桅頂瞭望

It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation with the other seamen my first mast-head came round.

是在那較宜人的天氣裡，依著與其他水手的正常輪值，我頭一回的桅頂瞭望輪到了。

In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned almost simultaneously with the vessel’s leaving her port; even though she may have fifteen thousand miles, and more, to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground. And if, after a three, four, or five years’ voyage she is drawing nigh home with anything empty in her—say, an empty vial even—then, her mast-heads are kept manned to the last; and not till her skysail-poles sail in among the spires of the port, does she altogether relinquish the hope of capturing one whale more.

在多數美國捕鯨船上，桅頂幾乎一離港就有人值守了——哪怕到牠正規的漁場還有一萬五千哩、甚至更遠要航。而若跑完三、四、五年的航程、快到家時船上還空著什麼——哪怕只空著一只小藥瓶——那麼，桅頂仍會一直派人守到最後；直到她那最高的天帆桅駛進港口的尖塔之間，她才會徹底放棄「再多捕一頭鯨」的指望。

Now, as the business of standing mast-heads, ashore or afloat, is a very ancient and interesting one, let us in some measure expatiate here. I take it, that the earliest standers of mast-heads were the old Egyptians; because, in all my researches, I find none prior to them.

卻說，「站桅頂瞭望」這營生，無論在岸上還是海上，都是極古老、極有趣的，讓我們在此多少鋪陳一番。我認為，最早的桅頂瞭望者是古埃及人；因為遍查我所有的研究，我找不到比他們更早的。

For though their progenitors, the builders of Babel, must doubtless, by their tower, have intended to rear the loftiest mast-head in all Asia, or Africa either; yet (ere the final truck was put to it) as that great stone mast of theirs may be said to have gone by the board, in the dread gale of God’s wrath; therefore, we cannot give these Babel builders priority over the Egyptians.

因為，儘管他們的先祖——巴別塔的建造者——無疑想藉那座塔，立起全亞洲、乃至全非洲最高的「桅頂」；然而（在那最頂的桅冠裝上去之前）他們那根巨大的石桅，可說是在「神怒」那可怖的風暴中「斷落了（gone by the board）」；因此，我們不能把巴別塔的建造者排在埃及人之前。

And that the Egyptians were a nation of mast-head standers, is an assertion based upon the general belief among archæologists, that the first pyramids were founded for astronomical purposes: a theory singularly supported by the peculiar stair-like formation of all four sides of those edifices; whereby, with prodigious long upliftings of their legs, those old astronomers were wont to mount to the apex, and sing out for new stars; even as the look-outs of a modern ship sing out for a sail, or a whale just bearing in sight.

而說埃及人是一個「桅頂瞭望者的民族」，這斷言乃基於考古學家普遍的看法：最早的金字塔是為天文目的而建——這理論奇妙地由那些建築四面那種獨特的階梯狀構造所支持；憑著那階梯，那些古天文家慣於極費力地高抬腿、登上頂端、「喊出」新發現的星，正如現代船上的瞭望員喊出剛映入眼簾的帆影或鯨蹤。

In Saint Stylites, the famous Christian hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and spent the whole latter portion of his life on its summit, hoisting his food from the ground with a tackle; in him we have a remarkable instance of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet; but valiantly facing everything out to the last, literally died at his post.

在「柱頂者聖西默盎」身上——這位古時著名的基督教隱修者，在沙漠裡為自己立了一根高高的石柱、餘生都在柱頂度過、用滑車把食物從地面吊上去——我們有了一個無畏桅頂瞭望者的絕佳實例；霧、霜、雨、雹或雨雪都趕他不下崗位；他英勇地堅持面對一切到最後，真真切切地「死在了自己的崗位上」。

Of modern standers-of-mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still entirely incompetent to the business of singing out upon discovering any strange sight.

至於現代的桅頂瞭望者，我們有的不過是沒生命的一群；只是石頭、鐵、青銅做的人；他們雖完全頂得住一場勁烈的狂風，卻徹底不能勝任「發現異象就喊出來」這差事。

There is Napoleon; who, upon the top of the column of Vendome, stands with arms folded, some one hundred and fifty feet in the air; careless, now, who rules the decks below; whether Louis Philippe, Louis Blanc, or Louis the Devil.

那兒有拿破崙；他在旺多姆圓柱頂上、約一百五十呎的高空中抱臂而立；如今全不在乎底下那「甲板」由誰主宰——是路易·菲利普、路易·勃朗，還是「魔鬼路易」。

Great Washington, too, stands high aloft on his towering main-mast in Baltimore, and like one of Hercules’ pillars, his column marks that point of human grandeur beyond which few mortals will go.

偉大的華盛頓也一樣，高高立在巴爾的摩那聳入雲霄的「主桅」上；像赫拉克勒斯的擎天柱之一，他那圓柱標記著人類宏偉的那個界點——少有凡人能逾越。

Admiral Nelson, also, on a capstan of gun-metal, stands his mast-head in Trafalgar Square; and ever when most obscured by that London smoke, token is yet given that a hidden hero is there; for where there is smoke, must be fire. But neither great Washington, nor Napoleon, nor Nelson, will answer a single hail from below, however madly invoked to befriend by their counsels the distracted decks upon which they gaze; however it may be surmised, that their spirits penetrate through the thick haze of the future, and descry what shoals and what rocks must be shunned.

納爾遜將軍也一樣，立在特拉法加廣場一座炮金鑄的「絞盤」上、站著他的桅頂；每當被那倫敦的煙霧遮得最濃時，仍有跡象顯示那兒藏著一位英雄——因為有煙處必有火。但無論底下如何瘋狂地呼喚、求他們以良策來援助他們所俯瞰的那些慌亂的「甲板」，偉大的華盛頓、拿破崙、納爾遜，都不會應一聲；儘管人們或許會揣想：他們的精靈穿透了未來那濃厚的煙靄、看清了哪些淺灘、哪些暗礁必須避開。

It may seem unwarrantable to couple in any respect the mast-head standers of the land with those of the sea; but that in truth it is not so, is plainly evinced by an item for which Obed Macy, the sole historian of Nantucket, stands accountable. The worthy Obed tells us, that in the early times of the whale fishery, ere ships were regularly launched in pursuit of the game, the people of that island erected lofty spars along the sea-coast, to which the look-outs ascended by means of nailed cleats, something as fowls go upstairs in a hen-house.

把陸上的桅頂瞭望者與海上的相提並論，看似毫無道理；但事實並非如此——這由南塔克特唯一的史家奧貝德·梅西所記載的一則事項，可清楚佐證。可敬的奧貝德告訴我們：捕鯨業的早期、在船隻尚未規律出海追獵之前，那島上的人沿著海岸立起高高的圓桅，瞭望員藉著釘上去的踏腳板攀上去——有點像雞在雞舍裡上樓那樣。

A few years ago this same plan was adopted by the Bay whalemen of New Zealand, who, upon descrying the game, gave notice to the ready-manned boats nigh the beach. But this custom has now become obsolete; turn we then to the one proper mast-head, that of a whale-ship at sea. The three mast-heads are kept manned from sun-rise to sun-set; the seamen taking their regular turns (as at the helm), and relieving each other every two hours.

幾年前，紐西蘭的海灣捕鯨人也採用了同樣的辦法：一望見獵物，便通知海灘邊早已備好人手的小艇。但這風俗如今已過時；那我們就轉向那正規的桅頂——海上一艘捕鯨船的桅頂。三個桅頂從日出到日落都派人值守；水手們按正常班次（如掌舵那樣）輪流，每兩小時換班一次。

In the serene weather of the tropics it is exceedingly pleasant the mast-head; nay, to a dreamy meditative man it is delightful. There you stand, a hundred feet above the silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the hugest monsters of the sea, even as ships once sailed between the boots of the famous Colossus at old Rhodes.

在熱帶那寧靜的天氣裡，桅頂上極其愜意；不，對一個愛做夢、好冥想的人，那簡直是樂事。你就站在那兒，在沉默的甲板上方百呎，彷彿桅杆是巨人的高蹺、而你正踩著它跨行於深海之上；在你腳下、彷彿就在你兩腿之間，游著海中最龐大的怪獸——一如昔日船隻曾從古羅得島那座著名「巨像」的靴子之間航過。

There you stand, lost in the infinite series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves. The tranced ship indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you into languor. For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have for dinner—for all your meals for three years and more are snugly stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable.

你站在那兒，迷失在大海那無窮的連綿裡，除了波浪，沒什麼被攪動。出神的船慵懶地搖晃；昏昏欲睡的信風吹著；一切都把你化解成一片倦怠。在這熱帶捕鯨生活裡，大半時候，一種崇高的「無事發生」籠罩著你；你聽不到新聞；讀不到報紙；那些以驚人筆調報導平凡瑣事的號外，永遠不會誘你陷入不必要的激動；你聽不到家中的變故、破產的證券、股票的暴跌；你也從不為「晚飯吃什麼」操心——因為你這三年多的所有飯食，都妥妥地封存在桶裡，你的菜單是「不可更改的」。

In one of those southern whalesmen, on a long three or four years’ voyage, as often happens, the sum of the various hours you spend at the mast-head would amount to several entire months. And it is much to be deplored that the place to which you devote so considerable a portion of the whole term of your natural life, should be so sadly destitute of anything approaching to a cosy inhabitiveness, or adapted to breed a comfortable localness of feeling, such as pertains to a bed, a hammock, a hearse, a sentry box, a pulpit, a coach, or any other of those small and snug contrivances in which men temporarily isolate themselves.

在那些南方捕鯨船上，跑一趟三、四年的長航——這是常有的事——你在桅頂上度過的各段時間加起來，足有好幾個整月。而很可悲的是：這個你獻出了一生中如此可觀一段時光的地方，竟悲哀地全無一點近乎「舒適可居」的東西，也不適合培養那種「安適的歸屬感」——那種屬於一張床、一張吊床、一輛靈車、一個崗亭、一座講壇、一輛馬車、或任何其他那些「人們藉以暫時把自己孤立起來」的、小巧而舒適的構造的歸屬感。

Your most usual point of perch is the head of the t’ gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t’ gallant cross-trees. Here, tossed about by the sea, the beginner feels about as cosy as he would standing on a bull’s horns.

你最常棲身的地方，是上桅（t'gallant-mast）的頂端，你站在兩根細細的、平行的木條上（這幾乎是捕鯨人獨有的），叫作「上桅橫木（t'gallant cross-trees）」。在這兒，被海浪拋來顛去，初學者所感到的「愜意」，差不多就跟站在一頭公牛的角上一樣。

To be sure, in cold weather you may carry your house aloft with you, in the shape of a watch-coat; but properly speaking the thickest watch-coat is no more of a house than the unclad body; for as the soul is glued inside of its fleshy tabernacle, and cannot freely move about in it, nor even move out of it, without running great risk of perishing (like an ignorant pilgrim crossing the snowy Alps in winter); so a watch-coat is not so much of a house as it is a mere envelope, or additional skin encasing you. You cannot put a shelf or chest of drawers in your body, and no more can you make a convenient closet of your watch-coat.

誠然，天冷時你可以把你的「房子」帶上桅頂——以一件值班大衣的形式；但嚴格說，最厚的值班大衣，也不比赤裸的身體更算得上一間「房子」；因為，正如靈魂被膠著在它那肉體的「帳幕」裡，無法在其中自由走動、甚至無法走出來而不冒著喪命的大險（就像一個無知的朝聖者在冬天橫越積雪的阿爾卑斯山）；所以一件值班大衣，與其說是房子，不如說只是一層包膜、一層裹著你的「附加皮膚」。你沒法在你身體裡裝個架子或抽屜櫃，同樣，你也沒法把你的值班大衣弄成一個方便的儲物間。

Concerning all this, it is much to be deplored that the mast-heads of a southern whale ship are unprovided with those enviable little tents or pulpits, called crow’s-nests, in which the look-outs of a Greenland whaler are protected from the inclement weather of the frozen seas.

關於這一切，很可悲的是：南方捕鯨船的桅頂，並沒有配備那種令人羨慕的小帳篷或「講壇」——叫作「鴉巢（crow's-nests）」的東西，格陵蘭捕鯨船的瞭望員，正是靠它來抵禦那冰封海域惡劣的天氣。

In the fireside narrative of Captain Sleet, entitled “A Voyage among the Icebergs, in quest of the Greenland Whale, and incidentally for the re-discovery of the Lost Icelandic Colonies of Old Greenland;” in this admirable volume, all standers of mast-heads are furnished with a charmingly circumstantial account of the then recently invented crow’s-nest of the Glacier, which was the name of Captain Sleet’s good craft.

在斯里特船長那部爐邊閒談式的記敘裡——書名叫《冰山航行記：尋覓格陵蘭鯨，並順帶重新發現古格陵蘭失落的冰島殖民地》——在這部令人欽佩的書裡，所有桅頂瞭望者都能讀到一段對「冰川號（Glacier，斯里特船長那艘好船的名字）」上那時新近發明的鴉巢，極其細緻迷人的描述。

He called it the Sleet’s crow’s-nest, in honor of himself; he being the original inventor and patentee, and free from all ridiculous false delicacy, and holding that if we call our own children after our own names (we fathers being the original inventors and patentees), so likewise should we denominate after ourselves any other apparatus we may beget.

他管它叫「斯里特的鴉巢」，以彰顯他自己；他既是這玩意兒的原創發明者兼專利人，又毫無那種可笑的虛假謙遜，並主張：既然我們用自己的名字給自己的孩子命名（我們做父親的乃是其原創發明者兼專利人），那我們同樣也該用自己的名字，去命名我們所「生」出的任何別的器械。

In shape, the Sleet’s crow’s-nest is something like a large tierce or pipe; it is open above, however, where it is furnished with a movable side-screen to keep to windward of your head in a hard gale. Being fixed on the summit of the mast, you ascend into it through a little trap-hatch in the bottom. On the after side, or side next the stern of the ship, is a comfortable seat, with a locker underneath for umbrellas, comforters, and coats. In front is a leather rack, in which to keep your speaking trumpet, pipe, telescope, and other nautical conveniences.

論形狀，斯里特的鴉巢有點像個大酒桶或大酒管；不過上面是開口的，那兒裝著一塊可移動的側屏，好在勁風中替你的頭擋住上風。它固定在桅頂，你從底部一個小活動艙口爬進去。在朝後、即靠船尾的那一側，有個舒適的座位，座下有個櫃子放傘、保暖圍巾和外套。前面是個皮革架，用來擱你的傳聲筒、菸斗、望遠鏡和其他航海用具。

When Captain Sleet in person stood his mast-head in this crow’s-nest of his, he tells us that he always had a rifle with him (also fixed in the rack), together with a powder flask and shot, for the purpose of popping off the stray narwhales, or vagrant sea unicorns infesting those waters; for you cannot successfully shoot at them from the deck owing to the resistance of the water, but to shoot down upon them is a very different thing.

當斯里特船長親自在他這鴉巢裡站桅頂時，他告訴我們：他總帶著一桿步槍（也固定在架上），連同一個火藥瓶和彈丸，用來「砰砰」打掉那些出沒於那片水域的零星獨角鯨、或四處遊蕩的「海中獨角獸」；因為從甲板上、由於水的阻力你無法成功射中牠們，但居高臨下往下射，可就完全是另一回事了。

Now, it was plainly a labor of love for Captain Sleet to describe, as he does, all the little detailed conveniences of his crow’s-nest; but though he so enlarges upon many of these, and though he treats us to a very scientific account of his experiments in this crow’s-nest, with a small compass he kept there for the purpose of counteracting the errors resulting from what is called the “local attraction” of all binnacle magnets; an error ascribable to the horizontal vicinity of the iron in the ship’s planks, and in the Glacier’s case, perhaps, to there having been so many broken-down blacksmiths among her crew; I say, that though the Captain is very discreet and scientific here, yet, for all his learned “binnacle deviations,” “azimuth compass observations,” and “approximate errors,” he knows very well, Captain Sleet, that he was not so much immersed in those profound magnetic meditations, as to fail being attracted occasionally towards that well replenished little case-bottle, so nicely tucked in on one side of his crow’s nest, within easy reach of his hand.

如今，斯里特船長如此描述他鴉巢裡一切細微的便利設施，分明是出於一片「愛的勞作」；可儘管他對其中許多大加鋪陳、儘管他還向我們呈上一段極富科學味的記述——講他在這鴉巢裡用一個小羅盤所做的實驗，那羅盤是為了抵消所謂一切羅經櫃磁石「局部吸引」所致的誤差（這誤差可歸因於船板裡的鐵在水平方向的鄰近，而就冰川號而言，或許還可歸因於她船員中有那麼多潦倒的鐵匠）；我是說，儘管船長在此非常審慎而科學，可任憑他那些博學的「羅經偏差」「方位羅盤觀測」「近似誤差」，斯里特船長心裡很清楚：他並沒有沉浸在那些深奧的磁學冥想裡到如此地步，以至於不會時不時被吸引向那只裝得滿滿、妥妥塞在鴉巢一側、伸手可及的小扁酒瓶。

Though, upon the whole, I greatly admire and even love the brave, the honest, and learned Captain; yet I take it very ill of him that he should so utterly ignore that case-bottle, seeing what a faithful friend and comforter it must have been, while with mittened fingers and hooded head he was studying the mathematics aloft there in that bird’s nest within three or four perches of the pole.

不過，總的來說，我極欽佩、甚至喜愛這位勇敢、誠實又博學的船長；可我很不滿他竟如此徹底地隻字不提那只扁酒瓶——想想看，當他戴著連指手套的手指、罩著兜帽的頭，在那離（北）極不過三四桿之遙的「鳥巢」裡高高地研究數學時，那酒瓶必定是個何等忠實的朋友與慰藉啊。

But if we Southern whale-fishers are not so snugly housed aloft as Captain Sleet and his Greenlandmen were; yet that disadvantage is greatly counter-balanced by the widely contrasting serenity of those seductive seas in which we South fishers mostly float. For one, I used to lounge up the rigging very leisurely, resting in the top to have a chat with Queequeg, or any one else off duty whom I might find there; then ascending a little way further, and throwing a lazy leg over the top-sail yard, take a preliminary view of the watery pastures, and so at last mount to my ultimate destination.

但我們南方的捕鯨人縱然不像斯里特船長和他的格陵蘭人那樣在高處住得舒適；這劣勢卻被我們南方漁人大多漂行其上的那些誘人海域那截然不同的寧靜，大大地補償了。就我而言，我慣常很悠閒地沿索具懶懶地往上爬，在桅樓上歇腳、跟魁魁格、或我在那兒碰到的任何別的下了班的人閒聊；然後再往上爬一小段，把一條懶腿搭在上帆桁上，先把這片「水上的牧場」打量一番，最後才登上我那最終的目的地。

Let me make a clean breast of it here, and frankly admit that I kept but sorry guard. With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I—being left completely to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude—how could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whale-ships’ standing orders, “Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time.”

讓我在這兒把話一吐為快，坦白承認：我這崗守得實在差勁。「宇宙的難題」在我心中翻騰著，我又怎能——在這麼一個「催生思緒的高度」上完全被丟給我自己——我又怎能不輕忽我那遵守一切捕鯨船常規的義務：「睜大你那警惕的眼，每次（見到鯨）都喊出來。」

And let me in this place movingly admonish you, ye ship-owners of Nantucket! Beware of enlisting in your vigilant fisheries any lad with lean brow and hollow eye; given to unseasonable meditativeness; and who offers to ship with the Phædon instead of Bowditch in his head. Beware of such an one, I say; your whales must be seen before they can be killed; and this sunken-eyed young Platonist will tow you ten wakes round the world, and never make you one pint of sperm the richer.

讓我在此處動情地告誡你們，南塔克特的船東們！當心別在你們那需要警覺的捕鯨業裡，招募任何一個眉削眼凹、慣於不合時宜地冥想、提出受僱時腦袋裡裝的是《斐多篇》而非《鮑迪奇航海曆》的小伙子。我說，當心這樣一個人；你們的鯨必須先被看見、才能被殺掉；而這個眼窩深陷的年輕柏拉圖主義者，會拖著你繞地球十圈、卻一品脫鯨腦油也不會替你多賺。

Nor are these monitions at all unneeded. For nowadays, the whale-fishery furnishes an asylum for many romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men, disgusted with the carking cares of earth, and seeking sentiment in tar and blubber. Childe Harold not unfrequently perches himself upon the mast-head of some luckless disappointed whale-ship, and in moody phrase ejaculates:—

這些告誡絕非多餘。因為如今，捕鯨業成了許多浪漫、憂鬱、心不在焉的年輕人的「避難所」——他們厭倦了塵世那些惱人的操煩，跑來在柏油和鯨脂裡尋覓「情懷」。「恰爾德·哈洛德」之流常棲身在某艘倒楣、失意的捕鯨船桅頂上，用憂鬱的辭句迸出這樣的詩句：——

“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll! Ten thousand blubber-hunters sweep over thee in vain.”

「滾動吧，你深邃幽暗的蔚藍大洋，滾動吧！／千萬個獵脂者徒然地掃過你（卻奈何不了你）。」

Very often do the captains of such ships take those absent-minded young philosophers to task, upbraiding them with not feeling sufficient “interest” in the voyage; half-hinting that they are so hopelessly lost to all honorable ambition, as that in their secret souls they would rather not see whales than otherwise. But all in vain; those young Platonists have a notion that their vision is imperfect; they are short-sighted; what use, then, to strain the visual nerve? They have left their opera-glasses at home.

這類船的船長，常把那些心不在焉的年輕哲人叫去訓斥，責備他們對這趟航程缺乏足夠的「興致」；還半暗示說：他們對一切體面的抱負都無可救藥地麻木了，以至於在他們隱祕的靈魂深處，他們寧可「沒看見鯨」也不願看見。但全是白費；那些年輕的柏拉圖主義者有個念頭：他們的視力不完美；他們近視；那麼，又何必去硬撐那視神經呢？他們把「看戲的小望遠鏡」留在家裡了。

“Why, thou monkey,” said a harpooneer to one of these lads, “we’ve been cruising now hard upon three years, and thou hast not raised a whale yet. Whales are scarce as hen’s teeth whenever thou art up here.” Perhaps they were; or perhaps there might have been shoals of them in the far horizon; but lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it.

「喂，你這猴子，」一個標槍手對這類小伙子裡的一個說，「我們巡獵都快三年了，你卻連一頭鯨都還沒喊起過。每回你上去，鯨就稀罕得像母雞的牙（根本沒有）。」也許真是如此；又也許遠方地平線上本有成群的鯨；可這心不在焉的青年，被海浪與思緒交融的節奏催入了一種鴉片般的、空茫無覺的恍惚出神，以至於最後他喪失了自我；把腳下那神祕的海洋，當成了「那遍布人類與自然的、深邃、蔚藍、無底的靈魂」的可見形象；而每一個躲開他的、奇異、若隱若現、滑行而過的美麗之物；每一片隱約可辨、從某個無從分辨的形體上昇起的鰭，在他看來，都成了那些縹緲思緒的化身——那些思緒，唯有靠不斷地在靈魂中飛掠而過，才能「居住」於靈魂。

In this enchanted mood, thy spirit ebbs away to whence it came; becomes diffused through time and space; like Cranmer’s sprinkled Pantheistic ashes, forming at last a part of every shore the round globe over.

在這著了魔的心境裡，你的精神退潮般流回它所來之處；瀰漫於時間與空間之中；像克蘭默被撒入江河的、泛神論的骨灰，最終成了環繞整個地球的每一片岸的一部分。

There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists!

此刻，你身上並無生命，除了那由輕搖的船所賦予的、搖晃的生命；那生命，船借自大海；大海，又借自神那不可測的潮汐。但當這場睡眠、這場夢籠罩著你時，只要把你的腳或手移動一吋；只要稍一鬆手；你的「自我」便會在恐怖中歸來。你正懸浮在「笛卡兒的漩渦」之上。也許就在正午、在最晴朗的天氣裡，你會半窒著一聲尖叫，墜過那透明的空氣、落進夏日的海，永遠不再浮起。泛神論者啊，可得當心！