A long march across the Sana Robi next brought the troops to Belát, in the neighbourhood of Yeolo. His Majesty1, seated upon his cushioned alga, halted frequently in the wide undulating meadows to witness warlike rehearsals2 on a still more splendid scale; on the termination of which, many of the quotas3 having received their dismissal, dispersed4 to their respective districts, although not until after one Amhára soldier had been treacherously5 murdered by a rival comrade, and another had been desperately6 wounded in a trifling7 dispute.
Before sunrise the ensuing morning the victorious8 troops, reduced by one third, marched upon Angollála, driving exultingly9 before them upwards10 of thirty thousand head of cattle, the entire of which were, par11 excellence12, the property of the king. Arrived within sight of the capital, strains of martial13 music burst from the centre division, when every throat throughout the vast army joined in one deafening14 chorus. Half a mile to the south of the Galla wall a tent had been erected15, to which His Majesty retiring for a few minutes, arrayed himself preparatory to the triumphal entry; and the various leaders, at the head of their respective squadrons, meanwhile took up the position allotted16 in the coming pageant17.
As the state umbrellas, preceded by the ark of Saint Michael, passed through the Ankóber gate of the defences, the assembled chiefs and warriors19 who had been most distinguished20 during the successful foray, arrayed in the glittering badges of former achievements in arms, placed themselves in advance. One hundred gore-stained steeds, resplendent with trappings and brass21 ornaments22, and fancifully caparisoned in gay cloths and chintz housings, bounded and pranced23 gallantly24 under this chosen band of proud cavaliers, who, with lances couched, and party coloured robes flaunting25 in the wind, slowly curvetted over the verdant26 carpet of turf. Their glossy27 black hair, loaded with feathers and green branches in token of recent triumph, and their variously emblazoned shields, glancing brightly in the sun-beams, they rent the air with shrill28 whoops29 and yells, responded at frequent intervals30 by loud shouts of welcome from the palace, and from all parts of the town; whilst the dense31 phalanx of warriors in the rear—their forest of lances partially32 obscured under a thick canopy33 of dust—pressing tumultuously forward, and pouring the wildest war-songs from ten thousand throats, completed one of the most brilliant and savage34 exhibitions that can be conceived.
The king was enrobed in the ample spoils of a noble Hon, richly ornamented35, and half concealing36 beneath their tawny37 folds an embroidered38 green mantle39 of Indian manufacture. On his right shoulder he wore three chains of gold as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the fresh-plucked bough40 of asparagus, which denoted his recent exploit, rose from the centre of an embossed coronet of silver. His dappled war-steed, bedizened with housings of blue and yellow, was led prancing41 beside him, and immediately in advance bounded the champion, on a coal-black charger, bearing the imperial shield of massive silver, with the sacred emblem42 of Christianity in high relief, whilst his long plaited raven44 locks floated wildly behind, over the spotted45 hide of a panther, by which his broad shoulders were graced. Abogáz Maretch and Ayto Berkie rode on either side of the crimson46 debáboch, and a marshalled line of shield-bearers, under the Master of the Horse, preserved a clear space around the royal person until the cavalcade47 had gained the stockaded knoll48, upon the summit of which the palace is erected.
Here a deputation of priests, clad in snow-white garments, received the victorious monarch49 with a blessing50, and under a volley of musketry. His Majesty proceeded to ascend51. The outer court was crowded with female slaves, beggars, and menials, who, on the first appearance of the umbrellas within the gate, greeted the royal return with the shrillest clamour, and cast themselves prostrate52 in the dust. Fusiliers and matchlock-men of the imperial body-guard lined the second palisaded enclosure, and under a feu-de-joie, their leader, performing the war-dance before the holy ark, led the procession to the last enclosure, where the king being met by the eunuchs of the royal household, entered the palace by a private door, and surrounded by pages and attendants, presently took seat in a high latticed balcony fronting the inner quadrangle.
Full in the centre stood a gigantic drum, whereat twelve old hags thumped53 unceasingly with crossed hands, keeping time energetically with their feet, whilst, under the most frightful54 contortions55 and gesticulations, they cursed and screamed defiance56 to the enemies of the state. Sixty concubines, their faces besmeared with red ochre and grease, and their frizzled locks white under a coat of lard, sang and danced with increasing vehemence57 their shrill melody, regulated by the drum, now dwindling58 into recitative, now bursting forth59 into a deafening chorus. Around this strange group, the dismounted cavaliers formed fifteen deep, and filling the entire court, poised60 each his trophy61 of blood aloft upon the glittering point of his lance; and as the whole danced, and whooped62, and howled like wild beasts, warrior18 after warrior, springing with a fiendish yell into the centre of the ring, cast his prize contemptuously upon the ground, and kissing the dust, did abject63 homage64 at the feet of the triumphant65 despot.
“Behold in me the king’s great warrior,” now resounded66 from every quarter. “I it was who slew67 his enemy in the open field, or speared him in the burning hut. May victory ever attend his armies in the battle! May Sáhela Selássie reign68 for ever!” A general shout and clashing of shields, with the sudden cessation of the wild music, announced the close of this savage pageant. The curtain dropped before the monarch, and, as the actors dispersed rapidly to the right and to the left, the discharge of an old dismounted iron gun, which, vertically69 elevated against a stone, was revealed at the further extremity70 of the court, announced to the public that the tragedy of “the Royal Robber” had been performed with the most brilliant success, and would be repeated again during the season.
Rumours71 of the destruction of the entire Christian43 host had flown to Angollála in consequence of the Negoos having, for the first time in his life, passed the night apart from his baggage; and the grief and consternation72 which prevailed during six days, had only been dispelled73 by the unexpected and triumphant return of the victorious army. Evil omens74 had, indeed, resounded through the departing camp, but destiny had been satisfied with a youthful scion75 of the royal stock; and although the weapons of a lost descendant of the house of Solomon adorned76 the rude walls of the pagan Galla, still fire and sword had ravaged77 their fair country; and the rich booty with which the adjacent meadows were profusely78 dotted, proclaimed a harvest which, during thirty years, and eighty-four successive expeditions, had not been eclipsed in the annals of Amhára bloodshed and rapine.
点击收听单词发音
1 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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2 rehearsals | |
n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 );排练;复述;重复 | |
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3 quotas | |
(正式限定的)定量( quota的名词复数 ); 定额; 指标; 摊派 | |
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4 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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5 treacherously | |
背信弃义地; 背叛地; 靠不住地; 危险地 | |
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6 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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7 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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8 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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9 exultingly | |
兴高采烈地,得意地 | |
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10 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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11 par | |
n.标准,票面价值,平均数量;adj.票面的,平常的,标准的 | |
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12 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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13 martial | |
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的 | |
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14 deafening | |
adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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15 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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16 allotted | |
分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 pageant | |
n.壮观的游行;露天历史剧 | |
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18 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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19 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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20 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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21 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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22 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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23 pranced | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 gallantly | |
adv. 漂亮地,勇敢地,献殷勤地 | |
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25 flaunting | |
adj.招摇的,扬扬得意的,夸耀的v.炫耀,夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 );有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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26 verdant | |
adj.翠绿的,青翠的,生疏的,不老练的 | |
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27 glossy | |
adj.平滑的;有光泽的 | |
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28 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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29 whoops | |
int.呼喊声 | |
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30 intervals | |
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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31 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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32 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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33 canopy | |
n.天篷,遮篷 | |
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34 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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35 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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36 concealing | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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37 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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38 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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39 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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40 bough | |
n.大树枝,主枝 | |
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41 prancing | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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42 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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43 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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44 raven | |
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的 | |
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45 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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46 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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47 cavalcade | |
n.车队等的行列 | |
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48 knoll | |
n.小山,小丘 | |
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49 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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50 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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51 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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52 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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53 thumped | |
v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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55 contortions | |
n.扭歪,弯曲;扭曲,弄歪,歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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56 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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57 vehemence | |
n.热切;激烈;愤怒 | |
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58 dwindling | |
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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59 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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60 poised | |
a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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61 trophy | |
n.优胜旗,奖品,奖杯,战胜品,纪念品 | |
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62 whooped | |
叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 ); 高声说; 唤起 | |
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63 abject | |
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的 | |
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64 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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65 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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66 resounded | |
v.(指声音等)回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 );产生回响;(指某处)回荡着声音 | |
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67 slew | |
v.(使)旋转;n.大量,许多 | |
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68 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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69 vertically | |
adv.垂直地 | |
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70 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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71 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
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72 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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73 dispelled | |
v.驱散,赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74 omens | |
n.前兆,预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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75 scion | |
n.嫩芽,子孙 | |
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76 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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77 ravaged | |
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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78 profusely | |
ad.abundantly | |
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