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There had been a time, and that not remote, when these fair meadows were a waste of death and desolation,
曾几何时，并非遥远的过去，当时这些相当肥美的草地还是一片荒芜和死寂，
scathed with fire, and strewn with the ghastly relics of an Iroquois victory. Now, all was changed.
一次易洛魁族人取得大捷，用火烧地，然后撒上草籽借此纪念那次胜利。现在，一切都已面目全非。
La Salle looked down from his rock on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of bark and rushes, or cabins of logs,
拉萨尔从岩石处俯瞰着野蛮人的生活。在开阔的平原上，或者沿着森林边缘，
were clustered on the open plain, or along the edges of the bordering forests.
用树皮砌成的乡间小屋、人们的忙碌，以及用木头搭建的木屋，组成一番别样的景象。
Squaws labored, warriors lounged in the sun, naked children whooped and gamboled on the grass.
印第安女人在辛勤劳作，勇士们在太阳底下懒洋洋地坐着休憩，赤身裸体的孩子在草地上高声大叫，嬉戏着。
Beyond the river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more with the lodges of the Illinois,
在河对岸左侧一英里半处，伊利诺斯人的乡间小屋点缀着堤岸，
who, to the number of six thousand, had returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling place.
有6000伊利诺斯人由于战败已经回到这里，他们心仪的住处。
Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the neighboring prairie,
在相邻的山丘之间，或者相邻的大草原上，
were the cantonments of a half score of other tribes, and fragments of tribes,
沿着山谷稀稀拉拉地遥相守望的是其他部落十余座宿营地。部落零零散散的，
gathered under the protecting aegis of the French.
在法国人的庇护下聚在一起。
