word of the day: dunnage

word of the day: dunnage

context: 

“Our canoe, old now with the weight of her journey, lay with her scrofulous sides on the shore. Beside her was the meager pile of supplies which must see us out of the land. It was raining. A fine penetrating haze as cold and dismal as the gray sweat on the face of a corpse hung over us.

Ohoto and Ootek came to help us stow our spare dunnage against the rough splintered ribs of the canoe.”

Farley Mowat was one of my mother’s favorite writers. But then Mowat often wrote about one of my mother’s favorite topics — the people and animals of the arctic. He writes well. I read Never Cry Wolf when I was a teen and enjoyed it. Good adventure story. 

In the excerpt above Mowat has just gotten back from a trip through territory even his Eskimo guide didn’t know. It was his longest expedition on this visit to the arctic, and it was sometimes harrowing. But now it is time for Mowat to return south, to civilization, to his non-arctic life. 

definition (dictionary.com): baggage or personal effects.

source:

The People of the Deer

by Farley Mowat

1952. Atlantic-Little, Brown, Boston MA

words of the day: dace and tangle

words of the day: dace and tangle

In the months and years after the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima the survivors have to deal with the effects of radiation poisoning. Yasuko was not hurt by the initial blast but wandered the ruins looking for her uncle, so unknowingly took on a strong dose. Her uncle and aunt were also sickened, but the younger woman seemed to have it worse. 

I see the doctor to the gate and am told: ‘She seems more listless than yesterday. It’s the effect of the fever, I imagine.’

For supper, stewed dace, egg, tangle, shallots, one bowl of rice, tomatoes. The doctor said he would come every three days, but after talking with my husband and with Yasuko, I go to Dr. Kajita’s house to ask him to come every day. He agrees.

The patient goes to bed at eight.

dace (dictionary.com): a small, freshwater cyprinoid fish, Leuciscus leuciscus, of Europe, having a stout, fusiform body.

tangle (dictionary.com): any of several large seaweeds of the genus Laminaria.

source: 

Black Rain

by Masuji Ibuse

translated by John Bester

1985. Kodansha International / Bantam Books, NY

word of the day: rusk

word of the day: rusk

The narrator is walking back into post-A-bomb Hiroshima. He has come upon a body that at first he thinks might be alive, as “from time to time it seemed to puff its cheeks out and take a deep breath. Its eyelids seemed to be moving, too.” As he approaches the narrator is revolted to see the movements of the face are the actions of maggots swarming.

For a moment, I felt like flinging my bundle in the river. I hated war. Who cared, after all, which side won? The only important thing was to end it all as soon as possible: rather an unjust peace than a ‘just’ war! I went back to the parapet, but instead of flinging my bundle into the river made it fast on my back. It was full of things necessary for survival amidst the ruins: a bottle containing stomach pills, a trowel, old magazines, eucalyptus leaves, dried rusks, a round paper fan, and the like.

definition (Merriam-Webster): hard crisp bread originally used as ship's stores

The eucalyptus leaves, when burned slowly, are a mosquito repellent, the paper fan a way to keep the smoke moving. 

source: 

Black Rain

by Masuji Ibuse

translated by John Bester

1985. Kodansha International / Bantam Books, NY