TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS.
The Deserters.—The Iroquois War.—The Great Town of the Illinois.—The Alarm.—Onset of the Iroquois.—Peril1 of Tonty.—A Treacherous2 Truce3.—Intrepidity of Tonty.—Murder of Ribourde.—War upon the Dead.
When La Salle set out on his rugged5 journey to Fort Frontenac, he left, as we have seen, fifteen men at Fort Crèvec?ur,—smiths, ship-carpenters, house-wrights, and soldiers, besides his servant L'Espérance and the two friars Membré and Ribourde. Most of the men were ripe for mutiny. They had no interest in the enterprise, and no love for its chief. They were disgusted with the present, and terrified at the future. La Salle, too, was for the most part a stern commander, impenetrable and cold; and when he tried to soothe7, conciliate, and encourage, his success rarely answered to the excellence8 of his rhetoric9. He could always, however, inspire respect, if not love; but now the restraint of his presence was removed. He had not been long absent, when a fire-brand was thrown into the midst of the discontented and restless crew.
It may be remembered that La Salle had met two of his men, La Chapelle and Leblanc, at his fort on the St. Joseph, and ordered them to rejoin Tonty. Unfortunately, they obeyed. On arriving, they told their comrades that the "Griffin" was lost, that Fort Frontenac was seized by the creditors10 of La Salle, that he was ruined past recovery, and that they, the men, would never receive their pay. Their wages were in arrears11 for more than two years; and, indeed, it would have been folly12 to pay them before their return to the settlements, as to do so would have been a temptation to desert. Now, however, the effect on their minds was still worse, believing, as many of them did, that they would never be paid at all.
THE DESERTERS.
La Chapelle and his companion had brought a letter from La Salle to Tonty, directing him to examine and fortify13 the cliff so often mentioned, which overhung the river above the great Illinois village. Tonty, accordingly, set out on his errand with some of the men. In his absence, the malcontents destroyed the fort, stole powder, lead, furs, and provisions, and deserted14, after writing on the side of the unfinished vessel15 the words seen by La Salle, "Nous sommes tous sauvages."[179] The brave [Pg 218] young Sieur de Boisrondet and the servant L'Espérance hastened to carry the news to Tonty, who at once despatched four of those with him, by two different routes, to inform La Salle of the disaster.[180] Besides the two just named, there now remained with him only one hired man and the Récollet friars. With this feeble band, he was left among a horde16 of treacherous savages17, who had been taught to regard him as a secret enemy. Resolved, apparently19, to disarm20 their jealousy21 by a show of confidence, he took up his abode23 in the midst of them, making his quarters in the great village, whither, as spring opened, its inhabitants returned, to the number, according to Membré, of seven or eight thousand. Hither he conveyed the forge and such tools as he could recover, and here he hoped to maintain himself till La Salle should reappear. The spring and the summer were past, and he looked anxiously for his coming, unconscious that a storm was gathering24 in [Pg 219] the east, soon to burst with devastation25 over the fertile wilderness26 of the Illinois.
THE IROQUOIS WAR.
I have recounted the ferocious27 triumphs of the Iroquois in another volume.[181] Throughout a wide semi-circle around their cantons, they had made the forest a solitude28; destroyed the Hurons, exterminated29 the Neutrals and the Eries, reduced the formidable Andastes to helpless insignificance30, swept the borders of the St. Lawrence with fire, spread terror and desolation among the Algonquins of Canada; and now, tired of peace, they were seeking, to borrow their own savage18 metaphor31, new nations to devour32. Yet it was not alone their homicidal fury that now impelled33 them to another war. Strange as it may seem, this war was in no small measure one of commercial advantage. They had long traded with the Dutch and English of New York, who gave them, in exchange for their furs, the guns, ammunition34, knives, hatchets35, kettles, beads36, and brandy which had become indispensable to them. Game was scarce in their country. They must seek their beaver37 and other skins in the vacant territories of the tribes they had destroyed; but this did not content them. The French of Canada were seeking to secure a monopoly of the furs of the north and west; and, of late, the enterprises of La Salle on the tributaries38 of the Mississippi had especially roused the jealousy of the Iroquois, fomented39, moreover, by Dutch and English traders.[182] These crafty40 savages would fain [Pg 220] reduce all these regions to subjection, and draw thence an exhaustless supply of furs, to be bartered41 for English goods with the traders of Albany. They turned their eyes first towards the Illinois, the most important, as well as one of the most accessible, of the western Algonquin tribes; and among La Salle's enemies were some in whom jealousy of a hated rival could so far override42 all the best interests of the colony that they did not scruple43 to urge on the Iroquois to an invasion which they hoped would prove his ruin. The chiefs convened44, war was decreed, the war-dance was danced, the war-song sung, and five hundred warriors46 began their march. In their path lay the town of the Miamis, neighbors and kindred of the Illinois. It was always their policy to divide and conquer; and these forest Machiavels had intrigued47 so well among the Miamis, working craftily48 on their jealousy, that they induced them to join in the invasion, though there is every reason to believe that they had marked these infatuated allies as their next victims.[183]
THE ILLINOIS TOWN.
Go to the banks of the Illinois where it flows by the village of Utica, and stand on the meadow that borders it on the north. In front glides49 the river, a musket-shot in width; and from the farther bank rises, with gradual slope, a range of wooded hills [Pg 221] that hide from sight the vast prairie behind them. A mile or more on your left these gentle acclivities end abruptly50 in the lofty front of the great cliff, called by the French the Rock of St. Louis, looking boldly out from the forests that environ it; and, three miles distant on your right, you discern a gap in the steep bluffs51 that here bound the valley, marking the mouth of the river Vermilion, called Aramoni by the French.[184] Now stand in fancy on this same spot in the early autumn of the year 1680. You are in the midst of the great town of the Illinois,—hundreds of mat-covered lodges53, and thousands of congregated54 savages. Enter one of their dwellings55: they will not think you an intruder. Some friendly squaw will lay a mat for you by the fire; you may seat yourself upon it, smoke your pipe, and study the lodge52 and its inmates56 by the light that streams through the holes at the top. Three or four fires smoke and smoulder on the ground down the middle [Pg 222] of the long arched structure; and, as to each fire there are two families, the place is somewhat crowded when all are present. But now there is breathing room, for many are in the fields. A squaw sits weaving a mat of rushes; a warrior45, naked except his moccasins, and tattooed57 with fantastic devices, binds58 a stone arrow-head to its shaft59, with the fresh sinews of a buffalo60. Some lie asleep, some sit staring in vacancy61, some are eating, some are squatted62 in lazy chat around a fire. The smoke brings water to your eyes; the fleas63 annoy you; small unkempt children, naked as young puppies, crawl about your knees and will not be repelled64. You have seen enough; you rise and go out again into the sunlight. It is, if not a peaceful, at least a languid scene. A few voices break the stillness, mingled65 with the joyous66 chirping67 of crickets from the grass. Young men lie flat on their faces, basking68 in the sun; a group of their elders are smoking around a buffalo-skin on which they have just been playing a game of chance with cherry-stones. A lover and his mistress, perhaps, sit together under a shed of bark, without uttering a word. Not far off is the graveyard69, where lie the dead of the village, some buried in the earth, some wrapped in skins and laid aloft on scaffolds, above the reach of wolves. In the cornfields around, you see squaws at their labor70, and children driving off intruding71 birds; and your eye ranges over the meadows beyond, spangled with the yellow blossoms of the resin-weed and the Rudbeckia, [Pg 223] or over the bordering hills still green with the foliage72 of summer.[185]
This, or something like it, one may safely affirm, was the aspect of the Illinois village at noon of the tenth of September.[186] In a hut apart from the rest, you would probably have found the Frenchmen. Among them was a man, not strong in person, and disabled, moreover, by the loss of a hand, yet in this den22 of barbarism betraying the language and bearing of one formed in the most polished civilization of Europe. This was Henri de Tonty. The others were young Boisrondet, the servant L'Espérance, and a Parisian youth named étienne Renault. The [Pg 224] friars, Membré and Ribourde, were not in the village, but at a hut a league distant, whither they had gone to make a "retreat" for prayer and meditation73. Their missionary74 labors75 had not been fruitful; they had made no converts, and were in despair at the intractable character of the objects of their zeal76. As for the other Frenchmen, time, doubtless, hung heavy on their hands; for nothing can surpass the vacant monotony of an Indian town when there is neither hunting, nor war, nor feasts, nor dances, nor gambling77, to beguile78 the lagging hours.
THE ALARM.
Suddenly the village was wakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste, with the announcement that he had met, on his way, an army of Iroquois approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed, startled warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war. A crowd of excited savages thronged79 about Tonty and his Frenchmen, already objects of their suspicion, charging them, with furious gesticulation, with having stirred up their enemies to invade them. Tonty defended himself in broken Illinois, but the naked mob were but half convinced. They seized the forge and tools and flung them into the river, with all the goods that had [Pg 225] been saved from the deserters; then, distrusting their power to defend themselves, they manned the wooden canoes which lay in multitudes by the bank, embarked80 their women and children, and paddled down the stream to that island of dry land in the midst of marshes81 which La Salle afterwards found filled with their deserted huts. Sixty warriors remained here to guard them, and the rest returned to the village. All night long fires blazed along the shore. The excited warriors greased their bodies, painted their faces, befeathered their heads, sang their war-songs, danced, stamped, yelled, and brandished82 their hatchets, to work up their courage to face the crisis. The morning came, and with it came the Iroquois.
Young warriors had gone out as scouts83, and now they returned. They had seen the enemy in the line of forest that bordered the river Aramoni, or Vermilion, and had stealthily reconnoitred them. They were very numerous,[187] and armed for the most part with guns, pistols, and swords. Some had bucklers of wood or raw-hide, and some wore those corselets of tough twigs84 interwoven with cordage which their fathers had used when fire-arms were unknown. The scouts added more, for they declared that they had seen a Jesuit among the Iroquois; nay85, [Pg 226] that La Salle himself was there, whence it must follow that Tonty and his men were enemies and traitors86. The supposed Jesuit was but an Iroquois chief arrayed in a black hat, doublet, and stockings; while another, equipped after a somewhat similar fashion, passed in the distance for La Salle. But the Illinois were furious. Tonty's life hung by a hair. A crowd of savages surrounded him, mad with rage and terror. He had come lately from Europe, and knew little of Indians, but, as the friar Membré says of him, "he was full of intelligence and courage," and when they heard him declare that he and his Frenchmen would go with them to fight the Iroquois, their threats grew less clamorous87 and their eyes glittered with a less deadly lustre88.
Whooping90 and screeching91, they ran to their canoes, crossed the river, climbed the woody hill, and swarmed92 down upon the plain beyond. About a hundred of them had guns; the rest were armed with bows and arrows. They were now face to face with the enemy, who had emerged from the woods of the Vermilion, and were advancing on the open prairie. With unwonted spirit, for their repute as warriors was by no means high, the Illinois began, after their fashion, to charge; that is, they leaped, yelled, and shot off bullets and arrows, advancing as they did so; while the Iroquois replied with gymnastics no less agile94 and howlings no less terrific, mingled with the rapid clatter95 of their guns. Tonty saw that it would go hard with his allies. It was of the last [Pg 227] moment to stop the fight, if possible. The Iroquois were, or professed96 to be, at peace with the French; and, taking counsel of his courage, he resolved on an attempt to mediate97, which may well be called a desperate one. He laid aside his gun, took in his hand a wampum belt as a flag of truce, and walked forward to meet the savage multitude, attended by Boisrondet, another Frenchman, and a young Illinois who had the hardihood to accompany him. The guns of the Iroquois still flashed thick and fast. Some of them were aimed at him, on which he sent back the two Frenchmen and the Illinois, and advanced alone, holding out the wampum belt.[188] A moment more, and he was among the infuriated warriors. It was a frightful98 spectacle,—the contorted forms, bounding, crouching99, twisting, to deal or dodge100 the shot; the small keen eyes that shone like an angry snake's; the parted lips pealing101 their [Pg 228] fiendish yells; the painted features writhing102 with fear and fury, and every passion of an Indian fight,—man, wolf, and devil, all in one.[189] With his swarthy complexion103 and his half-savage dress, they thought he was an Indian, and thronged about him, glaring murder. A young warrior stabbed at his heart with a knife, but the point glanced aside against a rib4, inflicting104 only a deep gash105. A chief called out that, as his ears were not pierced, he must be a Frenchman. On this, some of them tried to stop the bleeding, and led him to the rear, where an angry parley106 ensued, while the yells and firing still resounded107 in the front. Tonty, breathless, and bleeding at the mouth with the force of the blow he had received, found words to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the King and the governor of Canada, and to demand that they should be left in peace.[190]
PERIL OF TONTY.
A young Iroquois snatched Tonty's hat, placed it on the end of his gun, and displayed it to the Illinois, who, thereupon thinking he was killed, [Pg 229] renewed the fight; and the firing in front clattered108 more angrily than before. A warrior ran in, crying out that the Iroquois were giving ground, and that there were Frenchmen among the Illinois, who fired at them. On this, the clamor around Tonty was redoubled. Some wished to kill him at once; others resisted. "I was never," he writes, "in such perplexity; for at that moment there was an Iroquois behind me, with a knife in his hand, lifting my hair as if he were going to scalp me. I thought it was all over with me, and that my best hope was that they would knock me in the head instead of burning me, as I believed they would do." In fact, a Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned; while an Onondaga chief, a friend of La Salle, was for setting him free. The dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonty told them that the Illinois were twelve hundred strong, and that sixty Frenchmen were at the village, ready to back them. This invention, though not fully109 believed, had no little effect. The friendly Onondaga carried his point; and the Iroquois, having failed to surprise their enemies, as they had hoped, now saw an opportunity to delude110 them by a truce. They sent back Tonty with a belt of peace: he held it aloft in sight of the Illinois; chiefs and old warriors ran to stop the fight; the yells and the firing ceased; and Tonty, like one waked from a hideous111 nightmare, dizzy, almost fainting with loss of blood, staggered across the intervening prairie, to rejoin his friends. He was met by the two friars, Ribourde [Pg 230] and Membré, who in their secluded112 hut, a league from the village, had but lately heard of what was passing, and who now, with benedictions113 and thanksgiving, ran to embrace him as a man escaped from the jaws114 of death.
The Illinois now withdrew, re-embarking in their canoes, and crossing again to their lodges; but scarcely had they reached them, when their enemies appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite bank. Many found means to cross, and, under the pretext115 of seeking for provisions, began to hover116 in bands about the skirts of the town, constantly increasing in numbers. Had the Illinois dared to remain, a massacre117 would doubtless have ensued; but they knew their foe118 too well, set fire to their lodges, embarked in haste, and paddled down the stream to rejoin their women and children at the sanctuary119 among the morasses120. The whole body of the Iroquois now crossed the river, took possession of the abandoned town, building for themselves a rude redoubt or fort of the trunks of trees and of the posts and poles forming the framework of the lodges which escaped the fire. Here they ensconced themselves, and finished the work of havoc121 at their leisure.
Tonty and his companions still occupied their hut; but the Iroquois, becoming suspicious of them, forced them to remove to the fort, crowded as it was with the savage crew. On the second day, there was an alarm. The Illinois appeared in numbers on the low hills, half a mile behind the town; and the Iroquois, [Pg 231] who had felt their courage, and who had been told by Tonty that they were twice as numerous as themselves, showed symptoms of no little uneasiness. They proposed that he should act as mediator122, to which he gladly assented123, and crossed the meadow towards the Illinois, accompanied by Membré, and by an Iroquois who was sent as a hostage. The Illinois hailed the overtures124 with delight, gave the ambassadors some refreshment125, which they sorely needed, and sent back with them a young man of their nation as a hostage on their part. This indiscreet youth nearly proved the ruin of the negotiation126; for he was no sooner among the Iroquois than he showed such an eagerness to close the treaty, made such promises, professed such gratitude127, and betrayed so rashly the numerical weakness of the Illinois, that he revived all the insolence128 of the invaders129. They turned furiously upon Tonty, and charged him with having robbed them of the glory and the spoils of victory. "Where are all your Illinois warriors, and where are the sixty Frenchmen that you said were among them?" It needed all Tonty's tact130 and coolness to extricate131 himself from this new danger.
IROQUOIS TREACHERY.
The treaty was at length concluded; but scarcely was it made, when the Iroquois prepared to break it, and set about constructing canoes of elm-bark, in which to attack the Illinois women and children in their island sanctuary. Tonty warned his allies that the pretended peace was but a snare132 for their destruction. The Iroquois, on their part, grew hourly more [Pg 232] jealous of him, and would certainly have killed him, had it not been their policy to keep the peace with Frontenac and the French.
Several days after, they summoned him and Membré to a council. Six packs of beaver-skins were brought in; and the savage orator133 presented them to Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning as he did so. The first two were to declare that the children of Count Frontenac—that is, the Illinois—should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound; the next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membré, that they might not be fatigued134 in travelling; the next proclaimed that the sun was bright; and the sixth and last required them to decamp and go home.[191] Tonty thanked them for their gifts, but demanded when they themselves meant to go and leave the Illinois in peace. At this, the conclave135 grew angry; and, despite their late pledge, some of them said that before they went they would eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly kicked away the packs of beaver-skins, the Indian symbol of the scornful rejection136 of a proposal, telling them that since they meant to eat the governor's children he would have none of their presents. The chiefs, [Pg 233] in a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. The French withdrew to their hut, where they stood all night on the watch, expecting an attack, and resolved to sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefs ordered them to begone.
MURDER OF RIBOURDE.
Tonty, with admirable fidelity137 and courage, had done all in the power of man to protect the allies of Canada against their ferocious assailants; and he thought it unwise to persist further in a course which could lead to no good, and which would probably end in the destruction of the whole party. He embarked in a leaky canoe with Membré, Ribourde, Boisrondet, and the remaining two men, and began to ascend138 the river. After paddling about five leagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repair their crazy vessel; when Father Ribourde, breviary in hand, strolled across the sunny meadows for an hour of meditation among the neighboring groves139. Evening approached, and he did not return. Tonty, with one of the men, went to look for him, and, following his tracks, presently discovered those of a band of Indians, who had apparently seized or murdered him. Still, they did not despair. They fired their guns to guide him, should he still be alive; built a huge fire by the bank, and then, crossing the river, lay watching it from the other side. At midnight, they saw the figure of a man hovering140 around the blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourde was not among them. In truth, a band of Kickapoos, enemies of the Iroquois, about whose camp they had [Pg 234] been prowling in quest of scalps, had met and wantonly murdered the inoffensive old man. They carried his scalp to their village, and danced round it in triumph, pretending to have taken it from an enemy. Thus, in his sixty-fifth year, the only heir of a wealthy Burgundian house perished under the war-clubs of the savages for whose salvation141 he had renounced142 station, ease, and affluence143.[192]
ATTACK OF THE IROQUOIS.
Meanwhile, a hideous scene was enacted144 at the ruined village of the Illinois. Their savage foes145, balked146 of a living prey147, wreaked148 their fury on the dead. They dug up the graves; they threw down the scaffolds. Some of the bodies they burned; some they threw to the dogs; some, it is affirmed, they ate.[193] Placing the skulls149 on stakes as trophies150, they turned to pursue the Illinois, who, when the French withdrew, had abandoned their asylum151 and retreated down the river. The Iroquois, still, it seems, in awe152 of them, followed them along the opposite bank, each night encamping face to face [Pg 235] with them; and thus the adverse153 bands moved slowly southward, till they were near the mouth of the river. Hitherto, the compact array of the Illinois had held their enemies in check; but now, suffering from hunger, and lulled154 into security by the assurances of the Iroquois that their object was not to destroy them, but only to drive them from the country, they rashly separated into their several tribes. Some descended155 the Mississippi; some, more prudent156, crossed to the western side. One of their principal tribes, the Tamaroas, more credulous157 than the rest, had the fatuity158 to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were speedily assailed159 by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and very few of them were killed; but the women and children were captured to the number, it is said, of seven hundred.[194] Then followed that scene of torture of which, some two weeks later, La Salle saw the revolting traces.[195] Sated, at length, with horrors, the conquerors160 withdrew, leading with them a host of captives, and exulting161 in their triumphs over women, children, and the dead.
After the death of Father Ribourde, Tonty and his companions remained searching for him till noon [Pg 236] of the next day, and then in despair of again seeing him, resumed their journey. They ascended162 the river, leaving no token of their passage at the junction163 of its northern and southern branches. For food, they gathered acorns164 and dug roots in the meadows. Their canoe proved utterly165 worthless; and, feeble as they were, they set out on foot for Lake Michigan. Boisrondet wandered off, and was lost. He had dropped the flint of his gun, and he had no bullets; but he cut a pewter porringer into slugs, with which he shot wild turkeys by discharging his piece with a fire-brand, and after several days he had the good fortune to rejoin the party. Their object was to reach the Pottawattamies of Green Bay. Had they aimed at Michilimackinac, they would have found an asylum with La Forest at the fort on the St. Joseph; but unhappily they passed westward166 of that post, and, by way of Chicago, followed the borders of Lake Michigan northward167. The cold was intense; and it was no easy task to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling168 of the limbs, which disabled him from travelling, and hence ensued a long delay. At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved, had they not gleaned169 a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an empty Indian town.
FRIENDS IN NEED.
This enabled them to reach the bay, and having patched an old canoe which they had the good luck to find, they embarked in it; whereupon, says Tonty, [Pg 237] "there rose a northwest wind, which lasted five days, with driving snow. We consumed all our food; and not knowing what to do next, we resolved to go back to the deserted town, and die by a warm fire in one of the wigwams. On our way, we saw a smoke; but our joy was short, for when we reached the fire we found nobody there. We spent the night by it; and before morning the bay froze. We tried to break a way for our canoe through the ice, but could not; and therefore we determined170 to stay there another night, and make moccasins in order to reach the town. We made some out of Father Gabriel's cloak. I was angry with étienne Renault for not finishing his; but he excused himself on account of illness, because he had a great oppression of the stomach, caused by eating a piece of an Indian shield of raw-hide, which he could not digest. His delay proved our salvation; for the next day, December fourth, as I was urging him to finish the moccasins, and he was still excusing himself on the score of his malady171, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas, who were on their way to the Pottawattamies, saw the smoke of our fire, and came to us. We gave them such a welcome as was never seen before. They took us into their canoes, and carried us to an Indian village, only two leagues off. There we found five Frenchmen, who received us kindly172, and all the Indians seemed to take pleasure in sending us food; so that, after thirty-four days of starvation, we found our famine turned to abundance."
[Pg 238]
This hospitable173 village belonged to the Pottawattamies, and was under the sway of the chief who had befriended La Salle the year before, and who was wont93 to say that he knew but three great captains in the world,—Frontenac, La Salle, and himself.[196]
[Pg 239]
THE ILLINOIS TOWN.
The Site of the Great Illinois Town.—This has not till now been determined, though there have been various conjectures174 concerning it. From a study of the contemporary documents and maps, I became satisfied, first, that the branch of the river Illinois, called the "Big Vermilion," was the Aramoni of the French explorers; and, secondly175, that the cliff called "Starved Rock" was that known to the French as Le Rocher, or the Rock of St. Louis. If I was right in this conclusion, then the position of the Great Village was established; for there is abundant proof that it was on the north side of the river, above the Aramoni, and below Le Rocher. I accordingly went to the village of Utica, which, as I judged by the map, was very near the point in question, and mounted to the top of one of the hills immediately behind it, whence I could see the valley of the Illinois for miles, bounded on the farther side by a range of hills, in some parts rocky and precipitous, and in others covered with forests. Far on the right was a gap in these hills, through which the Big Vermilion flowed to join the Illinois; and somewhat towards the left, at the distance of a mile and a half, was a huge cliff, rising perpendicularly176 from the opposite margin178 of the river. This I assumed to be Le Rocher of the French, though from where I stood I was unable to discern the distinctive179 features which I was prepared to find in it. In every other respect, the scene before me was precisely180 what I had expected to see. There was a meadow on the hither side of the river, on which stood a farmhouse181; and this, as it seemed to me, by its relations with surrounding objects, might be supposed to stand in the midst of the space once occupied by the Illinois town.
On the way down from the hill I met Mr. James Clark, the principal inhabitant of Utica, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. I accosted182 him, told him my objects, and requested [Pg 240] a half hour's conversation with him, at his leisure. He seemed interested in the inquiry183, and said he would visit me early in the evening at the inn, where, accordingly, he soon appeared. The conversation took place in the porch, where a number of farmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. Clark if any Indian remains184 were found in the neighborhood. "Yes," he replied, "plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any one spot where they were more numerous than elsewhere. "Yes," he answered again, pointing towards the farmhouse on the meadow; "on my farm down yonder by the river, my tenant185 ploughs up teeth and bones by the peck every spring, besides arrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of that sort." I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, as I had been led to believe that the principal town of the Illinois Indians once covered that very spot. "If," I added, "I am right in this belief, the great rock beyond the river is the one which the first explorers occupied as a fort; and I can describe it to you from their accounts of it, though I have never seen it, except from the top of the hill where the trees on and around it prevented me from seeing any part but the front." The men present now gathered around to listen. "The rock," I continued, "is nearly a hundred and fifty feet high, and rises directly from the water. The front and two sides are perpendicular177 and inaccessible186; but there is one place where it is possible for a man to climb up, though with difficulty. The top is large enough and level enough for houses and fortifications." Here several of the men exclaimed: "That's just it." "You've hit it exactly." I then asked if there was any other rock on that side of the river which could answer to the description. They all agreed that there was no such rock on either side, along the whole length of the river. I then said: "If the Indian town was in the place where I suppose it to have been, I can tell you the nature of the country which lies behind the hills on the farther side of the river, though I know nothing about it except what I have learned from writings nearly two centuries old. From the top of the hills, you look out upon a great prairie reaching as far as you can see, except that it is crossed by a belt of woods, following the course of a stream [Pg 241] which enters the main river a few miles below." (See ante, p. 221, note.) "You are exactly right again," replied Mr. Clark; "we call that belt of timber the 'Vermilion Woods,' and the stream is the Big Vermilion." "Then," I said, "the Big Vermilion is the river which the French called the Aramoni; 'Starved Rock' is the same on which they built a fort called St. Louis, in the year 1682; and your farm is on the site of the great town of the Illinois."
I spent the next day in examining these localities, and was fully confirmed in my conclusions. Mr. Clark's tenant showed me the spot where the human bones were ploughed up. It was no doubt the graveyard violated by the Iroquois. The Illinois returned to the village after their defeat, and long continued to occupy it. The scattered187 bones were probably collected and restored to their place of burial.
FOOTNOTES:
[179] For the particulars of this desertion, Membré in Le Clerc, ii. 171, Relation des Découvertes; Tonty, Mémoire, 1684, 1693; Déclaration faite par6 devant le Sr. Duchesneau, Intendant en Canada, par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque cy-devant au service du Sr. de la Salle, Aoust, 1680.
Moyse Hillaret, the "Ma?tre Moyse" of Hennepin, was a ring-leader of the deserters, and seems to have been one of those captured by La Salle near Fort Frontenac. Twelve days after, Hillaret was examined by La Salle's enemy, the intendant; and this paper is the formal statement made by him. It gives the names of most of the men, and furnishes incidental confirmation188 of many statements of Hennepin, Tonty, Membré, and the Relation des Découvertes. Hillaret, Leblanc, and Le Meilleur, the blacksmith nicknamed La Forge, went off together, and the rest seem to have followed afterwards. Hillaret does not admit that any goods were wantonly destroyed.
There is before me a schedule of the debts of La Salle, made after his death. It includes a claim of this man for wages to the amount of 2,500 livres.
[180] Two of the messengers, Laurent and Messier, arrived safely. The others seem to have deserted.
[181] The Jesuits in North America.
[182] Duchesneau, in Paris Docs., ix. 163.
[183] There had long been a rankling189 jealousy between the Miamis and the Illinois. According to Membré, La Salle's enemies had intrigued successfully among the former, as well as among the Iroquois, to induce them to take arms against the Illinois.
[184] The above is from notes made on the spot. The following is La Salle's description of the locality in the Relation des Découvertes, written in 1681: "La rive gauche190 de la rivière, du coté du sud, est occupée par un long rocher, fort étroit et escarpé presque partout, à la réserve d'un endroit de plus d'une lieue de longueur, situé vis-à-vis du village, ou le terrain192, tout191 couvert de beaux chênes, s'étend par une pente douce jusqu'au bord de la rivière. Au delà de cette hauteur193 est une vaste plaine, qui s'étend bien loin du coté du sud, et qui est traversée par la rivière Aramoni, dont les bords sont couverts d'une lisière de bois peu large."
The Aramoni is laid down on the great manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, and on the map of Coronelli, 1688. It is, without doubt, the Big Vermilion. Aramoni is the Illinois word for "red," or "vermilion." Starved Rock, or the Rock of St. Louis, is the highest and steepest escarpment of the long rocher above mentioned.
[185] The Illinois were an aggregation194 of distinct though kindred tribes,—the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, the Kahokias, the Tamaroas, the Moingona, and others. Their general character and habits were those of other Indian tribes; but they were reputed somewhat cowardly and slothful. In their manners, they were more licentious195 than many of their neighbors, and addicted196 to practices which are sometimes supposed to be the result of a perverted197 civilization. Young men enacting198 the part of women were frequently to be seen among them. These were held in great contempt. Some of the early travellers, both among the Illinois and among other tribes, where the same practice prevailed, mistook them for hermaphrodites. According to Charlevoix (Journal Historique, 303), this abuse was due in part to a superstition199. The Miamis and Piankishaws were in close affinities200 of language and habits with the Illinois. All these tribes belonged to the great Algonquin family. The first impressions which the French received of them, as recorded in the Relation of 1671, were singularly favorable; but a closer acquaintance did not confirm them. The Illinois traded with the lake tribes, to whom they carried slaves taken in war, receiving in exchange guns, hatchets, and other French goods. Marquette in Relation, 1670, 91.
[186] This is Membré's date. The narratives201 differ as to the day, though all agree as to the month.
[187] The Relation des Découvertes says, five hundred Iroquois and one hundred Shawanoes. Membré says that the allies were Miamis. He is no doubt right, as the Miamis had promised their aid, and the Shawanoes were at peace with the Illinois. Tonty is silent on the point.
[188] Membré says that he went with Tonty: "J'étois aussi à c?té du Sieur de Tonty." This is an invention of the friar's vanity. "Les deux pères Récollets étoient alors dans une cabane à une lieue du village, où ils s'étoient retirés pour faire une espèce de retraite, et ils ne furent avertis de l'arrivée des Iroquois que dans le temps du combat."—Relation des Découvertes. "Je rencontrai en chemin les pères Gabriel et Zenobe Membré, qui cherchoient de mes nouvelles."—Tonty, Mémoire, 1693. This was on his return from the Iroquois. The Relation confirms the statement, as far as concerns Membré: "II rencontra le Père Zenobe [Membré], qui venoit pour le secourir, aiant été averti du combat et de sa blessure."
The perverted Dernières Découvertes, published without authority, under Tonty's name, says that he was attended by a slave, whom the Illinois sent with him as interpreter. In his narrative202 of 1684, Tonty speaks of a Sokokis (Saco) Indian who was with the Iroquois and who spoke203 French enough to serve as interpreter.
[189] Being once in an encampment of Sioux when a quarrel broke out, and the adverse factions204 raised the war-whoop and began to fire at each other, I had a good, though for the moment a rather dangerous, opportunity of seeing the demeanor205 of Indians at the beginning of a fight. The fray206 was quelled207 before much mischief208 was done, by the vigorous intervention209 of the elder warriors, who ran between the combatants.
[190] "Je leur fis connoistre que les Islinois étoient sous la protection du roy de France et du gouverneur du pays, que j'estois surpris qu'ils voulussent rompre avec les Fran?ois et qu'ils voulussent attendre [sic] à une paix."—Tonty, Mémoire, 1693.
[191] An Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity if not confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation210. The meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tonty that the sun was bright,—"que le soleil étoit beau," that is, that the weather was favorable for travelling,—is curiously211 misconceived by the editor of the Dernières Découvertes, who improves upon his original by substituting the words "par le cinquième paquet ils nous exhortoient à adorer le Soleil."
[192] Tonty, Mémoire; Membré in Le Clerc, ii. 191. Hennepin, who hated Tonty, unjustly charges him with having abandoned the search too soon, admitting, however, that it would have been useless to continue it. This part of his narrative is a perversion212 of Membré's account.
[193] "Cependant les Iroquois, aussit?t après le départ du Sr. de Tonty, exercèrent leur rage sur les corps213 morts des Ilinois, qu'ils déterrèrent ou abbattèrent de dessus les échafauds où les Ilinois les laissent longtemps exposés avant que de les mettre en terre. Ils en br?lèrent la plus grande partie, ils en mangèrent même quelques uns, et jettèrent le reste aux chiens. Ils plantèrent les têtes de ces cadavres à demi décharnés sur des pieux," etc.—Relation des Découvertes.
[194] Relation des Découvertes; Frontenac to the King, N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 147. A memoir214 of Duchesneau makes the number twelve hundred.
[195] "Ils [les Illinois] trouvèrent dans leur campement des carcasses de leurs enfans que ces anthropophages avoient mangez, ne voulant même d'autre nourriture que la chair de ces infortunez."—La Potherie, ii. 145, 146. Compare note, ante, p. 211.
[196] Membré in Le Clerc, ii. 199. The other authorities for the foregoing chapter are the letters of La Salle, the Relation des Découvertes, in which portions of them are embodied215, and the two narratives of Tonty, of 1684 and 1693. They all agree in essential points.
In his letters of this period, La Salle dwells at great length on the devices by which, as he believed, his enemies tried to ruin him and his enterprise. He is particularly severe against the Jesuit Allouez, whom he charges with intriguing216 "pour commencer la guerre entre les Iroquois et les Illinois par le moyen des Miamis qu'on engageoit dans cette négociation afin ou de me faire massacrer avec mes gens par quelqu'une de ces nations ou de me brouiller avec les Iroquois."—Lettre (à Thouret?), 22 Ao?t, 1682. He gives in detail the circumstances on which this suspicion rests, but which are not convincing. He says, further, that the Jesuits gave out that Tonty was dead in order to discourage the men going to his relief, and that Allouez encouraged the deserters, "leur servoit de conseil, bénit mesme leurs balles, et les asseura plusieurs fois que M. de Tonty auroit la teste cassée." He also affirms that great pains were taken to spread the report that he was himself dead. A Kiskakon Indian, he says, was sent to Tonty with a story to this effect; while a Huron named Scortas was sent to him (La Salle) with false news of the death of Tonty. The latter confirms this statement, and adds that the Illinois had been told "que M. de la Salle estoit venu en leur pays pour les donner à manger aux Iroquois."
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1
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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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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par
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| 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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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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fomented
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| v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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bartered
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| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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convened
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| 召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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49
glides
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| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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51
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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52
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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tattooed
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| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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66
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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chirping
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 ) | |
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basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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intruding
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| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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78
beguile
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| vt.欺骗，消遣 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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83
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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84
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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85
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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86
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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87
clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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88
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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89
mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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90
whooping
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| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
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91
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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92
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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93
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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94
agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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95
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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96
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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97
mediate
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| vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成 | |
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98
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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99
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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100
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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101
pealing
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的现在分词 ) | |
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102
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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103
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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104
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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105
gash
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| v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝 | |
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106
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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107
resounded
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| 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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108
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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109
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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110
delude
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| vt.欺骗；哄骗 | |
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111
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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112
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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113
benedictions
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| n.祝福( benediction的名词复数 )；（礼拜结束时的）赐福祈祷；恩赐；（大写）（罗马天主教）祈求上帝赐福的仪式 | |
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114
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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115
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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116
hover
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| vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫 | |
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117
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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118
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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119
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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120
morasses
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| n.缠作一团( morass的名词复数 )；困境；沼泽；陷阱 | |
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121
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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122
mediator
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| n.调解人，中介人 | |
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123
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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125
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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126
negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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127
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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128
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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129
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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130
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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131
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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132
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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133
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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134
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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135
conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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136
rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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137
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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138
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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139
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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140
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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141
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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142
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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143
affluence
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| n.充裕，富足 | |
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144
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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146
balked
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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147
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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148
wreaked
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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149
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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150
trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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151
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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152
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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153
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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154
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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155
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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156
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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157
credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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158
fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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159
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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160
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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161
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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162
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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164
acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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165
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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166
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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167
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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168
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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169
gleaned
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| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
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170
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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171
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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172
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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173
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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174
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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175
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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176
perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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177
perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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178
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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179
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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180
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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181
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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182
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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183
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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184
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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185
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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186
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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187
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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188
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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189
rankling
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 ) | |
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190
gauche
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| adj.笨拙的，粗鲁的 | |
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191
tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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192
terrain
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| n.地面，地形，地图 | |
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193
hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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194
aggregation
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| n.聚合，组合；凝聚 | |
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195
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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196
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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197
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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198
enacting
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 ) | |
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199
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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200
affinities
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| n.密切关系( affinity的名词复数 )；亲近；（生性）喜爱；类同 | |
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201
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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202
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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203
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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204
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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205
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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206
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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207
quelled
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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208
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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209
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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210
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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211
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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212
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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213
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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214
memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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215
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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216
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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