Secondly: It is well known in the Sperm Whale Fishery, however ignorant the world ashore may be of it, that there have been several memorable historical instances where a particular whale in the ocean has been at distant times and places popularly cognisable. Why such a whale became thus marked was not altogether and originally owing to his bodily peculiarities as distinguished from other whales; for however peculiar in that respect any chance whale may be, they soon put an end to his peculiarities by killing him, and boiling him down into a peculiarly valuable oil. No: the reason was this: that from the fatal experiences of the fishery there hung a terrible prestige of perilousness about such a whale as there did about Rinaldo Rinaldini, insomuch that most fishermen were content to recognise him by merely touching their tarpaulins when he would be discovered lounging by them on the sea, without seeking to cultivate a more intimate acquaintance. Like some poor devils ashore that happen to known an irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive salutations to him in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance further, they might receive a summary thump for their presumption.
第二,在捕抹香鲸业中,有过几次颇为著名而难忘的历史实例(尽管这可能是岸上人一无所知的),那就是:大海里有一条特殊的鲸,一向不拘时地之久远,都是一看就教人认出来的。这条鲸之所以这样教人一看就识,倒并不完全是因为它身体上本来具有什么跟其它大鲸不同的特点;因为任何一条鲸不论在这方面具有什么特点,人们还是会针对它这种特点立刻把它杀了,把它熬成特别贵重的油。不,理由是这样的:根据捕鱼界的出生入死的经验,这种大鲸跟里纳尔多。里纳尔第尼(里纳尔多。里纳尔第尼——基督圣军一个勇士,"他不要财,不要势,只要出名",十五岁参加圣军,杀了人后,自动去流放了。)一般,天生有一种可怕而危险的名声,因此,大多数捕鱼人一发现它在海上,在他们旁边游荡的时候,他们无须跟它多打交道。只要轻轻地招呼一声他们的伙伴来见识见识它,就已是心满意足。他们象岸上一些穷鬼那样,偶尔在街上认识一个脾气急躁的大人物,他们都敬而远之,对他遥致敬意,因为如果他们想要更亲近些,就难免要因为冒昧而当场挨到一拳。
But not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great individual celebrity--nay, you may call it an oceanwide renown; not only was he famous in life and now is immortal in forecastle stories after death, but he was admitted into all the rights, privileges, and distinctions of a name; had as much a name indeed as Cambyses or Caesar. Was it not so, O Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan, scarred like an iceberg, who so long did'st lurk in the Oriental straits of that name, whose spout was oft seen from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it not so, O New Zealand Jack! thou terror of all cruisers that crossed their wakes in the vicinity of the Tattoo Land? Was it not so, O Morquan! King of Japan, whose lofty jet they say at times assumed the semblance of a snow-white cross against the sky? Was it not so, O Don Miguel! thou Chilian whale, marked like an old tortoise with mystic hieroglyphics upon the back! In plain prose, here are four whales as well known to the students of Cetacean History as Marius or Sylla to the classic scholar.