Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of the whale's flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber, and often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness. It is a most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold. As its name imports, it is of an exceedingly rich, mottled tint, with a bestreaked snowy and golden ground, dotted with spots of the deepest crimson and purple. It is plums of rubies, in pictures of citron. Spite of reason, it is hard to keep yourself from eating it. I confess, that once I stole behind the foremast to try it. It tasted something as I should conceive a royal cutlet from the thigh of Louis le Gros might have tasted, supposing him to have been killed the first day after the venison season, and that particular venison season contemporary with an unusually fine vintage of the vineyards of Champagne.
葡萄干布丁是对鲸肉上那些碎块的叫法，这些东西这里那里地粘在那层油毡子上，往往含有相当油量。这是一种看了最令人心旷神怡，而又很美的东西。顾名思义，它具有非常绚烂而斑驳的颜色，底子是雪白而又金黄的斑纹，点缀着深红和紫色的点子。它就是红宝石中的极品，极象香橼。不知什么道理，它总令人不禁要尝它一尝，我坦白，我曾经在主桅后边偷尝过它一次。那味道，就我所能想象的，只有用胖子路易（胖子路易——指法皇路易十四。）的大腿肉做出来的皇家肉片才能与之媲美，不妨说是在捕猎季节的第一天，把他杀倒了的，而且在那个特殊的捕猎季节的同时，也正是香槟（香槟——法国从前东北部的一个省份，以产"香槟酒"著名。）的葡萄园非凡的丰收季节。
There is another substance, and a very singular one, which turns up in the course of this business, but which I feel it to be very puzzling adequately to describe. It is called slobgollion; an appellation original with the whalemen, and even so is the nature of the substance. It is an ineffably oozy, stringy affair, most frequently found in the tubs of sperm, after a prolonged squeezing, and subsequent decanting. I hold it to be the wondrously thin, ruptured membranes of the case, coalescing.
另外还有一种在揉捏过程中发现的十分特别的东西，不过，这东西我觉得要加以适当描摹倒是十分为难。它的名称是"斯洛戈里昂"（斯洛是"泥"，戈里昂是"衣"的意思。）；这本是捕鲸人的一种叫法，而且这东西的性质也正是这样的。它是一种说不出的粘搭搭的物事，在长时间的捏揉和最后把液体倒出来后，总会在鲸油桶里发现到它。我把它看成是鲸脑的一种非常稀薄的粘膜体。
评论
打印
