海底兩萬里 第491期 第30章 從合恩角到亞馬遜河(13)

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These were manatees, which belong to the order Sirenia, like the dugong and Steller's sea cow. Harmless and unaggressive, these fine animals were six to seven meters long and must have weighed at least 4,000 kilograms each. I told Ned Land and Conseil that farseeing nature had given these mammals a major role to play. In essence, manatees, like seals, are designed to graze the underwater prairies, destroying the clusters of weeds that obstruct the mouths of tropical rivers.

這些海牛像海馬和大海馬一樣，屬于人魚目。這些美麗、安詳、溫順的動物，長6至7米，體重至少有4000公斤。我告訴尼德·蘭和康塞爾，有遠(yuǎn)見的造物主賦予這些哺乳動物一個重要的角色。的確，正是它們，像海豹一樣，以海中的海草為食，把阻塞熱帶河流出?？诘拇竺娣e海草消滅掉。

"And do you know," I added, "what happened since man has almost completely wiped out these beneficial races?Rotting weeds have poisoned the air, and this poisoned air causes the yellow fever that devastates these wonderful countries. This toxic vegetation has increased beneath the seas of the Torrid Zone, so the disease spreads unchecked from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Florida!"

“你們知道嗎，”我補(bǔ)充說，“當(dāng)人類差不多將這些有用的動物種類統(tǒng)統(tǒng)消滅光時(shí)，會有什么后果嗎？那就是，腐爛了的海草就會毒化空氣，而有毒的空氣，會導(dǎo)致黃熱病，使這個富饒的地區(qū)變得一片荒涼。而有害的植物就會蔓延滋長在這片酷熱的海里，疾病就會不可抵制地從普拉塔的里約河口，一直蔓延到佛羅里達(dá)。”

And if Professor Toussenel is correct, this plague is nothing compared to the scourge that will strike our descendants once the seas are depopulated of whales and seals. By then, crowded with jellyfish, squid, and other devilfish, the oceans will have become huge centers of infection, because their waves will no longer possess "these huge stomachs that God has entrusted with scouring the surface of the sea."

但如果按杜斯耐爾的觀點(diǎn)，這種災(zāi)難比起海里的鯨魚和海豹數(shù)量減少而帶給我們的后代的災(zāi)難來說，那還不算什么。因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在海里不再存在著那些“上帝派來清掃海面的大胃口動物”，海洋里到處充斥著章魚、水母和槍，烏賊，海洋將變成一個巨大的疾病傳染源。

Meanwhile, without scorning these theories, the Nautilus's crew captured half a dozen manatees.In essence, it was an issue of stocking the larder with excellent red meat, even better than beef or veal.

然而，盡管明了這些道理，“鸚鵡螺號”船上的人還是捕捉了6只海牛。這其實(shí)是為了充實(shí)船上的食品儲備，這種美味的海牛肉比牛肉和小牛肉還好吃。