這兩只擱淺了的鯨骷髏,本來就是出自同一個理由而成它們的物主的所有物的。托朗魁王是因為他要這東西才把它占為己有;而克利福德爵士則是因為他是當(dāng)?shù)氐念I(lǐng)主??死5戮羰磕菞l鯨(據(jù)百周年紀念版注:這條鯨是在一八二五年四月二十八日擱淺在約克郡海邊的。),它的關(guān)節(jié)完全可以由人們給接攏來;因此,活象一只大櫥的抽屜,既可以關(guān),又可以開,在它所有的骨洞里(那些肋骨象一把張開的大扇),一天到晚都在下顎上面晃來晃去。有些活門和百葉窗還加上鎖;一個手里拿著一串鑰匙的仆役,經(jīng)常站在它身邊,隨時把它打開,讓參觀者看個周遍??死5戮羰窟€想收取費用:在這個骨柱的低語高響廊里瞧一瞧的,收費兩個便士;聽一聽它那小腦洞里的回聲的,收費三個便士;對它的額頭作一次絕無僅有的觀察的,收費六個便士。
The skeleton dimensions I shall now proceed to set down are copied verbatim from my right arm, where I had them tattooed; as in my wild wanderings at that period, there was no other secure way of preserving such valuable statistics. But as I was crowded for space, and wished the other parts of my body to remain a blank page for a poem I was then composing— at least, what untattooed parts might remain—I did not trouble myself with the odd inches; nor, indeed, should inches at all enter into a congenial admeasurement of the whale.
且說我現(xiàn)在所要記下來的這個骷髏的大小,是從我的右臂上一筆一劃地仔細抄下來的,我把所見的都文在這只右臂上;因為在我當(dāng)時的浪蕩日子里,實在沒有更妥當(dāng)?shù)姆椒▉肀4孢@么貴重的統(tǒng)計材料。而且,由于我身上的地位不多,同時還想留下一些空白地方,來寫我當(dāng)時所構(gòu)思的一首詩——至少還得留著一塊未曾文身的地方——因此,我就不去計較那些零頭的尺寸了;而且,老實說,根本也用不著尺碼分明地把它弄得象一般鯨的尺寸那樣。