A bit anti-climactic after King promised a big murder/massacre.... Oh well, I think it's in the next chapter.
Again, I found some good imagery: "...the fallen leaves lay like golden disclets in the damp black trail." That just sounds... well, pretty. The contrast my mind creates between the gold and black is very nice in my head.
An interesting website on the Delaware Indians: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/pioneer/chap16.html
When the bear attacked the company, it said it was blond. I assume this is talking to its fur, and the bear is an albino. This bear is awesome! Glanton shot it three times, then the rest of the company started shooting it and the bear was still able to not drag, but carry a man for a day then drag him for another two days and then live, not to be found by the Delawares, the master trackers. Then, when the Delawares get back, the dead Delawares things are split up and "that man's name was never said again. Why not talk about a dead man? hm... maybe it's a bad omen to talk about death when they are on such a dangerous mission.
I like how McCarthy describes the cave paintings, especially the Spaniards: "Contemptuous of stone and silence and time itself." For clarity sake, I looked up the definition of Contemptuous. It means showing or expressing disdain, scornful. So, the paintings look as if they hate being on the cave walls, they hate being in constant silence, and they hate time for keeping them there. interesting that McCarthy chooses to give emotion to cave paintings.
Acequias- irrigation ditch
kivas- large room, partly or wholly underground, used for religious ceremonies in Pueblo Indian villages
Tapadero- . a hoodlike piece of heavy leather around the front of the stirrup of a stock or range saddle to protect the rider's foot.
draftsman- a person who draws sketches, plans, or designs.
Judge's wisdom is again expressed in this chapter: "every man is tabernacled in every other and he in exchange and so on in an endless complexity of being and witness to the uttermost edge of the world." I think what Judge is saying is, metaphorically, every man lives in every other man, tabernacled meaning dwelling within. It again refers back to religion, Christ dwells within all Christians and all Christians dwell within Him, spiritually speaking. By dwelling in Him, we take on his purity and He dwelling in us, he takes on our impurity, forgiving us of our sins and, by grace, allowing us into heaven. Judge is suggesting that all men dwell within each other in a similar way, but without any exchange of purity, but the exchange of likeness.
Hueco- hmm, it translates into "hole" but that doesn't make much sense in this context.
Portmanteau- a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, esp. a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.
euchred- exhausted
ubiquity- being everywhere at once
Judge's point of his story, he says, is this: "Whoever makes a shelter of reeds and hides has joined his spirit to the common destiny of creatures and he will subside back into the primal mud with scarcely a cry. But (he) who builds in stone seeks to alter the structure of the universe and so it was with these masons however primitive their works may seem to us." Wow, what mouthful... Ok, so. If you live your life naturally, just going with the flow, you will die quietly and leave little impact on the world, but if you build, create, manipulate the Earth, your impact will last and you will be respected in the future.
On page 147, it says "...something that had better been left sleeping." refering to the judge. Remember the old Mennonite? He refered to something sleeping in the desert. An interesting theme that continues throughout the book, sleeping, ominous things.
maguey-
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