The Whispering Land

to date – up to that time

council rubbish dump – the place in a city where rubbish is deposited (the word council here means 'local administrative body of a city, town or district')

flotsam and jetsam – worthless things, rubbish, trash (originally, flotsam was a term of naval law, meaning wreckage found floating on the sea, while jetsam meant goods thrown overboard to lighten a ship in distress)

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the point of no return – a poetical paraphrase for death

character rendering – here personal remarks, personalities

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fifty-fifty – equal, even

marquee [ma:'ki:] – a big tent with open sides, especially one used for outdoor entertainments

professional – here a professional actor, one belonging to the theatrical profession, often called colloquially the profession (especially among actors)

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puma – a long-tailed, slender, tawny-brown animal of the cat family, found in North and South America (also called mountain lion)

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that bad (colloq.) - in such a bad state

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trestle-table – a table made up of movable planks supported by a pair of trestles, special wooden frames consisting each of a horizontal beam with diverging legs

heel-taps – here the rhythmic sound made by the heels of the dancers

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they had sung themselves from the heavens back to earth – they had passed the peak of their singing enthusiasm, which sounded like heaven to their listeners, and began to relax, as if coming hack to earth

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vampire – in folklore and popular superstition, an evil spirit which enters a corpse that leaves its grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping persons; hence vampire bats – several species of tropical American bats, which live on the blood of animals

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Luna's godfather – i.e. Luna himself, the man after whom the puma was named, as children are often named after their godparents

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charmed – seemingly protected from harm as though by magic

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collared peccary – a pig-like mammal of tropical America, about three feet long, greyish, with a white collar and sharp tusks

to have a soft spot for somebody – to have a weakness for somebody, to be unreasonably fond of somebody

an Eton collar – a broad, white linen collar, worn with a short black coat of a pupil of Eton college (an old public school for boys from privileged classes at Eton, near London)

retrousse [re'tru:sei] (Fr.) - turned up at the tip

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I allowed her the run of the place – she was allowed to run free all about the place

ambrosial – delicious, fragrant like ambrosia (the food of the Gods and immortals in Greek and Roman mythology)

out of this world- a current expression meaning 'heavenly', i. e. 'not belonging to the ordinary world'

gourmet – a person who is expert in the choice of food and wine

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to make sure of something – to act in such a way as to be certain of something (as here, to do everything to prevent the puma getting out of the cage)

Pegasus – in Greek mythology, a winged horse which sprang from the body of Medusa at her death. With a blow of his hoof he caused Hippocrene, the fountain of the Muses, to spring from Mount Helicon; he became therefore the symbol of poetic inspiration. Durrell thinks of Pegasus because of the queer shape of the horses' saddles.

By using the word-combination bony steeds, Durrell creates a comic effect. The adjective bony looks and sounds much like the old poetic word bonny (or bonnie) meaning 'beautiful, handsome' and well-known from Scotch popular ballads, where it often went together with the poetic steed for horse.

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to press-gang – to force into service, from press-gang, n. - a group of men who round up other men and force them into naval or military service

earth-shaking – Durrell uses the word ironically, meaning that their conclusion was anything but original or unexpected

epiphyte ['epifait] – a non-parasitic plant that grows on another plant but gets its nourishment from the air, as certain orchids, mosses, and lichens

orchid ['o:kid] – an epiphyte plant often growing on trees; its flowers, especially those of tropical varieties, are of very bright colors

liana – any luxuriantly growing woody tropical vine that roots in the ground and climbs around tree trunks

sure-footed – not likely to stumble, slip, or fall

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macabrely – in a macabre, i.e. horrible or ghastly way

gooey (sl.) - sticky as glue

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as I ducked and twisted my way – as I made my way twisting and ducking (by twisting the author means that his path in the undergrowth changed its direction all the time, and by ducking, that he had to jerk his head or the whole body downwards to avoid the blows of the branches)

toukan, or toucan – a brightly colored, fruit-eating bird of tropical America, distinguished by a large, down curved beak

fungi – any of a group of plants, including mildew, molds, mushrooms, rusts and toadstools that have no leaves or flowers, and reproduce by means of spores