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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，在纷扰的远处，我们却看到那个同心圆的外圈依然一片喧闹，还看到八条一群、十条一群的鲸接二连三地迅疾绕来绕去，直象一圈无数的双轭马在团团转；肩贴肩贴得这么拢，教泰坦神族的马戏团骑士可以在那些走在中间的鲸身上轻而易举地架起箍箍来，在它们的背上走个痛快。由于到处尽是在休息的鲸，那象港湾形的鲸群的轴心越收越紧，我们已经没有突围而出的可能了。我们置身在这个把我们团团围住的活墙里面，眼看只有伺隙而出了。这垛活墙只是为了要把我们关起来，才让我们进去的。我们这样滞留在大湖中心，不时碰上一些如驯服的母牛和小犊；也碰到这支溃不成军的队伍里的一些妇孺。

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.

现在，如果把外圈许多流动的鲸群间偶然出现的大空隙计算在内，把这些外圈的各个鲸群间的地位都计算在内的话，那么，这时，拥有这么许多鲸群的整个面积，至少一定有二三平方英里。总之——虽然老实说，在这种时刻，做这种估计未免有点不可靠——在我们的小艇里，已发现了喷水，而且那喷水直象是从地皮里涌上来似的。