The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd1 of Sperm2 Whales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those vast aggregations3.
Now, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must have been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are occasionally observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each. Such bands are known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those composed almost entirely4 of females, and those mustering5 none but young vigorous males, or bulls as they are familiarly designated.
In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious6 Ottoman, swimming about over the watery7 world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces8 and endearments9 of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more than one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male. They are comparatively delicate, indeed; I dare say, not to exceed half a dozen yards round the waist. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that upon the whole they are hereditarily10 entitled to en bon point.
It is very curious to watch this harem and its lord in their indolent ramblings. Like fashionables, they are for ever on the move in leisurely11 search of variety. You meet them on the Line in time for the full flower of the Equatorial feeding season, having just returned, perhaps, from spending the summer in the Northern seas, and so cheating summer of all unpleasant weariness and warmth. By the time they have lounged up and down the promenade12 of the Equator awhile, they start for the Oriental waters in anticipation13 of the cool season there, and so evade14 the other excessive temperature of the year.
When serenely15 advancing on one of these journeys, if any strange suspicious sights are seen, my lord whale keeps a wary16 eye on his interesting family. Should any unwarrantably pert young Leviathan coming that way, presume to draw confidentially17 close to one of the ladies, with what prodigious18 fury the Bashaw assails19 him, and chases him away! High times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are to be permitted to invade the sanctity of domestic bliss20; though do what the Bashaw will, he cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of his bed; for alas21! all fish bed in common. As ashore22, the ladies often cause the most terrible duels23 among their rival admirers; just so with the whales, who sometimes come to deadly battle, and all for love. They fence with their long lower jaws24, sometimes locking them together, and so striving for the supremacy25 like elks26 that warringly interweave their antlers. Not a few are captured having the deep scars of these encounters,-- furrowed27 heads, broken teeth, scolloped fins28; and in some instances, wrenched29 and dislocated mouths.
But supposing the invader30 of domestic bliss to betake himself away at the first rush of the harem's lord, then is it very diverting to watch that lord. Gently he insinuates31 his vast bulk among them again and revels32 there awhile, still in tantalizing33 vicinity to young Lothario, like pious34 Solomon devoutly35 worshipping among his thousand concubines. Granting other whales to be in sight, the fisherman will seldom give chase to one of these Grand Turks; for these Grand Turks are too lavish36 of their strength, and hence their unctuousness37 is small. As for the sons and the daughters they beget38, why, those sons and daughters must take care of themselves; at least, with only the maternal39 help. For like certain other omnivorous40 roving lovers that might be named, my Lord Whale has no taste for the nursery, however much for the bower41; and so, being a great traveller, he leaves his anonymous42 babies all over the world; every baby an exotic. In good time, nevertheless, as the ardor43 of youth declines; as years and dumps increase; as reflection lends her solemn pauses; in short, as a general lassitude overtakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue44 supplants45 the love for maidens46; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, repentant47, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the meridians49 and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young Leviathan from his amorous50 errors.
Now, as the harem of whales is called by the fishermen a school, so is the lord and master of that school technically51 known as the schoolmaster. It is therefore not in strict character, however admirably satirical, that after going to school himself, he should then go abroad inculcating not what he learned there, but the folly52 of it. His title, schoolmaster, would very naturally seem derived53 from the name bestowed54 upon the harem itself, but some have surmised55 that the man who first thus entitled this sort of Ottoman whale, must have read the memoirs56 of Vidocq, and informed himself what sort of a country-schoolmaster that famous Frenchman was in his younger days, and what was the nature of those occult lessons he inculcated into some of his pupils.
The same secludedness and isolation57 to which the schoolmaster whale betakes himself in his advancing years, is true of all aged58 Sperm Whales. Almost universally, a lone48 whale-- as a solitary59 Leviathan is called--proves an ancient one. Like venerable moss-bearded Daniel Boone, he will have no one near him but Nature herself; and her he takes to wife in the wilderness60 of waters, and the best of wives she is, though she keeps so many moody61 secrets.
The schools composing none but young and vigorous males, previously62 mentioned, offer a strong contrast to the harem schools. For while those female whales are characteristically timid, the young males, or forty-barrel-bulls, as they call them, are by far the most pugnacious63 of all Leviathans, and proverbially the most dangerous to encounter; excepting those wondrous64 grey-headed, grizzled whales, sometimes met, and these will fight you like grim fiends exasperated65 by a penal66 gout.
The Forty-barrel-bull schools are larger than the harem schools. Like a mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, tumbling round the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate, that no prudent67 underwriter would insure them any more than he would a riotous68 lad at Yale or Harvard. They soon relinquish69 this turbulence70 though, and when about three-fourths grown, break up, and separately go about in quest of settlements, that is, harems.
Another point of difference between the male and female schools is still more characteristic of the sexes. Say you strike a Forty-barrel-bull--poor devil! all his comrades quit him. But strike a member of the harem school, and her companions swim around her with every token of concern, sometimes lingering so near her and so long, as themselves to fall a prey71.
1 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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2 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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3 aggregations | |
n.聚集( aggregation的名词复数 );集成;集结;聚集体 | |
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4 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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5 mustering | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的现在分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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6 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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7 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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8 solaces | |
n.安慰,安慰物( solace的名词复数 ) | |
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9 endearments | |
n.表示爱慕的话语,亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 ) | |
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10 hereditarily | |
世袭地,遗传地 | |
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11 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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12 promenade | |
n./v.散步 | |
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13 anticipation | |
n.预期,预料,期望 | |
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14 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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15 serenely | |
adv.安详地,宁静地,平静地 | |
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16 wary | |
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的 | |
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17 confidentially | |
ad.秘密地,悄悄地 | |
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18 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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19 assails | |
v.攻击( assail的第三人称单数 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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20 bliss | |
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福 | |
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21 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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22 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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23 duels | |
n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 );竞争,斗争 | |
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24 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
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25 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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26 elks | |
n.麋鹿( elk的名词复数 ) | |
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27 furrowed | |
v.犁田,开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 fins | |
[医]散热片;鱼鳍;飞边;鸭掌 | |
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29 wrenched | |
v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
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30 invader | |
n.侵略者,侵犯者,入侵者 | |
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31 insinuates | |
n.暗示( insinuate的名词复数 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入v.暗示( insinuate的第三人称单数 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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32 revels | |
n.作乐( revel的名词复数 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉 | |
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33 tantalizing | |
adj.逗人的;惹弄人的;撩人的;煽情的v.逗弄,引诱,折磨( tantalize的现在分词 ) | |
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34 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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35 devoutly | |
adv.虔诚地,虔敬地,衷心地 | |
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36 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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37 unctuousness | |
油性 | |
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38 beget | |
v.引起;产生 | |
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39 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
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40 omnivorous | |
adj.杂食的 | |
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41 bower | |
n.凉亭,树荫下凉快之处;闺房;v.荫蔽 | |
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42 anonymous | |
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的 | |
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43 ardor | |
n.热情,狂热 | |
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44 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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45 supplants | |
把…排挤掉,取代( supplant的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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47 repentant | |
adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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48 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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49 meridians | |
n.子午圈( meridian的名词复数 );子午线;顶点;(权力,成就等的)全盛时期 | |
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50 amorous | |
adj.多情的;有关爱情的 | |
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51 technically | |
adv.专门地,技术上地 | |
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52 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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53 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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54 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55 surmised | |
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想 | |
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56 memoirs | |
n.回忆录;回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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57 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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58 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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59 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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60 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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61 moody | |
adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的 | |
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62 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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63 pugnacious | |
adj.好斗的 | |
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64 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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65 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
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66 penal | |
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的 | |
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67 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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68 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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69 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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70 turbulence | |
n.喧嚣,狂暴,骚乱,湍流 | |
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71 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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