In connexion with the monstrous1 pictures of whales, I am strongly tempted2 here to enter upon those still more monstrous stories of them which are to be found in certain books, both ancient and modern, especially in Pliny, Purchas, Hackluyt, Harris, Cuvier, &c. But I pass that matter by.
I know of only four published outlines of the great Sperm3 Whale; Colnett's, Huggins's, Frederick Cuvier's, and Beale's. In the previous chapter Colnett and Cuvier have been referred to. Huggins's is far better than theirs; but, by great odds4, Beale's is the best. All Beale's drawings of this whale are good, excepting the middle figure in the picture of three whales in various attitudes, capping his second chapter. His frontispiece, boats attacking Sperm Whales, though no doubt calculated to excite the civil scepticism of some parlor5 men, is admirably correct and life-like in its general effect. Some of the Sperm Whale drawings in J. Ross Browne are pretty correct in contour; but they are wretchedly engraved6. That is not his fault though.
Of the Right Whale, the best outline pictures are in Scoresby; but they are drawn7 on too small a scale to convey a desirable impression. He has but one picture of whaling scenes, and this is a sad deficiency, because it is by such pictures only, when at all well done, that you can derive8 anything like a truthful9 idea of the living whale as seen by his living hunters.
But, taken for all in all, by far the finest, though in some details not the most correct, presentations of whales and whaling scenes to be anywhere found, are two large French engravings, well executed, and taken from paintings by one Garnery. Respectively, they represent attacks on the Sperm and Right Whale. In the first engraving10 a noble Sperm Whale is depicted11 in full majesty12 of might, just risen beneath the boat from the profundities13 of the ocean, and bearing high in the. air upon his back the terrific wreck14 of the stoven planks15. The prow16 of the boat is partially17 unbroken, and is drawn just balancing upon the monster's spine18; and standing19 in that prow, for that one single incomputable flash of time, you behold20 an oarsman, half shrouded21 by the incensed22 boiling spout23 of the whale, and in the act of leaping, as if from a precipice24. The action of the whole thing is wonderfully good and true. The half-emptied line-tub floats on the whitened sea; the wooden poles of the spilled harpoons25 obliquely26 bob in it; the heads of the swimming crew are scattered27 about the whale in contrasting expressions of affright; while in the black stormy distance the ship is bearing down upon the scene. Serious fault might be found with the anatomical details of this whale, but let that pass; since, for the life of me, I could not draw so good a one.
In the second engraving, the boat is in the act of drawing alongside the barnacled flank of a large running Right Whale, that rolls his black weedy bulk in the sea like some mossy rock-slide from the Patagonian cliffs. His jets are erect28, full, and black like soot29; so that from so abounding30 a smoke in the chimney, you would think there must be a brave supper cooking in the great bowels31 below. Sea fowls32 are pecking at the small crabs33, shell-fish, and other sea candies and maccaroni, which the Right Whale sometimes carries on his pestilent back. And all the while the thick-lipped leviathan is rushing through the deep, leaving tons of tumultuous white curds34 in his wake, and causing the slight boat to rock in the swells35 like a skiff caught nigh the paddle-wheels of an ocean steamer. Thus, the fore-ground is all raging commotion36; but behind, in admirable artistic37 contrast, is the glassy level of a sea becalmed, the drooping38 unstarched sails of the powerless ship, and the inert39 mass of a dead whale, a conquered fortress40, with the flag of capture lazily hanging from the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole.
Who Garnery the painter is, or was, I know not. But my life for it he was either practically conversant41 with his subject, or else marvellously tutored by some experienced whaleman. The French are the lads for painting action. Go and gaze upon all the paintings in Europe, and where will you find such a gallery of living and breathing commotion on canvas, as in that triumphal hall at Versailles; where the beholder42 fights his way, pell-mell, through the consecutive43 great battles of France; where every sword seems a flash of the Northern Lights, and the successive armed kings and Emperors dash by, like a charge of crowned centaurs44? Not wholly unworthy of a place in that gallery, are these sea battle-pieces of Garnery.
The natural aptitude46 of the French for seizing the picturesqueness47 of things seems to be peculiarly evinced in what paintings and engravings they have of their whaling scenes. With not one tenth of England's experience in the fishery, and not the thousandth part of that of the Americans, they have nevertheless furnished both nations with the only finished sketches48 at all capable of conveying the real spirit of the whale hunt. For the most part, the English and American whale draughtsmen seem entirely49 content with presenting the mechanical outline of things, such as the vacant profile of the whale; which, so far as picturesqueness of effect is concerned, is about tantamount to sketching50 the profile of a pyramid. Even Scoresby, the justly renowned51 Right whaleman, after giving us a stiff full length of the Greenland whale, and three or four delicate miniatures of narwhales and porpoises52, treats us to a series of classical engravings of boat hooks, chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the microscopic53 diligence of a Leuwenhoeck submits to the inspection54 of a shivering world ninety-six fac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals. I mean no disparagement55 to the excellent voyager (I honor him for a veteran), but in so important a matter it was certainly an oversight56 not to have procured57 for every crystal a sworn affidavit58 taken before a Greenland Justice of the Peace.
In addition to those fine engravings from Garnery, there are two other French engravings worthy45 of note, by some one who subscribes59 himself "H. Durand." One of them, though not precisely60 adapted to our present purpose, nevertheless deserves mention on other accounts. It is a quiet noon-scene among the isles61 of the Pacific; a French whaler anchored, inshore, in a calm, and lazily taking water on board; the loosened sails of the ship, and the long leaves of the palms in the background, both drooping together in the breezeless air. The effect is very fine, when considered with reference to its presenting the hardy62 fishermen under one of their few aspects of oriental repose63. The other engraving is quite a different affair: the ship hove-to upon the open sea, and in the very heart of the Leviathanic life, with a Right Whale alongside; the vessel64 (in the act of cutting-in) hove over to the monster as if to a quay65; and a boat, hurriedly pushing off from this scene of activity, is about giving chase to whales in the distance. The harpoons and lances lie levelled for use; three oarsmen are just setting the mast in its hole; while from a sudden roll of the sea, the little craft stands half-erect out of the water, like a rearing horse. From the ship, the smoke of the torments66 of the boiling whale is going up like the smoke over a village of smithies; and to windward, a black cloud, rising up with earnest of squalls and rains, seems to quicken the activity of the excited seamen67.
1 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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2 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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3 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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4 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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5 parlor | |
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅 | |
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6 engraved | |
v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的过去式和过去分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
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7 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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8 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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9 truthful | |
adj.真实的,说实话的,诚实的 | |
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10 engraving | |
n.版画;雕刻(作品);雕刻艺术;镌版术v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的现在分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
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11 depicted | |
描绘,描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 ); 描述 | |
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12 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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13 profundities | |
n.深奥,深刻,深厚( profundity的名词复数 );堂奥 | |
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14 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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15 planks | |
(厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 | |
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16 prow | |
n.(飞机)机头,船头 | |
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17 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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18 spine | |
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
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19 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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20 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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21 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
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22 incensed | |
盛怒的 | |
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23 spout | |
v.喷出,涌出;滔滔不绝地讲;n.喷管;水柱 | |
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24 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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25 harpoons | |
n.鱼镖,鱼叉( harpoon的名词复数 )v.鱼镖,鱼叉( harpoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 obliquely | |
adv.斜; 倾斜; 间接; 不光明正大 | |
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27 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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28 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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29 soot | |
n.煤烟,烟尘;vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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30 abounding | |
adj.丰富的,大量的v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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31 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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32 fowls | |
鸟( fowl的名词复数 ); 禽肉; 既不是这; 非驴非马 | |
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33 crabs | |
n.蟹( crab的名词复数 );阴虱寄生病;蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34 curds | |
n.凝乳( curd的名词复数 ) | |
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35 swells | |
增强( swell的第三人称单数 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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36 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
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37 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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38 drooping | |
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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39 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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40 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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41 conversant | |
adj.亲近的,有交情的,熟悉的 | |
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42 beholder | |
n.观看者,旁观者 | |
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43 consecutive | |
adj.连续的,联贯的,始终一贯的 | |
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44 centaurs | |
n.(希腊神话中)半人半马怪物( centaur的名词复数 ) | |
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45 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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46 aptitude | |
n.(学习方面的)才能,资质,天资 | |
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47 picturesqueness | |
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48 sketches | |
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概 | |
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49 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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50 sketching | |
n.草图 | |
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51 renowned | |
adj.著名的,有名望的,声誉鹊起的 | |
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52 porpoises | |
n.鼠海豚( porpoise的名词复数 ) | |
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53 microscopic | |
adj.微小的,细微的,极小的,显微的 | |
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54 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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55 disparagement | |
n.轻视,轻蔑 | |
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56 oversight | |
n.勘漏,失察,疏忽 | |
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57 procured | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条 | |
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58 affidavit | |
n.宣誓书 | |
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59 subscribes | |
v.捐助( subscribe的第三人称单数 );签署,题词;订阅;同意 | |
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60 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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61 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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62 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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63 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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64 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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65 quay | |
n.码头,靠岸处 | |
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66 torments | |
(肉体或精神上的)折磨,痛苦( torment的名词复数 ); 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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67 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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