And there seems no reason to doubt that if these elephants, which have now been hunted for thousands of years, by Semiramis, by Porus, by Hannibal, and by all the successive monarchs of the East— if they still survive there in great numbers, much more may the great whale outlast all hunting, since he has a pasture to expatiate in, which is precisely twice as large as all Asia, both Americas, Europe and Africa, New Holland, and all the Isles of the sea combined.
因此，如果这些大象，几千年来已经遭到了塞密拉密斯（塞密拉密斯——神话中的亚述皇后，以貌美、才智、妖娆见称，据说建立过巴比伦城，攻占过埃及，和许多亚洲及埃塞俄比亚的城市，最后攻印度而大败。），波拉斯（波拉斯（公元前？—321？）——印度王子，为亚历山大大帝所征服。），汉尼拔（汉尼拔（公元前247—183）——古迦太基的将军。）以及东方一连串君主的猎捕后，而它们还能继续大量存在的话，那么，对于大鲸的远能经受得了一切猎击，就更没有可以怀疑的理由了，因为大鲸有一个足资漫游的大草原，而这个大草原正是比亚洲，加上美洲，欧洲和非洲，新荷兰，以及全世界各岛各屿的总面积还要大上一倍。
Moreover: we are to consider, that from the presumed great longevity of whales, their probably attaining the age of a century and more, therefore at any one period of time, several distinct adult generations must be contemporary. And what this is, we may soon gain some idea of, by imagining all the grave-yards, cemeteries, and family vaults of creation yielding up the live bodies of all the men, women, and children who were alive seventy-five years ago; and adding this countless host to the present human population of the globe.
而且，根据一般认为大鲸是长寿的看法，我们还得考虑一下它们可能会活到一百多岁，因此，在任何一段期间里，若干特殊的长辈一定就是同时代人了。由是，我们只消这么想一想，人间的一切墓地、坟场和家冢里所藏着的那些在七十五年前还活着的男女老幼的尸体，再把这一无数的队伍加上现今地球上的人口，那么，这究竟是怎么一种情况，我们立刻就可以得到一些概念了。
Wherefore, for all these things, we account the whale immortal in his species, however perishable in his individuality. He swam the seas before the continents broke water; he once swam over the site of the Tuileries, and Windsor Castle, and the Kremlin. In Noah's flood he despised Noah's Ark; and if ever the world is to be again flooded, like the Netherlands, to kill off its rats, then the eternal whale will still survive, and rearing upon the topmost crest of the equatorial flood, spout his frothed defiance to the skies.
因此，尽管有这些情况，不论这种鲸会有个别的死亡，我们还是应该把鲸类看做是一种不朽的动物。它在大陆还未突破洪水而出现之前就在海洋中游来游去，它还曾经游过杜依勒利宫，温莎宫，克里姆林宫从前的地基。在挪亚的洪水中，它根本就不把挪亚的方舟放在眼里；如果世界还会再发洪水，象荷兰那样，连老鼠都给淹得干干净净，那么，这种永存的鲸也还是会活下去，而且会高矗在赤道的洪水似的浪峰上，朝天喷出它的唾沫，表示蔑视呢。