Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
A STEP BEYOND
GLOSSARY
- ALIENEST
- Psychiatrist
- ASSEGAIS
- Light, slender spears
- ASTERN
- Toward the stern, or rear, of a boat
- BOILER
- The tank or container in which water is heated into steam
to provide power for the steamboat. A vertical boiler is a relatively simple
type that takes up little space.
- BOWS (IN THE BOWS)
- Toward the bow, or front, of a boat
- CALIPERS
- An instrument with two curved, movable legs, used to measure
the diameter of a thing
- CONCERTINA
- A kind of small accordion
- DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS
- English navigator (1540?-1596). The first Englishman to
sail around the world, which he did in his ship the Golden Hind (1577-80).
Participated in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588).
- ESTUARY
- The mouth of a river
- FAIRWAY
- The navigable part of a river
- FALERNIAN WINE
- A well-known ancient wine which was made in southern Italy
- FIREMAN
- The man who tends the steamboat's furnace, stoking it
with wood
- FLEET STREET
- An important business street in London
- FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN
- British explorer (1786-1847). With his ships the Erebus
and the Terror, he set out for the Arctic in 1845 to search for the Northwest
Passage- an expedition that ended, tragically, in the deaths of all members.
- FUNNEL
- Smokestack
- HELMSMAN
- The man at the helm (steering mechanism), who steers the
boat
- MARTINI-HENRY
- A kind of military rifle
- MEPHISTOPHELES
- In the Faust legend, the wily devil who tempts Faust
- MIZZENMAST
- A mast toward the back of a boat
- OFFING
- The distant part of the sea visible from the shore
- PILOT-HOUSE
- The enclosed cabin in which the helmsman steers the boat
- RAVENNA
- The site of an important Roman naval base in northern
Italy
- SCOW
- A flat-bottomed boat with square ends, used for transporting
freight
- SOUNDING-POLE
- The long pole used to sound, or measure, the depth of
the water
- STERN-WHEEL
- The paddle wheel at the back (stern) of a steamboat
- STONE
- 14 Pounds (British measurement) 16 stone = 224 pounds
- TIME CONTRACTS
- Legal contracts to work for a specified period of time.
Such contracts were used to exploit the African natives, who had little
understanding of European law.
- TRIREME
- An ancient Roman ship with three tiers of oars on each
side
- YAWL
- A small sailboat
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