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OCTAVOES.These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among which at present may be numbered:--I., the Grampus; II., the Black Fish; III., the Narwhale; IV., the Thrasher; V., the Killer.
八開型(原注:本篇所指的鯨為什么不稱為四開型是很明白的。包括那些體積中等的鯨,在這里可以列舉出來的,有如下幾種:(１)逆戟鯨;(２)黑鯨;(３)獨角鯨;(４)海豚鯨;(５)長尾鯨。
Why this book of whales is not denominated the Quarto is very plain. Because, while the whales of this order, though smaller than those of the former order, nevertheless retain a proportionate likeness to them in figure, yet the bookbinder's Quarto volume in its dimensioned form does not preserve the shape of the Folio volume, but the Octavo volume does.
因為屬于這一級的鯨,雖然比第一篇的那一級體積較小些,但在身材上,卻仍具有跟前者相似的地方,而且裝訂作里那種縮小了形式的四開本,并沒有保存著對開本的原來的樣子,反之,八開本卻有對開本的樣子,因此,我采用八開型。
BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER I. (Grampus).--Though this fish, whose loud sonorous breathing, or rather blowing, has furnished a proverb to landsmen, is so well known a denizen of the deep, yet is he not popularly classed among whales. But possessing all the grand distinctive features of the leviathan, most naturalists have recognised him for one. He is of moderate octavo size, varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and of corresponding dimensions round the waist. He swims in herds; he is never regularly hunted, though his oil is considerable in quantity, and pretty good for light. By some fishermen his approach is regarded as premonitory of the advance of the great sperm whale.
第二篇(八開型) 第一章(逆戟鯨)...這種鯨,它的高大宏亮的呼吸聲,或者不如說是吹氣聲,往往授陸上人以一種話柄,它是海上的有名公民,然而,一般仍不把它算做鯨。不過,由于它具有大海獸的一切主要特點,因此,大多數的博物學家還是把它當做鯨類。它有適中的八開的身材,長自十五英尺至二十五英尺不等,腰圍隨身材長短而大小不一。它是成群出游的;它從來沒有被正式獵捕過,雖然它有數量不少的油,并且很適于點燈之用。根據一些捕魚者的經驗,認為這種魚一出現,就是大抹香鯨前來的征兆。
