When Lucas and Djansha hijack a rowboat to escape from the ship:
"Djansha stepped from the ladder to the foresheets and cast off." (p. 69)
Why "foresheets"?
Lucas can swim but Djansha cannot. First, he thinks that, if their boat is sunk, she will drown. But then:
"...she offered him an uncertain smile. By all her heathen gods! It wasn't possible. She would come back to him..." (p. 72)
- like Dahut in Poul and Karen Anderson's King Of Ys? No:
"...in dreams, with weeds growing from her mouth. No, let him carry her along, and if he failed, let them drink the sea together." (ibid.)
Lucas' hypothetical dreams and a work of fantasy share similar contents.
"Another ship lay ahead: a cheland, lighter and swifter than the galleys." (ibid.)
I am encountering difficulty tracking down "cheland."
"For a moment it sleeted quarrels." (p. 72)
"[Lucas] made himself sit at ease, contemplate serenity, as the Cathayan monks advised..." (ibid.)
In zazen, we sit with what is which might be turmoil, not serenity.
"'I invoke especially St. Ananias.'" (p. 74)
"There were six Turcopols..." (p. 75)
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I interpreted the text you quoted to mean a "cheland" is itself a galley, but much smaller than a regular galley.
Ad astra! Sean
Paul:
According to my Merriam-Webster dictionary, one definition of "foresheets" is simply "the forward part of an open boat." My Funk & Wagnalls phrases it a bit differently, but with the same meaning.
David,
Thank you. I wonder why "sheets"?
All,
I have been out all day but hope to post this evening.
Paul.
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