大草原

To scan the lines of his face, or feel the bumps on the head of this Leviathan; this is a thing which no Physiognomist or Phrenologist has as yet undertaken. ...Therefore, though I am but ill qualified for a pioneer, in the application of these two semi-sciences to the whale, I will do my endeavor. I try all things; I achieve what I can.

要審視這巨獸臉上的紋路、或摸牠頭上的隆起——這是至今沒有任何面相學家（Physiognomist）或顱相學家（Phrenologist）做過的事。這種事業，看來幾乎跟「讓拉瓦特（Lavater）去細究直布羅陀巨岩的皺紋、或讓加爾（Gall）爬上梯子去擺弄萬神殿的圓頂」一樣有指望。不過，拉瓦特在他那部名著裡，不只論述人的種種臉，也仔細研究馬、鳥、蛇、魚的臉，並詳細探討其中可辨的表情變化。加爾與他的弟子施普茨海姆（Spurzheim），也對人以外的生物的顱相特徵丟出過一些提示。因此，雖然我極不夠格當把這兩門「半科學」應用於鯨的先驅，我仍要盡我的努力。我嘗試一切；我成就我所能成就的。

Physiognomically regarded, the Sperm Whale is an anomalous creature. He has no proper nose. ...Dash the nose from Phidias’s marble Jove, and what a sorry remainder! Nevertheless, Leviathan is of so mighty a magnitude... that the same deficiency which in the sculptured Jove were hideous, in him is no blemish at all. Nay, it is an added grandeur. A nose to the whale would have been impertinent. ...your noble conceptions of him are never insulted by the reflection that he has a nose to be pulled.

從面相學看，抹香鯨是個反常的（anomalous）生物。牠沒有真正的鼻。既然鼻是五官中最居中、最顯眼的；又既然它或許最能調整、並最終支配五官合起來的表情；那麼，鼻作為一個外部附器的全然缺席，必大大影響鯨的容貌。因為，正如在造園中，某種尖塔、圓頂（cupola）、紀念碑、或塔，被認為是完成景致幾乎不可少的；同樣，沒有「鼻」這座高聳的鏤空鐘樓（belfry），沒有一張臉能在面相學上協調。把菲迪亞斯（Phidias）那尊大理石宙斯的鼻砸掉，剩下的會多麼可憐！然而，巨獸的尺度如此巨大、牠所有的比例如此堂皇，以致那在雕像宙斯身上是醜陋的同一缺陷，在牠身上全然不是瑕疵（blemish）。不，那反倒是一份額外的莊嚴。鼻對鯨而言會是無禮的（impertinent）。當你在你的面相學航程中、駕著小艇繞牠那巨大的頭時，你對牠崇高的構想，絕不會被「牠有個可供揪扯的鼻」這念頭所冒犯——這個害人的妄念（pestilent conceit），在你瞻仰王座上最威嚴的王室執事（beadle）時，也常硬要闖進來。

In some particulars, perhaps the most imposing physiognomical view to be had of the Sperm Whale, is that of the full front of his head. This aspect is sublime. ...Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that great golden seal affixed by the German emperors to their decrees. It signifies—“God: done this day by my hand.” ...But in the great Sperm Whale, this high and mighty god-like dignity inherent in the brow is so immensely amplified, that gazing on it, in that full front view, you feel the Deity and the dread powers more forcibly than in beholding any other object in living nature. ...nothing but that one broad firmament of a forehead, pleated with riddles; dumbly lowering with the doom of boats, and ships, and men. ...In profile, you plainly perceive that horizontal, semi-crescentic depression in the forehead’s middle, which, in man, is Lavater’s mark of genius.

就某些方面而言，抹香鯨最壯觀的面相，或許是牠頭的全正面。這景象是崇高的（sublime）。在思想中，一道優美的人類額頭，像「被清晨攪動的東方」；在牧場的安歇中，公牛捲曲的額有一絲壯偉；推著重砲上山隘（defiles）時，大象的額是威嚴的。人或獸，那神秘的額，如同德國皇帝蓋在敕令上的那方金璽。它意謂——「神：此日由我手成就。」但在多數生物身上、甚至在人本身，額頭往往只是「沿著雪線伸展的一條阿爾卑斯高地」；少有額頭能像莎士比亞或梅蘭希通（Melancthon）的那樣升得那麼高、降得那麼低，以致眼睛本身彷彿是清澈、永恆、無潮的山中湖；而它們上方、額頭的皺紋裡，你彷彿能追蹤「長角的思想（antlered thoughts）下來那兒飲水」，就像高地獵人追蹤鹿的雪印。但在大抹香鯨身上，那額頭內在的、高聳威猛、神一般的尊嚴，被如此巨大地放大，以致你凝視那全正面時，比凝視活生生的自然中任何別的東西，都更強烈地感到那神性（Deity）與可畏之力。因為你看不見任何一個確切的點；沒有一個分明的五官顯露；沒有鼻、眼、耳、或嘴；沒有臉；牠沒有臉，沒有真正的臉；除了那一片「布滿謎、被謎打了褶（pleated with riddles）的額頭蒼穹（firmament）」——沉默地壓向小艇、船、與人的厄運。從側面看，這奇妙的額也不減損；只是那樣看，它的壯偉不那麼壓迫你。側面，你清楚看見額頭中央那道水平的、半月形的凹陷——在人身上，那是拉瓦特的「天才標記」。

But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale?... No, his great genius is declared in his doing nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence. ...They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue... then be sure, exalted to Jove’s high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it.

但怎麼？抹香鯨有天才？抹香鯨寫過書、發表過演說嗎？沒有，牠偉大的天才，正宣示於牠「不做任何特定的事來證明它」。它更宣示於牠「金字塔般的沉默（pyramidical silence）」。這讓我想起：大抹香鯨若為年輕的東方世界所知，必會被他們孩童般的祆教（magian）思維所神化。他們神化了尼羅河的鱷魚，因為鱷魚無舌；而抹香鯨也沒有舌、或至少舌小到無法伸出。將來，若有任何高度教養、富詩意的民族，把古老歡快的五朔節（May-day）諸神，誘回他們的故土、在這如今自我中心的天空、如今無神出沒的山丘上重新讓他們登位——那麼可以肯定，被高舉到宙斯（Jove）的高座上、稱王稱霸的，將是那大抹香鯨。

Champollion deciphered the wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. But there is no Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man’s and every being’s face. ...If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant’s face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale’s brow? I but put that brow before you. Read it if you can.

商博良（Champollion）破譯了那滿是皺紋的花崗岩象形文。但沒有商博良，能破譯每個人、每個生靈臉上的那個「埃及」。面相學，和其他一切人類科學一樣，不過是一則「過眼的寓言」。那麼，若連能讀三十種語言的威廉·瓊斯爵士（Sir William Jones），都讀不出最普通的農夫臉上那更深邃、更微妙的含義，那麼目不識丁的以實瑪利，又怎能指望讀懂抹香鯨額頭上那可畏的「迦勒底文（Chaldee）」呢？我只是把那額頭擺在你面前。你讀得出，就讀吧。