27 南极(10)
Only if they're attacked, I replied.
不，我回答，除非是人家要攻击它们。
But when these giant seals defend their little ones, their fury is dreadful, and it isn't rare for them to smash a fisherman's longboat to bits.
当一条海豹保卫它的子女的时候，它是愤怒得怕人，它把渔人的小船弄成碎片，并不是希罕的事。
They're within their rights, Conseil answered.
那是它的正当权利。康塞尔立即说。
I don't say nay.
我没有说不是呀。
Two miles farther on, we were stopped by a promontory that screened the bay from southerly winds.
再走两海里远，我们就被保护港湾不受南风吹打的尖峡挡住了。
It dropped straight down to the sea, and surf foamed against it.
尖峡靠海矗一立，回潮打来，泡沫飞一溅，
From beyond this ridge there came fearsome bellows, such as a herd of cattle might produce.
呷外有隆隆的吼叫一声发出，就像一一群一牛羊反刍类可能发出的声响那么利害。
Gracious, Conseil put in, a choir of bulls?
怎么，康塞尔说，是水牛的音乐会吗？
No, I said, a choir of walruses.
不，我说，是海马的音乐会。
Are they fighting with each other?
它们打架吗？
Either fighting or playing.
它们或者是打架，或者是玩耍。
With all due respect to master, this we must see.
请先生原谅，我们应当去看一下。
Then see it we must, Conseil.
我们应当去看一下，康塞尔。
And there we were, climbing these blackish rocks amid sudden landslides and over stones slippery with ice.
我们于是在意想不到的乱石间，被冰块弄得很滑一溜的碎石上走过那些灰黑的岩石地。
More than once I took a tumble at the expense of my backside.
不止一次，我滑倒了，弄得腰部酸痛。
Conseil, more cautious or more stable, barely faltered and would help me up, saying:
康塞尔，或者是因为他比较小心，或者是因为他比较结实，没有摔过：他把我扶起来，说：
If master's legs would kindly adopt a wider stance, master will keep his balance.
如果先生愿意把两一腿一挪开一些，先生就更能保持身一体的平衡了。
Arriving at the topmost ridge of this promontory, I could see vast white plains covered with walruses.
到了尖呷的高脊背上，我望见一片白一色一的广大平原，上面全是海马。
These animals were playing among themselves.
这些海马正在成一群一玩耍，刚才听到的是它们的快乐的声音，
They were howling not in anger but in glee.
不是它们愤怒的壕叫。
Walruses resemble seals in the shape of their bodies and the arrangement of their limbs.
海马从躯体的外形上看，从四肢的安排上看，跟海豹很相象。
But their lower jaws lack canines and incisors, and as for their upper canines, they consist of two tusks eighty centimeters long with a circumference of thirty-three centimeters at the socket.
可是它们的下鄂没有虎牙和门牙，至于上鄂的虎牙，那是两枚长八十厘米，下槽周圆三十三厘米的角牙，这些牙由致密无疵的牙质上成，比象牙更硬，又比较不易变黄。