The most useful, however, of all the Arctic animals is the reindeer. Indeed it is as indispensable to the Laplander, the Siberian, and the Esquimaux, as the camel is to the Bedouin, or the mule to the Peruvian, or as the cocoa-nut palm—the tree of a hundred uses—is to the islanders of the Indian Ocean. Living and dead, he renders to the busy Lapp all the services which it requires three or four animals—the horse, the cow, and the sheep or the goat—to render to the inhabitants of temperate climes. He is tractable and easily tamed. He even saves his master the trouble of providing him with food. For the most remarkable circumstance about him is the unerring instinct with which he discovers his favourite moss, even when the snow covers it to the depth of several feet. As the camel is the "ship" of the ocean of sand, so assuredly is the reindeer the camel of the desert of snow!
对于人类来说，驯鹿是所有北极动物当中用处最多的，对拉普兰人、西伯利亚人和爱斯基摩人来说更是必不可缺，就如同骆驼和贝多因人、骡子和秘鲁人以及有着上百种用途的椰子树和印度洋上的居民一样密不可分。不管是活着的驯鹿还是死去的驯鹿都对拉普兰人大有用处，一头驯鹿能为温带气候的居民提供相当于三到四只马、牛、绵羊或者山羊所提供的服务。除此之外，驯鹿性格好且容易驯服，甚至还不需劳烦主人为自己提供食物，因为驯鹿有一种极其突出的才华，即他能依靠本能准确无误地找到自己最爱吃的苔藓，即使它们被雪埋藏在地下数英尺的地方。正如骆驼是沙漠中的“船”，而驯鹿无疑是沙漠中的“骆驼”！
The Antarctic regions are far more desolate than the Arctic. There no energetic hunters like the Esquimaux chase the seal or the walrus; no patient herdsmen like the Lapps follow their reindeer to the brink of the icy ocean: all is one dreary, cheerless waste, uninhabited and uninhabitable, except by migratory birds,—the petrel, the albatross, the penguin. No plant of any description is found on any part of the Antarctic continent; no land quadruped lives there; everywhere the snow-line descends to the water's edge.
南极比北极要荒凉得多。在南极，没有像爱斯基摩人那样精力充沛的猎人去追逐海豹或海象；也没有像拉普人那样耐心十足的牧民会跟随他们的驯鹿来到冰冷的海洋边缘：到处都是惨淡、毫无生机的荒野，除了像海燕、信天翁这种候鸟和企鹅之外，这里无人居住，也不宜居住。此外，南极大陆上没有丝毫植物生长的痕迹，也没有陆地四足动物生活的痕迹，整个南极除了水就是雪。
Certainly the grandest feature which nature presents in these regions is the Parry mountain-chain, about 1700 miles south of New Zealand. The most conspicuous object of the chain is Mount Erebus, an active volcano, of which Sir James Ross—the greatest of Antarctic explorers—had the good fortune to witness a magnificent eruption in 1841. The enormous column of flame and smoke rising 2000 feet above the mouth of the crater, which is elevated 12, 400 feet above the level of the sea, together with the snow-white mountain-chain and the deep blue ocean, formed a magnificent scene. The South Pole was first reached on December 10, 1911, by a Norwegian expedition under Captain Amundsen, which was favoured in crossing the ice by exceptionally good weather. Little more than a month later it was also reached under the most adverse conditions by Captain Scott, who perished on the return journey.
当然，南极也有令人惊叹的美景，其中最出类拔萃的就是距离新西兰南部1700英里的帕里山脉，而帕里山脉下最引人注目的则属埃里伯斯火山，埃里伯斯火山是一座活火山，伟大的南极探险家詹姆斯·罗斯爵士曾于1841年有幸目睹了该火山喷发时的壮观景象：巨大的火柱和浓烟在火山口上方2000英尺处隆隆蹿起至高出海平面12400英尺的地方，再加上雪白的山脉和深蓝色的海洋，那景观怎一个壮观了得！1911年12月10日，一支由阿蒙森船长率领的挪威探险队第一次到达南极，由于天气尚好，他们的探险进程格外地顺利。一个多月之后，斯科特船长也在最恶劣的条件之下到达了南极，不过在回程途中不幸罹难。
评论
打印
