When a canadian moose was spotted in southern florida scientists began to hypothesize about why the great brute had wandered so far from its native land which word in this passage is the best indicator that this is a scientific textbook a. moose b. great brute c. hypothesize d. native

Your best option is c. Hypothesize.
Hypothesize is a word commonly used in science. Additionally, none of the other words are necessarily scientific.

What are you trying to ask?

The answer is "he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not temp him to turn slave-trader. satirical is a synonym for sarcastic. so when the author says that tom walker could not be tempted by the devil he does not literally mean "the devil" but he means that he is too morally upright to become a slave-trader.