海底兩萬里 第279期 第21章 在陸地上的兩天(11)
What! Conseil exclaimed. They make counterfeit birds of paradise?
怎么!康塞爾喊，有人做假無雙鳥嗎？
Yes, Conseil.
是的，康塞爾。
And is master familiar with how the islanders go about it?
那么，先生知道土人的制造方法嗎?
Perfectly familiar. During the easterly monsoon season, birds of paradise lose the magnificent feathers around their tails that naturalists call 'below-the-wing' feathers. These feathers are gathered by the fowl forgers and skillfully fitted onto some poor previously mutilated parakeet. Then they paint over the suture, varnish the bird, and ship the fruits of their unique labors to museums and collectors in Europe.
知道。當(dāng)東方的季候鳳起來的時候，無雙鳥便脫掉了它尾巴周圍的美麗羽毛，這些脫下的羽毛，生物學(xué)家把它們叫做副翼羽毛。假造鳥類的人把這些羽毛收拾起來，很巧妙地把它們裝在預(yù)先打死、拔了毛的可憐的鸚鵡身上。然后他們把皮毛接合的地方粘起來，粉飾好鳥身，他們就把這些新奇的制作品送到歐洲各地的博物館和喜愛鳥類的人。
Good enough! Ned Land put in. If it isn't the right bird, it's still the right feathers, and so long as the merchandise isn't meant to be eaten, I see no great harm!
好的尼德·蘭說，雖然這不是鳥的本體，但總是鳥的羽毛，如果鳥不是拿來食用，我想也沒有什么壞處！
But if my desires were fulfilled by the capture of this bird of paradise, those of our Canadian huntsman remained unsatisfied. Luckily, near two o'clock Ned Land brought down a magnificent wild pig of the type the natives call bari-outang. This animal came in the nick of time for us to bag some real quadruped meat, and it was warmly welcomed. Ned Land proved himself quite gloriously with his gunshot. Hit by an electric bullet, the pig dropped dead on the spot.
我的欲望雖然因為捕得這只無雙鳥得到滿足，但加拿：大獵人的欲望還沒有得到滿足。很運氣，在兩點左右，尼德·蘭打到一只肥大的林中野豬，這是土人叫做巴利奧唐的一種豬。這豬正好在我們追求真正四足獸肉的時候到來了，所以它很受歡迎，被留下了。尼德·蘭對自己打槍的準(zhǔn)確，表示很得意。野豬中了電氣彈，倒在地上死了。
The Canadian properly skinned and cleaned it, after removing half a dozen cutlets destined to serve as the grilled meat course of our evening meal. Then the hunt was on again, and once more would be marked by the exploits of Ned and Conseil.
加拿大人從豬身上割下六七塊腰窩肉準(zhǔn)備晚上烤著吃，他又把它的皮毛剝?nèi)?，開膛，清出內(nèi)臟。然后又來打獵，這次打獵又顯出了尼德·蘭和康塞爾的勞績。
In essence, beating the bushes, the two friends flushed a herd of kangaroos that fled by bounding away on their elastic paws. But these animals didn't flee so swiftly that our electric capsules couldn't catch up with them.
果然，這一對朋友在搜索樹叢的時候，趕出了一大群袋鼠，它們伸開有彈性的腿來，一蹦一跳地逃走。這些動物雖然跳、走得快，但還沒有逃遠(yuǎn)，電氣彈已經(jīng)追上它們了。
