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Chapter 68 The Blanket
第六十八章 絨毯
I have given no small attention to that not unvexed subject, the skin of the whale. I have had controversies about it with experienced whalemen afloat, and learned naturalists ashore. My original opinion remains unchanged; but it is only an opinion.
我對于鯨皮這個頗為麻煩的問題，已經給予不少的注意。我曾經為了這個問題，跟海上那些經驗豐富的捕鯨人，和陸上那些學問淵博的博物學家有過爭論。雖然我原來的意見還是不變，但也不過是個意見而已。
The question is, what and where is the skin of the whale. Already you know what his blubber is. That blubber is something of the consistence of firm, close-grained beef, but tougher, more elastic and compact, and ranges from eight or ten to twelve and fifteen inches in thickness.
問題是什么叫鯨皮？它長在什么地方？至于鯨脂是什么，大家都已經知道了。所謂鯨脂，就是一種象似紋路密集的硬牛肉的東西，不過比牛肉更硬，更有彈性，更結實些，厚薄約在八英寸或者十英寸到十二或十五英寸之間。
Now, however preposterous it may at first seem to talk of any creature's skin as being of that sort of consistence and thickness, yet in point of fact these are no arguments against such a presumption; because you cannot raise any other dense enveloping layer from the whale's body but that same blubber; and the outermost enveloping layer of any animal, if reasonably dense, what can that be but the skin? True, from the unmarred dead body of the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin; that is, previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens, but becomes rather hard and brittle.
雖然談到任何動物的皮，竟扯到類似于濃度和厚度上去，粗粗一想，似乎頗為荒唐，然而，事實上，這樣的一種推定，卻是無可置辯的，因為從鯨身上，除了這種鯨脂，是再也揭不出什么細密的表皮來的，而且任何一種動物的那層表皮，如果是相當細密的話，除了管它叫皮，還能叫什么呢？不錯，從一條未受損傷的死鯨身上，如果你用手一搔，也許可以抓出一層很薄的、透明的東西來，它有點象是最薄的云母片，不同的是，它簡直象緞子一般，又柔又軟，就是說，在還沒有把它曬干之前，在它不但還沒有收縮和變厚，而且也沒有發硬和發脆的時候。
