The Whispering Land

you could do worse than go and investigate – you might just as well go and investigate

the time off – here a leave of absence

to get into one's stride – literally, to begin walking with long and measured steps; figuratively, to be carried away in some process (e. g. of talking)

TO PAGE 109

semi-inebriated – half-drunk, half-intoxicated (a bookish word)

to sport - here to wear or exhibit, especially in great quantities

Durrell means that the wagon-driver's moustache was allowed to grow without any hindrance, as plants are in a nature reserve.

blancmange (Fr.) - a sweet jelly-like dessert made of a starchy substance and milk, sugar and almond

mucha agua (Sp.) - much water

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in next to no time – very quickly, almost instantly

to play a fish – to let a fish tire itself out while hooked by tugging at the line

que pasa? (Sp.) - what has happened?

nafta no hay (Sp.) - there's no fuel

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our nether regions – the lower part of our bodies (nether - jocular for lower, under, as in nether garments)

in his shirt-tails – without trousers, in his shirt only (this humorous expression is a cross between the two idiomatic phrases: in one's shirt-sleeves 'without a coat' and in one's tails 'in full dress, in a dress-coat')

to roar into life – to come to life with a roar (an engine roars when being started up)

water hazard – here an obstacle in the form of a river (the term comes from golf, where the word hazard means 'any obstruction in playing a stroke, including bunkers, traps, ponds, roadways, etc')

apron – here a shield made of some hard material and placed below a dam or across a river-bed to protect it from damage by water

purchase – here a mechanical advantage, a fast hold

TO PAGE 112

to nose – here to push or move with the nose or front forward

to stall – of an engine, to stop working (from overload, etc.)

TO PAGE 113

Fairy Godmother – a good fairy from fairy tales, who appears quite unexpectedly at the very moment she is badly wanted and helps her god-child out of trouble (e. g. in the tale of Cinderella). Being a fairy she can appear in different disguise, hence the authors description ('heavily disguised…').

took in our predicament in a glance – understood at once our awkward situation (in a glance = at a glance)

An ironical reference to the Duke of Wellington's (1769- 1852) military preparations before the battle of Waterloo (1815), where his army defeated Napoleon

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to quarter – here to pass over an area of ground in every direction in search of game (the word is usually applied to hunting-dogs)

bibulous – addicted to alcoholic liquor, to drinking; in this roundabout way the author describes invitations to differ-ent drinking-parties

jardin zoologico (Sp.) - a zoological garden, a zoo

TO PAGE 115

the well of the house – a shaft in a building or between buildings, open to the sky for light and air; airshaft

yellow-naped macaw [me'ko:] – a large, bright-colored, harsh-voiced parrot of Central and South America

TO PAGE 116

Brazilian rabbit – a burrowing rodent of the hare family, smaller than most hares and having soft fur, long ears, and a bobbed tail (the rodents are characterized by constantly growing incisors, or cutting teeth, adapted for gnawing or nibbling; on this group of mammals see also p. 119)

agouti – a rodent of the guinea-pig family, the size of a rabbit; orange-rumped – having an orange-colored rump, i.e. posterior (including the buttocks)

nervous breakdown – a state of extreme depression

patio ['paetiou] (Sp.) - a courtyard or inner area open to the sky, common in Spanish and South-American architecture

accoutrement – personal outfit or equipment; when used in the plural, the word generally means military outfit

TO PAGE 117

to relieve – here to make less monotonous, to brighten

canary-yellow – a light yellow color, like that of a canary bird, a small yellow song bird, native to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores

TO PAGE 118

to take kindly to something – to get easily accustomed to something

TO PAGE 119

capybara – the largest of now existing rodents, a tailless, partially web-footed animal that lives in and around lakes and streams in South America

unlikely – here not likely to be met with in this family

The author has in mind the well-known reconstruction of an ancient horse skeleton. The ancient horse had five toes; four of them were in time reduced and disappeared.

a hump-behind – a behind with a hump on it (a word formed by analogy with hump-back)

ague – here fit of shivering

nightcap (colloq.) - an alcoholic drink taken just before going to bed

TO PAGE 120

at the crack of dawn – at break of day, very early in the morning

to fan out – to spread out in several directions (in fan-shape), a word usually applied to the movement of troops after a breakthrough

TO PAGE 121

seriema – a crested Brazilian and Argentinean

bird of the crane family, with gray and amber coloring and long legs and neck

coatimundi [,kouti'mundi] (or coati) – a small, flesh-eating mammal of Central and South America, resembling a raccoon (see the next note), but with a long flexible snout

raccoon – a small, tree-climbing, flesh-eating mammal of North America, active largely at night and characterized by long, yellow-black fur, black masklike markings around the eyes, and a long, black-ringed tail

M. I. 5 – in England, the section of Military Intelligence which deals with matters of State security

ocelot ['ousilot] – a large wild cat of North and South America, with yellow or gray hide marked with black spots