I shall ere long paint to you as well as one can without canvas, something like the true form of the whale as he actually appears to the eye of the whaleman when in his own absolute body the whale is moored alongside the whale-ship so that he can be fairly stepped upon there.

长期以来，我一直有一个愿望，尤其是从我开始给诸位讲述“裴廓德号”的故事以后，就更强烈了。

It may be worth while, therefore, previously to advert to those curious imaginary portraits of him which even down to the present day confidently challenge the faith of the landsman.

这个愿望就是：给一只大鲸画像，画一个大鲸的真正的画像。

It is time to set the world right in this matter, by proving such pictures of the whale all wrong.

然而这个愿望此时此刻却无法实现，因为船上既没有画布，我也没有画家的手笔。

It may be that the primal source of all those pictorial delusions will be found among the oldest Hindoo, Egyptian, and Grecian sculptures. For ever since those inventive but unscrupulous times when on the marble panellings of temples, the pedestals of statues, and on shields, medallions, cups, and coins, the dolphin was drawn in scales of chain-armor like Saladin's, and a helmeted head like St.George's; ever since then has something of the same sort of license prevailed, not only in most popular pictures of the whale, but in many scientific presentations of him.

那我只能用嘴来画给大家听。 我会画得很仔细，很逼真，让所有捕鲸的人都确信它就是他们追杀至死，刚刚拖回船边的那头鲸。 只有赢得了捕鲸人的赞同，这被我用嘴画出来的东西才能被称为是鲸。