“Most ugly shapes and horrible aspects,
Such as Dame1 Nature selfe mote2 feare to see,
Or shame, that ever should so fowle defects
From her most cunning hand escaped bee;
All dreadfull pourtraicts of deformitee.
No wonder if these do a man appall3;
For all that here at home we dreadfull hold
Be but as bugs4 to fearen babes withall
Compared to the creatures in these isles6’ entrall
“Fear naught7, then said the palmer, well avized,
For these same monsters are not there indeed,
But are into these fearful shapes disguized.
“And lifting up his vertuous staffe on high,
Then all that dreadful armie fast gan flye
Into great Zethy’s bosom8, where they hidden lye.”
In view of the description given, may one be gay upon the Encantadas? Yes: that is, find one the gayety, and he will be gay. And, indeed, sackcloth and ashes as they are, the isles are not perhaps unmitigated gloom. For while no spectator can deny their claims to a most solemn and superstitious9 consideration, no more than my firmest resolutions can decline to behold10 the spectre-tortoise when emerging from its shadowy recess11; yet even the tortoise, dark and melancholy12 as it is upon the back, still possesses a bright side; its calipee or breast-plate being sometimes of a faint yellowish or golden tinge13. Moreover, every one knows that tortoises as well as turtle are of such a make, that if you but put them on their backs you thereby14 expose their bright sides without the possibility of their recovering themselves, and turning into view the other. But after you have done this, and because you have done this, you should not swear that the tortoise has no dark side. Enjoy the bright, keep it turned up perpetually if you can, but be honest, and don’t deny the black. Neither should he, who cannot turn the tortoise from its natural position so as to hide the darker and expose his livelier aspect, like a great October pumpkin15 in the sun, for that cause declare the creature to be one total inky blot16. The tortoise is both black and bright. But let us to particulars.
Some months before my first stepping ashore17 upon the group, my ship was cruising in its close vicinity. One noon we found ourselves off the South Head of Albemarle, and not very far from the land. Partly by way of freak, and partly by way of spying out so strange a country, a boat’s crew was sent ashore, with orders to see all they could, and besides, bring back whatever tortoises they could conveniently transport.
It was after sunset, when the adventurers returned. I looked down over the ship’s high side as if looking down over the curb18 of a well, and dimly saw the damp boat, deep in the sea with some unwonted weight. Ropes were dropt over, and presently three huge antediluvian-looking tortoises, after much straining, were landed on deck. They seemed hardly of the seed of earth. We had been broad upon the waters for five long months, a period amply sufficient to make all things of the land wear a fabulous19 hue20 to the dreamy mind. Had three Spanish custom-house officers boarded us then, it is not unlikely that I should have curiously21 stared at them, felt of them, and stroked them much as savages22 serve civilized23 guests. But instead of three custom-house officers, behold these really wondrous24 tortoises—none of your schoolboy mud-turtles—but black as widower’s weeds, heavy as chests of plate, with vast shells medallioned and orbed like shields, and dented25 and blistered26 like shields that have breasted a battle, shaggy, too, here and there, with dark green moss27, and slimy with the spray of the sea. These mystic creatures, suddenly translated by night from unutterable solitudes28 to our peopled deck, affected29 me in a manner not easy to unfold. They seemed newly crawled forth30 from beneath the foundations of the world. Yea, they seemed the identical tortoises whereon the Hindoo plants this total sphere. With a lantern I inspected them more closely. Such worshipful venerableness of aspect! Such furry31 greenness mantling32 the rude peelings and healing the fissures33 of their shattered shells. I no more saw three tortoises. They expanded—became transfigured. I seemed to see three Roman Coliseums in magnificent decay.
Ye oldest inhabitants of this, or any other isle5, said I, pray, give me the freedom of your three-walled towns.
The great feeling inspired by these creatures was that of age:—dateless, indefinite endurance. And in fact that any other creature can live and breathe as long as the tortoise of the Encantadas, I will not readily believe. Not to hint of their known capacity of sustaining life, while going without food for an entire year, consider that impregnable armor of their living mail. What other bodily being possesses such a citadel34 wherein to resist the assaults of Time?
As, lantern in hand, I scraped among the moss and beheld35 the ancient scars of bruises36 received in many a sullen37 fall among the marly mountains of the isle—scars strangely widened, swollen38, half obliterate39, and yet distorted like those sometimes found in the bark of very hoary40 trees, I seemed an antiquary of a geologist41, studying the bird-tracks and ciphers42 upon the exhumed43 slates44 trod by incredible creatures whose very ghosts are now defunct45.
As I lay in my hammock that night, overhead I heard the slow weary draggings of the three ponderous46 strangers along the encumbered47 deck. Their stupidity or their resolution was so great, that they never went aside for any impediment. One ceased his movements altogether just before the mid-watch. At sunrise I found him butted48 like a battering-ram49 against the immovable foot of the foremast, and still striving, tooth and nail, to force the impossible passage. That these tortoises are the victims of a penal50, or malignant51, or perhaps a downright diabolical52 enchanter, seems in nothing more likely than in that strange infatuation of hopeless toil53 which so often possesses them. I have known them in their journeyings ram themselves heroically against rocks, and long abide54 there, nudging, wriggling55, wedging, in order to displace them, and so hold on their inflexible56 path. Their crowning curse is their drudging impulse to straightforwardness57 in a belittered world.
Meeting with no such hinderance as their companion did, the other tortoises merely fell foul58 of small stumbling-blocks—buckets, blocks, and coils of rigging—and at times in the act of crawling over them would slip with an astounding59 rattle60 to the deck. Listening to these draggings and concussions61, I thought me of the haunt from which they came; an isle full of metallic62 ravines and gulches63, sunk bottomlessly into the hearts of splintered mountains, and covered for many miles with inextricable thickets64. I then pictured these three straight-forward monsters, century after century, writhing65 through the shades, grim as blacksmiths; crawling so slowly and ponderously66, that not only did toad-stools and all fungus67 things grow beneath their feet, but a sooty moss sprouted68 upon their backs. With them I lost myself in volcanic69 mazes70; brushed away endless boughs71 of rotting thickets; till finally in a dream I found myself sitting crosslegged upon the foremost, a Brahmin similarly mounted upon either side, forming a tripod of foreheads which upheld the universal cope.
Such was the wild nightmare begot72 by my first impression of the Encantadas tortoise. But next evening, strange to say, I sat down with my shipmates, and made a merry repast from tortoise steaks, and tortoise stews73; and supper over, out knife, and helped convert the three mighty74 concave shells into three fanciful soup-tureens, and polished the three flat yellowish calipees into three gorgeous salvers.
1 dame | |
n.女士 | |
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2 mote | |
n.微粒;斑点 | |
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3 appall | |
vt.使惊骇,使大吃一惊 | |
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4 bugs | |
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误 | |
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5 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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6 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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7 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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8 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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9 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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10 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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11 recess | |
n.短期休息,壁凹(墙上装架子,柜子等凹处) | |
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12 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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13 tinge | |
vt.(较淡)着色于,染色;使带有…气息;n.淡淡色彩,些微的气息 | |
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14 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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15 pumpkin | |
n.南瓜 | |
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16 blot | |
vt.弄脏(用吸墨纸)吸干;n.污点,污渍 | |
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17 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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18 curb | |
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制 | |
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19 fabulous | |
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的 | |
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20 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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21 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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22 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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23 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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24 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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25 dented | |
v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 );损害;伤害;挫伤(信心、名誉等) | |
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26 blistered | |
adj.水疮状的,泡状的v.(使)起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 );(使表皮等)涨破,爆裂 | |
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27 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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28 solitudes | |
n.独居( solitude的名词复数 );孤独;荒僻的地方;人迹罕至的地方 | |
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29 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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30 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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31 furry | |
adj.毛皮的;似毛皮的;毛皮制的 | |
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32 mantling | |
覆巾 | |
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33 fissures | |
n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 );裂伤;分歧;分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34 citadel | |
n.城堡;堡垒;避难所 | |
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35 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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36 bruises | |
n.瘀伤,伤痕,擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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37 sullen | |
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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38 swollen | |
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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39 obliterate | |
v.擦去,涂抹,去掉...痕迹,消失,除去 | |
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40 hoary | |
adj.古老的;鬓发斑白的 | |
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41 geologist | |
n.地质学家 | |
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42 ciphers | |
n.密码( cipher的名词复数 );零;不重要的人;无价值的东西 | |
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43 exhumed | |
v.挖出,发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44 slates | |
(旧时学生用以写字的)石板( slate的名词复数 ); 板岩; 石板瓦; 石板色 | |
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45 defunct | |
adj.死亡的;已倒闭的 | |
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46 ponderous | |
adj.沉重的,笨重的,(文章)冗长的 | |
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47 encumbered | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48 butted | |
对接的 | |
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49 ram | |
(random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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50 penal | |
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的 | |
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51 malignant | |
adj.恶性的,致命的;恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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52 diabolical | |
adj.恶魔似的,凶暴的 | |
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53 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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54 abide | |
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受 | |
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55 wriggling | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等);蠕蠕 | |
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56 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
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57 straightforwardness | |
n.坦白,率直 | |
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58 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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59 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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60 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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61 concussions | |
n.震荡( concussion的名词复数 );脑震荡;冲击;震动 | |
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62 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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63 gulches | |
n.峡谷( gulch的名词复数 ) | |
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64 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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65 writhing | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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66 ponderously | |
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67 fungus | |
n.真菌,真菌类植物 | |
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68 sprouted | |
v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出 | |
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69 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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70 mazes | |
迷宫( maze的名词复数 ); 纷繁复杂的规则; 复杂难懂的细节; 迷宫图 | |
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71 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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72 begot | |
v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 );产生,引起 | |
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73 stews | |
n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 );烦恼,焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 );煨;思考;担忧 | |
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74 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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