抹香鯨的頭——對比觀

Here, now, are two great whales, laying their heads together; let us join them, and lay together our own. ...where, I should like to know, will you obtain a better chance to study practical cetology than here?

現在，這兒有兩頭大鯨，把牠們的頭湊在一起；讓我們也加入、把我們自己的頭湊上去吧。在「對開本巨獸」這一大目中，抹香鯨與露脊鯨遠是最值得一提的。牠們是人類唯一定期捕獵的鯨，對南塔克特人而言，呈現了一切已知鯨種的兩個極端。既然牠們的外形差異主要在頭可見、既然此刻兩者各一顆頭正掛在裴廓德號船側、既然我們只消跨過甲板便可自由地從一個走到另一個——我倒想知道，你還能在哪裡，找到比這兒更好的機會、來研究實用的鯨類學（cetology）？

In the first place, you are struck by the general contrast between these heads. ...but there is a certain mathematical symmetry in the Sperm Whale’s which the Right Whale’s sadly lacks. ...In short, he is what the fishermen technically call a “grey-headed whale.”

首先，這兩顆頭之間總體的對比令你一震。憑良心說，兩顆都夠龐大；但抹香鯨的頭有一種「數學般的對稱（symmetry）」是露脊鯨頭可悲地缺乏的。抹香鯨的頭更有「性格」。你一望著它，便不由自主地把那「瀰漫全身的尊嚴（pervading dignity）」上的巨大優勝、讓給了牠。在眼下這例子裡，這份尊嚴又因牠頭頂那「胡椒鹽色」而更增——那顏色透露出高齡與豐富的閱歷。簡言之，牠就是漁人術語裡所稱的「灰頭鯨（grey-headed whale）」。

Let us now note what is least dissimilar in these heads—namely, the two most important organs, the eye and the ear. ...if you narrowly search, you will at last see a lashless eye, which you would fancy to be a young colt’s eye; so out of all proportion is it to the magnitude of the head.

現在，讓我們看看這兩顆頭裡最不相異的——也就是那兩個最重要的器官：眼與耳。在頭側極靠後、極低處、近兩鯨任一的顎角，你若仔細搜尋，終會看見一隻「無睫毛的（lashless）眼」，你會以為那是一匹小馬駒的眼——它與那龐大頭顱的尺度（magnitude）是如此地不成比例。

Now, from this peculiar sideway position of the whale’s eyes, it is plain that he can never see an object which is exactly ahead... In a word, the position of the whale’s eyes corresponds to that of a man’s ears... If your bitterest foe were walking straight towards you, with dagger uplifted in broad day, you would not be able to see him... In a word, you would have two backs, so to speak; but, at the same time, also, two fronts (side fronts): for what is it that makes the front of a man—what, indeed, but his eyes?

由於鯨眼這種長在兩側的奇特位置，顯然牠絕看不見正前方的東西，正如牠看不見正後方的一樣。一句話，鯨眼的位置，相當於人耳的位置；你不妨自己想像：若你用耳朵的位置側看東西，會是什麼光景。你會發現，你只能在「正側方視線」前方掌握約三十度的視野、在它後方再約三十度。倘若你最狠的仇敵光天化日下舉著匕首直直朝你走來，你也看不見他，正如他從你背後偷偷靠近你一樣（看不見）。一句話，可以說你有兩個「背」；可同時，你也有兩個「正面（側正面）」——因為，是什麼構成一個人的「正面」？除了他的眼睛，還能是什麼呢？

Moreover, while in most other animals... the eyes are so planted as imperceptibly to blend their visual power, so as to produce one picture and not two to the brain; the peculiar position of the whale’s eyes, effectually divided as they are by many cubic feet of solid head, which towers between them like a great mountain separating two lakes in valleys... The whale, therefore, must see one distinct picture on this side, and another distinct picture on that side; while all between must be profound darkness and nothingness to him. ...with the whale, these two sashes are separately inserted, making two distinct windows, but sadly impairing the view.

再者，我此刻能想到的多數別的動物，眼睛長的位置都能不知不覺地（imperceptibly）融合兩眼的視力、向大腦呈現「一幅」而非兩幅畫面；可鯨眼那奇特的位置——被許多立方呎的實心頭有效地隔開，那頭聳立在兩眼之間，像一座大山隔開兩個谷中的湖——這當然必使每隻獨立器官所傳遞的印象完全分離。因此，鯨必定是這一側看見一幅清楚的畫、那一側看見另一幅清楚的畫；而這之間的一切，對牠必是一片深沉的黑暗與虛無（nothingness）。可以說，人是從一座哨兵亭（sentry-box）裡、透過兩扇相連的窗格往外看世界。但對鯨而言，這兩扇窗格是分開嵌入的，成了兩扇各自獨立的窗，卻可悲地損害了（impairing）視野。鯨眼這一特點，在漁業中是要時刻記在心上的；讀者在後面某些場景裡也要記得。

...it is quite impossible for him, attentively, and completely, to examine any two things... at one and the same instant of time... But... is his brain so much more comprehensive, combining, and subtle than man’s, that he can at the same moment of time attentively examine two distinct prospects, one on one side of him, and the other in an exactly opposite direction? If he can, then is it as marvellous a thing in him, as if a man were able simultaneously to go through the demonstrations of two distinct problems in Euclid.

……一個人絕不可能在同一個瞬間，專注而完整地審視「任何兩樣東西」——無論多大或多小、哪怕它們並排相觸。可是鯨呢？誠然，牠兩隻眼本身必定同時運作；但難道牠的腦，比人腦「更宏大、更善綜合、更精微（subtle）」，以致牠能在同一刻、專注地審視兩幅截然不同的景象——一幅在牠這一側、另一幅在恰好相反的方向？牠若能，那麼這在牠身上就是一樁奇事，就如一個人能同時演算兩道不同的歐幾里得（Euclid）難題的證明一般神奇。而嚴格考究起來，這個類比並無任何不妥之處。

It may be but an idle whim, but it has always seemed to me, that the extraordinary vacillations of movement displayed by some whales when beset by three or four boats... I think that all this indirectly proceeds from the helpless perplexity of volition, in which their divided and diametrically opposite powers of vision must involve them.

這也許只是個無聊的奇想，但我一直覺得：某些鯨被三四艘艇圍攻時所顯出的、那異常的「動作上的猶疑搖擺（vacillations）」、那種在這類鯨身上如此常見的膽怯與動輒莫名驚恐——我想，這一切都間接地源於牠們「意志的無助困惑（perplexity of volition）」；而那困惑，正是牠們那「分裂的、正相反方向的（diametrically opposite）視覺」必然把牠們捲入的。

But the ear of the whale is full as curious as the eye. ...The ear has no external leaf whatever; and into the hole itself you can hardly insert a quill, so wondrously minute is it. ...While the ear of the former has an external opening, that of the latter is entirely and evenly covered over with a membrane, so as to be quite imperceptible from without.

但鯨的耳和眼一樣奇。你若對牠們這一族全然陌生，可以在這兩顆頭上找上幾個鐘頭，也發現不了那器官。鯨耳完全沒有外耳殼（leaf）；那孔本身，你幾乎插不進一根羽毛桿——它小得如此奇異。它藏在眼後一點點。就耳朵而言，抹香鯨與露脊鯨之間有一個重要的差別要注意：前者的耳有一個外開口，後者的耳卻被一層膜（membrane）完全而均勻地蓋住，以致從外面全然看不出。

Is it not curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world through so small an eye, and hear the thunder through an ear which is smaller than a hare’s? But if his eyes were broad as the lens of Herschel’s great telescope; and his ears capacious as the porches of cathedrals; would that make him any longer of sight, or sharper of hearing? Not at all.—Why then do you try to “enlarge” your mind? Subtilize it.

這麼龐大的一個存在，竟透過這麼小的一隻眼看世界、透過一隻比野兔還小的耳聽雷——豈不奇怪？可是，即使牠的眼大如赫歇爾（Herschel）那座大望遠鏡的鏡片、牠的耳寬敞（capacious）如大教堂的門廊，那會讓牠看得更遠、或聽得更敏銳嗎？絕不會。——那麼，你又何必去試圖「擴大（enlarge）」你的心智呢？精化它（Subtilize it）。

Let us now with whatever levers and steam-engines we have at hand, cant over the sperm whale’s head, that it may lie bottom up... with a lantern we might descend into the great Kentucky Mammoth Cave of his stomach. ...What a really beautiful and chaste-looking mouth! from floor to ceiling, lined, or rather papered with a glistening white membrane, glossy as bridal satins.

現在，讓我們用手邊一切的槓桿與蒸汽機，把抹香鯨的頭翻轉過來、讓它底朝上；然後沿梯爬到頂上、往牠口裡瞧一瞧；要不是身體此刻已與它完全分離，我們簡直可以提一盞燈、下到牠那如「肯塔基猛獁洞（Kentucky Mammoth Cave）」般巨大的胃裡去。但讓我們在這兒抓著這顆牙、看看四周吧。何等真正美麗而貞潔（chaste）的一張口啊！從底到頂，襯著（更該說是「糊著」）一層閃亮的白膜，光滑如新娘的緞子（bridal satins）。

But come out now, and look at this portentous lower jaw, which seems like the long narrow lid of an immense snuff-box... it seems a terrific portcullis... But far more terrible is it to behold, when fathoms down in the sea, you see some sulky whale, floating there suspended, with his prodigious jaw... hanging straight down at right-angles with his body, for all the world like a ship’s jib-boom. This whale is not dead; he is only dispirited; out of sorts, perhaps; hypochondriac; and so supine, that the hinges of his jaw have relaxed, leaving him there in that ungainly sort of plight, a reproach to all his tribe, who must, no doubt, imprecate lock-jaws upon him.

但現在出來、看看這「不祥的（portentous）下顎」吧——它像一個巨大鼻煙盒（snuff-box）又長又窄的蓋子，只是鉸鏈在一端、而非一側。你若把它撬起、舉到頭頂、露出它一排排的牙，它就像一道可怕的「閘門（portcullis）」；而唉！對漁業中許多可憐的傢伙（wight）來說，它確實如此——這些尖牙帶著「穿刺之力」落在他們身上。但更可怖的，是當你在深海數噚之下，看見某頭「悶悶不樂的」鯨懸浮在那兒，牠那約十五呎長的巨顎與身體成直角直直垂下，活像一艘船的首斜桅（jib-boom）。這鯨並沒死；牠只是沮喪、也許心情不佳、疑病（hypochondriac）；牠仰臥（supine）得那麼懶散，連顎的鉸鏈都鬆了，把牠留在那笨拙的（ungainly）窘相裡——成了牠整族的恥辱，族人無疑會詛咒（imprecate）牠得「牙關緊閉症（lock-jaws）」。

In most cases this lower jaw—being easily unhinged by a practised artist—is disengaged and hoisted on deck for the purpose of extracting the ivory teeth... Queequeg, Daggoo, and Tashtego, being all accomplished dentists, are set to drawing teeth. ...they drag out these teeth, as Michigan oxen drag stumps of old oaks out of wild wood lands. There are generally forty-two teeth in all; in old whales, much worn down, but undecayed... The jaw is afterwards sawn into slabs, and piled away like joists for building houses.

多數情況下，這下顎——熟練的「藝術家」一撬即可使它脫臼（unhinged）——會被卸下、吊上甲板，好取出那象牙般的牙、並供應那種堅硬的白鯨骨（漁人用它製作各式奇巧的物件，包括手杖、傘柄、馬鞭柄）。下顎像一具錨似地、被費力地、一寸寸吊上船；等時機合適——在其他工作之後幾天——魁魁格、達戈、塔斯蒂哥這三位「完備的牙醫」，便被派去拔牙。魁魁格用一把鋒利的切割鏟劃開牙齦；然後把顎綁在環栓上、從上方架起一套滑車，他們把這些牙拽出來——就像密西根的牛把老橡樹的樹根從荒林裡拽出來一樣。牙總共一般有四十二顆；老鯨的牙磨損嚴重，卻不蛀、也不像我們那樣人工填補過。下顎隨後被鋸成板，像蓋房子的擱柵（joists）一樣堆放起來。