And still in the distracted distance we beheld the tumults of the outer concentric circles, and saw successive pods of whales, eight or ten in each, swiftly going round and round, like multiplied spans of horses in a ring; and so closely shoulder to shoulder, that a Titanic circus-rider might easily have over-arched the middle ones, and so have gone round on their backs. Owing to the density of the crowd of reposing whales, more immediately surrounding the embayed axis of the herd, no possible chance of escape was at present afforded us. We must watch for a breach in the living wall that hemmed us in; the wall that had only admitted us in order to shut us up. Keeping at the centre of the lake, we were occasionally visited by small tame cows and calves; the women and children of this routed host.
但是,在紛擾的遠(yuǎn)處,我們卻看到那個(gè)同心圓的外圈依然一片喧鬧,還看到八條一群、十條一群的鯨接二連三地迅疾繞來繞去,直象一圈無數(shù)的雙軛馬在團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn);肩貼肩貼得這么攏,教泰坦神族的馬戲團(tuán)騎士可以在那些走在中間的鯨身上輕而易舉地架起箍箍來,在它們的背上走個(gè)痛快。由于到處盡是在休息的鯨,那象港灣形的鯨群的軸心越收越緊,我們已經(jīng)沒有突圍而出的可能了。我們置身在這個(gè)把我們團(tuán)團(tuán)圍住的活墻里面,眼看只有伺隙而出了。這垛活墻只是為了要把我們關(guān)起來,才讓我們進(jìn)去的。我們這樣滯留在大湖中心,不時(shí)碰上一些如馴服的母牛和小犢;也碰到這支潰不成軍的隊(duì)伍里的一些婦孺。
Now, inclusive of the occasional wide intervals between the revolving outer circles, and inclusive of the spaces between the various pods in any one of those circles, the entire area at this juncture, embraced by the whole multitude, must have contained at least two or three square miles. At any rate—though indeed such a test at such a time might be deceptive—spoutings might be discovered from our low boat that seemed playing up almost from the rim of the horizon.
現(xiàn)在,如果把外圈許多流動(dòng)的鯨群間偶然出現(xiàn)的大空隙計(jì)算在內(nèi),把這些外圈的各個(gè)鯨群間的地位都計(jì)算在內(nèi)的話,那么,這時(shí),擁有這么許多鯨群的整個(gè)面積,至少一定有二三平方英里??傊?mdash;—雖然老實(shí)說,在這種時(shí)刻,做這種估計(jì)未免有點(diǎn)不可靠——在我們的小艇里,已發(fā)現(xiàn)了噴水,而且那噴水直象是從地皮里涌上來似的。