鯨類學

Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. Ere that come to pass; ere the Pequod’s weedy hull rolls side by side with the barnacled hulls of the leviathan; at the outset it is but well to attend to a matter almost indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special leviathanic revelations and allusions of all sorts which are to follow.

我們已大膽地駛入了深海；可不久，我們就要消失在它那無岸、無港的浩瀚之中。在那一刻來臨之前；在裴廓德號長滿水草的船身與巨獸（鯨）那滿附藤壺的軀體並肩翻滾之前；一開頭，最好先處理一件事——它對於透徹而領略地理解後文將出現的、種種更特別的「鯨之啟示與典故」，幾乎是不可或缺的。

It is some systematized exhibition of the whale in his broad genera, that I would now fain put before you. Yet is it no easy task. The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed. Listen to what the best and latest authorities have laid down.

我此刻想呈獻給你們的，是一份按鯨的大「屬」所作的系統化陳列。可這絕非易事。這裡所嘗試的，無異於「為一團混沌的構成物分類」。且聽最權威、最新的學者們是怎麼說的。

“No branch of Zoology is so much involved as that which is entitled Cetology,” says Captain Scoresby, A.D. 1820.

「動物學裡，沒有哪一支像那叫作『鯨類學』的這般糾纏不清，」斯科斯比船長於西元 1820 年如是說。

“It is not my intention, were it in my power, to enter into the inquiry as to the true method of dividing the cetacea into groups and families. * * * Utter confusion exists among the historians of this animal” (sperm whale), says Surgeon Beale, A.D. 1839.

「我無意——即便我有此能力——去探究將鯨類劃分成群與科的正確方法。＊＊＊在記述這動物（抹香鯨）的諸家之間，存在著徹底的混亂，」外科醫師比爾於西元 1839 年如是說。

“Unfitness to pursue our research in the unfathomable waters.” “Impenetrable veil covering our knowledge of the cetacea.” “A field strewn with thorns.” “All these incomplete indications but serve to torture us naturalists.”

「無從在這深不可測的水域裡推進我們的研究。」「一層無法穿透的帷幕，遮蓋著我們對鯨類的認識。」「一片荊棘遍布之地。」「這一切殘缺的線索，只是徒然折磨我們這些博物學家。」

Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and John Hunter, and Lesson, those lights of zoology and anatomy. Nevertheless, though of real knowledge there be little, yet of books there are a plenty; and so in some small degree, with cetology, or the science of whales. Many are the men, small and great, old and new, landsmen and seamen, who have at large or in little, written of the whale. Run over a few:—The Authors of the Bible; Aristotle; Pliny; Aldrovandi; Sir Thomas Browne; Gesner; Ray; Linnæus; Rondeletius; Willoughby; Green; Artedi; Sibbald; Brisson; Marten; Lacépède; Bonneterre; Desmarest; Baron Cuvier; Frederick Cuvier; John Hunter; Owen; Scoresby; Beale; Bennett; J. Ross Browne; the Author of Miriam Coffin; Olmstead; and the Rev. T. Cheever. But to what ultimate generalizing purpose all these have written, the above cited extracts will show.

偉大的居維葉、約翰·亨特和雷松——那些動物學與解剖學的明燈——都這麼談論鯨。然而，儘管真知甚少，書卻多得很；鯨類學（即關於鯨的科學）大抵也是如此。寫過鯨的人——大大小小、古今、陸上的與海上的——多得很，或詳或略。隨手數幾個：聖經諸作者；亞里斯多德；老普林尼；阿爾德羅萬迪；湯瑪斯·布朗爵士；格斯納；雷；林奈；龍德萊；威洛比；格林；阿爾特迪；西博爾德；布里松；馬騰；拉塞佩德；博納泰爾；德馬雷；居維葉男爵；弗雷德里克·居維葉；約翰·亨特；歐文；斯科斯比；比爾；班奈特；J·羅斯·布朗；《米莉亞姆·科芬》的作者；奧姆斯泰德；以及齊弗牧師。但這些人寫了半天究竟歸納出個什麼總綱，上面引的那幾段已可見一斑。

Of the names in this list of whale authors, only those following Owen ever saw living whales; and but one of them was a real professional harpooneer and whaleman. I mean Captain Scoresby. On the separate subject of the Greenland or right-whale, he is the best existing authority. But Scoresby knew nothing and says nothing of the great sperm whale, compared with which the Greenland whale is almost unworthy mentioning. And here be it said, that the Greenland whale is an usurper upon the throne of the seas. He is not even by any means the largest of the whales. Yet, owing to the long priority of his claims, and the profound ignorance which, till some seventy years back, invested the then fabulous or utterly unknown sperm-whale, and which ignorance to this present day still reigns in all but some few scientific retreats and whale-ports; this usurpation has been every way complete. Reference to nearly all the leviathanic allusions in the great poets of past days, will satisfy you that the Greenland whale, without one rival, was to them the monarch of the seas. But the time has at last come for a new proclamation. This is Charing Cross; hear ye! good people all,—the Greenland whale is deposed,—the great sperm whale now reigneth!

這份鯨類作者名單裡，只有歐文以後的人見過活鯨；而其中只有一位是真正職業的標槍手兼捕鯨人——我指的是斯科斯比船長。單就格陵蘭鯨（即露脊鯨）這題目而言，他是現存最好的權威。可斯科斯比對偉大的抹香鯨一無所知、也隻字未提——比起抹香鯨，格陵蘭鯨幾乎不值一提。這裡得說一句：格陵蘭鯨是海上王位的「篡位者」。牠根本算不上最大的鯨。然而，由於牠主張在先、年代久遠，又由於那直到約七十年前還籠罩著當時宛如神話、全然不為人知的抹香鯨的深重愚昧——而這愚昧至今除了少數幾個科學的隱所與捕鯨港外仍當道——這場篡位便方方面面都得逞了。只要翻翻昔日大詩人筆下幾乎一切關於鯨的典故，你就會信服：在他們眼中，格陵蘭鯨毫無對手地是海中的君王。但如今終於到了該頒布新詔的時候。這裡是查令十字街；聽著！各位善良的子民——格陵蘭鯨被廢黜了——偉大的抹香鯨從此君臨天下！

There are only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree succeed in the attempt. Those books are Beale’s and Bennett’s; both in their time surgeons to English South-Sea whale-ships, and both exact and reliable men. The original matter touching the sperm whale to be found in their volumes is necessarily small; but so far as it goes, it is of excellent quality, though mostly confined to scientific description. As yet, however, the sperm whale, scientific or poetic, lives not complete in any literature. Far above all other hunted whales, his is an unwritten life.

現存只有兩本書，多少有意把活生生的抹香鯨呈現於你眼前，並且在最起碼的程度上成功了。那兩本是比爾與班奈特的著作；兩人當年都是英國南海捕鯨船的外科醫師，也都是嚴謹可靠的人。他們書中關於抹香鯨的原創材料必然有限；但就其所及，品質極佳，雖大多侷限於科學描述。然而迄今為止，無論在科學上還是詩意上，抹香鯨都不曾在任何文獻裡完整地活過。在一切被獵的鯨之上，唯獨牠的一生，是未曾被書寫的。

Now the various species of whales need some sort of popular comprehensive classification, if only an easy outline one for the present, hereafter to be filled in all its departments by subsequent laborers. As no better man advances to take this matter in hand, I hereupon offer my own poor endeavors. I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty. I shall not pretend to a minute anatomical description of the various species, or—in this place at least—to much of any description. My object here is simply to project the draught of a systematization of cetology. I am the architect, not the builder.

如今各種鯨需要某種通俗而全面的分類，眼下哪怕只是個簡略的綱要，日後再由後來的勞作者把各部分一一填滿。既然沒有更高明的人出來接手這事，我便在此獻上我自己這點微末的努力。我不保證任何完整的東西；因為凡被認為完整的人造之物，正因如此，便必定有缺陷。我不會假裝對各個鯨種作精細的解剖描述，或者——至少在此處——作多少描述。我此處的目的，僅僅是勾勒出一份鯨類學系統化的草圖。我是建築師，不是營造者。

But it is a ponderous task; no ordinary letter-sorter in the Post-Office is equal to it. To grope down into the bottom of the sea after them; to have one’s hands among the unspeakable foundations, ribs, and very pelvis of the world; this is a fearful thing. What am I that I should essay to hook the nose of this leviathan! The awful tauntings in Job might well appal me. Will he (the leviathan) make a covenant with thee? Behold the hope of him is vain! But I have swam through libraries and sailed through oceans; I have had to do with whales with these visible hands; I am in earnest; and I will try. There are some preliminaries to settle.

但這是樁沉重的差事；郵局裡尋常的分信員可擔不起。摸索著潛到海底去追尋牠們；把雙手伸進這世界那難以名狀的根基、肋骨、乃至骨盆之間——這是件可怕的事。我算什麼，竟敢試著去鉤住這巨獸的鼻子！《約伯記》裡那些可怕的譏問，大可把我嚇倒：「牠（巨獸）豈肯與你立約？看哪，指望牠是徒然的！」但我曾游過一座座圖書館、航過一片片海洋；我曾用這雙看得見的手與鯨打過交道；我是當真的；我會一試。有幾個前提要先解決。

First: The uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish. In his System of Nature, A.D. 1776, Linnæus declares, “I hereby separate the whales from the fish.” But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year 1850, sharks and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnæus’s express edict, were still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan.

首先：鯨類學這門科學那不確定、未定論的狀態，光在「門廳」就已可由一個事實佐證——在某些圈子裡，「鯨究竟是不是魚」至今仍是個爭論不休的問題。林奈在他西元 1776 年的《自然系統》裡宣告：「我在此把鯨與魚分開。」可就我所知，直到 1850 年，鯊魚、西鯡、灰西鯡和鯡魚，都還違抗著林奈的明令，與巨獸（鯨）共分著同一片海域。

The grounds upon which Linnæus would fain have banished the whales from the waters, he states as follows: “On account of their warm bilocular heart, their lungs, their movable eyelids, their hollow ears, penem intrantem feminam mammis lactantem,” and finally, “ex lege naturæ jure meritoque.” I submitted all this to my friends Simeon Macey and Charley Coffin, of Nantucket, both messmates of mine in a certain voyage, and they united in the opinion that the reasons set forth were altogether insufficient. Charley profanely hinted they were humbug.

林奈想把鯨逐出水族的理由，他陳述如下：「鑑於牠們溫熱的雙腔心臟、牠們的肺、牠們可動的眼瞼、牠們中空的耳，penem intrantem feminam mammis lactantem（雄性以陰莖交合、雌性以乳哺育）」，最後還加一句「ex lege naturæ jure meritoque（依自然之法，理所當然）」。我把這一切都交給我兩位南塔克特的朋友——某趟航程的同桌夥伴西米恩·梅西和查理·科芬——評斷，他們一致認為：所陳的理由完全不足。查理還不敬地暗示說，那都是唬人的鬼話。

Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me. This fundamental thing settled, the next point is, in what internal respect does the whale differ from other fish. Above, Linnæus has given you those items. But in brief, they are these: lungs and warm blood; whereas, all other fish are lungless and cold blooded.

須知，我撇開一切爭論，採取那老派而可靠的立場：鯨是魚——並請聖者約拿來替我撐腰。這個根本問題定下後，下一點是：鯨在內在構造上與其他魚有何不同。上面，林奈已給了你那些項目。但簡而言之，就是這些：鯨有肺、溫血；而所有其他的魚都無肺、冷血。

Next: how shall we define the whale, by his obvious externals, so as conspicuously to label him for all time to come? To be short, then, a whale is a spouting fish with a horizontal tail. There you have him. However contracted, that definition is the result of expanded meditation. A walrus spouts much like a whale, but the walrus is not a fish, because he is amphibious. But the last term of the definition is still more cogent, as coupled with the first. Almost any one must have noticed that all the fish familiar to landsmen have not a flat, but a vertical, or up-and-down tail. Whereas, among spouting fish the tail, though it may be similarly shaped, invariably assumes a horizontal position.

接著：我們該如何憑鯨那顯而易見的外觀來給牠下定義，好為牠貼上一個流傳後世的醒目標籤？長話短說：鯨，是一種會噴水、長著水平尾鰭的魚。 喏，牠就在這兒了。這定義雖然濃縮，卻是擴展沉思的結果。海象噴水的樣子很像鯨，但海象不是魚，因為牠兩棲。然而這定義的後半項，與前半項相結合時，更具說服力。幾乎人人都注意得到：陸地人熟悉的一切魚，尾鰭都不是扁平的，而是垂直、上下走向的。而在噴水魚當中，尾鰭形狀縱然相似，卻一律是水平擺放的。

By the above definition of what a whale is, I do by no means exclude from the leviathanic brotherhood any sea creature hitherto identified with the whale by the best informed Nantucketers; nor, on the other hand, link with it any fish hitherto authoritatively regarded as alien.* Hence, all the smaller, spouting, and horizontal tailed fish must be included in this ground-plan of Cetology. Now, then, come the grand divisions of the entire whale host.

按上述「何謂鯨」的定義，我絕不把任何迄今被消息最靈通的南塔克特人視為鯨的海洋生物，排除出這巨獸的兄弟會；另一方面，也不把任何迄今被權威視為外族的魚硬扯進來。＊因此，一切較小的、會噴水、長水平尾鰭的魚，都必須納入這份鯨類學的基本藍圖。那麼現在，就來看整支鯨族的幾大區分。

*I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of Cetology.

＊我知道，直到今日，那些叫作海牛（Lamatins）和儒艮（Dugongs）的魚（南塔克特科芬家族口中的「豬魚」與「母豬魚」），仍被許多博物學家歸入鯨類。但這些豬魚是一群吵鬧、卑賤的東西，大多潛伏在河口、以濕草為食，尤其是牠們不噴水，所以我否認牠們作為鯨的資格；並已發給牠們護照、請牠們離開鯨類學的王國。

First: According to magnitude I divide the whales into three primary BOOKS (subdivisible into CHAPTERS), and these shall comprehend them all, both small and large.

首先：依身軀大小，我把鯨分成三大「書（BOOK）」（其下可再分「章（CHAPTER）」），這三大書將囊括一切大小的鯨。

I. THE FOLIO WHALE; II. the OCTAVO WHALE; III. the DUODECIMO WHALE.

一、對開本鯨；二、八開本鯨；三、十二開本鯨。

As the type of the FOLIO I present the Sperm Whale; of the OCTAVO, the Grampus; of the DUODECIMO, the Porpoise.

作為「對開本」的代表，我推出抹香鯨；「八開本」的代表，逆戟鯨；「十二開本」的代表，鼠海豚。

FOLIOS. Among these I here include the following chapters:—I. The Sperm Whale; II. the Right Whale; III. the Fin-Back Whale; IV. the Hump-backed Whale; V. the Razor Back Whale; VI. the Sulphur Bottom Whale.

對開本（FOLIOS）。 在此我納入以下各章：一、抹香鯨；二、露脊鯨；三、鰭背鯨；四、駝背鯨；五、剃刀背鯨；六、硫磺底鯨。

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER I. (Sperm Whale).—This whale, among the English of old vaguely known as the Trumpa whale, and the Physeter whale, and the Anvil Headed whale, is the present Cachalot of the French, and the Pottsfich of the Germans, and the Macrocephalus of the Long Words. He is, without doubt, the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of all whales to encounter; the most majestic in aspect; and lastly, by far the most valuable in commerce; he being the only creature from which that valuable substance, spermaceti, is obtained.

第一冊（對開本），第一章（抹香鯨）。 ——這鯨，在昔日英國人口中含糊地叫作「號角鯨」「噴水鯨（Physeter）」「鐵砧頭鯨」，就是今日法國人的 Cachalot、德國人的 Pottsfich、以及那滿口長詞者的 Macrocephalus（大頭鯨）。牠無疑是地球上最大的居民；一切鯨中最難對付的；外觀最雄偉的；最後，也是商業上遠遠最值錢的——因為牠是唯一能取得那珍貴物質「鯨腦油（spermaceti）」的生物。（牠的種種特性，會在許多別處詳述；此處我主要要談的是牠的名字。從語源上看，這名字荒謬至極：幾世紀前抹香鯨幾乎不為人所識、其油只偶然從擱淺的魚身上取得時，人們似乎普遍以為「鯨腦油」是從一種與當時英國所謂格陵蘭鯨/露脊鯨同一的生物身上來的，並以為這 spermaceti 就是那名字頭一個音節字面所指的、格陵蘭鯨的「生機體液（精液）」。那時鯨腦油也極稀少，不作照明、只當油膏與藥劑，得像今天買一盎司大黃那樣向藥商購得。後來——我猜想——隨著時間，鯨腦油的真實本質為人所知，商販卻仍沿用原名，無疑是要靠這麼個如此奇妙地暗示其稀有的名稱來抬高身價。於是這稱呼最終便落到了真正產出這鯨腦油的鯨身上。）

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER II. (Right Whale).—In one respect this is the most venerable of the leviathans, being the one first regularly hunted by man. It yields the article commonly known as whalebone or baleen; and the oil specially known as “whale oil,” an inferior article in commerce.

第一冊（對開本），第二章（露脊鯨）。 ——在一個方面，這是最可敬的巨獸，因為牠是人類最早規律獵捕的鯨。牠產出通稱「鯨骨」或「鯨鬚（baleen）」的東西，以及特稱「鯨油」的那種油——一種商業上的次等貨。（在漁人中，牠被不加區別地冠以下列一切名號：鯨；格陵蘭鯨；黑鯨；大鯨；真鯨；露脊鯨。被這麼五花八門地受洗的這個種，其身分頗為含糊。那麼，我列入對開本第二種的這鯨究竟是什麼？牠是英國博物學家的「大鬚鯨（Mysticetus）」、英國捕鯨人的格陵蘭鯨、法國捕鯨人的 Baleine Ordinaire、瑞典人的 Growlands Walfish。牠就是兩個多世紀以來荷蘭人與英國人在北極海獵捕的那種鯨，也是美國漁人長久以來在印度洋、巴西灘、西北海岸及世界各處所追捕、並被他們稱作「露脊鯨巡獵場」的那種鯨。）

Some pretend to see a difference between the Greenland whale of the English and the right whale of the Americans. But they precisely agree in all their grand features; nor has there yet been presented a single determinate fact upon which to ground a radical distinction.

有些人硬說英國人的格陵蘭鯨與美國人的露脊鯨之間有別。但兩者在一切大特徵上完全一致；也至今沒人能提出哪怕一個確鑿的事實，足以據之劃出根本的區別。（自然史的某些部門之所以變得如此令人卻步地繁複，正是因為人們基於最無定論的差異，作了沒完沒了的細分。露脊鯨會在別處再較詳細地談，用以闡明抹香鯨。）

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER III. (Fin-Back).—Under this head I reckon a monster which, by the various names of Fin-Back, Tall-Spout, and Long-John, has been seen almost in every sea and is commonly the whale whose distant jet is so often descried by passengers crossing the Atlantic, in the New York packet-tracks. In the length he attains, and in his baleen, the Fin-back resembles the right whale, but is of a less portly girth, and a lighter colour, approaching to olive.

第一冊（對開本），第三章（鰭背鯨）。 ——在這名目下，我算進一頭怪物——牠以「鰭背鯨」「高噴鯨」「長約翰」等各種名字，幾乎在每片海都被人見過，通常正是橫渡大西洋、行經紐約郵船航線的旅客常常望見其遠處噴水的那種鯨。在所達的體長和鯨鬚上，鰭背鯨像露脊鯨，但腰圍不那麼粗壯、體色較淺、近乎橄欖綠。（牠那巨大的唇呈纜繩般的模樣，由大皺褶交錯傾斜的摺層構成。牠最顯著的特徵——那根牠據以得名的鰭——常是個醒目之物：約三四呎長，從背的後部垂直長出，呈角狀、末端極尖。即使這生物的其餘部分一點也看不見，這孤伶伶的鰭有時也會清楚地從海面探出。當海面相當平靜、微泛球狀漣漪，這日晷指針般的鰭豎起、在起皺的水面投下影子時，大可想像環繞它的那圈水，有點像個日晷，上頭刻著它的晷針與波狀的時刻線。在那「亞哈斯的日晷」上，影子往往倒退。鰭背鯨不合群。牠似乎是個「恨鯨者」，正如有些人是「恨人者」。極其膽怯；總獨來獨往；在最偏遠、最陰沉的水域出人意表地浮出；牠那筆直、孤單而高聳的噴水，像貧瘠平原上一桿厭世的長矛；游泳時稟有如此驚人的力量與速度，令當今人類的一切追捕都望塵莫及；這巨獸彷彿是其族中被放逐、不可征服的該隱，背上馱著那記號（晷針般的鰭）為他的印記。由於口中有鯨鬚，鰭背鯨有時被歸入露脊鯨一類、納入一個理論上叫作「鯨鬚鯨」即「有鯨鬚的鯨」的種屬。這些所謂鯨鬚鯨似乎有好幾個變種，但大多鮮為人知。寬吻鯨、喙鯨、矛頭鯨、隆起鯨、下顎突鯨、有喙鯨，是漁人給其中幾類起的名字。）

In connection with this appellative of “Whalebone whales,” it is of great importance to mention, that however such a nomenclature may be convenient in facilitating allusions to some kind of whales, yet it is in vain to attempt a clear classification of the Leviathan, founded upon either his baleen, or hump, or fin, or teeth; notwithstanding that those marked parts or features very obviously seem better adapted to afford the basis for a regular system of Cetology than any other detached bodily distinctions, which the whale, in his kinds, presents.

關於「鯨鬚鯨」這個稱呼，有一點極為重要要提：這樣一套命名法，儘管在方便指稱某類鯨時或許管用，可若想以鯨鬚、或駝峰、或鰭、或牙齒為基礎，去對巨獸作清楚的分類，終歸是徒勞——儘管那些顯著的部位或特徵，看上去顯然比鯨在其各類中所呈現的任何其他零散身體區別，更適合給一套規律的鯨類學系統當基礎。（怎麼說呢？鯨鬚、駝峰、背鰭與牙齒——這些東西的特性，不分青紅皂白地散布在各種鯨身上，全然不顧牠們在其他更本質的構造上是何性質。於是，抹香鯨與駝背鯨各有一個駝峰，但相似僅止於此。再者，同一頭駝背鯨與格陵蘭鯨各有鯨鬚，可相似又僅止於此。上面提到的其他部位也一樣。在各種鯨身上，它們形成這般不規則的組合；或就其中任一者單獨而論，又呈這般不規則的孤立；以至於徹底挫敗了任何建立在此基礎上的通則化。每一位鯨類博物學家，都在這塊礁石上觸礁了。）

But it may possibly be conceived that, in the internal parts of the whale, in his anatomy—there, at least, we shall be able to hit the right classification. Nay; what thing, for example, is there in the Greenland whale’s anatomy more striking than his baleen? Yet we have seen that by his baleen it is impossible correctly to classify the Greenland whale. And if you descend into the bowels of the various leviathans, why there you will not find distinctions a fiftieth part as available to the systematizer as those external ones already enumerated. What then remains? nothing but to take hold of the whales bodily, in their entire liberal volume, and boldly sort them that way. And this is the Bibliographical system here adopted; and it is the only one that can possibly succeed, for it alone is practicable. To proceed.

但也許有人會設想：在鯨的內部、在牠的解剖構造裡——至少在那兒，我們總能找到正確的分類吧。不；舉例說，格陵蘭鯨的解剖裡，還有什麼比牠的鯨鬚更醒目的？可我們已經看到，憑鯨鬚根本無法正確地給格陵蘭鯨分類。而你若潛入各種巨獸的內臟，嘿，在那兒你找到的區別，連已列舉的那些外部特徵的五十分之一都不及對分類者有用。那還剩什麼辦法？無非是整個地、按其完整而開闊的「體積」抓住鯨，大膽地就那麼分類。這正是此處所採用的「書目（開本）系統」；也是唯一可能成功的辦法，因為唯有它行得通。繼續。

BOOK I. (Folio) CHAPTER IV. (Hump Back).—This whale is often seen on the northern American coast. He has been frequently captured there, and towed into harbor. He has a great pack on him like a peddler; or you might call him the Elephant and Castle whale. At any rate, the popular name for him does not sufficiently distinguish him, since the sperm whale also has a hump though a smaller one. His oil is not very valuable. He has baleen. He is the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more gay foam and white water generally than any other of them.

第一冊（對開本），第四章（駝背鯨）。 ——這鯨常見於北美海岸，常在那兒被捕獲、拖進港。牠身上馱著一個大包袱，像個小販；你也可以管牠叫「象與城堡鯨」。總之，牠這通俗名稱不足以把牠區別開來，因為抹香鯨也有個駝峰，只是小些。牠的油不太值錢。牠有鯨鬚。牠是一切鯨中最愛嬉鬧、最無憂無慮的，激起的歡快泡沫與白浪，一般都比其他任何鯨都多。

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER V. (Razor Back).—Of this whale little is known but his name. I have seen him at a distance off Cape Horn. Of a retiring nature, he eludes both hunters and philosophers. Though no coward, he has never yet shown any part of him but his back, which rises in a long sharp ridge. Let him go. I know little more of him, nor does anybody else.

第一冊（對開本），第五章（剃刀背鯨）。 ——關於這鯨，除了名字幾乎一無所知。我曾在合恩角外遠遠見過牠。牠性情孤僻，躲開了獵人，也躲開了哲學家。牠雖不膽怯，卻至今只露出過背——背隆起成一道又長又利的脊。隨牠去吧。我對牠所知不多，旁人也一樣。

BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER VI. (Sulphur Bottom).—Another retiring gentleman, with a brimstone belly, doubtless got by scraping along the Tartarian tiles in some of his profounder divings. He is seldom seen; at least I have never seen him except in the remoter southern seas, and then always at too great a distance to study his countenance. He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him. Adieu, Sulphur Bottom! I can say nothing more that is true of ye, nor can the oldest Nantucketer.

第一冊（對開本），第六章（硫磺底鯨）。 ——又一位孤僻的紳士，頂著個硫磺色的肚皮——無疑是在某些更深的下潛中、沿著地獄的瓦面刮蹭來的。牠難得一見；至少除了在更偏遠的南方海域，我從沒見過牠，而那時又總離得太遠、看不清牠的面容。牠從不被追獵；牠一跑就能扯走幾條索道那麼長的繩子。關於牠的奇談異聞不少。再會了，硫磺底鯨！關於你，我再也說不出別的真話，最老的南塔克特人也說不出。

Thus ends BOOK I. (Folio), and now begins BOOK II. (Octavo).

第一冊（對開本）到此結束，現在開始第二冊（八開本）。

OCTAVOES.*—These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among which present may be numbered:—I., the Grampus; II., the Black Fish; III., the Narwhale; IV., the Thrasher; V., the Killer.

八開本（OCTAVOES）。＊ ——這些涵蓋中等大小的鯨，眼下可列入的有：一、逆戟鯨；二、黑鯨；三、獨角鯨；四、鞭笞鯨；五、殺手鯨。

*Why this book of whales is not denominated the Quarto is very plain. Because, while the whales of this order, though smaller than those of the former order, nevertheless retain a proportionate likeness to them in figure, yet the bookbinder’s Quarto volume in its dimensioned form does not preserve the shape of the Folio volume, but the Octavo volume does.

＊這冊鯨為何不叫「四開本」，道理很明白。因為這一目的鯨雖比前一目小，外形上卻仍與前者保持著成比例的相似；而裝訂工的四開本在其尺寸形制上並不保留對開本的形狀，八開本卻保留。

BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER I. (Grampus).—Though this fish, whose loud sonorous breathing, or rather blowing, has furnished a proverb to landsmen, is so well known a denizen of the deep, yet is he not popularly classed among whales. But possessing all the grand distinctive features of the leviathan, most naturalists have recognised him for one. He is of moderate octavo size, varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and of corresponding dimensions round the waist. He swims in herds; he is never regularly hunted, though his oil is considerable in quantity, and pretty good for light. By some fishermen his approach is regarded as premonitory of the advance of the great sperm whale.

第二冊（八開本），第一章（逆戟鯨）。 ——這種魚那響亮洪亮的呼吸、或者說噴氣，給陸地人留下了一句諺語（「像逆戟鯨一樣喘」）；牠雖是深海眾所周知的居民，卻不被通俗地歸入鯨類。但牠具備巨獸一切宏大的鮮明特徵，多數博物學家已認牠為鯨。牠是中等的八開本身材，體長十五到二十五呎不等，腰圍也相應。牠成群而游；雖然油量可觀、照明效果也不錯，卻從不被規律地獵捕。有些漁人把牠的出現，看作偉大抹香鯨將至的前兆。

BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER II. (Black Fish).—I give the popular fishermen’s names for all these fish, for generally they are the best. Where any name happens to be vague or inexpressive, I shall say so, and suggest another. I do so now, touching the Black Fish, so-called, because blackness is the rule among almost all whales. So, call him the Hyena Whale, if you please. His voracity is well known, and from the circumstance that the inner angles of his lips are curved upwards, he carries an everlasting Mephistophelean grin on his face.

第二冊（八開本），第二章（黑鯨）。 ——這些魚我都用漁人的通俗名稱，因為那些名字一般最貼切。哪個名字碰巧含糊或詞不達意，我會指出來、另提一個。眼下談這所謂「黑鯨」我便如此——因為「黑」幾乎是一切鯨的通則（這名字不夠分別）。所以，你樂意的話，就叫牠「鬣狗鯨」吧。牠的貪婪是出了名的；由於牠嘴角的內側向上彎，臉上便永遠掛著一抹梅菲斯特（魔鬼）式的獰笑。（這鯨平均約十六到十八呎長，幾乎各緯度都有。游泳時牠有種特別的方式展露牠那鉤狀的背鰭，看著有點像個羅馬鼻。抹香鯨獵人在沒有更划算的活兒可幹時，有時會捕這鬣狗鯨，以維持家用廉價油的供應——就像有些省儉的主婦，在沒客人、獨自一人時，燒難聞的牛脂而不點芬芳的蠟。雖然牠們的鯨脂很薄，這些鯨有些卻能讓你榨出三十多加侖油。）

BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER III. (Narwhale), that is, Nostril whale.—Another instance of a curiously named whale, so named I suppose from his peculiar horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. The creature is some sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five feet, though some exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. Strictly speaking, this horn is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw in a line a little depressed from the horizontal. But it is only found on the sinister side, which has an ill effect, giving its owner something analogous to the aspect of a clumsy left-handed man.

第二冊（八開本），第三章（獨角鯨），即「鼻孔鯨」。——又一個取名古怪的鯨之例，我猜這名字是因牠那根奇特的角當初被誤認作尖鼻而來。這生物約十六呎長，牠的角平均五呎，有些超過十呎、甚至長達十五呎。嚴格說，這角不過是一根伸長的牙，從顎部長出、走向比水平略低。但它只長在左側，這效果不佳，使其主人有點像個笨拙的左撇子。（這象牙角或矛究竟派什麼確切用場，很難說。它似乎不像劍魚、槍魚的「劍」那樣使用；雖有些水手告訴我獨角鯨拿它當耙、翻攪海底覓食。查理·科芬說那是當破冰器用的：獨角鯨浮到極地海面、發現結了冰，便把角往上一頂、破冰而出。但這兩種猜測你都無法證明屬實。我自己的看法是：不管獨角鯨究竟怎麼用這根單側的角——不管怎樣——拿來當讀小冊子時的「裁紙刀／摺頁刀」，對牠倒一定很方便。獨角鯨我聽人叫過「長牙鯨」「有角鯨」「獨角獸鯨」。牠確是「萬物界幾乎每個王國都找得到的獨角現象」的一個奇例。從某些隱居的古作者那兒，我得知這海中獨角獸的角在古時被視為解毒的聖物，其製劑賣得天價；也被蒸餾成嗅鹽，供昏厥的貴婦提神，正如雄鹿的角被製成「鹿角精」。它原本本身就被當作極稀奇之物。「黑體字書」告訴我：馬丁·弗羅比舍爵士那趟航行歸來、當他那大膽的船駛下泰晤士河、伊麗莎白女王從格林威治宮的窗口英姿勃勃地朝他揮動戴珠的手時——「弗羅比舍爵士那趟歸來，」黑體字書說，「曾屈膝向女王陛下獻上一根碩長的獨角鯨角，此後它在溫莎堡裡懸掛了很長一段時間。」一位愛爾蘭作者則斷言，萊斯特伯爵也曾屈膝向女王陛下獻上另一根角，屬於一種獨角獸性質的陸獸。）

The Narwhale has a very picturesque, leopard-like look, being of a milk-white ground colour, dotted with round and oblong spots of black. His oil is very superior, clear and fine; but there is little of it, and he is seldom hunted. He is mostly found in the circumpolar seas.

獨角鯨有一副極如畫、豹子般的模樣，底色乳白，點綴著黑色的圓斑與長斑。牠的油極上等，清澈精純；但量很少，牠也罕被獵捕。牠多見於環極海域。

BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).—Of this whale little is precisely known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage—a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip, and hangs there like a leech, till the mighty brute is worried to death. The Killer is never hunted. I never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name bestowed upon this whale, on the ground of its indistinctness. For we are all killers, on land and on sea; Bonapartes and Sharks included.

第二冊（八開本），第四章（殺手鯨）。 ——關於這鯨，南塔克特人確知甚少，職業博物學家則一無所知。就我遠遠見過的而論，我會說牠約莫逆戟鯨那麼大。牠極兇猛——是種「斐濟魚（食人魚）」。牠有時咬住大「對開本」鯨的唇，像水蛭般吊在那兒，直到那龐然巨獸被折磨至死。殺手鯨從不被獵捕。我也從沒聽說牠有什麼樣的油。給這鯨起的這名字，或許會被人挑剔，理由是它不夠分別——因為陸上海上，我們全是「殺手」，拿破崙和鯊魚也算在內。

BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER V. (Thrasher).—This gentleman is famous for his tail, which he uses for a ferule in thrashing his foes. He mounts the Folio whale’s back, and as he swims, he works his passage by flogging him; as some schoolmasters get along in the world by a similar process. Still less is known of the Thrasher than of the Killer. Both are outlaws, even in the lawless seas.

第二冊（八開本），第五章（鞭笞鯨）。 ——這位先生以牠的尾巴聞名，牠拿尾巴當戒尺來鞭笞敵人。牠騎上「對開本」大鯨的背，邊游邊靠抽打牠來「謀生開路」——正如某些校長也靠類似手段在世上混。關於鞭笞鯨，人們所知比殺手鯨還少。兩者都是亡命之徒，即便在這無法無天的海上也是。

Thus ends BOOK II. (Octavo), and begins BOOK III. (Duodecimo).

第二冊（八開本）到此結束，開始第三冊（十二開本）。

DUODECIMOES.—These include the smaller whales. I. The Huzza Porpoise. II. The Algerine Porpoise. III. The Mealy-mouthed Porpoise.

十二開本（DUODECIMOES）。 ——這些包括較小的鯨。一、歡呼鼠海豚；二、阿爾及爾鼠海豚；三、粉嘴鼠海豚。

To those who have not chanced specially to study the subject, it may possibly seem strange, that fishes not commonly exceeding four or five feet should be marshalled among WHALES—a word, which, in the popular sense, always conveys an idea of hugeness. But the creatures set down above as Duodecimoes are infallibly whales, by the terms of my definition of what a whale is—i.e. a spouting fish, with a horizontal tail.

對那些不曾特地研究過這題目的人，把通常不超過四五呎的魚編進「鯨」——一個在通俗意義上總帶著「龐大」之意的詞——也許顯得古怪。但按我「何謂鯨」的定義（即：會噴水、長水平尾鰭的魚），上面列為十二開本的這些生物，確確實實是鯨。

BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER 1. (Huzza Porpoise).—This is the common porpoise found almost all over the globe. The name is of my own bestowal; for there are more than one sort of porpoises, and something must be done to distinguish them. I call him thus, because he always swims in hilarious shoals, which upon the broad sea keep tossing themselves to heaven like caps in a Fourth-of-July crowd.

第三冊（十二開本），第一章（歡呼鼠海豚）。 ——這是幾乎遍布全球的普通鼠海豚。這名字是我自己起的；因為鼠海豚不止一種，總得想法子把牠們分開。我這麼叫牠，是因為牠總成群歡騰地游，在遼闊的海上不停把自己拋向天空，像國慶（七月四日）人群裡拋飛的帽子。（牠們的出現，水手一般都歡欣相迎。牠們生氣勃勃，一律從上風那邊乘著清風的浪頭而來。牠們是永遠「迎著風活」的小子。牠們被視為吉兆。你若見了這群活潑的魚還忍得住不歡呼三聲，那願老天幫你——你身上沒有那股「敬神的嬉鬧之靈」。一頭餵得肥嘟嘟的歡呼鼠海豚能讓你榨出整整一加侖好油。但從牠顎部提取的那種精細纖巧的液體極其珍貴，珠寶匠和鐘錶匠都搶著要，水手也拿它上磨刀石。鼠海豚肉好吃，你知道的。你也許從沒想過鼠海豚也噴水——的確，牠的噴水小到不太容易看出。但下次有機會，瞧瞧牠；你就會看見一頭縮小版的偉大抹香鯨本尊。）

BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER II. (Algerine Porpoise).—A pirate. Very savage. He is only found, I think, in the Pacific. He is somewhat larger than the Huzza Porpoise, but much of the same general make. Provoke him, and he will buckle to a shark. I have lowered for him many times, but never yet saw him captured.

第三冊（十二開本），第二章（阿爾及爾鼠海豚）。 ——一個海盜。極兇猛。我想牠只見於太平洋。牠比歡呼鼠海豚略大，但大體構造相仿。惹惱牠，牠連鯊魚都敢扭打。我曾多次為牠放艇，卻從沒見牠被捕住過。

BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER III. (Mealy-mouthed Porpoise).—The largest kind of Porpoise; and only found in the Pacific, so far as it is known. The only English name, by which he has hitherto been designated, is that of the fishers—Right-Whale Porpoise, from the circumstance that he is chiefly found in the vicinity of that Folio.

第三冊（十二開本），第三章（粉嘴鼠海豚）。 ——最大的一種鼠海豚；就已知而言，只見於太平洋。迄今指稱牠的唯一英文名，是漁人起的「露脊鯨鼠海豚」——因為牠主要見於那「對開本（露脊鯨）」附近。（在外形上，牠與歡呼鼠海豚略有不同，腰身沒那麼圓滾滾、樂呵呵；倒是體態相當俐落、有紳士派頭。牠背上沒有鰭（多數別的鼠海豚都有），有一條可愛的尾巴，和一雙榛色、傷感的「印第安眼」。可那張「粉嘴」毀了一切。雖然牠整個背一路到側鰭都是深貂黑，卻有一道界線——像船身上那條叫「亮腰線」的標記一樣分明——把牠從頭到尾分成上黑下白兩色。白的那部分包含牠半個頭和整張嘴，使牠看起來像剛偷溜進麵粉袋幹了壞事逃出來。一副最猥瑣、最「滿嘴粉」的相！牠的油很像普通鼠海豚的。）

Beyond the DUODECIMO, this system does not proceed, inasmuch as the Porpoise is the smallest of the whales. Above, you have all the Leviathans of note. But there are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive, half-fabulous whales, which, as an American whaleman, I know by reputation, but not personally. I shall enumerate them by their fore-castle appellations; for possibly such a list may be valuable to future investigators, who may complete what I have here but begun.

這套系統不再往十二開本以下延伸，因為鼠海豚是最小的鯨。以上，便是一切值得一提的巨獸了。但還有一幫來歷不明、行蹤飄忽、半屬傳說的鯨，身為一個美國捕鯨人，我只聞其名、未親見其身。我會用牠們在船頭水手艙裡的叫法把牠們列舉出來；因為這樣一份名單，或許對未來的研究者有價值——他們也許能把我在此僅僅開了個頭的事完成。（以下這些鯨若日後被捕到、標定了，便可按其對開、八開或十二開的大小，順理成章地納入這套系統：瓶鼻鯨；廢料鯨；布丁頭鯨；海角鯨；領航鯨；加農砲鯨；瘦鯨；包銅鯨；象鯨；冰山鯨；Quog 鯨；藍鯨；等等。從冰島、荷蘭與古英語的權威那兒，還能引出別的不明鯨名單，個個都頂著各式各樣稀奇古怪的名字。但我把它們略去，當作全然過時之物；而且幾乎忍不住懷疑它們不過是些空響的聲音，滿溢著「巨獸感」，卻什麼也沒指。）

Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my word. But I now leave my cetological System standing thus unfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!

最後：開頭已說過，這套系統不會在此、立刻就臻於完美。你不能不清楚看到，我說到做到了。但我此刻就讓我這鯨類學系統這麼未完工地立著，正如那偉大的科隆大教堂被擱下時，吊車還立在那未竣的塔頂上。因為渺小的建物，可由其初創的建築師完成；偉大的、真實的建物，則永遠把那塊封頂石留給後人。願神保佑我永不完成任何東西。這整本書不過是一份草稿——不，不過是草稿的草稿。噢，時間、力氣、現金與耐心啊！