Chapter 98 Stowing Down and Clearing Up
第九十八章 装舱和打扫
Already has it been related how the great leviathan is afar off descried from the mast-head; how he is chased over the watery moors, and slaughtered in the valleys of the deep; how he is then towed alongside and beheaded; and how (on the principle which entitled the headsman of old to the garments in which the beheaded was killed) his great padded surtout becomes the property of his executioner; how, in due time, he is condemned to the pots, and, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti, oil, and bone pass unscathed through the fire;—but now it remains to conclude the last chapter of this part of the description by rehearsing—singing, if I may—the romantic proceeding of decanting off his oil into the casks and striking them down into the hold, where once again leviathan returns to his native profundities, sliding along beneath the surface as before; but, alas! never more to rise and blow.
前面已经讲过了：大鲸是怎样老远就被桅顶上的人发现；人们怎样在茫茫的汪洋上追击它，在大海的幽谷里把它给宰杀了；接着又怎样把它拖在船侧，被砍了头；它那件大礼服也似的外皮怎样（根据这件大衣应归那个杀了它的头的指挥员的老原则）成为这个刽子手的所有物；又怎样把它及时判进了锅里，结果象沙得拉、米煞、亚伯尼歌（三人都是被巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒掷进火里而一无损伤的，见《旧约·但以理书》第三章十三节至二十三节。）那样，它的鲸脑、鲸油和骨头都经过火烧而一无损伤；——可是，现在还得把那富有传奇意味的过程（怎样把鲸油倒进了大桶，把它们滚进舱里去），加以朗诵（我也不妨称之为歌唱）一番，以结束这方面的描述的最后一章，因为进了舱里，大鲸又再度回到它原来的深渊去了，象以前那样在海里滚来滚去；不过，可惜它再也不能冒上来喷水了！
While still warm, the oil, like hot punch, is received into the six-barrel casks; and while, perhaps, the ship is pitching and rolling this way and that in the midnight sea, the enormous casks are slewed round and headed over, end for end, and sometimes perilously scoot across the slippery deck, like so many land slides, till at last man-handled and stayed in their course; and all round the hoops, rap, rap, go as many hammers as can play upon them, for now, ex officio, every sailor is a cooper.
当鲸油还热的时候，它象热五味酒一般，被灌进了六桶装的大桶里；当时船只也许是在午夜中颠来簸去地往前驶去，这些大桶便都旋来转去，颠颠倒倒，有时还会危险地在滑溜溜的甲板上疾滚着，好象天崩地裂，直到最后，人们把它们抓住了，放正过来；加上铁箍，砰砰敲个不停，有多少榔头就使多少榔头。按照职务说来，现在每个水手都是箍桶匠了。