海德堡大桶

Now comes the Baling of the Case. But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.

現在輪到「舀取腦油囊（Baling of the Case）」了。但要正確理解它，你得先知道一些關於這被操作之物那奇特的內部構造。

Regarding the Sperm Whale’s head as a solid oblong, you may, on an inclined plane, sideways divide it into two quoins... whereof the lower is the bony structure, forming the cranium and jaws, and the upper an unctuous mass wholly free from bones... *Quoin is not a Euclidean term. It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics. ...A quoin is a solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one side, instead of the mutual tapering of both sides.

把抹香鯨的頭看成一個實心的長方體（oblong），你可以沿一個斜面、從側面把它分成兩塊「楔石（quoin）」：其中下面一塊是骨的結構，構成顱（cranium）與顎；上面一塊則是一團無骨的油脂，它寬闊的前端，構成了鯨那擴張的、垂直的、看似額頭的部分。在前額的中央，再水平地把這上面的楔石分一次，你就得到兩個幾乎相等的部分——它們原本被一道「厚的韌帶物質（tendinous）的內牆」自然地隔開了。（註：quoin 不是歐幾里得的術語。它屬於純粹的航海數學。我不知道以前有沒有人給它下過定義。楔石是這樣一種固體：它與楔子（wedge）的不同在於——它尖的一端，是靠一面的陡斜形成的，而非靠兩面相互的漸尖。）

The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil... The upper part, known as the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale. ...so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state. ...yet, upon exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is just forming in water. A large whale’s case generally yields about five hundred gallons of sperm...

下面那被分出的部分，叫「junk」——是一整個巨大的「油的蜂巢」，由堅韌而有彈性的白纖維，在它整個範圍內縱橫交錯、滲透（infiltrated）成上萬個小室而構成。上面那部分，名叫「Case（腦油囊）」，可看作抹香鯨的「大海德堡桶（Heidelburgh Tun）」。而正如那著名的大桶正面有神秘的雕刻，鯨那寬廣、編紋般的額頭，也構成了無數奇異的紋飾，為牠這奇妙的「桶」作象徵性的（emblematical）裝點。再者，正如海德堡那一桶總是裝滿萊茵河谷最上等的葡萄酒，這鯨之桶也裝著牠一切「油的佳釀」中遠為最珍貴的——即備受珍視的鯨腦油（spermaceti），處在它絕對純淨、清澈（limpid）、芬芳（odoriferous）的狀態。這珍貴的物質，在這生物別的任何部位都找不到純粹未摻雜（unalloyed）的。它在活時保持完全的流體，可是死後一旦暴露於空氣，便很快開始凝結（concrete）——射出美麗的結晶（crystalline）嫩芽，就像水裡剛開始結成的第一層薄而精緻的冰那樣。一頭大鯨的 case 一般產約五百加侖腦油，不過由於不可避免的種種情況，相當一部分會在「盡量保住所能保住的」這樁棘手差事裡，濺出、滲漏、滴失、或以別的方式無可挽回地損失掉。

I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was coated within, but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken pearl-coloured membrane, like the lining of a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale’s case.

我不知道海德堡大桶的內壁是用什麼精美而昂貴的材料塗的，但論極致的（superlative）華美，那塗層絕不可能比得上那層構成抹香鯨腦油囊內表面的、絲質的、珍珠色的膜——它像一件上等皮裘（pelisse）的裡子。

It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since... the head embraces one third of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship’s side.

可以看出，抹香鯨的這「海德堡大桶」涵蓋整個頭頂的全長；而既然——別處已闡明過——頭佔這生物全長的三分之一，那麼，以一頭好個頭的鯨八十呎計，當這桶縱向地貼著船側上下吊起時，你就有了二十六呎多的桶「深」。

As in decapitating the whale, the operator’s instrument is brought close to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents. ...whose hempen combinations, on one side, make quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.

由於砍鯨頭時，操作者的工具是被帶到貼近那「隨後要強行開個入口、進入腦油倉（spermaceti magazine）」的地方下手的，因此，他得格外當心（heedful），免得一個不小心、不合時的下刀，闖進這「聖所（sanctuary）」、浪費地放掉它那無價的內容。也正是這被砍下的頭的這一端，最後被吊出水面、靠那巨大的切割滑車保持在那個位置——那滑車的大麻組合，在一側，於那一帶簡直造出了一片繩的荒野。

Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and—in this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale’s great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped.

說了這麼多，現在，請你留意那奇妙的、而——在這一回——幾乎致命的工序：抹香鯨那「大海德堡桶」，是如何被「鑿開取酒（tapped）」的。