169 diminution | |
n.减少;变小 | |
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170 thaws | |
n.(足以解冻的)暖和天气( thaw的名词复数 );(敌对国家之间)关系缓和v.(气候)解冻( thaw的第三人称单数 );(态度、感情等)缓和;(冰、雪及冷冻食物)溶化;软化 | |
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171 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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172 quarried | |
v.从采石场采得( quarry的过去式和过去分词 );从(书本等中)努力发掘(资料等);在采石场采石 | |
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173 procured | |
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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174 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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175 specimens | |
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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176 rhinoceros | |
n.犀牛 | |
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177 Forsaken | |
adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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178 buffaloes | |
n.水牛(分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种)( buffalo的名词复数 );(南非或北美的)野牛;威胁;恐吓 | |
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179 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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180 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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181 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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182 charcoal | |
n.炭,木炭,生物炭 | |
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183 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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184 perpendicularly | |
adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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185 dike | |
n.堤,沟;v.开沟排水 | |
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186 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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187 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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188 lichens | |
n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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189 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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