I should say that those New England rocks on the seacoast, which Agassiz imagines to bear the marks of violent scraping contact with vast floating icebergs—I should say, that those rocks must not a little resemble the Sperm Whale in this particular. It also seems to me that such scratches in the whale are probably made by hostile contact with other whales; for I have most remarked them in the large, full-grown bulls of the species.
我敢说，新英格兰沿海的那些岩石，也就是阿伽西（路易士·约翰·鲁道夫·阿伽西（1807—1878）——瑞士博物学家。）认为那上面是跟大浮冰块相碰击的结果，才有那么厉害的伤痕——我敢说，在这方面说来，那些岩石准是跟抹香鲸极其相似的。我也认为，大鲸之所以有这些搔痕，大概是跟其它大鲸争斗所致，因为我常常在那种茁壮结实的大鲸身上看到那种搔痕。
A word or two more concerning this matter of the skin or blubber of the whale. It has already been said, that it is stript from him in long pieces, called blanket-pieces. Like most sea-terms, this one is very happy and significant. For the whale is indeed wrapt up in his blubber as in a real blanket or counterpane; or, still better, an Indian poncho slipt over his head, and skirting his extremity. It is by reason of this cosy blanketing of his body, that the whale is enabled to keep himself comfortable in all weathers, in all seas, times, and tides. What would become of a Greenland whale, say, in those shuddering, icy seas of the North, if unsupplied with his cosy surtout? True, other fish are found exceedingly brisk in those Hyperborean waters; but these, be it observed, are your cold-blooded, lungless fish, whose very bellies are refrigerators; creatures, that warm themselves under the lee of an iceberg, as a traveller in winter would bask before an inn fire; whereas, like man, the whale has lungs and warm blood.
关于鲸皮或者鲸脂这问题，还得再说一两句话。我已经说过，人们把那种从它身上剥下来的长条条叫做绒毯。这名称，跟大多数的航海术语一样，也是十分巧妙而深具意义的。因为大鲸确实是裹在它的鲸脂里，好象真的裹着一条绒毯或者被单；或者，不如更恰切地说，是裹着一件印第安人穿的那种从头上套下去的硬大衣，把它四周都裹得紧紧密密。正是由于它身上裹有这种舒适的绒毯，鲸才能够在各种气候、各种海洋、各种时间、各种潮汐中过得舒舒服服。比如拿格陵兰鲸来说，它在北极那种冰封雪冻，冷彻肌肤的海洋里，如果它没有那件舒适的大衣，将会有什么结果呢？不错，其它的鱼类，在那种北方乐土似的海里是过得非常活泼的；不过，请注意，那些鱼，都是冷血无肺的鱼类，它们的肚皮本来就是冰箱，这些在冰块下取暖的生物，就象一个寒冬的旅客，在小客店里的火盆前烤火一样。反之，鲸却跟人一样，既有肺又有热血。