Inasmuch, then, as this Leviathan comes floundering down upon us from the head-waters of the Eternities, it may be fitly inquired, whether, in the long course of his generations, he has not degenerated1 from the original bulk of his sires.
But upon investigation2 we find, that not only are the whales of the present day superior in magnitude to those whose fossil remains3 are found in the Tertiary system (embracing a distinct geological period prior to man), but of the whales found in that Tertiary system, those belonging to its latter formations exceed in size those of its earlier ones.
Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed4, by far the largest is the Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen's authority, that Sperm5 Whales have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture.
But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it not be, that since Adam's time they have degenerated?
Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists6 generally. For Pliny tells us of Whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others which measured eight hundred feet in length-- Rope Walks and Thames Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke's naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And Lacepede, the French naturalist7, in his elaborate history of whales, in the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was published so late as A.D. 1825.
But will any whaleman believe these stories? No. The whale of to-day is as big as his ancestors in Pliny's time. And if ever I go where Pliny is, I, a whaleman (more than he was), will make bold to tell him so. Because I cannot understand how it is, that while the Egyptian mummies that were buried thousands of years before even Pliny was born, do not measure so much in their coffins8 as a modern Kentuckian in his socks; and while the cattle and other animals sculptured on the oldest Egyptian and Nineveh tablets, by the relative proportions in which they are drawn9, just as plainly prove that the high-bred, stall-fed, prize cattle of Smithfield, not only equal, but far exceed in magnitude the fattest of Pharaoh's fat kine; in the face of all this, I will not admit that of all animals the whale alone should have degenerated.
But still another inquiry10 remains; one often agitated11 by the more recondite12 Nantucketers. Whether owing to the almost omniscient13 look-outs at the mast-heads of the whaleships, now penetrating14 even through Behring's straits, and into the remotest secret drawers and lockers15 of the world; and the thousand harpoons16 and lances darted17 along all continental18 coasts; the moot19 point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a chase, and so remorseless a havoc20; whether he must not at last be exterminated21 from the waters, and the last whale, like the last man, smoke his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff22.
Comparing the humped herds23 of whales with the humped herds of buffalo24, which, not forty years ago, overspread by tens of thousands the prairies of Illinois and Missouri, and shook their iron manes and scowled25 with their thunder-clotted brows upon the sites of populous26 river-capitals, where now the polite broker27 sells you land at a dollar an inch; in such a comparison an irresistible28 argument would seem furnished, to show that the hunted whale cannot now escape speedy extinction30.
But you must look at this matter in every light. Though so short a period ago--not a good lifetime--the census31 of the buffalo in Illinois exceeded the census of men now in London, and though at the present day not one horn or hoof32 of them remains in all that region; and though the cause of this wondrous33 extermination34 was the spear of man; yet the far different nature of the whale-hunt peremptorily35 forbids so inglorious an end to the Leviathan. Forty men in one ship hunting the Sperm Whales for forty-eight months think they have done extremely well, and thank God, if at last they carry home the oil of forty fish. Whereas, in the days of the old Canadian and Indian hunters and trappers of the West, when the far west (in whose sunset suns still rise) was a wilderness36 and a virgin37, the same number of moccasined men, for the same number of months, mounted on horse instead of sailing in ships, would have slain38 not forty, but forty thousand and more buffaloes39; a fact that, if need were, could be statistically40 stated.
Nor, considered aright, does it seem any argument in favor of the gradual extinction of the Sperm Whale, for example, that in former years (the latter part of the last century, say) these Leviathans, in small pods, were encountered much oftener than at present, and, in consequence, the voyages were not so prolonged, and were also much more remunerative41. Because, as has been elsewhere noticed, those whales, influenced by some views to safety, now swim the seas in immense caravans42, so that to a large degree the scattered43 solitaries44, yokes45, and pods, and schools of other days are now aggregated46 into vast but widely separated, unfrequent armies. That is all. And equally fallacious seems the conceit47, that because the so-called whale-bone whales no longer haunt many grounds in former years abounding48 with them, hence that species also is declining. For they are only being driven from promontory49 to cape29; and if one coast is no longer enlivened with their jets, then, be sure, some other and remoter strand50 has been very recently startled by the unfamiliar51 spectacle.
Furthermore: concerning these last mentioned Leviathans, they have two firm fortresses52, which, in all human probability, will for ever remain impregnable. And as upon the invasion of their valleys, the frosty Swiss have retreated to their mountains; so, hunted from the savannas53 and glades54 of the middle seas, the whale-bone whales can at last resort to their Polar citadels55, and diving under the ultimate glassy barriers and walls there, come up among icy fields and floes! and in a charmed circle of everlasting56 December, bid defiance57 to all pursuit from man.
But as perhaps fifty of these whale-bone whales are harpooned58 for one cachalot, some philosophers of the forecastle have concluded that this positive havoc has already very seriously diminished their battalions59. But though for some time past a number of these whales, not less than 13,000, have been annually60 slain on the nor'west coast by the Americans alone; yet there are considerations which render even this circumstance of little or no account as an opposing argument in this matter.
Natural as it is to be somewhat incredulous concerning the populousness61 of the more enormous creatures of the globe, yet what shall we say to Harto, the historian of Goa, when he tells us that at one hunting the King of Siam took 4,000 elephants; that in those regions elephants are numerous as droves of cattle in the temperate62 climes. And there seems no reason to doubt that if these elephants, which have now been hunted for thousands of years, by Semiramis, by Porus, by Hannibal, and by all the successive monarchs63 of the East-- if they still survive there in great numbers, much more may the great whale outlast64 all hunting, since he has a pasture to expatiate65 in, which is precisely66 twice as large as all Asia, both Americas, Europe and Africa, New Holland, and all the Isles67 of the sea combined.
Moreover: we are to consider, that from the presumed great longevity68 of whales, their probably attaining69 the age of a century and more, therefore at any one period of time, several distinct adult generations must be contemporary. And what this is, we may soon gain some idea of, by imagining all the grave-yards, cemeteries70, and family vaults71 of creation yielding up the live bodies of all the men, women, and children who were alive seventy-five years ago; and adding this countless72 host to the present human population of the globe.
Wherefore, for all these things, we account the whale immortal73 in his species, however perishable74 in his individuality. He swam the seas before the continents broke water; he once swam over the site of the Tuileries, and Windsor Castle, and the Kremlin. In Noah's flood he despised Noah's Ark; and if ever the world is to be again flooded, like the Netherlands, to kill off its rats, then the eternal whale will still survive, and rearing upon the topmost crest75 of the equatorial flood, spout76 his frothed defiance to the skies.
1 degenerated | |
衰退,堕落,退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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3 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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4 exhumed | |
v.挖出,发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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6 naturalists | |
n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 );(文学艺术的)自然主义者 | |
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7 naturalist | |
n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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8 coffins | |
n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 );使某人早亡[死,完蛋,垮台等]之物 | |
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9 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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10 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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11 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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12 recondite | |
adj.深奥的,难解的 | |
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13 omniscient | |
adj.无所不知的;博识的 | |
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14 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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15 lockers | |
n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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16 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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17 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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18 continental | |
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的 | |
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19 moot | |
v.提出;adj.未决议的;n.大会;辩论会 | |
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20 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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21 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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23 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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24 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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25 scowled | |
怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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27 broker | |
n.中间人,经纪人;v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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28 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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29 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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30 extinction | |
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种 | |
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31 census | |
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查 | |
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32 hoof | |
n.(马,牛等的)蹄 | |
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33 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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34 extermination | |
n.消灭,根绝 | |
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35 peremptorily | |
adv.紧急地,不容分说地,专横地 | |
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36 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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37 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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38 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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39 buffaloes | |
n.水牛(分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种)( buffalo的名词复数 );(南非或北美的)野牛;威胁;恐吓 | |
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40 statistically | |
ad.根据统计数据来看,从统计学的观点来看 | |
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41 remunerative | |
adj.有报酬的 | |
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42 caravans | |
(可供居住的)拖车(通常由机动车拖行)( caravan的名词复数 ); 篷车; (穿过沙漠地带的)旅行队(如商队) | |
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43 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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44 solitaries | |
n.独居者,隐士( solitary的名词复数 ) | |
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45 yokes | |
轭( yoke的名词复数 ); 奴役; 轭形扁担; 上衣抵肩 | |
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46 aggregated | |
a.聚合的,合计的 | |
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47 conceit | |
n.自负,自高自大 | |
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48 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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49 promontory | |
n.海角;岬 | |
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50 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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51 unfamiliar | |
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的 | |
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52 fortresses | |
堡垒,要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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53 savannas | |
n.(美国东南部的)无树平原( savanna的名词复数 );(亚)热带的稀树大草原 | |
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54 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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55 citadels | |
n.城堡,堡垒( citadel的名词复数 ) | |
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56 everlasting | |
adj.永恒的,持久的,无止境的 | |
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57 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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58 harpooned | |
v.鱼镖,鱼叉( harpoon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59 battalions | |
n.(陆军的)一营(大约有一千兵士)( battalion的名词复数 );协同作战的部队;军队;(组织在一起工作的)队伍 | |
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60 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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61 populousness | |
人口稠密 | |
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62 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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63 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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64 outlast | |
v.较…耐久 | |
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65 expatiate | |
v.细说,详述 | |
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66 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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67 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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68 longevity | |
n.长命;长寿 | |
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69 attaining | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的现在分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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70 cemeteries | |
n.(非教堂的)墓地,公墓( cemetery的名词复数 ) | |
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71 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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72 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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73 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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74 perishable | |
adj.(尤指食物)易腐的,易坏的 | |
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75 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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76 spout | |
v.喷出,涌出;滔滔不绝地讲;n.喷管;水柱 | |
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