龍涎香

Now this ambergris is a very curious substance... Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct. ...ambergris is soft, waxy, and so highly fragrant and spicy, that it is largely used in perfumery, in pastiles, precious candles, hair-powders, and pomatum. The Turks use it in cooking, and also carry it to Mecca, for the same purpose that frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s in Rome.

這龍涎香是極奇異的物質、作為商品又如此重要，以致 1791 年一位南塔克特出身的柯芬船長，還曾在英國下議院的法庭上就此受詢。因為在那時、其實直到相當晚近，龍涎香的確切來源，都像琥珀本身一樣，是學者們的一個難題。雖然「龍涎香（ambergris）」一詞，不過是法語「灰琥珀」的合稱，這兩種物質卻全然不同。因為琥珀（amber）雖有時見於海岸、卻也從某些遠內陸的土裡挖出，龍涎香則除了海上哪兒都找不到；況且，琥珀是硬的、透明、脆、無味的物質，用作煙斗的煙嘴、珠子與飾物；龍涎香則軟、蠟質，而且極為芬芳辛香，以致大量用於香水、香錠（pastile）、名貴蠟燭、髮粉與髮油（pomatum）。土耳其人拿它入菜，也把它帶去麥加——目的與乳香（frankincense）被帶往羅馬聖彼得大教堂相同。有些酒商會滴幾粒進紅葡萄酒裡、為它調味。

Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale! Yet so it is. By some, ambergris is supposed to be the cause, and by others the effect, of the dyspepsia in the whale.

那麼，誰想得到：那樣的貴婦與紳士，竟以一種「在病鯨那不光彩的腸肚（inglorious bowels）裡找到的」香精，來陶醉自己（regale）！可事實正是如此。有人以為龍涎香是鯨那消化不良（dyspepsia）的「因」，也有人以為是「果」。怎麼治這種消化不良，可就難說了——除非餵牠三四艇的布蘭德雷斯藥丸、然後像炸岩石的工人那樣、趕緊跑開、避到無害之處去。

I have forgotten to say that there were found in this ambergris, certain hard, round, bony plates... pieces of small squid bones embalmed in that manner. Now that the incorruption of this most fragrant ambergris should be found in the heart of such decay; is this nothing? Bethink thee of that saying of St. Paul in Corinthians, about corruption and incorruption; how that we are sown in dishonor, but raised in glory. ...of all things of ill-savor, Cologne-water, in its rudimental manufacturing stages, is the worst.

我忘了說：這龍涎香裡，找到了某些硬而圓的骨片，斯塔布起初以為可能是水手的褲扣；可後來才知，那不過是「以那種方式被防腐保存了的小烏賊骨」。如今，這「最芬芳的龍涎香之不朽（incorruption）」，竟在這般腐朽（decay）的核心被找到——這難道毫無意義嗎？想想聖保羅在《哥林多前書》裡論「腐朽與不朽」的那句話——我們如何是「種下時帶著羞辱、卻在榮耀裡被舉起（sown in dishonor, but raised in glory）」。也請記起帕拉塞爾蘇斯（Paracelsus）論「是什麼造就了最好的麝香（musk）」的那句話。也別忘了那奇異的事實：在一切惡臭之物中，古龍水（Cologne-water），在它最初的製造階段，是最臭的。

I should like to conclude the chapter with the above appeal, but cannot, owing to my anxiety to repel a charge often made against whalemen... the slanderous aspersion has been disproved, that the vocation of whaling is throughout a slatternly, untidy business. But there is another thing to rebut. They hint that all whales always smell bad. Now how did this odious stigma originate?

我本想以上述的呼籲為這一章作結，卻不能——因為我急於駁斥一項常加在捕鯨人身上的指控（在某些已存偏見的人估量裡，這指控或會被認為被法國船那兩頭鯨間接坐實了）。本書別處已駁倒了那「捕鯨這行當通篇是邋遢（slatternly）、骯髒的勾當」這誹謗性的中傷（aspersion）。但還有另一件事要反駁（rebut）：他們暗示「所有的鯨總是臭的」。那麼，這可惡的污名（stigma），是怎麼來的？

I opine, that it is plainly traceable to the first arrival of the Greenland whaling ships in London... those whalemen did not then, and do not now, try out their oil at sea as the Southern ships have always done; but cutting up the fresh blubber in small bits, thrust it through the bung holes of large casks... The consequence is, that upon breaking into the hold, and unloading one of these whale cemeteries, in the Greenland dock, a savor is given forth somewhat similar to that arising from excavating an old city grave-yard, for the foundations of a Lying-in Hospital.

我認為，這顯然可追溯到兩百多年前格陵蘭捕鯨船初抵倫敦之時。因為那些捕鯨人當時（如今也一樣），不像南方船那樣一向在海上就「煉油（try out）」，而是把新鮮鯨脂切成小塊、塞進大桶的桶孔（bung holes），就這麼運回家——那冰海漁季的短促、以及他們所面臨的突發猛烈風暴，不容他們採取別的做法。後果是：在格陵蘭碼頭剖開船艙、卸下這些「鯨之墓場」之一時，散發出的氣味，頗像「為建一座產科醫院（Lying-in Hospital）的地基、去挖一座古城墓園」時冒出的那種味。

I partly surmise also, that this wicked charge against whalers may be likewise imputed to the existence... of a Dutch village called Schmerenburgh or Smeerenberg... But all this is quite different with a South Sea Sperm Whaler... the oil is nearly scentless. The truth is, that living or dead, if but decently treated, whales as a species are by no means creatures of ill odor... the motion of a Sperm Whale’s flukes above water dispenses a perfume, as when a musk-scented lady rustles her dress in a warm parlor. ...Must it not be to that famous elephant, with jewelled tusks, and redolent with myrrh, which was led out of an Indian town to do honor to Alexander the Great?

我也部分地猜想（surmise）：這對捕鯨人惡毒的指控，或許也可歸因於從前格陵蘭海岸上、有座叫「Schmerenburgh 或 Smeerenberg（煉脂村）」的荷蘭村——後一個名字，正是博學的福戈·馮·斯拉克（Fogo Von Slack）在他論《氣味》的鉅著（那主題的一本教科書）裡所用的。如其名所示（smeer＝脂、berg＝堆置），這村是為了讓荷蘭捕鯨隊的鯨脂能就地煉出、不必為此運回荷蘭而建的：它是一堆熔爐、脂鍋與油棚；當這些設施全速運轉時，當然散發不出什麼很好聞的氣味。但這一切，與一艘南海抹香鯨船全然不同——後者在或許四年一趟的航行中、把艙完全裝滿油之後，煮油這件事或許只花上五十天；而以它裝桶時的狀態，那油幾乎是無味的。真相是：無論死活，只要被體面地對待，鯨作為一個物種，絕非惡臭的生物；捕鯨人也不能像中世紀人假裝靠鼻子在人群裡認出一個猶太人那樣、被靠鼻子認出來。鯨更不可能不芬芳——既然牠一般享有那麼好的健康、運動充足、總在戶外（雖然，誠然，很少在「露天的空氣」裡）。我說，抹香鯨尾在水面上一掃，便散出一股香氣，就像一位帶麝香味的貴婦、在暖暖的客廳裡窸窣地（rustles）轉動她的裙子。那麼，論芬芳、又考慮到牠的龐大，我該把抹香鯨比作什麼呢？——豈不該比作那頭著名的、長著鑲寶石的長牙、滿身散發沒藥（myrrh）芬芳、被牽出印度城鎮去向亞歷山大大帝致敬的大象？