拿开炼油间前面那块遮炉板，就可以看到泥水作物的那一面，它装有两扇铁灶门，锅子就安在这只铁炉上。两扇炉门都用最结实的铁板打成。为了不让炉里的猛火跟甲板相通，整个炼油间的密封的下层还装有一个浅浅的储水器。储水器后面，装有一根管子，这样，水一蒸发就可以不断加进冷水。它外面并没有烟囱；烟囱直通后边的墙上伸出去。这里，让我们打回头说一下吧。

　　It was about nine o'clock at night that the Pequod's try-works were first started on this present voyage. It belonged to Stubb to oversee the business.

　　裴廓德号在这次航行上，第一次使用炼油间的时间是夜间九点钟左右。监督这个工作的是斯塔布。

　　All ready there? Off hatch, then, and start her. You cook, fire the works. This was an easy thing, for the carpenter had been thrusting his shavings into the furnace throughout the passage. Here be it said that in a whaling voyage the first fire in the try-works has to be fed for a time with wood. After that no wood is used, except as a means of quick ignition to the staple fuel. In a word, after being tried out, the crisp, shrivelled blubber, now called scraps or fritters, still contains considerable of its unctuous properties. These fritters feed the flames. Like a plethoric burning martyr, or a self-consuming misanthrope, once ignited, the whale supplies his own fuel and burns by his own body.

　　都准备好了么？那么，打开舱口，开始吧。火夫，你烧吧。烧火是件容易对付的差使，因为在整个航行期间，木匠一直把他那些刨花扔进灶肚里。这里必须说明一下，在捕鲸航行中，炼油间初次发火，得先把木柴烧一阵，木柴烧过后，就用不着再加柴，除非是要使原来的燃料发火更快，才再加一些。总之，等到油炼出来后，那种卷缩的油渣（现在管它叫下脚或者油渣吧）里面，还含有不少油质。这些油渣就可以用来烧火。正象一个遭火刑的热血沸腾的殉道者，或者一个自暴自弃的厌世者那样，火一烧上，这条大鲸就以自己的燃料来烧它自己的身体。