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FOREWORD
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It is a misfortune to some fiction-writers that fiction and unveracity in the average person’s mind mean one and the same thing. Several years ago I published a South Sea novel. The action was placed in the Solomon Islands. The action was praised by the critics and reviewers as a highly creditable effort of the imagination. As regards reality—they said there wasn’t any. Of course, as every one knew, kinky-haired cannibals no longer obtained on the earth’s surface, much less ran around with nothing on, chopping off one another’s heads, and, on occasion, a white man’s head as well.
Now listen. I am writing these lines in Honolulu, Hawaii. Yesterday, on the beach at Waikiki, a stranger spoke1 to me. He mentioned a mutual2 friend, Captain Kellar. When I was wrecked4 in the Solomons on the blackbirder, the Minota, it was Captain Kellar, master of the blackbirder, the Eugénie, who rescued me. The blacks had taken Captain Kellar’s head, the stranger told me. He knew. He had represented Captain Kellar’s mother in settling up the estate.
Listen. I received a letter the other day from Mr. C. M. Woodford, Resident Commissioner5 of the British Solomons. He was back at his post, after a long furlough to England, where he had entered his son into Oxford6. A search of the shelves of almost any public library will bring to light a book entitled, “A Naturalist7 Among the Head Hunters.” Mr. C. M. Woodford is the naturalist. He wrote the book.
To return to his letter. In the course of the day’s work he casually8 and briefly9 mentioned a particular job he had just got off his hands. His absence in England had been the cause of delay. The job had been to make a
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1
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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mutual
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| adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
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commissioner
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| n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津(英国城市) | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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punitive
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| adj.惩罚的,刑罚的 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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chattel
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| n.动产;奴隶 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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lagoon
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| n.泻湖,咸水湖 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园,大农场 | |
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jack
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| n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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CHAPTER I
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