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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.
長期以來，我一直有一個愿望，尤其是從我開始給諸位講述“裴廓德號”的故事以后，就更強烈了。
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.
這個愿望就是：給一只大鯨畫像，畫一個大鯨的真正的畫像。
It is time to set the world right in this matter, by proving such pictures of the whale all wrong.
然而這個愿望此時此刻卻無法實現，因為船上既沒有畫布，我也沒有畫家的手筆。
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.
那我只能用嘴來畫給大家聽。 我會畫得很仔細，很逼真，讓所有捕鯨的人都確信它就是他們追殺至死，剛剛拖回船邊的那頭鯨。 只有贏得了捕鯨人的贊同，這被我用嘴畫出來的東西才能被稱為是鯨。
