From bdf1948e6cd00963730971e5624e764a35f238c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: eric Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2018 01:48:26 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] tag: 0.2.6. Removed old files. Added 2 files. --- 2701-h/2701-h.htm | 50799 ++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------- CONTRIBUTING.rst | 4 +- metadata.yaml | 2 +- 3 files changed, 25431 insertions(+), 25374 deletions(-) diff --git a/2701-h/2701-h.htm b/2701-h/2701-h.htm index b785c17..a7ded5a 100644 --- a/2701-h/2701-h.htm +++ b/2701-h/2701-h.htm @@ -1,25371 +1,25428 @@ - - - - - - - - Moby Dick; Or the Whale, by Herman Melville - - - - -
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Moby Dick; or The Whale, by Herman Melville
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Moby Dick; or The Whale
-
-Author: Herman Melville
-
-Release Date: December 25, 2008 [EBook #2701]
-Last Updated: January 9, 2013
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Daniel Lazarus, Jonesey, and David Widger
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

-

-

-

- MOBY DICK;

or, THE WHALE -

-

-
-

-

- By Herman Melville -

-

-

-

-
-

-

-

-
-

- CONTENTS -

-

-
-

-

- ETYMOLOGY. -

-

- EXTRACTS (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian). - -

-

-
-

-

- CHAPTER 1. Loomings. -

-

- CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag. -

-

- CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn. -

-

- CHAPTER 4. The Counterpane. -

-

- CHAPTER 5. Breakfast. -

-

- CHAPTER 6. The Street. -

-

- CHAPTER 7. The Chapel. -

-

- CHAPTER 8. The Pulpit. -

-

- CHAPTER 9. The Sermon. -

-

- CHAPTER 10. A Bosom Friend. -

-

- CHAPTER 11. Nightgown. -

-

- CHAPTER 12. Biographical. -

-

- CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow. -

-

- CHAPTER 14. Nantucket. -

-

- CHAPTER 15. Chowder. -

-

- CHAPTER 16. The Ship. -

-

- CHAPTER 17. The Ramadan. -

-

- CHAPTER 18. His Mark. -

-

- CHAPTER 19. The Prophet. -

-

- CHAPTER 20. All Astir. -

-

- CHAPTER 21. Going Aboard. -

-

- CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas. -

-

- CHAPTER 23. The Lee Shore. -

-

- CHAPTER 24. The Advocate. -

-

- CHAPTER 25. Postscript. -

-

- CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires. -

-

- CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires. -

-

- CHAPTER 28. Ahab. -

-

- CHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb. -

-

- CHAPTER 30. The Pipe. -

-

- CHAPTER 31. Queen Mab. -

-

- CHAPTER 32. Cetology. -

-

- CHAPTER 33. The Specksnyder. -

-

- CHAPTER 34. The Cabin-Table. -

-

- CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head. -

-

- CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck. -

-

- CHAPTER 37. Sunset. -

-

- CHAPTER 38. Dusk. -

-

- CHAPTER 39. First Night Watch. -

-

- CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle. -

-

- CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick. -

-

- CHAPTER 42. The Whiteness of The Whale. -

-

- CHAPTER 43. Hark! -

-

- CHAPTER 44. The Chart. -

-

- CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit. -

-

- CHAPTER 46. Surmises. -

-

- CHAPTER 47. The Mat-Maker. -

-

- CHAPTER 48. The First Lowering. -

-

- CHAPTER 49. The Hyena. -

-

- CHAPTER 50. Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah. - -

-

- CHAPTER 51. The Spirit-Spout. -

-

- CHAPTER 52. The Albatross. -

-

- CHAPTER 53. The Gam. -

-

- CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho's Story. -

-

- CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of - Whales. -

-

- CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of - Whales, and the True -

-

- CHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in - Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in -

-

- CHAPTER 58. Brit. -

-

- CHAPTER 59. Squid. -

-

- CHAPTER 60. The Line. -

-

- CHAPTER 61. Stubb Kills a Whale. -

-

- CHAPTER 62. The Dart. -

-

- CHAPTER 63. The Crotch. -

-

- CHAPTER 64. Stubb's Supper. -

-

- CHAPTER 65. The Whale as a Dish. -

-

- CHAPTER 66. The Shark Massacre. -

-

- CHAPTER 67. Cutting In. -

-

- CHAPTER 68. The Blanket. -

-

- CHAPTER 69. The Funeral. -

-

- CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx. -

-

- CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam's Story. -

-

- CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope. -

-

- CHAPTER 73. Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; - and Then Have a Talk -

-

- CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale's Head—Contrasted - View. -

-

- CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted - View. -

-

- CHAPTER 76. The Battering-Ram. -

-

- CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun. -

-

- CHAPTER 78. Cistern and Buckets. -

-

- CHAPTER 79. The Prairie. -

-

- CHAPTER 80. The Nut. -

-

- CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin. -

-

- CHAPTER 82. The Honour and Glory of Whaling. - -

-

- CHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded. -

-

- CHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling. -

-

- CHAPTER 85. The Fountain. -

-

- CHAPTER 86. The Tail. -

-

- CHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada. -

-

- CHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters. -

-

- CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish. -

-

- CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails. -

-

- CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud. -

-

- CHAPTER 92. Ambergris. -

-

- CHAPTER 93. The Castaway. -

-

- CHAPTER 94. A Squeeze of the Hand. -

-

- CHAPTER 95. The Cassock. -

-

- CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works. -

-

- CHAPTER 97. The Lamp. -

-

- CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up. -

-

- CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon. -

-

- CHAPTER 100. Leg and Arm. -

-

- CHAPTER 101. The Decanter. -

-

- CHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides. -

-

- CHAPTER 103. Measurement of The Whale's - Skeleton. -

-

- CHAPTER 104. The Fossil Whale. -

-

- CHAPTER 105. Does the Whale's Magnitude - Diminish?—Will He Perish? -

-

- CHAPTER 106. Ahab's Leg. -

-

- CHAPTER 107. The Carpenter. -

-

- CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter. -

-

- CHAPTER 109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin. - -

-

- CHAPTER 110. Queequeg in His Coffin. -

-

- CHAPTER 111. The Pacific. -

-

- CHAPTER 112. The Blacksmith. -

-

- CHAPTER 113. The Forge. -

-

- CHAPTER 114. The Gilder. -

-

- CHAPTER 115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. - -

-

- CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale. -

-

- CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch. -

-

- CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant. -

-

- CHAPTER 119. The Candles. -

-

- CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the - First Night Watch. -

-

- CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle - Bulwarks. -

-

- CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and - Lightning. -

-

- CHAPTER 123. The Musket. -

-

- CHAPTER 124. The Needle. -

-

- CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line. -

-

- CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy. -

-

- CHAPTER 127. The Deck. -

-

- CHAPTER 128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel. -

-

- CHAPTER 129. The Cabin. -

-

- CHAPTER 130. The Hat. -

-

- CHAPTER 131. The Pequod Meets The Delight. -

-

- CHAPTER 132. The Symphony. -

-

- CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day. -

-

- CHAPTER 134. The Chase—Second Day. -

-

- CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day. -

-

- Epilogue -

-
-

-

-

-
-

-

- -

-
-

- Original Transcriber's Notes: -

-

- This text is a combination of etexts, one from the now-defunct ERIS - project at Virginia Tech and one from Project Gutenberg's archives. The - proofreaders of this version are indebted to The University of Adelaide - Library for preserving the Virginia Tech version. The resulting etext - was compared with a public domain hard copy version of the text. -

-

- In chapters 24, 89, and 90, we substituted a capital L for the symbol - for the British pound, a unit of currency. -

-
-
-
- - -
-



-
-

- ETYMOLOGY. -

-

- (Supplied by a Late Consumptive Usher to a Grammar School) -

-

- The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see - him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer - handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the - known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it - somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality. -

-

- "While you take in hand to school others, and to teach them by what name - a whale-fish is to be called in our tongue leaving out, through - ignorance, the letter H, which almost alone maketh the signification of - the word, you deliver that which is not true." —HACKLUYT -

-

- "WHALE.... Sw. and Dan. HVAL. This animal is named from roundness or - rolling; for in Dan. HVALT is arched or vaulted." —WEBSTER'S - DICTIONARY -

-

- "WHALE.... It is more immediately from the Dut. and Ger. WALLEN; A.S. - WALW-IAN, to roll, to wallow." —RICHARDSON'S DICTIONARY -

-
-     KETOS,               GREEK.
-     CETUS,               LATIN.
-     WHOEL,               ANGLO-SAXON.
-     HVALT,               DANISH.
-     WAL,                 DUTCH.
-     HWAL,                SWEDISH.
-     WHALE,               ICELANDIC.
-     WHALE,               ENGLISH.
-     BALEINE,             FRENCH.
-     BALLENA,             SPANISH.
-     PEKEE-NUEE-NUEE,     FEGEE.
-     PEHEE-NUEE-NUEE,     ERROMANGOAN.
-
- - -
-



-
-

- EXTRACTS (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian). -

-

- It will be seen that this mere painstaking burrower and grub-worm of a - poor devil of a Sub-Sub appears to have gone through the long Vaticans - and street-stalls of the earth, picking up whatever random allusions to - whales he could anyways find in any book whatsoever, sacred or profane. - Therefore you must not, in every case at least, take the - higgledy-piggledy whale statements, however authentic, in these - extracts, for veritable gospel cetology. Far from it. As touching the - ancient authors generally, as well as the poets here appearing, these - extracts are solely valuable or entertaining, as affording a glancing - bird's eye view of what has been promiscuously said, thought, fancied, - and sung of Leviathan, by many nations and generations, including our - own. -

-

- So fare thee well, poor devil of a Sub-Sub, whose commentator I am. Thou - belongest to that hopeless, sallow tribe which no wine of this world - will ever warm; and for whom even Pale Sherry would be too rosy-strong; - but with whom one sometimes loves to sit, and feel poor-devilish, too; - and grow convivial upon tears; and say to them bluntly, with full eyes - and empty glasses, and in not altogether unpleasant sadness—Give - it up, Sub-Subs! For by how much the more pains ye take to please the - world, by so much the more shall ye for ever go thankless! Would that I - could clear out Hampton Court and the Tuileries for ye! But gulp down - your tears and hie aloft to the royal-mast with your hearts; for your - friends who have gone before are clearing out the seven-storied heavens, - and making refugees of long-pampered Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, - against your coming. Here ye strike but splintered hearts together—there, - ye shall strike unsplinterable glasses! -

- EXTRACTS. -

- "And God created great whales." —GENESIS. -

-

- "Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to - be hoary." —JOB. -

-

- "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." —JONAH. -

-

- "There go the ships; there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play - therein." —PSALMS. -

-

- "In that day, the Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword, shall - punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked - serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." —ISAIAH -

-

- "And what thing soever besides cometh within the chaos of this monster's - mouth, be it beast, boat, or stone, down it goes all incontinently that - foul great swallow of his, and perisheth in the bottomless gulf of his - paunch." —HOLLAND'S PLUTARCH'S MORALS. -

-

- "The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest fishes that are: among - which the Whales and Whirlpooles called Balaene, take up as much in - length as four acres or arpens of land." —HOLLAND'S PLINY. -

-

- "Scarcely had we proceeded two days on the sea, when about sunrise a - great many Whales and other monsters of the sea, appeared. Among the - former, one was of a most monstrous size.... This came towards us, - open-mouthed, raising the waves on all sides, and beating the sea before - him into a foam." —TOOKE'S LUCIAN. "THE TRUE HISTORY." -

-

- "He visited this country also with a view of catching horse-whales, - which had bones of very great value for their teeth, of which he brought - some to the king.... The best whales were catched in his own country, of - which some were forty-eight, some fifty yards long. He said that he was - one of six who had killed sixty in two days." —OTHER OR OTHER'S - VERBAL NARRATIVE TAKEN DOWN FROM HIS MOUTH BY KING ALFRED, A.D. 890. -

-

- "And whereas all the other things, whether beast or vessel, that enter - into the dreadful gulf of this monster's (whale's) mouth, are - immediately lost and swallowed up, the sea-gudgeon retires into it in - great security, and there sleeps." —MONTAIGNE. —APOLOGY FOR - RAIMOND SEBOND. -

-

- "Let us fly, let us fly! Old Nick take me if is not Leviathan described - by the noble prophet Moses in the life of patient Job." —RABELAIS. -

-

- "This whale's liver was two cartloads." —STOWE'S ANNALS. -

-

- "The great Leviathan that maketh the seas to seethe like boiling pan." - —LORD BACON'S VERSION OF THE PSALMS. -

-

- "Touching that monstrous bulk of the whale or ork we have received - nothing certain. They grow exceeding fat, insomuch that an incredible - quantity of oil will be extracted out of one whale." —IBID. - "HISTORY OF LIFE AND DEATH." -

-

- "The sovereignest thing on earth is parmacetti for an inward bruise." - —KING HENRY. -

-

- "Very like a whale." —HAMLET. -

-
-     "Which to secure, no skill of leach's art
-     Mote him availle, but to returne againe
-     To his wound's worker, that with lowly dart,
-     Dinting his breast, had bred his restless paine,
-     Like as the wounded whale to shore flies thro' the maine."
-     —THE FAERIE QUEEN.
-
-

- "Immense as whales, the motion of whose vast bodies can in a peaceful - calm trouble the ocean til it boil." —SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT. - PREFACE TO GONDIBERT. -

-

- "What spermacetti is, men might justly doubt, since the learned - Hosmannus in his work of thirty years, saith plainly, Nescio quid sit." - —SIR T. BROWNE. OF SPERMA CETI AND THE SPERMA CETI WHALE. VIDE HIS - V. E. -

-
-     "Like Spencer's Talus with his modern flail
-     He threatens ruin with his ponderous tail.
-   ...
-     Their fixed jav'lins in his side he wears,
-     And on his back a grove of pikes appears."
-     —WALLER'S BATTLE OF THE SUMMER ISLANDS.
-
-

- "By art is created that great Leviathan, called a Commonwealth or State—(in - Latin, Civitas) which is but an artificial man." —OPENING SENTENCE - OF HOBBES'S LEVIATHAN. -

-

- "Silly Mansoul swallowed it without chewing, as if it had been a sprat - in the mouth of a whale." —PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. -

-
-     "That sea beast
-     Leviathan, which God of all his works
-     Created hugest that swim the ocean stream." —PARADISE LOST.
-
-     —-"There Leviathan,
-     Hugest of living creatures, in the deep
-     Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
-     And seems a moving land; and at his gills
-     Draws in, and at his breath spouts out a sea." —IBID.
-
-

- "The mighty whales which swim in a sea of water, and have a sea of oil - swimming in them." —FULLLER'S PROFANE AND HOLY STATE. -

-
-     "So close behind some promontory lie
-     The huge Leviathan to attend their prey,
-     And give no chance, but swallow in the fry,
-     Which through their gaping jaws mistake the way."
-     —DRYDEN'S ANNUS MIRABILIS.
-
-

- "While the whale is floating at the stern of the ship, they cut off his - head, and tow it with a boat as near the shore as it will come; but it - will be aground in twelve or thirteen feet water." —THOMAS EDGE'S - TEN VOYAGES TO SPITZBERGEN, IN PURCHAS. -

-

- "In their way they saw many whales sporting in the ocean, and in - wantonness fuzzing up the water through their pipes and vents, which - nature has placed on their shoulders." —SIR T. HERBERT'S VOYAGES - INTO ASIA AND AFRICA. HARRIS COLL. -

-

- "Here they saw such huge troops of whales, that they were forced to - proceed with a great deal of caution for fear they should run their ship - upon them." —SCHOUTEN'S SIXTH CIRCUMNAVIGATION. -

-

- "We set sail from the Elbe, wind N.E. in the ship called The - Jonas-in-the-Whale.... Some say the whale can't open his mouth, but that - is a fable.... They frequently climb up the masts to see whether they - can see a whale, for the first discoverer has a ducat for his pains.... - I was told of a whale taken near Shetland, that had above a barrel of - herrings in his belly.... One of our harpooneers told me that he caught - once a whale in Spitzbergen that was white all over." —A VOYAGE TO - GREENLAND, A.D. 1671 HARRIS COLL. -

-

- "Several whales have come in upon this coast (Fife) Anno 1652, one - eighty feet in length of the whale-bone kind came in, which (as I was - informed), besides a vast quantity of oil, did afford 500 weight of - baleen. The jaws of it stand for a gate in the garden of Pitferren." - —SIBBALD'S FIFE AND KINROSS. -

-

- "Myself have agreed to try whether I can master and kill this - Sperma-ceti whale, for I could never hear of any of that sort that was - killed by any man, such is his fierceness and swiftness." —RICHARD - STRAFFORD'S LETTER FROM THE BERMUDAS. PHIL. TRANS. A.D. 1668. -

-

- "Whales in the sea God's voice obey." —N. E. PRIMER. -

-

- "We saw also abundance of large whales, there being more in those - southern seas, as I may say, by a hundred to one; than we have to the - northward of us." —CAPTAIN COWLEY'S VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE, A.D. - 1729. -

-

- "... and the breath of the whale is frequently attended with such an - insupportable smell, as to bring on a disorder of the brain." —ULLOA'S - SOUTH AMERICA. -

-
-     "To fifty chosen sylphs of special note,
-     We trust the important charge, the petticoat.
-     Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
-     Tho' stuffed with hoops and armed with ribs of whale."
-     —RAPE OF THE LOCK.
-
-

- "If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with those that - take up their abode in the deep, we shall find they will appear - contemptible in the comparison. The whale is doubtless the largest - animal in creation." —GOLDSMITH, NAT. HIST. -

-

- "If you should write a fable for little fishes, you would make them - speak like great wales." —GOLDSMITH TO JOHNSON. -

-

- "In the afternoon we saw what was supposed to be a rock, but it was - found to be a dead whale, which some Asiatics had killed, and were then - towing ashore. They seemed to endeavor to conceal themselves behind the - whale, in order to avoid being seen by us." —COOK'S VOYAGES. -

-

- "The larger whales, they seldom venture to attack. They stand in so - great dread of some of them, that when out at sea they are afraid to - mention even their names, and carry dung, lime-stone, juniper-wood, and - some other articles of the same nature in their boats, in order to - terrify and prevent their too near approach." —UNO VON TROIL'S - LETTERS ON BANKS'S AND SOLANDER'S VOYAGE TO ICELAND IN 1772. -

-

- "The Spermacetti Whale found by the Nantuckois, is an active, fierce - animal, and requires vast address and boldness in the fishermen." - —THOMAS JEFFERSON'S WHALE MEMORIAL TO THE FRENCH MINISTER IN 1778. -

-

- "And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it?" —EDMUND BURKE'S - REFERENCE IN PARLIAMENT TO THE NANTUCKET WHALE-FISHERY. -

-

- "Spain—a great whale stranded on the shores of Europe." —EDMUND - BURKE. (SOMEWHERE.) -

-

- "A tenth branch of the king's ordinary revenue, said to be grounded on - the consideration of his guarding and protecting the seas from pirates - and robbers, is the right to royal fish, which are whale and sturgeon. - And these, when either thrown ashore or caught near the coast, are the - property of the king." —BLACKSTONE. -

-
-     "Soon to the sport of death the crews repair:
-     Rodmond unerring o'er his head suspends
-     The barbed steel, and every turn attends."
-     —FALCONER'S SHIPWRECK.
-
-     "Bright shone the roofs, the domes, the spires,
-     And rockets blew self driven,
-     To hang their momentary fire
-     Around the vault of heaven.
-
-     "So fire with water to compare,
-     The ocean serves on high,
-     Up-spouted by a whale in air,
-     To express unwieldy joy." —COWPER, ON THE QUEEN'S
-     VISIT TO LONDON.
-
-

- "Ten or fifteen gallons of blood are thrown out of the heart at a - stroke, with immense velocity." —JOHN HUNTER'S ACCOUNT OF THE - DISSECTION OF A WHALE. (A SMALL SIZED ONE.) -

-

- "The aorta of a whale is larger in the bore than the main pipe of the - water-works at London Bridge, and the water roaring in its passage - through that pipe is inferior in impetus and velocity to the blood - gushing from the whale's heart." —PALEY'S THEOLOGY. -

-

- "The whale is a mammiferous animal without hind feet." —BARON - CUVIER. -

-

- "In 40 degrees south, we saw Spermacetti Whales, but did not take any - till the first of May, the sea being then covered with them." —COLNETT'S - VOYAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTENDING THE SPERMACETI WHALE FISHERY. -

-
-     "In the free element beneath me swam,
-     Floundered and dived, in play, in chace, in battle,
-     Fishes of every colour, form, and kind;
-     Which language cannot paint, and mariner
-     Had never seen; from dread Leviathan
-     To insect millions peopling every wave:
-     Gather'd in shoals immense, like floating islands,
-     Led by mysterious instincts through that waste
-     And trackless region, though on every side
-     Assaulted by voracious enemies,
-     Whales, sharks, and monsters, arm'd in front or jaw,
-     With swords, saws, spiral horns, or hooked fangs."
-     —MONTGOMERY'S WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD.
-
-     "Io!  Paean!  Io! sing.
-     To the finny people's king.
-     Not a mightier whale than this
-     In the vast Atlantic is;
-     Not a fatter fish than he,
-     Flounders round the Polar Sea."
-     —CHARLES LAMB'S TRIUMPH OF THE WHALE.
-
-

- "In the year 1690 some persons were on a high hill observing the whales - spouting and sporting with each other, when one observed: there—pointing - to the sea—is a green pasture where our children's grand-children - will go for bread." —OBED MACY'S HISTORY OF NANTUCKET. -

-

- "I built a cottage for Susan and myself and made a gateway in the form - of a Gothic Arch, by setting up a whale's jaw bones." —HAWTHORNE'S - TWICE TOLD TALES. -

-

- "She came to bespeak a monument for her first love, who had been killed - by a whale in the Pacific ocean, no less than forty years ago." —IBID. -

-

- "No, Sir, 'tis a Right Whale," answered Tom; "I saw his sprout; he threw - up a pair of as pretty rainbows as a Christian would wish to look at. - He's a raal oil-butt, that fellow!" —COOPER'S PILOT. -

-

- "The papers were brought in, and we saw in the Berlin Gazette that - whales had been introduced on the stage there." —ECKERMANN'S - CONVERSATIONS WITH GOETHE. -

-

- "My God! Mr. Chace, what is the matter?" I answered, "we have been stove - by a whale." —"NARRATIVE OF THE SHIPWRECK OF THE WHALE SHIP ESSEX - OF NANTUCKET, WHICH WAS ATTACKED AND FINALLY DESTROYED BY A LARGE SPERM - WHALE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN." BY OWEN CHACE OF NANTUCKET, FIRST MATE OF - SAID VESSEL. NEW YORK, 1821. -

-
-     "A mariner sat in the shrouds one night,
-     The wind was piping free;
-     Now bright, now dimmed, was the moonlight pale,
-     And the phospher gleamed in the wake of the whale,
-     As it floundered in the sea."
-     —ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH.
-
-

- "The quantity of line withdrawn from the boats engaged in the capture of - this one whale, amounted altogether to 10,440 yards or nearly six - English miles.... -

-

- "Sometimes the whale shakes its tremendous tail in the air, which, - cracking like a whip, resounds to the distance of three or four miles." - —SCORESBY. -

-

- "Mad with the agonies he endures from these fresh attacks, the - infuriated Sperm Whale rolls over and over; he rears his enormous head, - and with wide expanded jaws snaps at everything around him; he rushes at - the boats with his head; they are propelled before him with vast - swiftness, and sometimes utterly destroyed.... It is a matter of great - astonishment that the consideration of the habits of so interesting, - and, in a commercial point of view, so important an animal (as the Sperm - Whale) should have been so entirely neglected, or should have excited so - little curiosity among the numerous, and many of them competent - observers, that of late years, must have possessed the most abundant and - the most convenient opportunities of witnessing their habitudes." - —THOMAS BEALE'S HISTORY OF THE SPERM WHALE, 1839. -

-

- "The Cachalot" (Sperm Whale) "is not only better armed than the True - Whale" (Greenland or Right Whale) "in possessing a formidable weapon at - either extremity of its body, but also more frequently displays a - disposition to employ these weapons offensively and in manner at once so - artful, bold, and mischievous, as to lead to its being regarded as the - most dangerous to attack of all the known species of the whale tribe." - —FREDERICK DEBELL BENNETT'S WHALING VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE, 1840. -

-
-     October 13.  "There she blows," was sung out from the mast-head.
-     "Where away?" demanded the captain.
-     "Three points off the lee bow, sir."
-     "Raise up your wheel.  Steady!"  "Steady, sir."
-     "Mast-head ahoy!  Do you see that whale now?"
-     "Ay ay, sir!  A shoal of Sperm Whales!  There she blows!  There she
-     breaches!"
-     "Sing out! sing out every time!"
-     "Ay Ay, sir!  There she blows! there—there—THAR she
-     blows—bowes—bo-o-os!"
-     "How far off?"
-     "Two miles and a half."
-     "Thunder and lightning! so near!  Call all hands."
-     —J. ROSS BROWNE'S ETCHINGS OF A WHALING CRUIZE.  1846.
-
-

- "The Whale-ship Globe, on board of which vessel occurred the horrid - transactions we are about to relate, belonged to the island of - Nantucket." —"NARRATIVE OF THE GLOBE," BY LAY AND HUSSEY - SURVIVORS. A.D. 1828. -

-

- Being once pursued by a whale which he had wounded, he parried the - assault for some time with a lance; but the furious monster at length - rushed on the boat; himself and comrades only being preserved by leaping - into the water when they saw the onset was inevitable." —MISSIONARY - JOURNAL OF TYERMAN AND BENNETT. -

-

- "Nantucket itself," said Mr. Webster, "is a very striking and peculiar - portion of the National interest. There is a population of eight or nine - thousand persons living here in the sea, adding largely every year to - the National wealth by the boldest and most persevering industry." - —REPORT OF DANIEL WEBSTER'S SPEECH IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON THE - APPLICATION FOR THE ERECTION OF A BREAKWATER AT NANTUCKET. 1828. -

-

- "The whale fell directly over him, and probably killed him in a moment." - —"THE WHALE AND HIS CAPTORS, OR THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES AND THE - WHALE'S BIOGRAPHY, GATHERED ON THE HOMEWARD CRUISE OF THE COMMODORE - PREBLE." BY REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER. -

-

- "If you make the least damn bit of noise," replied Samuel, "I will send - you to hell." —LIFE OF SAMUEL COMSTOCK (THE MUTINEER), BY HIS - BROTHER, WILLIAM COMSTOCK. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE WHALE-SHIP GLOBE - NARRATIVE. -

-

- "The voyages of the Dutch and English to the Northern Ocean, in order, - if possible, to discover a passage through it to India, though they - failed of their main object, laid-open the haunts of the whale." —MCCULLOCH'S - COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY. -

-

- "These things are reciprocal; the ball rebounds, only to bound forward - again; for now in laying open the haunts of the whale, the whalemen seem - to have indirectly hit upon new clews to that same mystic North-West - Passage." —FROM "SOMETHING" UNPUBLISHED. -

-

- "It is impossible to meet a whale-ship on the ocean without being struck - by her near appearance. The vessel under short sail, with look-outs at - the mast-heads, eagerly scanning the wide expanse around them, has a - totally different air from those engaged in regular voyage." —CURRENTS - AND WHALING. U.S. EX. EX. -

-

- "Pedestrians in the vicinity of London and elsewhere may recollect - having seen large curved bones set upright in the earth, either to form - arches over gateways, or entrances to alcoves, and they may perhaps have - been told that these were the ribs of whales." —TALES OF A WHALE - VOYAGER TO THE ARCTIC OCEAN. -

-

- "It was not till the boats returned from the pursuit of these whales, - that the whites saw their ship in bloody possession of the savages - enrolled among the crew." —NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING AND - RETAKING OF THE WHALE-SHIP HOBOMACK. -

-

- "It is generally well known that out of the crews of Whaling vessels - (American) few ever return in the ships on board of which they - departed." —CRUISE IN A WHALE BOAT. -

-

- "Suddenly a mighty mass emerged from the water, and shot up - perpendicularly into the air. It was the while." —MIRIAM COFFIN OR - THE WHALE FISHERMAN. -

-

- "The Whale is harpooned to be sure; but bethink you, how you would - manage a powerful unbroken colt, with the mere appliance of a rope tied - to the root of his tail." —A CHAPTER ON WHALING IN RIBS AND - TRUCKS. -

-

- "On one occasion I saw two of these monsters (whales) probably male and - female, slowly swimming, one after the other, within less than a stone's - throw of the shore" (Terra Del Fuego), "over which the beech tree - extended its branches." —DARWIN'S VOYAGE OF A NATURALIST. -

-

- "'Stern all!' exclaimed the mate, as upon turning his head, he saw the - distended jaws of a large Sperm Whale close to the head of the boat, - threatening it with instant destruction;—'Stern all, for your - lives!'" —WHARTON THE WHALE KILLER. -

-

- "So be cheery, my lads, let your hearts never fail, While the bold - harpooneer is striking the whale!" —NANTUCKET SONG. -

-
-     "Oh, the rare old Whale, mid storm and gale
-     In his ocean home will be
-     A giant in might, where might is right,
-     And King of the boundless sea."
-     —WHALE SONG.
-
-
-
-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 1. Loomings. -

-

- Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having - little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on - shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of - the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the - circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever - it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself - involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear - of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an - upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me - from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking - people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon - as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical - flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. - There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men - in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings - towards the ocean with me. -

-

- There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves - as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. - Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is - the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by - breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the - crowds of water-gazers there. -

-

- Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears - Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do - you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand - thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some - leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking - over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as - if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all - landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster—tied to counters, - nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green - fields gone? What do they here? -

-

- But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and - seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the - extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder - warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as - they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand—miles of - them—leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, - streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all - unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses - of all those ships attract them thither? -

-

- Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take - almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, - and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let - the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand - that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead - you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be - athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan - happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one - knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever. -

-

- But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, - quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of - the Saco. What is the chief element he employs? There stand his trees, - each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and - here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder - cottage goes a sleepy smoke. Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, - reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue. - But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes - down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, - unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him. Go - visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade - knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there - is not a drop of water there! Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would - you travel your thousand miles to see it? Why did the poor poet of - Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate - whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a - pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach? Why is almost every robust healthy boy - with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to - sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such - a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out - of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the - Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this - is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of - Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he - saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, - we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the - ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all. -

-

- Now, when I say that I am in the habit of going to sea whenever I begin to - grow hazy about the eyes, and begin to be over conscious of my lungs, I do - not mean to have it inferred that I ever go to sea as a passenger. For to - go as a passenger you must needs have a purse, and a purse is but a rag - unless you have something in it. Besides, passengers get sea-sick—grow - quarrelsome—don't sleep of nights—do not enjoy themselves - much, as a general thing;—no, I never go as a passenger; nor, though - I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a - Captain, or a Cook. I abandon the glory and distinction of such offices to - those who like them. For my part, I abominate all honourable respectable - toils, trials, and tribulations of every kind whatsoever. It is quite as - much as I can do to take care of myself, without taking care of ships, - barques, brigs, schooners, and what not. And as for going as cook,—though - I confess there is considerable glory in that, a cook being a sort of - officer on ship-board—yet, somehow, I never fancied broiling fowls;—though - once broiled, judiciously buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, - there is no one who will speak more respectfully, not to say - reverentially, of a broiled fowl than I will. It is out of the idolatrous - dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, - that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the - pyramids. -

-

- No, when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor, right before the mast, - plumb down into the forecastle, aloft there to the royal mast-head. True, - they rather order me about some, and make me jump from spar to spar, like - a grasshopper in a May meadow. And at first, this sort of thing is - unpleasant enough. It touches one's sense of honour, particularly if you - come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensselaers, or - Randolphs, or Hardicanutes. And more than all, if just previous to putting - your hand into the tar-pot, you have been lording it as a country - schoolmaster, making the tallest boys stand in awe of you. The transition - is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires - a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics to enable you to grin and bear - it. But even this wears off in time. -

-

- What of it, if some old hunks of a sea-captain orders me to get a broom - and sweep down the decks? What does that indignity amount to, weighed, I - mean, in the scales of the New Testament? Do you think the archangel - Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and - respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who ain't a - slave? Tell me that. Well, then, however the old sea-captains may order me - about—however they may thump and punch me about, I have the - satisfaction of knowing that it is all right; that everybody else is one - way or other served in much the same way—either in a physical or - metaphysical point of view, that is; and so the universal thump is passed - round, and all hands should rub each other's shoulder-blades, and be - content. -

-

- Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying - me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I - ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there - is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid. The act - of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two - orchard thieves entailed upon us. But BEING PAID,—what will compare - with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really - marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root - of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. - Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition! -

-

- Finally, I always go to sea as a sailor, because of the wholesome exercise - and pure air of the fore-castle deck. For as in this world, head winds are - far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate - the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the - quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the - forecastle. He thinks he breathes it first; but not so. In much the same - way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same - time that the leaders little suspect it. But wherefore it was that after - having repeatedly smelt the sea as a merchant sailor, I should now take it - into my head to go on a whaling voyage; this the invisible police officer - of the Fates, who has the constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs - me, and influences me in some unaccountable way—he can better answer - than any one else. And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed - part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time - ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more - extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run - something like this: -

-

- "GRAND CONTESTED ELECTION FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES. - "WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL. "BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN." -

-

- Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the - Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others - were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short and easy - parts in genteel comedies, and jolly parts in farces—though I cannot - tell why this was exactly; yet, now that I recall all the circumstances, I - think I can see a little into the springs and motives which being - cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about - performing the part I did, besides cajoling me into the delusion that it - was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill and discriminating - judgment. -

-

- Chief among these motives was the overwhelming idea of the great whale - himself. Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity. - Then the wild and distant seas where he rolled his island bulk; the - undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale; these, with all the attending - marvels of a thousand Patagonian sights and sounds, helped to sway me to - my wish. With other men, perhaps, such things would not have been - inducements; but as for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for - things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous - coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and - could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is - but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one - lodges in. -

-

- By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great - flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that - swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, - endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand - hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag. -

-

- I stuffed a shirt or two into my old carpet-bag, tucked it under my arm, - and started for Cape Horn and the Pacific. Quitting the good city of old - Manhatto, I duly arrived in New Bedford. It was a Saturday night in - December. Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for - Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would - offer, till the following Monday. -

-

- As most young candidates for the pains and penalties of whaling stop at - this same New Bedford, thence to embark on their voyage, it may as well be - related that I, for one, had no idea of so doing. For my mind was made up - to sail in no other than a Nantucket craft, because there was a fine, - boisterous something about everything connected with that famous old - island, which amazingly pleased me. Besides though New Bedford has of late - been gradually monopolising the business of whaling, and though in this - matter poor old Nantucket is now much behind her, yet Nantucket was her - great original—the Tyre of this Carthage;—the place where the - first dead American whale was stranded. Where else but from Nantucket did - those aboriginal whalemen, the Red-Men, first sally out in canoes to give - chase to the Leviathan? And where but from Nantucket, too, did that first - adventurous little sloop put forth, partly laden with imported - cobblestones—so goes the story—to throw at the whales, in - order to discover when they were nigh enough to risk a harpoon from the - bowsprit? -

-

- Now having a night, a day, and still another night following before me in - New Bedford, ere I could embark for my destined port, it became a matter - of concernment where I was to eat and sleep meanwhile. It was a very - dubious-looking, nay, a very dark and dismal night, bitingly cold and - cheerless. I knew no one in the place. With anxious grapnels I had sounded - my pocket, and only brought up a few pieces of silver,—So, wherever - you go, Ishmael, said I to myself, as I stood in the middle of a dreary - street shouldering my bag, and comparing the gloom towards the north with - the darkness towards the south—wherever in your wisdom you may - conclude to lodge for the night, my dear Ishmael, be sure to inquire the - price, and don't be too particular. -

-

- With halting steps I paced the streets, and passed the sign of "The - Crossed Harpoons"—but it looked too expensive and jolly there. - Further on, from the bright red windows of the "Sword-Fish Inn," there - came such fervent rays, that it seemed to have melted the packed snow and - ice from before the house, for everywhere else the congealed frost lay ten - inches thick in a hard, asphaltic pavement,—rather weary for me, - when I struck my foot against the flinty projections, because from hard, - remorseless service the soles of my boots were in a most miserable plight. - Too expensive and jolly, again thought I, pausing one moment to watch the - broad glare in the street, and hear the sounds of the tinkling glasses - within. But go on, Ishmael, said I at last; don't you hear? get away from - before the door; your patched boots are stopping the way. So on I went. I - now by instinct followed the streets that took me waterward, for there, - doubtless, were the cheapest, if not the cheeriest inns. -

-

- Such dreary streets! blocks of blackness, not houses, on either hand, and - here and there a candle, like a candle moving about in a tomb. At this - hour of the night, of the last day of the week, that quarter of the town - proved all but deserted. But presently I came to a smoky light proceeding - from a low, wide building, the door of which stood invitingly open. It had - a careless look, as if it were meant for the uses of the public; so, - entering, the first thing I did was to stumble over an ash-box in the - porch. Ha! thought I, ha, as the flying particles almost choked me, are - these ashes from that destroyed city, Gomorrah? But "The Crossed - Harpoons," and "The Sword-Fish?"—this, then must needs be the sign - of "The Trap." However, I picked myself up and hearing a loud voice - within, pushed on and opened a second, interior door. -

-

- It seemed the great Black Parliament sitting in Tophet. A hundred black - faces turned round in their rows to peer; and beyond, a black Angel of - Doom was beating a book in a pulpit. It was a negro church; and the - preacher's text was about the blackness of darkness, and the weeping and - wailing and teeth-gnashing there. Ha, Ishmael, muttered I, backing out, - Wretched entertainment at the sign of 'The Trap!' -

-

- Moving on, I at last came to a dim sort of light not far from the docks, - and heard a forlorn creaking in the air; and looking up, saw a swinging - sign over the door with a white painting upon it, faintly representing a - tall straight jet of misty spray, and these words underneath—"The - Spouter Inn:—Peter Coffin." -

-

- Coffin?—Spouter?—Rather ominous in that particular connexion, - thought I. But it is a common name in Nantucket, they say, and I suppose - this Peter here is an emigrant from there. As the light looked so dim, and - the place, for the time, looked quiet enough, and the dilapidated little - wooden house itself looked as if it might have been carted here from the - ruins of some burnt district, and as the swinging sign had a - poverty-stricken sort of creak to it, I thought that here was the very - spot for cheap lodgings, and the best of pea coffee. -

-

- It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old house, one side - palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly. It stood on a sharp bleak - corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling - than ever it did about poor Paul's tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, - is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob - quietly toasting for bed. "In judging of that tempestuous wind called - Euroclydon," says an old writer—of whose works I possess the only - copy extant—"it maketh a marvellous difference, whether thou lookest - out at it from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or - whether thou observest it from that sashless window, where the frost is on - both sides, and of which the wight Death is the only glazier." True - enough, thought I, as this passage occurred to my mind—old - black-letter, thou reasonest well. Yes, these eyes are windows, and this - body of mine is the house. What a pity they didn't stop up the chinks and - the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there. But it's - too late to make any improvements now. The universe is finished; the - copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. Poor - Lazarus there, chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his pillow, - and shaking off his tatters with his shiverings, he might plug up both - ears with rags, and put a corn-cob into his mouth, and yet that would not - keep out the tempestuous Euroclydon. Euroclydon! says old Dives, in his - red silken wrapper—(he had a redder one afterwards) pooh, pooh! What - a fine frosty night; how Orion glitters; what northern lights! Let them - talk of their oriental summer climes of everlasting conservatories; give - me the privilege of making my own summer with my own coals. -

-

- But what thinks Lazarus? Can he warm his blue hands by holding them up to - the grand northern lights? Would not Lazarus rather be in Sumatra than - here? Would he not far rather lay him down lengthwise along the line of - the equator; yea, ye gods! go down to the fiery pit itself, in order to - keep out this frost? -

-

- Now, that Lazarus should lie stranded there on the curbstone before the - door of Dives, this is more wonderful than that an iceberg should be - moored to one of the Moluccas. Yet Dives himself, he too lives like a Czar - in an ice palace made of frozen sighs, and being a president of a - temperance society, he only drinks the tepid tears of orphans. -

-

- But no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling, and there is - plenty of that yet to come. Let us scrape the ice from our frosted feet, - and see what sort of a place this "Spouter" may be. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn. -

-

- Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, - straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the - bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very large - oilpainting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the - unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study - and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the - neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its - purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first - you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New - England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of - much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and - especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the - entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, - might not be altogether unwarranted. -

-

- But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, - black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three - blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, - soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. - Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity - about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath - with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and - anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.—It's - the Black Sea in a midnight gale.—It's the unnatural combat of the - four primal elements.—It's a blasted heath.—It's a Hyperborean - winter scene.—It's the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. - But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in - the picture's midst. THAT once found out, and all the rest were plain. But - stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the - great leviathan himself? -

-

- In fact, the artist's design seemed this: a final theory of my own, partly - based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with whom I - conversed upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a - great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three - dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to - spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself - upon the three mast-heads. -

-

- The opposite wall of this entry was hung all over with a heathenish array - of monstrous clubs and spears. Some were thickly set with glittering teeth - resembling ivory saws; others were tufted with knots of human hair; and - one was sickle-shaped, with a vast handle sweeping round like the segment - made in the new-mown grass by a long-armed mower. You shuddered as you - gazed, and wondered what monstrous cannibal and savage could ever have - gone a death-harvesting with such a hacking, horrifying implement. Mixed - with these were rusty old whaling lances and harpoons all broken and - deformed. Some were storied weapons. With this once long lance, now wildly - elbowed, fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a - sunrise and a sunset. And that harpoon—so like a corkscrew now—was - flung in Javan seas, and run away with by a whale, years afterwards slain - off the Cape of Blanco. The original iron entered nigh the tail, and, like - a restless needle sojourning in the body of a man, travelled full forty - feet, and at last was found imbedded in the hump. -

-

- Crossing this dusky entry, and on through yon low-arched way—cut - through what in old times must have been a great central chimney with - fireplaces all round—you enter the public room. A still duskier - place is this, with such low ponderous beams above, and such old wrinkled - planks beneath, that you would almost fancy you trod some old craft's - cockpits, especially of such a howling night, when this corner-anchored - old ark rocked so furiously. On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like - table covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities - gathered from this wide world's remotest nooks. Projecting from the - further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den—the bar—a - rude attempt at a right whale's head. Be that how it may, there stands the - vast arched bone of the whale's jaw, so wide, a coach might almost drive - beneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old decanters, - bottles, flasks; and in those jaws of swift destruction, like another - cursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles a little - withered old man, who, for their money, dearly sells the sailors deliriums - and death. -

-

- Abominable are the tumblers into which he pours his poison. Though true - cylinders without—within, the villanous green goggling glasses - deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom. Parallel meridians - rudely pecked into the glass, surround these footpads' goblets. Fill to - THIS mark, and your charge is but a penny; to THIS a penny more; and so on - to the full glass—the Cape Horn measure, which you may gulp down for - a shilling. -

-

- Upon entering the place I found a number of young seamen gathered about a - table, examining by a dim light divers specimens of SKRIMSHANDER. I sought - the landlord, and telling him I desired to be accommodated with a room, - received for answer that his house was full—not a bed unoccupied. - "But avast," he added, tapping his forehead, "you haint no objections to - sharing a harpooneer's blanket, have ye? I s'pose you are goin' a-whalin', - so you'd better get used to that sort of thing." -

-

- I told him that I never liked to sleep two in a bed; that if I should ever - do so, it would depend upon who the harpooneer might be, and that if he - (the landlord) really had no other place for me, and the harpooneer was - not decidedly objectionable, why rather than wander further about a - strange town on so bitter a night, I would put up with the half of any - decent man's blanket. -

-

- "I thought so. All right; take a seat. Supper?—you want supper? - Supper'll be ready directly." -

-

- I sat down on an old wooden settle, carved all over like a bench on the - Battery. At one end a ruminating tar was still further adorning it with - his jack-knife, stooping over and diligently working away at the space - between his legs. He was trying his hand at a ship under full sail, but he - didn't make much headway, I thought. -

-

- At last some four or five of us were summoned to our meal in an adjoining - room. It was cold as Iceland—no fire at all—the landlord said - he couldn't afford it. Nothing but two dismal tallow candles, each in a - winding sheet. We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to - our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers. But the fare - was of the most substantial kind—not only meat and potatoes, but - dumplings; good heavens! dumplings for supper! One young fellow in a green - box coat, addressed himself to these dumplings in a most direful manner. -

-

- "My boy," said the landlord, "you'll have the nightmare to a dead - sartainty." -

-

- "Landlord," I whispered, "that aint the harpooneer is it?" -

-

- "Oh, no," said he, looking a sort of diabolically funny, "the harpooneer - is a dark complexioned chap. He never eats dumplings, he don't—he - eats nothing but steaks, and he likes 'em rare." -

-

- "The devil he does," says I. "Where is that harpooneer? Is he here?" -

-

- "He'll be here afore long," was the answer. -

-

- I could not help it, but I began to feel suspicious of this "dark - complexioned" harpooneer. At any rate, I made up my mind that if it so - turned out that we should sleep together, he must undress and get into bed - before I did. -

-

- Supper over, the company went back to the bar-room, when, knowing not what - else to do with myself, I resolved to spend the rest of the evening as a - looker on. -

-

- Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord - cried, "That's the Grampus's crew. I seed her reported in the offing this - morning; a three years' voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah, boys; now we'll - have the latest news from the Feegees." -

-

- A tramping of sea boots was heard in the entry; the door was flung open, - and in rolled a wild set of mariners enough. Enveloped in their shaggy - watch coats, and with their heads muffled in woollen comforters, all - bedarned and ragged, and their beards stiff with icicles, they seemed an - eruption of bears from Labrador. They had just landed from their boat, and - this was the first house they entered. No wonder, then, that they made a - straight wake for the whale's mouth—the bar—when the wrinkled - little old Jonah, there officiating, soon poured them out brimmers all - round. One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed - him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a - sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever, never mind of how - long standing, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the - weather side of an ice-island. -

-

- The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with - the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering about - most obstreperously. -

-

- I observed, however, that one of them held somewhat aloof, and though he - seemed desirous not to spoil the hilarity of his shipmates by his own - sober face, yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as - the rest. This man interested me at once; and since the sea-gods had - ordained that he should soon become my shipmate (though but a - sleeping-partner one, so far as this narrative is concerned), I will here - venture upon a little description of him. He stood full six feet in - height, with noble shoulders, and a chest like a coffer-dam. I have seldom - seen such brawn in a man. His face was deeply brown and burnt, making his - white teeth dazzling by the contrast; while in the deep shadows of his - eyes floated some reminiscences that did not seem to give him much joy. - His voice at once announced that he was a Southerner, and from his fine - stature, I thought he must be one of those tall mountaineers from the - Alleghanian Ridge in Virginia. When the revelry of his companions had - mounted to its height, this man slipped away unobserved, and I saw no more - of him till he became my comrade on the sea. In a few minutes, however, he - was missed by his shipmates, and being, it seems, for some reason a huge - favourite with them, they raised a cry of "Bulkington! Bulkington! where's - Bulkington?" and darted out of the house in pursuit of him. -

-

- It was now about nine o'clock, and the room seeming almost supernaturally - quiet after these orgies, I began to congratulate myself upon a little - plan that had occurred to me just previous to the entrance of the seamen. -

-

- No man prefers to sleep two in a bed. In fact, you would a good deal - rather not sleep with your own brother. I don't know how it is, but people - like to be private when they are sleeping. And when it comes to sleeping - with an unknown stranger, in a strange inn, in a strange town, and that - stranger a harpooneer, then your objections indefinitely multiply. Nor was - there any earthly reason why I as a sailor should sleep two in a bed, more - than anybody else; for sailors no more sleep two in a bed at sea, than - bachelor Kings do ashore. To be sure they all sleep together in one - apartment, but you have your own hammock, and cover yourself with your own - blanket, and sleep in your own skin. -

-

- The more I pondered over this harpooneer, the more I abominated the - thought of sleeping with him. It was fair to presume that being a - harpooneer, his linen or woollen, as the case might be, would not be of - the tidiest, certainly none of the finest. I began to twitch all over. - Besides, it was getting late, and my decent harpooneer ought to be home - and going bedwards. Suppose now, he should tumble in upon me at midnight—how - could I tell from what vile hole he had been coming? -

-

- "Landlord! I've changed my mind about that harpooneer.—I shan't - sleep with him. I'll try the bench here." -

-

- "Just as you please; I'm sorry I cant spare ye a tablecloth for a - mattress, and it's a plaguy rough board here"—feeling of the knots - and notches. "But wait a bit, Skrimshander; I've got a carpenter's plane - there in the bar—wait, I say, and I'll make ye snug enough." So - saying he procured the plane; and with his old silk handkerchief first - dusting the bench, vigorously set to planing away at my bed, the while - grinning like an ape. The shavings flew right and left; till at last the - plane-iron came bump against an indestructible knot. The landlord was near - spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven's sake to quit—the - bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in - the world could make eider down of a pine plank. So gathering up the - shavings with another grin, and throwing them into the great stove in the - middle of the room, he went about his business, and left me in a brown - study. -

-

- I now took the measure of the bench, and found that it was a foot too - short; but that could be mended with a chair. But it was a foot too - narrow, and the other bench in the room was about four inches higher than - the planed one—so there was no yoking them. I then placed the first - bench lengthwise along the only clear space against the wall, leaving a - little interval between, for my back to settle down in. But I soon found - that there came such a draught of cold air over me from under the sill of - the window, that this plan would never do at all, especially as another - current from the rickety door met the one from the window, and both - together formed a series of small whirlwinds in the immediate vicinity of - the spot where I had thought to spend the night. -

-

- The devil fetch that harpooneer, thought I, but stop, couldn't I steal a - march on him—bolt his door inside, and jump into his bed, not to be - wakened by the most violent knockings? It seemed no bad idea; but upon - second thoughts I dismissed it. For who could tell but what the next - morning, so soon as I popped out of the room, the harpooneer might be - standing in the entry, all ready to knock me down! -

-

- Still, looking round me again, and seeing no possible chance of spending a - sufferable night unless in some other person's bed, I began to think that - after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this - unknown harpooneer. Thinks I, I'll wait awhile; he must be dropping in - before long. I'll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become - jolly good bedfellows after all—there's no telling. -

-

- But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones, twos, and threes, - and going to bed, yet no sign of my harpooneer. -

-

- "Landlord!" said I, "what sort of a chap is he—does he always keep - such late hours?" It was now hard upon twelve o'clock. -

-

- The landlord chuckled again with his lean chuckle, and seemed to be - mightily tickled at something beyond my comprehension. "No," he answered, - "generally he's an early bird—airley to bed and airley to rise—yes, - he's the bird what catches the worm. But to-night he went out a peddling, - you see, and I don't see what on airth keeps him so late, unless, may be, - he can't sell his head." -

-

- "Can't sell his head?—What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you - are telling me?" getting into a towering rage. "Do you pretend to say, - landlord, that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday - night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head around this town?" -

-

- "That's precisely it," said the landlord, "and I told him he couldn't sell - it here, the market's overstocked." -

-

- "With what?" shouted I. -

-

- "With heads to be sure; ain't there too many heads in the world?" -

-

- "I tell you what it is, landlord," said I quite calmly, "you'd better stop - spinning that yarn to me—I'm not green." -

-

- "May be not," taking out a stick and whittling a toothpick, "but I rayther - guess you'll be done BROWN if that ere harpooneer hears you a slanderin' - his head." -

-

- "I'll break it for him," said I, now flying into a passion again at this - unaccountable farrago of the landlord's. -

-

- "It's broke a'ready," said he. -

-

- "Broke," said I—"BROKE, do you mean?" -

-

- "Sartain, and that's the very reason he can't sell it, I guess." -

-

- "Landlord," said I, going up to him as cool as Mt. Hecla in a snow-storm—"landlord, - stop whittling. You and I must understand one another, and that too - without delay. I come to your house and want a bed; you tell me you can - only give me half a one; that the other half belongs to a certain - harpooneer. And about this harpooneer, whom I have not yet seen, you - persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating stories tending - to beget in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design - for my bedfellow—a sort of connexion, landlord, which is an intimate - and confidential one in the highest degree. I now demand of you to speak - out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is, and whether I shall be in - all respects safe to spend the night with him. And in the first place, you - will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if - true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark mad, and - I've no idea of sleeping with a madman; and you, sir, YOU I mean, - landlord, YOU, sir, by trying to induce me to do so knowingly, would - thereby render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution." -

-

- "Wall," said the landlord, fetching a long breath, "that's a purty long - sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then. But be easy, be easy, - this here harpooneer I have been tellin' you of has just arrived from the - south seas, where he bought up a lot of 'balmed New Zealand heads (great - curios, you know), and he's sold all on 'em but one, and that one he's - trying to sell to-night, cause to-morrow's Sunday, and it would not do to - be sellin' human heads about the streets when folks is goin' to churches. - He wanted to, last Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin' out of - the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a - string of inions." -

-

- This account cleared up the otherwise unaccountable mystery, and showed - that the landlord, after all, had had no idea of fooling me—but at - the same time what could I think of a harpooneer who stayed out of a - Saturday night clean into the holy Sabbath, engaged in such a cannibal - business as selling the heads of dead idolators? -

-

- "Depend upon it, landlord, that harpooneer is a dangerous man." -

-

- "He pays reg'lar," was the rejoinder. "But come, it's getting dreadful - late, you had better be turning flukes—it's a nice bed; Sal and me - slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced. There's plenty of room - for two to kick about in that bed; it's an almighty big bed that. Why, - afore we give it up, Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot - of it. But I got a dreaming and sprawling about one night, and somehow, - Sam got pitched on the floor, and came near breaking his arm. Arter that, - Sal said it wouldn't do. Come along here, I'll give ye a glim in a jiffy;" - and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me, offering to lead - the way. But I stood irresolute; when looking at a clock in the corner, he - exclaimed "I vum it's Sunday—you won't see that harpooneer to-night; - he's come to anchor somewhere—come along then; DO come; WON'T ye - come?" -

-

- I considered the matter a moment, and then up stairs we went, and I was - ushered into a small room, cold as a clam, and furnished, sure enough, - with a prodigious bed, almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers - to sleep abreast. -

-

- "There," said the landlord, placing the candle on a crazy old sea chest - that did double duty as a wash-stand and centre table; "there, make - yourself comfortable now, and good night to ye." I turned round from - eyeing the bed, but he had disappeared. -

-

- Folding back the counterpane, I stooped over the bed. Though none of the - most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny tolerably well. I then glanced - round the room; and besides the bedstead and centre table, could see no - other furniture belonging to the place, but a rude shelf, the four walls, - and a papered fireboard representing a man striking a whale. Of things not - properly belonging to the room, there was a hammock lashed up, and thrown - upon the floor in one corner; also a large seaman's bag, containing the - harpooneer's wardrobe, no doubt in lieu of a land trunk. Likewise, there - was a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the - fire-place, and a tall harpoon standing at the head of the bed. -

-

- But what is this on the chest? I took it up, and held it close to the - light, and felt it, and smelt it, and tried every way possible to arrive - at some satisfactory conclusion concerning it. I can compare it to nothing - but a large door mat, ornamented at the edges with little tinkling tags - something like the stained porcupine quills round an Indian moccasin. - There was a hole or slit in the middle of this mat, as you see the same in - South American ponchos. But could it be possible that any sober harpooneer - would get into a door mat, and parade the streets of any Christian town in - that sort of guise? I put it on, to try it, and it weighed me down like a - hamper, being uncommonly shaggy and thick, and I thought a little damp, as - though this mysterious harpooneer had been wearing it of a rainy day. I - went up in it to a bit of glass stuck against the wall, and I never saw - such a sight in my life. I tore myself out of it in such a hurry that I - gave myself a kink in the neck. -

-

- I sat down on the side of the bed, and commenced thinking about this - head-peddling harpooneer, and his door mat. After thinking some time on - the bed-side, I got up and took off my monkey jacket, and then stood in - the middle of the room thinking. I then took off my coat, and thought a - little more in my shirt sleeves. But beginning to feel very cold now, half - undressed as I was, and remembering what the landlord said about the - harpooneer's not coming home at all that night, it being so very late, I - made no more ado, but jumped out of my pantaloons and boots, and then - blowing out the light tumbled into bed, and commended myself to the care - of heaven. -

-

- Whether that mattress was stuffed with corn-cobs or broken crockery, there - is no telling, but I rolled about a good deal, and could not sleep for a - long time. At last I slid off into a light doze, and had pretty nearly - made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall - in the passage, and saw a glimmer of light come into the room from under - the door. -

-

- Lord save me, thinks I, that must be the harpooneer, the infernal - head-peddler. But I lay perfectly still, and resolved not to say a word - till spoken to. Holding a light in one hand, and that identical New - Zealand head in the other, the stranger entered the room, and without - looking towards the bed, placed his candle a good way off from me on the - floor in one corner, and then began working away at the knotted cords of - the large bag I before spoke of as being in the room. I was all eagerness - to see his face, but he kept it averted for some time while employed in - unlacing the bag's mouth. This accomplished, however, he turned round—when, - good heavens! what a sight! Such a face! It was of a dark, purplish, - yellow colour, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking - squares. Yes, it's just as I thought, he's a terrible bedfellow; he's been - in a fight, got dreadfully cut, and here he is, just from the surgeon. But - at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I - plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black - squares on his cheeks. They were stains of some sort or other. At first I - knew not what to make of this; but soon an inkling of the truth occurred - to me. I remembered a story of a white man—a whaleman too—who, - falling among the cannibals, had been tattooed by them. I concluded that - this harpooneer, in the course of his distant voyages, must have met with - a similar adventure. And what is it, thought I, after all! It's only his - outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. But then, what to make - of his unearthly complexion, that part of it, I mean, lying round about, - and completely independent of the squares of tattooing. To be sure, it - might be nothing but a good coat of tropical tanning; but I never heard of - a hot sun's tanning a white man into a purplish yellow one. However, I had - never been in the South Seas; and perhaps the sun there produced these - extraordinary effects upon the skin. Now, while all these ideas were - passing through me like lightning, this harpooneer never noticed me at - all. But, after some difficulty having opened his bag, he commenced - fumbling in it, and presently pulled out a sort of tomahawk, and a - seal-skin wallet with the hair on. Placing these on the old chest in the - middle of the room, he then took the New Zealand head—a ghastly - thing enough—and crammed it down into the bag. He now took off his - hat—a new beaver hat—when I came nigh singing out with fresh - surprise. There was no hair on his head—none to speak of at least—nothing - but a small scalp-knot twisted up on his forehead. His bald purplish head - now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull. Had not the stranger - stood between me and the door, I would have bolted out of it quicker than - ever I bolted a dinner. -

-

- Even as it was, I thought something of slipping out of the window, but it - was the second floor back. I am no coward, but what to make of this - head-peddling purple rascal altogether passed my comprehension. Ignorance - is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed and confounded - about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it was - the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night. - In fact, I was so afraid of him that I was not game enough just then to - address him, and demand a satisfactory answer concerning what seemed - inexplicable in him. -

-

- Meanwhile, he continued the business of undressing, and at last showed his - chest and arms. As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with - the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark - squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years' War, and just escaped - from it with a sticking-plaster shirt. Still more, his very legs were - marked, as if a parcel of dark green frogs were running up the trunks of - young palms. It was now quite plain that he must be some abominable savage - or other shipped aboard of a whaleman in the South Seas, and so landed in - this Christian country. I quaked to think of it. A peddler of heads too—perhaps - the heads of his own brothers. He might take a fancy to mine—heavens! - look at that tomahawk! -

-

- But there was no time for shuddering, for now the savage went about - something that completely fascinated my attention, and convinced me that - he must indeed be a heathen. Going to his heavy grego, or wrapall, or - dreadnaught, which he had previously hung on a chair, he fumbled in the - pockets, and produced at length a curious little deformed image with a - hunch on its back, and exactly the colour of a three days' old Congo baby. - Remembering the embalmed head, at first I almost thought that this black - manikin was a real baby preserved in some similar manner. But seeing that - it was not at all limber, and that it glistened a good deal like polished - ebony, I concluded that it must be nothing but a wooden idol, which indeed - it proved to be. For now the savage goes up to the empty fire-place, and - removing the papered fire-board, sets up this little hunch-backed image, - like a tenpin, between the andirons. The chimney jambs and all the bricks - inside were very sooty, so that I thought this fire-place made a very - appropriate little shrine or chapel for his Congo idol. -

-

- I now screwed my eyes hard towards the half hidden image, feeling but ill - at ease meantime—to see what was next to follow. First he takes - about a double handful of shavings out of his grego pocket, and places - them carefully before the idol; then laying a bit of ship biscuit on top - and applying the flame from the lamp, he kindled the shavings into a - sacrificial blaze. Presently, after many hasty snatches into the fire, and - still hastier withdrawals of his fingers (whereby he seemed to be - scorching them badly), he at last succeeded in drawing out the biscuit; - then blowing off the heat and ashes a little, he made a polite offer of it - to the little negro. But the little devil did not seem to fancy such dry - sort of fare at all; he never moved his lips. All these strange antics - were accompanied by still stranger guttural noises from the devotee, who - seemed to be praying in a sing-song or else singing some pagan psalmody or - other, during which his face twitched about in the most unnatural manner. - At last extinguishing the fire, he took the idol up very unceremoniously, - and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a - sportsman bagging a dead woodcock. -

-

- All these queer proceedings increased my uncomfortableness, and seeing him - now exhibiting strong symptoms of concluding his business operations, and - jumping into bed with me, I thought it was high time, now or never, before - the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been - bound. -

-

- But the interval I spent in deliberating what to say, was a fatal one. - Taking up his tomahawk from the table, he examined the head of it for an - instant, and then holding it to the light, with his mouth at the handle, - he puffed out great clouds of tobacco smoke. The next moment the light was - extinguished, and this wild cannibal, tomahawk between his teeth, sprang - into bed with me. I sang out, I could not help it now; and giving a sudden - grunt of astonishment he began feeling me. -

-

- Stammering out something, I knew not what, I rolled away from him against - the wall, and then conjured him, whoever or whatever he might be, to keep - quiet, and let me get up and light the lamp again. But his guttural - responses satisfied me at once that he but ill comprehended my meaning. -

-

- "Who-e debel you?"—he at last said—"you no speak-e, dam-me, I - kill-e." And so saying the lighted tomahawk began flourishing about me in - the dark. -

-

- "Landlord, for God's sake, Peter Coffin!" shouted I. "Landlord! Watch! - Coffin! Angels! save me!" -

-

- "Speak-e! tell-ee me who-ee be, or dam-me, I kill-e!" again growled the - cannibal, while his horrid flourishings of the tomahawk scattered the hot - tobacco ashes about me till I thought my linen would get on fire. But - thank heaven, at that moment the landlord came into the room light in - hand, and leaping from the bed I ran up to him. -

-

- "Don't be afraid now," said he, grinning again, "Queequeg here wouldn't - harm a hair of your head." -

-

- "Stop your grinning," shouted I, "and why didn't you tell me that that - infernal harpooneer was a cannibal?" -

-

- "I thought ye know'd it;—didn't I tell ye, he was a peddlin' heads - around town?—but turn flukes again and go to sleep. Queequeg, look - here—you sabbee me, I sabbee—you this man sleepe you—you - sabbee?" -

-

- "Me sabbee plenty"—grunted Queequeg, puffing away at his pipe and - sitting up in bed. -

-

- "You gettee in," he added, motioning to me with his tomahawk, and throwing - the clothes to one side. He really did this in not only a civil but a - really kind and charitable way. I stood looking at him a moment. For all - his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal. - What's all this fuss I have been making about, thought I to myself—the - man's a human being just as I am: he has just as much reason to fear me, - as I have to be afraid of him. Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a - drunken Christian. -

-

- "Landlord," said I, "tell him to stash his tomahawk there, or pipe, or - whatever you call it; tell him to stop smoking, in short, and I will turn - in with him. But I don't fancy having a man smoking in bed with me. It's - dangerous. Besides, I ain't insured." -

-

- This being told to Queequeg, he at once complied, and again politely - motioned me to get into bed—rolling over to one side as much as to - say—"I won't touch a leg of ye." -

-

- "Good night, landlord," said I, "you may go." -

-

- I turned in, and never slept better in my life. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 4. The Counterpane. -

-

- Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg's arm thrown - over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought - I had been his wife. The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little - parti-coloured squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all - over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of - which were of one precise shade—owing I suppose to his keeping his - arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly - rolled up at various times—this same arm of his, I say, looked for - all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt. Indeed, partly - lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke, I could hardly tell it from - the quilt, they so blended their hues together; and it was only by the - sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging - me. -

-

- My sensations were strange. Let me try to explain them. When I was a - child, I well remember a somewhat similar circumstance that befell me; - whether it was a reality or a dream, I never could entirely settle. The - circumstance was this. I had been cutting up some caper or other—I - think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep - do a few days previous; and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was all - the time whipping me, or sending me to bed supperless,—my mother - dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed, though - it was only two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day - in the year in our hemisphere. I felt dreadfully. But there was no help - for it, so up stairs I went to my little room in the third floor, - undressed myself as slowly as possible so as to kill time, and with a - bitter sigh got between the sheets. -

-

- I lay there dismally calculating that sixteen entire hours must elapse - before I could hope for a resurrection. Sixteen hours in bed! the small of - my back ached to think of it. And it was so light too; the sun shining in - at the window, and a great rattling of coaches in the streets, and the - sound of gay voices all over the house. I felt worse and worse—at - last I got up, dressed, and softly going down in my stockinged feet, - sought out my stepmother, and suddenly threw myself at her feet, - beseeching her as a particular favour to give me a good slippering for my - misbehaviour; anything indeed but condemning me to lie abed such an - unendurable length of time. But she was the best and most conscientious of - stepmothers, and back I had to go to my room. For several hours I lay - there broad awake, feeling a great deal worse than I have ever done since, - even from the greatest subsequent misfortunes. At last I must have fallen - into a troubled nightmare of a doze; and slowly waking from it—half - steeped in dreams—I opened my eyes, and the before sun-lit room was - now wrapped in outer darkness. Instantly I felt a shock running through - all my frame; nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard; but a - supernatural hand seemed placed in mine. My arm hung over the counterpane, - and the nameless, unimaginable, silent form or phantom, to which the hand - belonged, seemed closely seated by my bed-side. For what seemed ages piled - on ages, I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag - away my hand; yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single - inch, the horrid spell would be broken. I knew not how this consciousness - at last glided away from me; but waking in the morning, I shudderingly - remembered it all, and for days and weeks and months afterwards I lost - myself in confounding attempts to explain the mystery. Nay, to this very - hour, I often puzzle myself with it. -

-

- Now, take away the awful fear, and my sensations at feeling the - supernatural hand in mine were very similar, in their strangeness, to - those which I experienced on waking up and seeing Queequeg's pagan arm - thrown round me. But at length all the past night's events soberly - recurred, one by one, in fixed reality, and then I lay only alive to the - comical predicament. For though I tried to move his arm—unlock his - bridegroom clasp—yet, sleeping as he was, he still hugged me - tightly, as though naught but death should part us twain. I now strove to - rouse him—"Queequeg!"—but his only answer was a snore. I then - rolled over, my neck feeling as if it were in a horse-collar; and suddenly - felt a slight scratch. Throwing aside the counterpane, there lay the - tomahawk sleeping by the savage's side, as if it were a hatchet-faced - baby. A pretty pickle, truly, thought I; abed here in a strange house in - the broad day, with a cannibal and a tomahawk! "Queequeg!—in the - name of goodness, Queequeg, wake!" At length, by dint of much wriggling, - and loud and incessant expostulations upon the unbecomingness of his - hugging a fellow male in that matrimonial sort of style, I succeeded in - extracting a grunt; and presently, he drew back his arm, shook himself all - over like a Newfoundland dog just from the water, and sat up in bed, stiff - as a pike-staff, looking at me, and rubbing his eyes as if he did not - altogether remember how I came to be there, though a dim consciousness of - knowing something about me seemed slowly dawning over him. Meanwhile, I - lay quietly eyeing him, having no serious misgivings now, and bent upon - narrowly observing so curious a creature. When, at last, his mind seemed - made up touching the character of his bedfellow, and he became, as it - were, reconciled to the fact; he jumped out upon the floor, and by certain - signs and sounds gave me to understand that, if it pleased me, he would - dress first and then leave me to dress afterwards, leaving the whole - apartment to myself. Thinks I, Queequeg, under the circumstances, this is - a very civilized overture; but, the truth is, these savages have an innate - sense of delicacy, say what you will; it is marvellous how essentially - polite they are. I pay this particular compliment to Queequeg, because he - treated me with so much civility and consideration, while I was guilty of - great rudeness; staring at him from the bed, and watching all his toilette - motions; for the time my curiosity getting the better of my breeding. - Nevertheless, a man like Queequeg you don't see every day, he and his ways - were well worth unusual regarding. -

-

- He commenced dressing at top by donning his beaver hat, a very tall one, - by the by, and then—still minus his trowsers—he hunted up his - boots. What under the heavens he did it for, I cannot tell, but his next - movement was to crush himself—boots in hand, and hat on—under - the bed; when, from sundry violent gaspings and strainings, I inferred he - was hard at work booting himself; though by no law of propriety that I - ever heard of, is any man required to be private when putting on his - boots. But Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in the transition stage—neither - caterpillar nor butterfly. He was just enough civilized to show off his - outlandishness in the strangest possible manners. His education was not - yet completed. He was an undergraduate. If he had not been a small degree - civilized, he very probably would not have troubled himself with boots at - all; but then, if he had not been still a savage, he never would have - dreamt of getting under the bed to put them on. At last, he emerged with - his hat very much dented and crushed down over his eyes, and began - creaking and limping about the room, as if, not being much accustomed to - boots, his pair of damp, wrinkled cowhide ones—probably not made to - order either—rather pinched and tormented him at the first go off of - a bitter cold morning. -

-

- Seeing, now, that there were no curtains to the window, and that the - street being very narrow, the house opposite commanded a plain view into - the room, and observing more and more the indecorous figure that Queequeg - made, staving about with little else but his hat and boots on; I begged - him as well as I could, to accelerate his toilet somewhat, and - particularly to get into his pantaloons as soon as possible. He complied, - and then proceeded to wash himself. At that time in the morning any - Christian would have washed his face; but Queequeg, to my amazement, - contented himself with restricting his ablutions to his chest, arms, and - hands. He then donned his waistcoat, and taking up a piece of hard soap on - the wash-stand centre table, dipped it into water and commenced lathering - his face. I was watching to see where he kept his razor, when lo and - behold, he takes the harpoon from the bed corner, slips out the long - wooden stock, unsheathes the head, whets it a little on his boot, and - striding up to the bit of mirror against the wall, begins a vigorous - scraping, or rather harpooning of his cheeks. Thinks I, Queequeg, this is - using Rogers's best cutlery with a vengeance. Afterwards I wondered the - less at this operation when I came to know of what fine steel the head of - a harpoon is made, and how exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are - always kept. -

-

- The rest of his toilet was soon achieved, and he proudly marched out of - the room, wrapped up in his great pilot monkey jacket, and sporting his - harpoon like a marshal's baton. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 5. Breakfast. -

-

- I quickly followed suit, and descending into the bar-room accosted the - grinning landlord very pleasantly. I cherished no malice towards him, - though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my - bedfellow. -

-

- However, a good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good - thing; the more's the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, - afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let - him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the - man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is - more in that man than you perhaps think for. -

-

- The bar-room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping in the - night previous, and whom I had not as yet had a good look at. They were - nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates, and third mates, and - sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and - ship keepers; a brown and brawny company, with bosky beards; an unshorn, - shaggy set, all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns. -

-

- You could pretty plainly tell how long each one had been ashore. This - young fellow's healthy cheek is like a sun-toasted pear in hue, and would - seem to smell almost as musky; he cannot have been three days landed from - his Indian voyage. That man next him looks a few shades lighter; you might - say a touch of satin wood is in him. In the complexion of a third still - lingers a tropic tawn, but slightly bleached withal; HE doubtless has - tarried whole weeks ashore. But who could show a cheek like Queequeg? - which, barred with various tints, seemed like the Andes' western slope, to - show forth in one array, contrasting climates, zone by zone. -

-

- "Grub, ho!" now cried the landlord, flinging open a door, and in we went - to breakfast. -

-

- They say that men who have seen the world, thereby become quite at ease in - manner, quite self-possessed in company. Not always, though: Ledyard, the - great New England traveller, and Mungo Park, the Scotch one; of all men, - they possessed the least assurance in the parlor. But perhaps the mere - crossing of Siberia in a sledge drawn by dogs as Ledyard did, or the - taking a long solitary walk on an empty stomach, in the negro heart of - Africa, which was the sum of poor Mungo's performances—this kind of - travel, I say, may not be the very best mode of attaining a high social - polish. Still, for the most part, that sort of thing is to be had - anywhere. -

-

- These reflections just here are occasioned by the circumstance that after - we were all seated at the table, and I was preparing to hear some good - stories about whaling; to my no small surprise, nearly every man - maintained a profound silence. And not only that, but they looked - embarrassed. Yes, here were a set of sea-dogs, many of whom without the - slightest bashfulness had boarded great whales on the high seas—entire - strangers to them—and duelled them dead without winking; and yet, - here they sat at a social breakfast table—all of the same calling, - all of kindred tastes—looking round as sheepishly at each other as - though they had never been out of sight of some sheepfold among the Green - Mountains. A curious sight; these bashful bears, these timid warrior - whalemen! -

-

- But as for Queequeg—why, Queequeg sat there among them—at the - head of the table, too, it so chanced; as cool as an icicle. To be sure I - cannot say much for his breeding. His greatest admirer could not have - cordially justified his bringing his harpoon into breakfast with him, and - using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table with it, to the - imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the beefsteaks towards him. - But THAT was certainly very coolly done by him, and every one knows that - in most people's estimation, to do anything coolly is to do it genteelly. -

-

- We will not speak of all Queequeg's peculiarities here; how he eschewed - coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to beefsteaks, - done rare. Enough, that when breakfast was over he withdrew like the rest - into the public room, lighted his tomahawk-pipe, and was sitting there - quietly digesting and smoking with his inseparable hat on, when I sallied - out for a stroll. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 6. The Street. -

-

- If I had been astonished at first catching a glimpse of so outlandish an - individual as Queequeg circulating among the polite society of a civilized - town, that astonishment soon departed upon taking my first daylight stroll - through the streets of New Bedford. -

-

- In thoroughfares nigh the docks, any considerable seaport will frequently - offer to view the queerest looking nondescripts from foreign parts. Even - in Broadway and Chestnut streets, Mediterranean mariners will sometimes - jostle the affrighted ladies. Regent Street is not unknown to Lascars and - Malays; and at Bombay, in the Apollo Green, live Yankees have often scared - the natives. But New Bedford beats all Water Street and Wapping. In these - last-mentioned haunts you see only sailors; but in New Bedford, actual - cannibals stand chatting at street corners; savages outright; many of whom - yet carry on their bones unholy flesh. It makes a stranger stare. -

-

- But, besides the Feegeeans, Tongatobooarrs, Erromanggoans, Pannangians, - and Brighggians, and, besides the wild specimens of the whaling-craft - which unheeded reel about the streets, you will see other sights still - more curious, certainly more comical. There weekly arrive in this town - scores of green Vermonters and New Hampshire men, all athirst for gain and - glory in the fishery. They are mostly young, of stalwart frames; fellows - who have felled forests, and now seek to drop the axe and snatch the - whale-lance. Many are as green as the Green Mountains whence they came. In - some things you would think them but a few hours old. Look there! that - chap strutting round the corner. He wears a beaver hat and swallow-tailed - coat, girdled with a sailor-belt and sheath-knife. Here comes another with - a sou'-wester and a bombazine cloak. -

-

- No town-bred dandy will compare with a country-bred one—I mean a - downright bumpkin dandy—a fellow that, in the dog-days, will mow his - two acres in buckskin gloves for fear of tanning his hands. Now when a - country dandy like this takes it into his head to make a distinguished - reputation, and joins the great whale-fishery, you should see the comical - things he does upon reaching the seaport. In bespeaking his sea-outfit, he - orders bell-buttons to his waistcoats; straps to his canvas trowsers. Ah, - poor Hay-Seed! how bitterly will burst those straps in the first howling - gale, when thou art driven, straps, buttons, and all, down the throat of - the tempest. -

-

- But think not that this famous town has only harpooneers, cannibals, and - bumpkins to show her visitors. Not at all. Still New Bedford is a queer - place. Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day - perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador. As it - is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so - bony. The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New - England. It is a land of oil, true enough: but not like Canaan; a land, - also, of corn and wine. The streets do not run with milk; nor in the - spring-time do they pave them with fresh eggs. Yet, in spite of this, - nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and - gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford. Whence came they? how planted - upon this once scraggy scoria of a country? -

-

- Go and gaze upon the iron emblematical harpoons round yonder lofty - mansion, and your question will be answered. Yes; all these brave houses - and flowery gardens came from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. - One and all, they were harpooned and dragged up hither from the bottom of - the sea. Can Herr Alexander perform a feat like that? -

-

- In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their - daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece. You - must go to New Bedford to see a brilliant wedding; for, they say, they - have reservoirs of oil in every house, and every night recklessly burn - their lengths in spermaceti candles. -

-

- In summer time, the town is sweet to see; full of fine maples—long - avenues of green and gold. And in August, high in air, the beautiful and - bountiful horse-chestnuts, candelabra-wise, proffer the passer-by their - tapering upright cones of congregated blossoms. So omnipotent is art; - which in many a district of New Bedford has superinduced bright terraces - of flowers upon the barren refuse rocks thrown aside at creation's final - day. -

-

- And the women of New Bedford, they bloom like their own red roses. But - roses only bloom in summer; whereas the fine carnation of their cheeks is - perennial as sunlight in the seventh heavens. Elsewhere match that bloom - of theirs, ye cannot, save in Salem, where they tell me the young girls - breathe such musk, their sailor sweethearts smell them miles off shore, as - though they were drawing nigh the odorous Moluccas instead of the - Puritanic sands. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 7. The Chapel. -

-

- In this same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman's Chapel, and few are the - moody fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail - to make a Sunday visit to the spot. I am sure that I did not. -

-

- Returning from my first morning stroll, I again sallied out upon this - special errand. The sky had changed from clear, sunny cold, to driving - sleet and mist. Wrapping myself in my shaggy jacket of the cloth called - bearskin, I fought my way against the stubborn storm. Entering, I found a - small scattered congregation of sailors, and sailors' wives and widows. A - muffled silence reigned, only broken at times by the shrieks of the storm. - Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as - if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable. The chaplain had not - yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat - steadfastly eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned - into the wall on either side the pulpit. Three of them ran something like - the following, but I do not pretend to quote:— -

-

- SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN TALBOT, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost - overboard, Near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia, November 1st, 1836. - THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS SISTER. -

-

- SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT LONG, WILLIS ELLERY, NATHAN COLEMAN, WALTER - CANNY, SETH MACY, AND SAMUEL GLEIG, Forming one of the boats' crews OF THE - SHIP ELIZA Who were towed out of sight by a Whale, On the Off-shore Ground - in the PACIFIC, December 31st, 1839. THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their - surviving SHIPMATES. -

-

- SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF The late CAPTAIN EZEKIEL HARDY, Who in the bows of - his boat was killed by a Sperm Whale on the coast of Japan, AUGUST 3d, - 1833. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS WIDOW. -

-

- Shaking off the sleet from my ice-glazed hat and jacket, I seated myself - near the door, and turning sideways was surprised to see Queequeg near me. - Affected by the solemnity of the scene, there was a wondering gaze of - incredulous curiosity in his countenance. This savage was the only person - present who seemed to notice my entrance; because he was the only one who - could not read, and, therefore, was not reading those frigid inscriptions - on the wall. Whether any of the relatives of the seamen whose names - appeared there were now among the congregation, I knew not; but so many - are the unrecorded accidents in the fishery, and so plainly did several - women present wear the countenance if not the trappings of some unceasing - grief, that I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose - unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak tablets sympathetically caused - the old wounds to bleed afresh. -

-

- Oh! ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among - flowers can say—here, HERE lies my beloved; ye know not the - desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those - black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes! What despair in those - immovable inscriptions! What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the - lines that seem to gnaw upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the - beings who have placelessly perished without a grave. As well might those - tablets stand in the cave of Elephanta as here. -

-

- In what census of living creatures, the dead of mankind are included; why - it is that a universal proverb says of them, that they tell no tales, - though containing more secrets than the Goodwin Sands; how it is that to - his name who yesterday departed for the other world, we prefix so - significant and infidel a word, and yet do not thus entitle him, if he but - embarks for the remotest Indies of this living earth; why the Life - Insurance Companies pay death-forfeitures upon immortals; in what eternal, - unstirring paralysis, and deadly, hopeless trance, yet lies antique Adam - who died sixty round centuries ago; how it is that we still refuse to be - comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in - unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead; - wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city. - All these things are not without their meanings. -

-

- But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead - doubts she gathers her most vital hope. -

-

- It needs scarcely to be told, with what feelings, on the eve of a - Nantucket voyage, I regarded those marble tablets, and by the murky light - of that darkened, doleful day read the fate of the whalemen who had gone - before me. Yes, Ishmael, the same fate may be thine. But somehow I grew - merry again. Delightful inducements to embark, fine chance for promotion, - it seems—aye, a stove boat will make me an immortal by brevet. Yes, - there is death in this business of whaling—a speechlessly quick - chaotic bundling of a man into Eternity. But what then? Methinks we have - hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they - call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in - looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the - sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. - Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body - who will, take it I say, it is not me. And therefore three cheers for - Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave - my soul, Jove himself cannot. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 8. The Pulpit. -

-

- I had not been seated very long ere a man of a certain venerable - robustness entered; immediately as the storm-pelted door flew back upon - admitting him, a quick regardful eyeing of him by all the congregation, - sufficiently attested that this fine old man was the chaplain. Yes, it was - the famous Father Mapple, so called by the whalemen, among whom he was a - very great favourite. He had been a sailor and a harpooneer in his youth, - but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry. At the - time I now write of, Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy - old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering - youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain - mild gleams of a newly developing bloom—the spring verdure peeping - forth even beneath February's snow. No one having previously heard his - history, could for the first time behold Father Mapple without the utmost - interest, because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities - about him, imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led. When he - entered I observed that he carried no umbrella, and certainly had not come - in his carriage, for his tarpaulin hat ran down with melting sleet, and - his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with - the weight of the water it had absorbed. However, hat and coat and - overshoes were one by one removed, and hung up in a little space in an - adjacent corner; when, arrayed in a decent suit, he quietly approached the - pulpit. -

-

- Like most old fashioned pulpits, it was a very lofty one, and since a - regular stairs to such a height would, by its long angle with the floor, - seriously contract the already small area of the chapel, the architect, it - seemed, had acted upon the hint of Father Mapple, and finished the pulpit - without a stairs, substituting a perpendicular side ladder, like those - used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea. The wife of a whaling captain - had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red worsted man-ropes for - this ladder, which, being itself nicely headed, and stained with a - mahogany colour, the whole contrivance, considering what manner of chapel - it was, seemed by no means in bad taste. Halting for an instant at the - foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of - the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly - sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the - steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel. -

-

- The perpendicular parts of this side ladder, as is usually the case with - swinging ones, were of cloth-covered rope, only the rounds were of wood, - so that at every step there was a joint. At my first glimpse of the - pulpit, it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship, these - joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary. For I was not prepared - to see Father Mapple after gaining the height, slowly turn round, and - stooping over the pulpit, deliberately drag up the ladder step by step, - till the whole was deposited within, leaving him impregnable in his little - Quebec. -

-

- I pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this. - Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity, - that I could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks of - the stage. No, thought I, there must be some sober reason for this thing; - furthermore, it must symbolize something unseen. Can it be, then, that by - that act of physical isolation, he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for - the time, from all outward worldly ties and connexions? Yes, for - replenished with the meat and wine of the word, to the faithful man of - God, this pulpit, I see, is a self-containing stronghold—a lofty - Ehrenbreitstein, with a perennial well of water within the walls. -

-

- But the side ladder was not the only strange feature of the place, - borrowed from the chaplain's former sea-farings. Between the marble - cenotaphs on either hand of the pulpit, the wall which formed its back was - adorned with a large painting representing a gallant ship beating against - a terrible storm off a lee coast of black rocks and snowy breakers. But - high above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated a little - isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel's face; and this bright - face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship's tossed deck, - something like that silver plate now inserted into the Victory's plank - where Nelson fell. "Ah, noble ship," the angel seemed to say, "beat on, - beat on, thou noble ship, and bear a hardy helm; for lo! the sun is - breaking through; the clouds are rolling off—serenest azure is at - hand." -

-

- Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that had - achieved the ladder and the picture. Its panelled front was in the - likeness of a ship's bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting - piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship's fiddle-headed beak. -

-

- What could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this - earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads - the world. From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first - descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the - God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds. Yes, - the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the - pulpit is its prow. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 9. The Sermon. -

-

- Father Mapple rose, and in a mild voice of unassuming authority ordered - the scattered people to condense. "Starboard gangway, there! side away to - larboard—larboard gangway to starboard! Midships! midships!" -

-

- There was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a still - slighter shuffling of women's shoes, and all was quiet again, and every - eye on the preacher. -

-

- He paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit's bows, folded his large - brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and offered a - prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom - of the sea. -

-

- This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a - bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog—in such tones he - commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the - concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy— -

-
-     "The ribs and terrors in the whale,
-     Arched over me a dismal gloom,
-     While all God's sun-lit waves rolled by,
-     And lift me deepening down to doom.
-
-     "I saw the opening maw of hell,
-     With endless pains and sorrows there;
-     Which none but they that feel can tell—
-     Oh, I was plunging to despair.
-
-     "In black distress, I called my God,
-     When I could scarce believe him mine,
-     He bowed his ear to my complaints—
-     No more the whale did me confine.
-
-     "With speed he flew to my relief,
-     As on a radiant dolphin borne;
-     Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone
-     The face of my Deliverer God.
-
-     "My song for ever shall record
-     That terrible, that joyful hour;
-     I give the glory to my God,
-     His all the mercy and the power."
-
-

- Nearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the - howling of the storm. A brief pause ensued; the preacher slowly turned - over the leaves of the Bible, and at last, folding his hand down upon the - proper page, said: "Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first - chapter of Jonah—'And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up - Jonah.'" -

-

- "Shipmates, this book, containing only four chapters—four yarns—is - one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures. Yet - what depths of the soul does Jonah's deep sealine sound! what a pregnant - lesson to us is this prophet! What a noble thing is that canticle in the - fish's belly! How billow-like and boisterously grand! We feel the floods - surging over us; we sound with him to the kelpy bottom of the waters; - sea-weed and all the slime of the sea is about us! But WHAT is this lesson - that the book of Jonah teaches? Shipmates, it is a two-stranded lesson; a - lesson to us all as sinful men, and a lesson to me as a pilot of the - living God. As sinful men, it is a lesson to us all, because it is a story - of the sin, hard-heartedness, suddenly awakened fears, the swift - punishment, repentance, prayers, and finally the deliverance and joy of - Jonah. As with all sinners among men, the sin of this son of Amittai was - in his wilful disobedience of the command of God—never mind now what - that command was, or how conveyed—which he found a hard command. But - all the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do—remember - that—and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. - And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this - disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists. -

-

- "With this sin of disobedience in him, Jonah still further flouts at God, - by seeking to flee from Him. He thinks that a ship made by men will carry - him into countries where God does not reign, but only the Captains of this - earth. He skulks about the wharves of Joppa, and seeks a ship that's bound - for Tarshish. There lurks, perhaps, a hitherto unheeded meaning here. By - all accounts Tarshish could have been no other city than the modern Cadiz. - That's the opinion of learned men. And where is Cadiz, shipmates? Cadiz is - in Spain; as far by water, from Joppa, as Jonah could possibly have sailed - in those ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almost unknown sea. - Because Joppa, the modern Jaffa, shipmates, is on the most easterly coast - of the Mediterranean, the Syrian; and Tarshish or Cadiz more than two - thousand miles to the westward from that, just outside the Straits of - Gibraltar. See ye not then, shipmates, that Jonah sought to flee - world-wide from God? Miserable man! Oh! most contemptible and worthy of - all scorn; with slouched hat and guilty eye, skulking from his God; - prowling among the shipping like a vile burglar hastening to cross the - seas. So disordered, self-condemning is his look, that had there been - policemen in those days, Jonah, on the mere suspicion of something wrong, - had been arrested ere he touched a deck. How plainly he's a fugitive! no - baggage, not a hat-box, valise, or carpet-bag,—no friends accompany - him to the wharf with their adieux. At last, after much dodging search, he - finds the Tarshish ship receiving the last items of her cargo; and as he - steps on board to see its Captain in the cabin, all the sailors for the - moment desist from hoisting in the goods, to mark the stranger's evil eye. - Jonah sees this; but in vain he tries to look all ease and confidence; in - vain essays his wretched smile. Strong intuitions of the man assure the - mariners he can be no innocent. In their gamesome but still serious way, - one whispers to the other—"Jack, he's robbed a widow;" or, "Joe, do - you mark him; he's a bigamist;" or, "Harry lad, I guess he's the adulterer - that broke jail in old Gomorrah, or belike, one of the missing murderers - from Sodom." Another runs to read the bill that's stuck against the spile - upon the wharf to which the ship is moored, offering five hundred gold - coins for the apprehension of a parricide, and containing a description of - his person. He reads, and looks from Jonah to the bill; while all his - sympathetic shipmates now crowd round Jonah, prepared to lay their hands - upon him. Frighted Jonah trembles, and summoning all his boldness to his - face, only looks so much the more a coward. He will not confess himself - suspected; but that itself is strong suspicion. So he makes the best of - it; and when the sailors find him not to be the man that is advertised, - they let him pass, and he descends into the cabin. -

-

- "'Who's there?' cries the Captain at his busy desk, hurriedly making out - his papers for the Customs—'Who's there?' Oh! how that harmless - question mangles Jonah! For the instant he almost turns to flee again. But - he rallies. 'I seek a passage in this ship to Tarshish; how soon sail ye, - sir?' Thus far the busy Captain had not looked up to Jonah, though the man - now stands before him; but no sooner does he hear that hollow voice, than - he darts a scrutinizing glance. 'We sail with the next coming tide,' at - last he slowly answered, still intently eyeing him. 'No sooner, sir?'—'Soon - enough for any honest man that goes a passenger.' Ha! Jonah, that's - another stab. But he swiftly calls away the Captain from that scent. 'I'll - sail with ye,'—he says,—'the passage money how much is that?—I'll - pay now.' For it is particularly written, shipmates, as if it were a thing - not to be overlooked in this history, 'that he paid the fare thereof' ere - the craft did sail. And taken with the context, this is full of meaning. -

-

- "Now Jonah's Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime - in any, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless. In this - world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a - passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers. So - Jonah's Captain prepares to test the length of Jonah's purse, ere he judge - him openly. He charges him thrice the usual sum; and it's assented to. - Then the Captain knows that Jonah is a fugitive; but at the same time - resolves to help a flight that paves its rear with gold. Yet when Jonah - fairly takes out his purse, prudent suspicions still molest the Captain. - He rings every coin to find a counterfeit. Not a forger, any way, he - mutters; and Jonah is put down for his passage. 'Point out my state-room, - Sir,' says Jonah now, 'I'm travel-weary; I need sleep.' 'Thou lookest like - it,' says the Captain, 'there's thy room.' Jonah enters, and would lock - the door, but the lock contains no key. Hearing him foolishly fumbling - there, the Captain laughs lowly to himself, and mutters something about - the doors of convicts' cells being never allowed to be locked within. All - dressed and dusty as he is, Jonah throws himself into his berth, and finds - the little state-room ceiling almost resting on his forehead. The air is - close, and Jonah gasps. Then, in that contracted hole, sunk, too, beneath - the ship's water-line, Jonah feels the heralding presentiment of that - stifling hour, when the whale shall hold him in the smallest of his - bowels' wards. -

-

- "Screwed at its axis against the side, a swinging lamp slightly oscillates - in Jonah's room; and the ship, heeling over towards the wharf with the - weight of the last bales received, the lamp, flame and all, though in - slight motion, still maintains a permanent obliquity with reference to the - room; though, in truth, infallibly straight itself, it but made obvious - the false, lying levels among which it hung. The lamp alarms and frightens - Jonah; as lying in his berth his tormented eyes roll round the place, and - this thus far successful fugitive finds no refuge for his restless glance. - But that contradiction in the lamp more and more appals him. The floor, - the ceiling, and the side, are all awry. 'Oh! so my conscience hangs in - me!' he groans, 'straight upwards, so it burns; but the chambers of my - soul are all in crookedness!' -

-

- "Like one who after a night of drunken revelry hies to his bed, still - reeling, but with conscience yet pricking him, as the plungings of the - Roman race-horse but so much the more strike his steel tags into him; as - one who in that miserable plight still turns and turns in giddy anguish, - praying God for annihilation until the fit be passed; and at last amid the - whirl of woe he feels, a deep stupor steals over him, as over the man who - bleeds to death, for conscience is the wound, and there's naught to - staunch it; so, after sore wrestlings in his berth, Jonah's prodigy of - ponderous misery drags him drowning down to sleep. -

-

- "And now the time of tide has come; the ship casts off her cables; and - from the deserted wharf the uncheered ship for Tarshish, all careening, - glides to sea. That ship, my friends, was the first of recorded smugglers! - the contraband was Jonah. But the sea rebels; he will not bear the wicked - burden. A dreadful storm comes on, the ship is like to break. But now when - the boatswain calls all hands to lighten her; when boxes, bales, and jars - are clattering overboard; when the wind is shrieking, and the men are - yelling, and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah's - head; in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep. He sees - no black sky and raging sea, feels not the reeling timbers, and little - hears he or heeds he the far rush of the mighty whale, which even now with - open mouth is cleaving the seas after him. Aye, shipmates, Jonah was gone - down into the sides of the ship—a berth in the cabin as I have taken - it, and was fast asleep. But the frightened master comes to him, and - shrieks in his dead ear, 'What meanest thou, O, sleeper! arise!' Startled - from his lethargy by that direful cry, Jonah staggers to his feet, and - stumbling to the deck, grasps a shroud, to look out upon the sea. But at - that moment he is sprung upon by a panther billow leaping over the - bulwarks. Wave after wave thus leaps into the ship, and finding no speedy - vent runs roaring fore and aft, till the mariners come nigh to drowning - while yet afloat. And ever, as the white moon shows her affrighted face - from the steep gullies in the blackness overhead, aghast Jonah sees the - rearing bowsprit pointing high upward, but soon beat downward again - towards the tormented deep. -

-

- "Terrors upon terrors run shouting through his soul. In all his cringing - attitudes, the God-fugitive is now too plainly known. The sailors mark - him; more and more certain grow their suspicions of him, and at last, - fully to test the truth, by referring the whole matter to high Heaven, - they fall to casting lots, to see for whose cause this great tempest was - upon them. The lot is Jonah's; that discovered, then how furiously they - mob him with their questions. 'What is thine occupation? Whence comest - thou? Thy country? What people? But mark now, my shipmates, the behavior - of poor Jonah. The eager mariners but ask him who he is, and where from; - whereas, they not only receive an answer to those questions, but likewise - another answer to a question not put by them, but the unsolicited answer - is forced from Jonah by the hard hand of God that is upon him. -

-

- "'I am a Hebrew,' he cries—and then—'I fear the Lord the God - of Heaven who hath made the sea and the dry land!' Fear him, O Jonah? Aye, - well mightest thou fear the Lord God THEN! Straightway, he now goes on to - make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more - appalled, but still are pitiful. For when Jonah, not yet supplicating God - for mercy, since he but too well knew the darkness of his deserts,—when - wretched Jonah cries out to them to take him and cast him forth into the - sea, for he knew that for HIS sake this great tempest was upon them; they - mercifully turn from him, and seek by other means to save the ship. But - all in vain; the indignant gale howls louder; then, with one hand raised - invokingly to God, with the other they not unreluctantly lay hold of - Jonah. -

-

- "And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea; when - instantly an oily calmness floats out from the east, and the sea is still, - as Jonah carries down the gale with him, leaving smooth water behind. He - goes down in the whirling heart of such a masterless commotion that he - scarce heeds the moment when he drops seething into the yawning jaws - awaiting him; and the whale shoots-to all his ivory teeth, like so many - white bolts, upon his prison. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the - fish's belly. But observe his prayer, and learn a weighty lesson. For - sinful as he is, Jonah does not weep and wail for direct deliverance. He - feels that his dreadful punishment is just. He leaves all his deliverance - to God, contenting himself with this, that spite of all his pains and - pangs, he will still look towards His holy temple. And here, shipmates, is - true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for - punishment. And how pleasing to God was this conduct in Jonah, is shown in - the eventual deliverance of him from the sea and the whale. Shipmates, I - do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him - before you as a model for repentance. Sin not; but if you do, take heed to - repent of it like Jonah." -

-

- While he was speaking these words, the howling of the shrieking, slanting - storm without seemed to add new power to the preacher, who, when - describing Jonah's sea-storm, seemed tossed by a storm himself. His deep - chest heaved as with a ground-swell; his tossed arms seemed the warring - elements at work; and the thunders that rolled away from off his swarthy - brow, and the light leaping from his eye, made all his simple hearers look - on him with a quick fear that was strange to them. -

-

- There now came a lull in his look, as he silently turned over the leaves - of the Book once more; and, at last, standing motionless, with closed - eyes, for the moment, seemed communing with God and himself. -

-

- But again he leaned over towards the people, and bowing his head lowly, - with an aspect of the deepest yet manliest humility, he spake these words: -

-

- "Shipmates, God has laid but one hand upon you; both his hands press upon - me. I have read ye by what murky light may be mine the lesson that Jonah - teaches to all sinners; and therefore to ye, and still more to me, for I - am a greater sinner than ye. And now how gladly would I come down from - this mast-head and sit on the hatches there where you sit, and listen as - you listen, while some one of you reads ME that other and more awful - lesson which Jonah teaches to ME, as a pilot of the living God. How being - an anointed pilot-prophet, or speaker of true things, and bidden by the - Lord to sound those unwelcome truths in the ears of a wicked Nineveh, - Jonah, appalled at the hostility he should raise, fled from his mission, - and sought to escape his duty and his God by taking ship at Joppa. But God - is everywhere; Tarshish he never reached. As we have seen, God came upon - him in the whale, and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, and with - swift slantings tore him along 'into the midst of the seas,' where the - eddying depths sucked him ten thousand fathoms down, and 'the weeds were - wrapped about his head,' and all the watery world of woe bowled over him. - Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet—'out of the belly of - hell'—when the whale grounded upon the ocean's utmost bones, even - then, God heard the engulphed, repenting prophet when he cried. Then God - spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the - sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and - all the delights of air and earth; and 'vomited out Jonah upon the dry - land;' when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised - and beaten—his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously - murmuring of the ocean—Jonah did the Almighty's bidding. And what - was that, shipmates? To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood! That - was it! -

-

- "This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the - living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel - duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed - them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal! Woe - to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in - this world, courts not dishonour! Woe to him who would not be true, even - though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot - Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway!" -

-

- He dropped and fell away from himself for a moment; then lifting his face - to them again, showed a deep joy in his eyes, as he cried out with a - heavenly enthusiasm,—"But oh! shipmates! on the starboard hand of - every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, - than the bottom of the woe is deep. Is not the main-truck higher than the - kelson is low? Delight is to him—a far, far upward, and inward - delight—who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, - ever stands forth his own inexorable self. Delight is to him whose strong - arms yet support him, when the ship of this base treacherous world has - gone down beneath him. Delight is to him, who gives no quarter in the - truth, and kills, burns, and destroys all sin though he pluck it out from - under the robes of Senators and Judges. Delight,—top-gallant delight - is to him, who acknowledges no law or lord, but the Lord his God, and is - only a patriot to heaven. Delight is to him, whom all the waves of the - billows of the seas of the boisterous mob can never shake from this sure - Keel of the Ages. And eternal delight and deliciousness will be his, who - coming to lay him down, can say with his final breath—O Father!—chiefly - known to me by Thy rod—mortal or immortal, here I die. I have - striven to be Thine, more than to be this world's, or mine own. Yet this - is nothing: I leave eternity to Thee; for what is man that he should live - out the lifetime of his God?" -

-

- He said no more, but slowly waving a benediction, covered his face with - his hands, and so remained kneeling, till all the people had departed, and - he was left alone in the place. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 10. A Bosom Friend. -

-

- Returning to the Spouter-Inn from the Chapel, I found Queequeg there quite - alone; he having left the Chapel before the benediction some time. He was - sitting on a bench before the fire, with his feet on the stove hearth, and - in one hand was holding close up to his face that little negro idol of - his; peering hard into its face, and with a jack-knife gently whittling - away at its nose, meanwhile humming to himself in his heathenish way. -

-

- But being now interrupted, he put up the image; and pretty soon, going to - the table, took up a large book there, and placing it on his lap began - counting the pages with deliberate regularity; at every fiftieth page—as - I fancied—stopping a moment, looking vacantly around him, and giving - utterance to a long-drawn gurgling whistle of astonishment. He would then - begin again at the next fifty; seeming to commence at number one each - time, as though he could not count more than fifty, and it was only by - such a large number of fifties being found together, that his astonishment - at the multitude of pages was excited. -

-

- With much interest I sat watching him. Savage though he was, and hideously - marred about the face—at least to my taste—his countenance yet - had a something in it which was by no means disagreeable. You cannot hide - the soul. Through all his unearthly tattooings, I thought I saw the traces - of a simple honest heart; and in his large, deep eyes, fiery black and - bold, there seemed tokens of a spirit that would dare a thousand devils. - And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, - which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim. He looked like a man - who had never cringed and never had had a creditor. Whether it was, too, - that his head being shaved, his forehead was drawn out in freer and - brighter relief, and looked more expansive than it otherwise would, this I - will not venture to decide; but certain it was his head was - phrenologically an excellent one. It may seem ridiculous, but it reminded - me of General Washington's head, as seen in the popular busts of him. It - had the same long regularly graded retreating slope from above the brows, - which were likewise very projecting, like two long promontories thickly - wooded on top. Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed. -

-

- Whilst I was thus closely scanning him, half-pretending meanwhile to be - looking out at the storm from the casement, he never heeded my presence, - never troubled himself with so much as a single glance; but appeared - wholly occupied with counting the pages of the marvellous book. - Considering how sociably we had been sleeping together the night previous, - and especially considering the affectionate arm I had found thrown over me - upon waking in the morning, I thought this indifference of his very - strange. But savages are strange beings; at times you do not know exactly - how to take them. At first they are overawing; their calm - self-collectedness of simplicity seems a Socratic wisdom. I had noticed - also that Queequeg never consorted at all, or but very little, with the - other seamen in the inn. He made no advances whatever; appeared to have no - desire to enlarge the circle of his acquaintances. All this struck me as - mighty singular; yet, upon second thoughts, there was something almost - sublime in it. Here was a man some twenty thousand miles from home, by the - way of Cape Horn, that is—which was the only way he could get there—thrown - among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; - and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; - content with his own companionship; always equal to himself. Surely this - was a touch of fine philosophy; though no doubt he had never heard there - was such a thing as that. But, perhaps, to be true philosophers, we - mortals should not be conscious of so living or so striving. So soon as I - hear that such or such a man gives himself out for a philosopher, I - conclude that, like the dyspeptic old woman, he must have "broken his - digester." -

-

- As I sat there in that now lonely room; the fire burning low, in that mild - stage when, after its first intensity has warmed the air, it then only - glows to be looked at; the evening shades and phantoms gathering round the - casements, and peering in upon us silent, solitary twain; the storm - booming without in solemn swells; I began to be sensible of strange - feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened - hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had - redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in - which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits. Wild he - was; a very sight of sights to see; yet I began to feel myself - mysteriously drawn towards him. And those same things that would have - repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me. I'll - try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but - hollow courtesy. I drew my bench near him, and made some friendly signs - and hints, doing my best to talk with him meanwhile. At first he little - noticed these advances; but presently, upon my referring to his last - night's hospitalities, he made out to ask me whether we were again to be - bedfellows. I told him yes; whereat I thought he looked pleased, perhaps a - little complimented. -

-

- We then turned over the book together, and I endeavored to explain to him - the purpose of the printing, and the meaning of the few pictures that were - in it. Thus I soon engaged his interest; and from that we went to - jabbering the best we could about the various outer sights to be seen in - this famous town. Soon I proposed a social smoke; and, producing his pouch - and tomahawk, he quietly offered me a puff. And then we sat exchanging - puffs from that wild pipe of his, and keeping it regularly passing between - us. -

-

- If there yet lurked any ice of indifference towards me in the Pagan's - breast, this pleasant, genial smoke we had, soon thawed it out, and left - us cronies. He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I - to him; and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, - clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; - meaning, in his country's phrase, that we were bosom friends; he would - gladly die for me, if need should be. In a countryman, this sudden flame - of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much - distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply. -

-

- After supper, and another social chat and smoke, we went to our room - together. He made me a present of his embalmed head; took out his enormous - tobacco wallet, and groping under the tobacco, drew out some thirty - dollars in silver; then spreading them on the table, and mechanically - dividing them into two equal portions, pushed one of them towards me, and - said it was mine. I was going to remonstrate; but he silenced me by - pouring them into my trowsers' pockets. I let them stay. He then went - about his evening prayers, took out his idol, and removed the paper - fireboard. By certain signs and symptoms, I thought he seemed anxious for - me to join him; but well knowing what was to follow, I deliberated a - moment whether, in case he invited me, I would comply or otherwise. -

-

- I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible - Presbyterian Church. How then could I unite with this wild idolator in - worshipping his piece of wood? But what is worship? thought I. Do you - suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth—pagans - and all included—can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of - black wood? Impossible! But what is worship?—to do the will of God—THAT - is worship. And what is the will of God?—to do to my fellow man what - I would have my fellow man to do to me—THAT is the will of God. Now, - Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do - to me? Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship. - Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn - idolator. So I kindled the shavings; helped prop up the innocent little - idol; offered him burnt biscuit with Queequeg; salamed before him twice or - thrice; kissed his nose; and that done, we undressed and went to bed, at - peace with our own consciences and all the world. But we did not go to - sleep without some little chat. -

-

- How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential - disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very - bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and - chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts' - honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg—a cosy, loving pair. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 11. Nightgown. -

-

- We had lain thus in bed, chatting and napping at short intervals, and - Queequeg now and then affectionately throwing his brown tattooed legs over - mine, and then drawing them back; so entirely sociable and free and easy - were we; when, at last, by reason of our confabulations, what little - nappishness remained in us altogether departed, and we felt like getting - up again, though day-break was yet some way down the future. -

-

- Yes, we became very wakeful; so much so that our recumbent position began - to grow wearisome, and by little and little we found ourselves sitting up; - the clothes well tucked around us, leaning against the head-board with our - four knees drawn up close together, and our two noses bending over them, - as if our kneepans were warming-pans. We felt very nice and snug, the more - so since it was so chilly out of doors; indeed out of bed-clothes too, - seeing that there was no fire in the room. The more so, I say, because - truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for - there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by - contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are - all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be - said to be comfortable any more. But if, like Queequeg and me in the bed, - the tip of your nose or the crown of your head be slightly chilled, why - then, indeed, in the general consciousness you feel most delightfully and - unmistakably warm. For this reason a sleeping apartment should never be - furnished with a fire, which is one of the luxurious discomforts of the - rich. For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but - the blanket between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air. - Then there you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic - crystal. -

-

- We had been sitting in this crouching manner for some time, when all at - once I thought I would open my eyes; for when between sheets, whether by - day or by night, and whether asleep or awake, I have a way of always - keeping my eyes shut, in order the more to concentrate the snugness of - being in bed. Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except - his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our - essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part. Upon opening - my eyes then, and coming out of my own pleasant and self-created darkness - into the imposed and coarse outer gloom of the unilluminated - twelve-o'clock-at-night, I experienced a disagreeable revulsion. Nor did I - at all object to the hint from Queequeg that perhaps it were best to - strike a light, seeing that we were so wide awake; and besides he felt a - strong desire to have a few quiet puffs from his Tomahawk. Be it said, - that though I had felt such a strong repugnance to his smoking in the bed - the night before, yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love - once comes to bend them. For now I liked nothing better than to have - Queequeg smoking by me, even in bed, because he seemed to be full of such - serene household joy then. I no more felt unduly concerned for the - landlord's policy of insurance. I was only alive to the condensed - confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real - friend. With our shaggy jackets drawn about our shoulders, we now passed - the Tomahawk from one to the other, till slowly there grew over us a blue - hanging tester of smoke, illuminated by the flame of the new-lit lamp. -

-

- Whether it was that this undulating tester rolled the savage away to far - distant scenes, I know not, but he now spoke of his native island; and, - eager to hear his history, I begged him to go on and tell it. He gladly - complied. Though at the time I but ill comprehended not a few of his - words, yet subsequent disclosures, when I had become more familiar with - his broken phraseology, now enable me to present the whole story such as - it may prove in the mere skeleton I give. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 12. Biographical. -

-

- Queequeg was a native of Rokovoko, an island far away to the West and - South. It is not down in any map; true places never are. -

-

- When a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a - grass clout, followed by the nibbling goats, as if he were a green - sapling; even then, in Queequeg's ambitious soul, lurked a strong desire - to see something more of Christendom than a specimen whaler or two. His - father was a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the - maternal side he boasted aunts who were the wives of unconquerable - warriors. There was excellent blood in his veins—royal stuff; though - sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his - untutored youth. -

-

- A Sag Harbor ship visited his father's bay, and Queequeg sought a passage - to Christian lands. But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, - spurned his suit; and not all the King his father's influence could - prevail. But Queequeg vowed a vow. Alone in his canoe, he paddled off to a - distant strait, which he knew the ship must pass through when she quitted - the island. On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of - land, covered with mangrove thickets that grew out into the water. Hiding - his canoe, still afloat, among these thickets, with its prow seaward, he - sat down in the stern, paddle low in hand; and when the ship was gliding - by, like a flash he darted out; gained her side; with one backward dash of - his foot capsized and sank his canoe; climbed up the chains; and throwing - himself at full length upon the deck, grappled a ring-bolt there, and - swore not to let it go, though hacked in pieces. -

-

- In vain the captain threatened to throw him overboard; suspended a cutlass - over his naked wrists; Queequeg was the son of a King, and Queequeg budged - not. Struck by his desperate dauntlessness, and his wild desire to visit - Christendom, the captain at last relented, and told him he might make - himself at home. But this fine young savage—this sea Prince of - Wales, never saw the Captain's cabin. They put him down among the sailors, - and made a whaleman of him. But like Czar Peter content to toil in the - shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if - thereby he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored - countrymen. For at bottom—so he told me—he was actuated by a - profound desire to learn among the Christians, the arts whereby to make - his people still happier than they were; and more than that, still better - than they were. But, alas! the practices of whalemen soon convinced him - that even Christians could be both miserable and wicked; infinitely more - so, than all his father's heathens. Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor; and - seeing what the sailors did there; and then going on to Nantucket, and - seeing how they spent their wages in that place also, poor Queequeg gave - it up for lost. Thought he, it's a wicked world in all meridians; I'll die - a pagan. -

-

- And thus an old idolator at heart, he yet lived among these Christians, - wore their clothes, and tried to talk their gibberish. Hence the queer - ways about him, though now some time from home. -

-

- By hints, I asked him whether he did not propose going back, and having a - coronation; since he might now consider his father dead and gone, he being - very old and feeble at the last accounts. He answered no, not yet; and - added that he was fearful Christianity, or rather Christians, had unfitted - him for ascending the pure and undefiled throne of thirty pagan Kings - before him. But by and by, he said, he would return,—as soon as he - felt himself baptized again. For the nonce, however, he proposed to sail - about, and sow his wild oats in all four oceans. They had made a - harpooneer of him, and that barbed iron was in lieu of a sceptre now. -

-

- I asked him what might be his immediate purpose, touching his future - movements. He answered, to go to sea again, in his old vocation. Upon - this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my - intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising port for - an adventurous whaleman to embark from. He at once resolved to accompany - me to that island, ship aboard the same vessel, get into the same watch, - the same boat, the same mess with me, in short to share my every hap; with - both my hands in his, boldly dip into the Potluck of both worlds. To all - this I joyously assented; for besides the affection I now felt for - Queequeg, he was an experienced harpooneer, and as such, could not fail to - be of great usefulness to one, who, like me, was wholly ignorant of the - mysteries of whaling, though well acquainted with the sea, as known to - merchant seamen. -

-

- His story being ended with his pipe's last dying puff, Queequeg embraced - me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light, we - rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were - sleeping. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow. -

-

- Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, - for a block, I settled my own and comrade's bill; using, however, my - comrade's money. The grinning landlord, as well as the boarders, seemed - amazingly tickled at the sudden friendship which had sprung up between me - and Queequeg—especially as Peter Coffin's cock and bull stories - about him had previously so much alarmed me concerning the very person - whom I now companied with. -

-

- We borrowed a wheelbarrow, and embarking our things, including my own poor - carpet-bag, and Queequeg's canvas sack and hammock, away we went down to - "the Moss," the little Nantucket packet schooner moored at the wharf. As - we were going along the people stared; not at Queequeg so much—for - they were used to seeing cannibals like him in their streets,—but at - seeing him and me upon such confidential terms. But we heeded them not, - going along wheeling the barrow by turns, and Queequeg now and then - stopping to adjust the sheath on his harpoon barbs. I asked him why he - carried such a troublesome thing with him ashore, and whether all whaling - ships did not find their own harpoons. To this, in substance, he replied, - that though what I hinted was true enough, yet he had a particular - affection for his own harpoon, because it was of assured stuff, well tried - in many a mortal combat, and deeply intimate with the hearts of whales. In - short, like many inland reapers and mowers, who go into the farmers' - meadows armed with their own scythes—though in no wise obliged to - furnish them—even so, Queequeg, for his own private reasons, - preferred his own harpoon. -

-

- Shifting the barrow from my hand to his, he told me a funny story about - the first wheelbarrow he had ever seen. It was in Sag Harbor. The owners - of his ship, it seems, had lent him one, in which to carry his heavy chest - to his boarding house. Not to seem ignorant about the thing—though - in truth he was entirely so, concerning the precise way in which to manage - the barrow—Queequeg puts his chest upon it; lashes it fast; and then - shoulders the barrow and marches up the wharf. "Why," said I, "Queequeg, - you might have known better than that, one would think. Didn't the people - laugh?" -

-

- Upon this, he told me another story. The people of his island of Rokovoko, - it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young - cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl; and this - punchbowl always forms the great central ornament on the braided mat where - the feast is held. Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at - Rokovoko, and its commander—from all accounts, a very stately - punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain—this commander was - invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess - just turned of ten. Well; when all the wedding guests were assembled at - the bride's bamboo cottage, this Captain marches in, and being assigned - the post of honour, placed himself over against the punchbowl, and between - the High Priest and his majesty the King, Queequeg's father. Grace being - said,—for those people have their grace as well as we—though - Queequeg told me that unlike us, who at such times look downwards to our - platters, they, on the contrary, copying the ducks, glance upwards to the - great Giver of all feasts—Grace, I say, being said, the High Priest - opens the banquet by the immemorial ceremony of the island; that is, - dipping his consecrated and consecrating fingers into the bowl before the - blessed beverage circulates. Seeing himself placed next the Priest, and - noting the ceremony, and thinking himself—being Captain of a ship—as - having plain precedence over a mere island King, especially in the King's - own house—the Captain coolly proceeds to wash his hands in the - punchbowl;—taking it I suppose for a huge finger-glass. "Now," said - Queequeg, "what you tink now?—Didn't our people laugh?" -

-

- At last, passage paid, and luggage safe, we stood on board the schooner. - Hoisting sail, it glided down the Acushnet river. On one side, New Bedford - rose in terraces of streets, their ice-covered trees all glittering in the - clear, cold air. Huge hills and mountains of casks on casks were piled - upon her wharves, and side by side the world-wandering whale ships lay - silent and safely moored at last; while from others came a sound of - carpenters and coopers, with blended noises of fires and forges to melt - the pitch, all betokening that new cruises were on the start; that one - most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second - ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the - endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort. -

-

- Gaining the more open water, the bracing breeze waxed fresh; the little - Moss tossed the quick foam from her bows, as a young colt his snortings. - How I snuffed that Tartar air!—how I spurned that turnpike earth!—that - common highway all over dented with the marks of slavish heels and hoofs; - and turned me to admire the magnanimity of the sea which will permit no - records. -

-

- At the same foam-fountain, Queequeg seemed to drink and reel with me. His - dusky nostrils swelled apart; he showed his filed and pointed teeth. On, - on we flew; and our offing gained, the Moss did homage to the blast; - ducked and dived her bows as a slave before the Sultan. Sideways leaning, - we sideways darted; every ropeyarn tingling like a wire; the two tall - masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes. So full of this - reeling scene were we, as we stood by the plunging bowsprit, that for some - time we did not notice the jeering glances of the passengers, a - lubber-like assembly, who marvelled that two fellow beings should be so - companionable; as though a white man were anything more dignified than a - whitewashed negro. But there were some boobies and bumpkins there, who, by - their intense greenness, must have come from the heart and centre of all - verdure. Queequeg caught one of these young saplings mimicking him behind - his back. I thought the bumpkin's hour of doom was come. Dropping his - harpoon, the brawny savage caught him in his arms, and by an almost - miraculous dexterity and strength, sent him high up bodily into the air; - then slightly tapping his stern in mid-somerset, the fellow landed with - bursting lungs upon his feet, while Queequeg, turning his back upon him, - lighted his tomahawk pipe and passed it to me for a puff. -

-

- "Capting! Capting!" yelled the bumpkin, running towards that officer; - "Capting, Capting, here's the devil." -

-

- "Hallo, you sir," cried the Captain, a gaunt rib of the sea, - stalking up to Queequeg, "what in thunder do you mean by that? Don't you - know you might have killed that chap?" -

-

- "What him say?" said Queequeg, as he mildly turned to me. -

-

- "He say," said I, "that you came near kill-e that man there," pointing to - the still shivering greenhorn. -

-

- "Kill-e," cried Queequeg, twisting his tattooed face into an unearthly - expression of disdain, "ah! him bevy small-e fish-e; Queequeg no kill-e so - small-e fish-e; Queequeg kill-e big whale!" -

-

- "Look you," roared the Captain, "I'll kill-e YOU, you cannibal, if you try - any more of your tricks aboard here; so mind your eye." -

-

- But it so happened just then, that it was high time for the Captain to - mind his own eye. The prodigious strain upon the main-sail had parted the - weather-sheet, and the tremendous boom was now flying from side to side, - completely sweeping the entire after part of the deck. The poor fellow - whom Queequeg had handled so roughly, was swept overboard; all hands were - in a panic; and to attempt snatching at the boom to stay it, seemed - madness. It flew from right to left, and back again, almost in one ticking - of a watch, and every instant seemed on the point of snapping into - splinters. Nothing was done, and nothing seemed capable of being done; - those on deck rushed towards the bows, and stood eyeing the boom as if it - were the lower jaw of an exasperated whale. In the midst of this - consternation, Queequeg dropped deftly to his knees, and crawling under - the path of the boom, whipped hold of a rope, secured one end to the - bulwarks, and then flinging the other like a lasso, caught it round the - boom as it swept over his head, and at the next jerk, the spar was that - way trapped, and all was safe. The schooner was run into the wind, and - while the hands were clearing away the stern boat, Queequeg, stripped to - the waist, darted from the side with a long living arc of a leap. For - three minutes or more he was seen swimming like a dog, throwing his long - arms straight out before him, and by turns revealing his brawny shoulders - through the freezing foam. I looked at the grand and glorious fellow, but - saw no one to be saved. The greenhorn had gone down. Shooting himself - perpendicularly from the water, Queequeg, now took an instant's glance - around him, and seeming to see just how matters were, dived down and - disappeared. A few minutes more, and he rose again, one arm still striking - out, and with the other dragging a lifeless form. The boat soon picked - them up. The poor bumpkin was restored. All hands voted Queequeg a noble - trump; the captain begged his pardon. From that hour I clove to Queequeg - like a barnacle; yea, till poor Queequeg took his last long dive. -

-

- Was there ever such unconsciousness? He did not seem to think that he at - all deserved a medal from the Humane and Magnanimous Societies. He only - asked for water—fresh water—something to wipe the brine off; - that done, he put on dry clothes, lighted his pipe, and leaning against - the bulwarks, and mildly eyeing those around him, seemed to be saying to - himself—"It's a mutual, joint-stock world, in all meridians. We - cannibals must help these Christians." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 14. Nantucket. -

-

- Nothing more happened on the passage worthy the mentioning; so, after a - fine run, we safely arrived in Nantucket. -

-

- Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the - world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than - the Eddystone lighthouse. Look at it—a mere hillock, and elbow of - sand; all beach, without a background. There is more sand there than you - would use in twenty years as a substitute for blotting paper. Some - gamesome wights will tell you that they have to plant weeds there, they - don't grow naturally; that they import Canada thistles; that they have to - send beyond seas for a spile to stop a leak in an oil cask; that pieces of - wood in Nantucket are carried about like bits of the true cross in Rome; - that people there plant toadstools before their houses, to get under the - shade in summer time; that one blade of grass makes an oasis, three blades - in a day's walk a prairie; that they wear quicksand shoes, something like - Laplander snow-shoes; that they are so shut up, belted about, every way - inclosed, surrounded, and made an utter island of by the ocean, that to - their very chairs and tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering, - as to the backs of sea turtles. But these extravaganzas only show that - Nantucket is no Illinois. -

-

- Look now at the wondrous traditional story of how this island was settled - by the red-men. Thus goes the legend. In olden times an eagle swooped down - upon the New England coast, and carried off an infant Indian in his - talons. With loud lament the parents saw their child borne out of sight - over the wide waters. They resolved to follow in the same direction. - Setting out in their canoes, after a perilous passage they discovered the - island, and there they found an empty ivory casket,—the poor little - Indian's skeleton. -

-

- What wonder, then, that these Nantucketers, born on a beach, should take - to the sea for a livelihood! They first caught crabs and quohogs in the - sand; grown bolder, they waded out with nets for mackerel; more - experienced, they pushed off in boats and captured cod; and at last, - launching a navy of great ships on the sea, explored this watery world; - put an incessant belt of circumnavigations round it; peeped in at - Behring's Straits; and in all seasons and all oceans declared everlasting - war with the mightiest animated mass that has survived the flood; most - monstrous and most mountainous! That Himmalehan, salt-sea Mastodon, - clothed with such portentousness of unconscious power, that his very - panics are more to be dreaded than his most fearless and malicious - assaults! -

-

- And thus have these naked Nantucketers, these sea hermits, issuing from - their ant-hill in the sea, overrun and conquered the watery world like so - many Alexanders; parcelling out among them the Atlantic, Pacific, and - Indian oceans, as the three pirate powers did Poland. Let America add - Mexico to Texas, and pile Cuba upon Canada; let the English overswarm all - India, and hang out their blazing banner from the sun; two thirds of this - terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is his; he owns it, - as Emperors own empires; other seamen having but a right of way through - it. Merchant ships are but extension bridges; armed ones but floating - forts; even pirates and privateers, though following the sea as highwaymen - the road, they but plunder other ships, other fragments of the land like - themselves, without seeking to draw their living from the bottomless deep - itself. The Nantucketer, he alone resides and riots on the sea; he alone, - in Bible language, goes down to it in ships; to and fro ploughing it as - his own special plantation. THERE is his home; THERE lies his business, - which a Noah's flood would not interrupt, though it overwhelmed all the - millions in China. He lives on the sea, as prairie cocks in the prairie; - he hides among the waves, he climbs them as chamois hunters climb the - Alps. For years he knows not the land; so that when he comes to it at - last, it smells like another world, more strangely than the moon would to - an Earthsman. With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings and - is rocked to sleep between billows; so at nightfall, the Nantucketer, out - of sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under - his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 15. Chowder. -

-

- It was quite late in the evening when the little Moss came snugly to - anchor, and Queequeg and I went ashore; so we could attend to no business - that day, at least none but a supper and a bed. The landlord of the - Spouter-Inn had recommended us to his cousin Hosea Hussey of the Try Pots, - whom he asserted to be the proprietor of one of the best kept hotels in - all Nantucket, and moreover he had assured us that Cousin Hosea, as he - called him, was famous for his chowders. In short, he plainly hinted that - we could not possibly do better than try pot-luck at the Try Pots. But the - directions he had given us about keeping a yellow warehouse on our - starboard hand till we opened a white church to the larboard, and then - keeping that on the larboard hand till we made a corner three points to - the starboard, and that done, then ask the first man we met where the - place was: these crooked directions of his very much puzzled us at first, - especially as, at the outset, Queequeg insisted that the yellow warehouse—our - first point of departure—must be left on the larboard hand, whereas - I had understood Peter Coffin to say it was on the starboard. However, by - dint of beating about a little in the dark, and now and then knocking up a - peaceable inhabitant to inquire the way, we at last came to something - which there was no mistaking. -

-

- Two enormous wooden pots painted black, and suspended by asses' ears, - swung from the cross-trees of an old top-mast, planted in front of an old - doorway. The horns of the cross-trees were sawed off on the other side, so - that this old top-mast looked not a little like a gallows. Perhaps I was - over sensitive to such impressions at the time, but I could not help - staring at this gallows with a vague misgiving. A sort of crick was in my - neck as I gazed up to the two remaining horns; yes, TWO of them, one for - Queequeg, and one for me. It's ominous, thinks I. A Coffin my Innkeeper - upon landing in my first whaling port; tombstones staring at me in the - whalemen's chapel; and here a gallows! and a pair of prodigious black pots - too! Are these last throwing out oblique hints touching Tophet? -

-

- I was called from these reflections by the sight of a freckled woman with - yellow hair and a yellow gown, standing in the porch of the inn, under a - dull red lamp swinging there, that looked much like an injured eye, and - carrying on a brisk scolding with a man in a purple woollen shirt. -

-

- "Get along with ye," said she to the man, "or I'll be combing ye!" -

-

- "Come on, Queequeg," said I, "all right. There's Mrs. Hussey." -

-

- And so it turned out; Mr. Hosea Hussey being from home, but leaving Mrs. - Hussey entirely competent to attend to all his affairs. Upon making known - our desires for a supper and a bed, Mrs. Hussey, postponing further - scolding for the present, ushered us into a little room, and seating us at - a table spread with the relics of a recently concluded repast, turned - round to us and said—"Clam or Cod?" -

-

- "What's that about Cods, ma'am?" said I, with much politeness. -

-

- "Clam or Cod?" she repeated. -

-

- "A clam for supper? a cold clam; is THAT what you mean, Mrs. Hussey?" says - I, "but that's a rather cold and clammy reception in the winter time, - ain't it, Mrs. Hussey?" -

-

- But being in a great hurry to resume scolding the man in the purple Shirt, - who was waiting for it in the entry, and seeming to hear nothing but the - word "clam," Mrs. Hussey hurried towards an open door leading to the - kitchen, and bawling out "clam for two," disappeared. -

-

- "Queequeg," said I, "do you think that we can make out a supper for us - both on one clam?" -

-

- However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the - apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder - came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! - hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than - hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into - little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned - with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, - and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, - and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great - expedition: when leaning back a moment and bethinking me of Mrs. Hussey's - clam and cod announcement, I thought I would try a little experiment. - Stepping to the kitchen door, I uttered the word "cod" with great - emphasis, and resumed my seat. In a few moments the savoury steam came - forth again, but with a different flavor, and in good time a fine - cod-chowder was placed before us. -

-

- We resumed business; and while plying our spoons in the bowl, thinks I to - myself, I wonder now if this here has any effect on the head? What's that - stultifying saying about chowder-headed people? "But look, Queequeg, ain't - that a live eel in your bowl? Where's your harpoon?" -

-

- Fishiest of all fishy places was the Try Pots, which well deserved its - name; for the pots there were always boiling chowders. Chowder for - breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began - to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes. The area before the - house was paved with clam-shells. Mrs. Hussey wore a polished necklace of - codfish vertebra; and Hosea Hussey had his account books bound in superior - old shark-skin. There was a fishy flavor to the milk, too, which I could - not at all account for, till one morning happening to take a stroll along - the beach among some fishermen's boats, I saw Hosea's brindled cow feeding - on fish remnants, and marching along the sand with each foot in a cod's - decapitated head, looking very slip-shod, I assure ye. -

-

- Supper concluded, we received a lamp, and directions from Mrs. Hussey - concerning the nearest way to bed; but, as Queequeg was about to precede - me up the stairs, the lady reached forth her arm, and demanded his - harpoon; she allowed no harpoon in her chambers. "Why not?" said I; "every - true whaleman sleeps with his harpoon—but why not?" "Because it's - dangerous," says she. "Ever since young Stiggs coming from that unfort'nt - v'y'ge of his, when he was gone four years and a half, with only three - barrels of ile, was found dead in my first floor back, with his - harpoon in his side; ever since then I allow no boarders to take sich - dangerous weepons in their rooms at night. So, Mr. Queequeg" (for she had - learned his name), "I will just take this here iron, and keep it for you - till morning. But the chowder; clam or cod to-morrow for breakfast, men?" -

-

- "Both," says I; "and let's have a couple of smoked herring by way of - variety." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 16. The Ship. -

-

- In bed we concocted our plans for the morrow. But to my surprise and no - small concern, Queequeg now gave me to understand, that he had been - diligently consulting Yojo—the name of his black little god—and - Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it - everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in - harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo - earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with - me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order to do so, had - already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I, Ishmael, - should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had turned - out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for the - present irrespective of Queequeg. -

-

- I have forgotten to mention that, in many things, Queequeg placed great - confidence in the excellence of Yojo's judgment and surprising forecast of - things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort - of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did - not succeed in his benevolent designs. -

-

- Now, this plan of Queequeg's, or rather Yojo's, touching the selection of - our craft; I did not like that plan at all. I had not a little relied upon - Queequeg's sagacity to point out the whaler best fitted to carry us and - our fortunes securely. But as all my remonstrances produced no effect upon - Queequeg, I was obliged to acquiesce; and accordingly prepared to set - about this business with a determined rushing sort of energy and vigor, - that should quickly settle that trifling little affair. Next morning - early, leaving Queequeg shut up with Yojo in our little bedroom—for - it seemed that it was some sort of Lent or Ramadan, or day of fasting, - humiliation, and prayer with Queequeg and Yojo that day; HOW it was I - never could find out, for, though I applied myself to it several times, I - never could master his liturgies and XXXIX Articles—leaving - Queequeg, then, fasting on his tomahawk pipe, and Yojo warming himself at - his sacrificial fire of shavings, I sallied out among the shipping. After - much prolonged sauntering and many random inquiries, I learnt that there - were three ships up for three-years' voyages—The Devil-dam, the - Tit-bit, and the Pequod. DEVIL-DAM, I do not know the origin of; TIT-BIT - is obvious; PEQUOD, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a - celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians; now extinct as the ancient - Medes. I peered and pryed about the Devil-dam; from her, hopped over to - the Tit-bit; and finally, going on board the Pequod, looked around her for - a moment, and then decided that this was the very ship for us. -

-

- You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day, for aught I know;—square-toed - luggers; mountainous Japanese junks; butter-box galliots, and what not; - but take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this same - rare old Pequod. She was a ship of the old school, rather small if - anything; with an old-fashioned claw-footed look about her. Long seasoned - and weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old - hull's complexion was darkened like a French grenadier's, who has alike - fought in Egypt and Siberia. Her venerable bows looked bearded. Her masts—cut - somewhere on the coast of Japan, where her original ones were lost - overboard in a gale—her masts stood stiffly up like the spines of - the three old kings of Cologne. Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, - like the pilgrim-worshipped flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where - Becket bled. But to all these her old antiquities, were added new and - marvellous features, pertaining to the wild business that for more than - half a century she had followed. Old Captain Peleg, many years her - chief-mate, before he commanded another vessel of his own, and now a - retired seaman, and one of the principal owners of the Pequod,—this - old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her - original grotesqueness, and inlaid it, all over, with a quaintness both of - material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake's - carved buckler or bedstead. She was apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian - emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory. She was a thing - of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased - bones of her enemies. All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were - garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm - whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons - to. Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly - travelled over sheaves of sea-ivory. Scorning a turnstile wheel at her - reverend helm, she sported there a tiller; and that tiller was in one - mass, curiously carved from the long narrow lower jaw of her hereditary - foe. The helmsman who steered by that tiller in a tempest, felt like the - Tartar, when he holds back his fiery steed by clutching its jaw. A noble - craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with - that. -

-

- Now when I looked about the quarter-deck, for some one having authority, - in order to propose myself as a candidate for the voyage, at first I saw - nobody; but I could not well overlook a strange sort of tent, or rather - wigwam, pitched a little behind the main-mast. It seemed only a temporary - erection used in port. It was of a conical shape, some ten feet high; - consisting of the long, huge slabs of limber black bone taken from the - middle and highest part of the jaws of the right-whale. Planted with their - broad ends on the deck, a circle of these slabs laced together, mutually - sloped towards each other, and at the apex united in a tufted point, where - the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like the top-knot on some old - Pottowottamie Sachem's head. A triangular opening faced towards the bows - of the ship, so that the insider commanded a complete view forward. -

-

- And half concealed in this queer tenement, I at length found one who by - his aspect seemed to have authority; and who, it being noon, and the - ship's work suspended, was now enjoying respite from the burden of - command. He was seated on an old-fashioned oaken chair, wriggling all over - with curious carving; and the bottom of which was formed of a stout - interlacing of the same elastic stuff of which the wigwam was constructed. -

-

- There was nothing so very particular, perhaps, about the appearance of the - elderly man I saw; he was brown and brawny, like most old seamen, and - heavily rolled up in blue pilot-cloth, cut in the Quaker style; only there - was a fine and almost microscopic net-work of the minutest wrinkles - interlacing round his eyes, which must have arisen from his continual - sailings in many hard gales, and always looking to windward;—for - this causes the muscles about the eyes to become pursed together. Such - eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl. -

-

- "Is this the Captain of the Pequod?" said I, advancing to the door of the - tent. -

-

- "Supposing it be the captain of the Pequod, what dost thou want of him?" - he demanded. -

-

- "I was thinking of shipping." -

-

- "Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou art no Nantucketer—ever been in a - stove boat?" -

-

- "No, Sir, I never have." -

-

- "Dost know nothing at all about whaling, I dare say—eh? -

-

- "Nothing, Sir; but I have no doubt I shall soon learn. I've been several - voyages in the merchant service, and I think that—" -

-

- "Merchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that leg?—I'll - take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest of the marchant - service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose now ye feel - considerable proud of having served in those marchant ships. But flukes! - man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh?—it looks a little - suspicious, don't it, eh?—Hast not been a pirate, hast thou?—Didst - not rob thy last Captain, didst thou?—Dost not think of murdering - the officers when thou gettest to sea?" -

-

- I protested my innocence of these things. I saw that under the mask of - these half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish - Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of - all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard. -

-

- "But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of - shipping ye." -

-

- "Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world." -

-

- "Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?" -

-

- "Who is Captain Ahab, sir?" -

-

- "Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship." -

-

- "I am mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself." -

-

- "Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg—that's who ye are speaking to, - young man. It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted - out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We - are part owners and agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to - know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of - finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out. Clap eye - on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one leg." -

-

- "What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?" -

-

- "Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was devoured, chewed - up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat!—ah, - ah!" -

-

- I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little touched at the - hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly as I could, - "What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know there was - any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I might have - inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident." -

-

- "Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d'ye see; thou dost - not talk shark a bit. SURE, ye've been to sea before now; sure of that?" -

-

- "Sir," said I, "I thought I told you that I had been four voyages in the - merchant—" -

-

- "Hard down out of that! Mind what I said about the marchant service—don't - aggravate me—I won't have it. But let us understand each other. I - have given thee a hint about what whaling is; do ye yet feel inclined for - it?" -

-

- "I do, sir." -

-

- "Very good. Now, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a live whale's - throat, and then jump after it? Answer, quick!" -

-

- "I am, sir, if it should be positively indispensable to do so; not to be - got rid of, that is; which I don't take to be the fact." -

-

- "Good again. Now then, thou not only wantest to go a-whaling, to find out - by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to go in order to see the - world? Was not that what ye said? I thought so. Well then, just step - forward there, and take a peep over the weather-bow, and then back to me - and tell me what ye see there." -

-

- For a moment I stood a little puzzled by this curious request, not knowing - exactly how to take it, whether humorously or in earnest. But - concentrating all his crow's feet into one scowl, Captain Peleg started me - on the errand. -

-

- Going forward and glancing over the weather bow, I perceived that the ship - swinging to her anchor with the flood-tide, was now obliquely pointing - towards the open ocean. The prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly - monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see. -

-

- "Well, what's the report?" said Peleg when I came back; "what did ye see?" -

-

- "Not much," I replied—"nothing but water; considerable horizon - though, and there's a squall coming up, I think." -

-

- "Well, what does thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go - round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can't ye see the world where - you stand?" -

-

- I was a little staggered, but go a-whaling I must, and I would; and the - Pequod was as good a ship as any—I thought the best—and all - this I now repeated to Peleg. Seeing me so determined, he expressed his - willingness to ship me. -

-

- "And thou mayest as well sign the papers right off," he added—"come - along with ye." And so saying, he led the way below deck into the cabin. -

-

- Seated on the transom was what seemed to me a most uncommon and surprising - figure. It turned out to be Captain Bildad, who along with Captain Peleg - was one of the largest owners of the vessel; the other shares, as is - sometimes the case in these ports, being held by a crowd of old - annuitants; widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards; each owning - about the value of a timber head, or a foot of plank, or a nail or two in - the ship. People in Nantucket invest their money in whaling vessels, the - same way that you do yours in approved state stocks bringing in good - interest. -

-

- Now, Bildad, like Peleg, and indeed many other Nantucketers, was a Quaker, - the island having been originally settled by that sect; and to this day - its inhabitants in general retain in an uncommon measure the peculiarities - of the Quaker, only variously and anomalously modified by things - altogether alien and heterogeneous. For some of these same Quakers are the - most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. They are fighting - Quakers; they are Quakers with a vengeance. -

-

- So that there are instances among them of men, who, named with Scripture - names—a singularly common fashion on the island—and in - childhood naturally imbibing the stately dramatic thee and thou of the - Quaker idiom; still, from the audacious, daring, and boundless adventure - of their subsequent lives, strangely blend with these unoutgrown - peculiarities, a thousand bold dashes of character, not unworthy a - Scandinavian sea-king, or a poetical Pagan Roman. And when these things - unite in a man of greatly superior natural force, with a globular brain - and a ponderous heart; who has also by the stillness and seclusion of many - long night-watches in the remotest waters, and beneath constellations - never seen here at the north, been led to think untraditionally and - independently; receiving all nature's sweet or savage impressions fresh - from her own virgin voluntary and confiding breast, and thereby chiefly, - but with some help from accidental advantages, to learn a bold and nervous - lofty language—that man makes one in a whole nation's census—a - mighty pageant creature, formed for noble tragedies. Nor will it at all - detract from him, dramatically regarded, if either by birth or other - circumstances, he have what seems a half wilful overruling morbidness at - the bottom of his nature. For all men tragically great are made so through - a certain morbidness. Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal - greatness is but disease. But, as yet we have not to do with such an one, - but with quite another; and still a man, who, if indeed peculiar, it only - results again from another phase of the Quaker, modified by individual - circumstances. -

-

- Like Captain Peleg, Captain Bildad was a well-to-do, retired whaleman. But - unlike Captain Peleg—who cared not a rush for what are called - serious things, and indeed deemed those self-same serious things the - veriest of all trifles—Captain Bildad had not only been originally - educated according to the strictest sect of Nantucket Quakerism, but all - his subsequent ocean life, and the sight of many unclad, lovely island - creatures, round the Horn—all that had not moved this native born - Quaker one single jot, had not so much as altered one angle of his vest. - Still, for all this immutableness, was there some lack of common - consistency about worthy Captain Peleg. Though refusing, from - conscientious scruples, to bear arms against land invaders, yet himself - had illimitably invaded the Atlantic and Pacific; and though a sworn foe - to human bloodshed, yet had he in his straight-bodied coat, spilled tuns - upon tuns of leviathan gore. How now in the contemplative evening of his - days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the reminiscence, I do - not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and very probably he - had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man's - religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another. This world - pays dividends. Rising from a little cabin-boy in short clothes of the - drabbest drab, to a harpooneer in a broad shad-bellied waistcoat; from - that becoming boat-header, chief-mate, and captain, and finally a ship - owner; Bildad, as I hinted before, had concluded his adventurous career by - wholly retiring from active life at the goodly age of sixty, and - dedicating his remaining days to the quiet receiving of his well-earned - income. -

-

- Now, Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an - incorrigible old hunks, and in his sea-going days, a bitter, hard - task-master. They told me in Nantucket, though it certainly seems a - curious story, that when he sailed the old Categut whaleman, his crew, - upon arriving home, were mostly all carried ashore to the hospital, sore - exhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especially for a Quaker, he was - certainly rather hard-hearted, to say the least. He never used to swear, - though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an inordinate quantity - of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them. When Bildad was a chief-mate, - to have his drab-coloured eye intently looking at you, made you feel - completely nervous, till you could clutch something—a hammer or a - marling-spike, and go to work like mad, at something or other, never mind - what. Indolence and idleness perished before him. His own person was the - exact embodiment of his utilitarian character. On his long, gaunt body, he - carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, - economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat. -

-

- Such, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom when I - followed Captain Peleg down into the cabin. The space between the decks - was small; and there, bolt-upright, sat old Bildad, who always sat so, and - never leaned, and this to save his coat tails. His broad-brim was placed - beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was buttoned - up to his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in reading from - a ponderous volume. -

-

- "Bildad," cried Captain Peleg, "at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye have been - studying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my certain - knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad?" -

-

- As if long habituated to such profane talk from his old shipmate, Bildad, - without noticing his present irreverence, quietly looked up, and seeing - me, glanced again inquiringly towards Peleg. -

-

- "He says he's our man, Bildad," said Peleg, "he wants to ship." -

-

- "Dost thee?" said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me. -

-

- "I dost," said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker. -

-

- "What do ye think of him, Bildad?" said Peleg. -

-

- "He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his - book in a mumbling tone quite audible. -

-

- I thought him the queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg, his - friend and old shipmate, seemed such a blusterer. But I said nothing, only - looking round me sharply. Peleg now threw open a chest, and drawing forth - the ship's articles, placed pen and ink before him, and seated himself at - a little table. I began to think it was high time to settle with myself at - what terms I would be willing to engage for the voyage. I was already - aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, - including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, - and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance - pertaining to the respective duties of the ship's company. I was also - aware that being a green hand at whaling, my own lay would not be very - large; but considering that I was used to the sea, could steer a ship, - splice a rope, and all that, I made no doubt that from all I had heard I - should be offered at least the 275th lay—that is, the 275th part of - the clear net proceeds of the voyage, whatever that might eventually - amount to. And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather LONG LAY, - yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty - nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my - three years' beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver. -

-

- It might be thought that this was a poor way to accumulate a princely - fortune—and so it was, a very poor way indeed. But I am one of those - that never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite content if the - world is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at this grim - sign of the Thunder Cloud. Upon the whole, I thought that the 275th lay - would be about the fair thing, but would not have been surprised had I - been offered the 200th, considering I was of a broad-shouldered make. -

-

- But one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about - receiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard - something of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad; - how that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore the - other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the whole - management of the ship's affairs to these two. And I did not know but what - the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty deal to say about shipping - hands, especially as I now found him on board the Pequod, quite at home - there in the cabin, and reading his Bible as if at his own fireside. Now - while Peleg was vainly trying to mend a pen with his jack-knife, old - Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering that he was such an - interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded us, but went on - mumbling to himself out of his book, "LAY not up for yourselves treasures - upon earth, where moth—" -

-

- "Well, Captain Bildad," interrupted Peleg, "what d'ye say, what lay shall - we give this young man?" -

-

- "Thou knowest best," was the sepulchral reply, "the seven hundred and - seventy-seventh wouldn't be too much, would it?—'where moth and rust - do corrupt, but LAY—'" -

-

- LAY, indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and - seventy-seventh! Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one, - shall not LAY up many LAYS here below, where moth and rust do corrupt. It - was an exceedingly LONG LAY that, indeed; and though from the magnitude of - the figure it might at first deceive a landsman, yet the slightest - consideration will show that though seven hundred and seventy-seven is a - pretty large number, yet, when you come to make a TEENTH of it, you will - then see, I say, that the seven hundred and seventy-seventh part of a - farthing is a good deal less than seven hundred and seventy-seven gold - doubloons; and so I thought at the time. -

-

- "Why, blast your eyes, Bildad," cried Peleg, "thou dost not want to - swindle this young man! he must have more than that." -

-

- "Seven hundred and seventy-seventh," again said Bildad, without lifting - his eyes; and then went on mumbling—"for where your treasure is, - there will your heart be also." -

-

- "I am going to put him down for the three hundredth," said Peleg, "do ye - hear that, Bildad! The three hundredth lay, I say." -

-

- Bildad laid down his book, and turning solemnly towards him said, "Captain - Peleg, thou hast a generous heart; but thou must consider the duty thou - owest to the other owners of this ship—widows and orphans, many of - them—and that if we too abundantly reward the labors of this young - man, we may be taking the bread from those widows and those orphans. The - seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay, Captain Peleg." -

-

- "Thou Bildad!" roared Peleg, starting up and clattering about the cabin. - "Blast ye, Captain Bildad, if I had followed thy advice in these matters, - I would afore now had a conscience to lug about that would be heavy enough - to founder the largest ship that ever sailed round Cape Horn." -

-

- "Captain Peleg," said Bildad steadily, "thy conscience may be drawing ten - inches of water, or ten fathoms, I can't tell; but as thou art still an - impenitent man, Captain Peleg, I greatly fear lest thy conscience be but a - leaky one; and will in the end sink thee foundering down to the fiery pit, - Captain Peleg." -

-

- "Fiery pit! fiery pit! ye insult me, man; past all natural bearing, ye - insult me. It's an all-fired outrage to tell any human creature that he's - bound to hell. Flukes and flames! Bildad, say that again to me, and start - my soul-bolts, but I'll—I'll—yes, I'll swallow a live goat - with all his hair and horns on. Out of the cabin, ye canting, - drab-coloured son of a wooden gun—a straight wake with ye!" -

-

- As he thundered out this he made a rush at Bildad, but with a marvellous - oblique, sliding celerity, Bildad for that time eluded him. -

-

- Alarmed at this terrible outburst between the two principal and - responsible owners of the ship, and feeling half a mind to give up all - idea of sailing in a vessel so questionably owned and temporarily - commanded, I stepped aside from the door to give egress to Bildad, who, I - made no doubt, was all eagerness to vanish from before the awakened wrath - of Peleg. But to my astonishment, he sat down again on the transom very - quietly, and seemed to have not the slightest intention of withdrawing. He - seemed quite used to impenitent Peleg and his ways. As for Peleg, after - letting off his rage as he had, there seemed no more left in him, and he, - too, sat down like a lamb, though he twitched a little as if still - nervously agitated. "Whew!" he whistled at last—"the squall's gone - off to leeward, I think. Bildad, thou used to be good at sharpening a - lance, mend that pen, will ye. My jack-knife here needs the grindstone. - That's he; thank ye, Bildad. Now then, my young man, Ishmael's thy name, - didn't ye say? Well then, down ye go here, Ishmael, for the three - hundredth lay." -

-

- "Captain Peleg," said I, "I have a friend with me who wants to ship too—shall - I bring him down to-morrow?" -

-

- "To be sure," said Peleg. "Fetch him along, and we'll look at him." -

-

- "What lay does he want?" groaned Bildad, glancing up from the book in - which he had again been burying himself. -

-

- "Oh! never thee mind about that, Bildad," said Peleg. "Has he ever whaled - it any?" turning to me. -

-

- "Killed more whales than I can count, Captain Peleg." -

-

- "Well, bring him along then." -

-

- And, after signing the papers, off I went; nothing doubting but that I had - done a good morning's work, and that the Pequod was the identical ship - that Yojo had provided to carry Queequeg and me round the Cape. -

-

- But I had not proceeded far, when I began to bethink me that the Captain - with whom I was to sail yet remained unseen by me; though, indeed, in many - cases, a whale-ship will be completely fitted out, and receive all her - crew on board, ere the captain makes himself visible by arriving to take - command; for sometimes these voyages are so prolonged, and the shore - intervals at home so exceedingly brief, that if the captain have a family, - or any absorbing concernment of that sort, he does not trouble himself - much about his ship in port, but leaves her to the owners till all is - ready for sea. However, it is always as well to have a look at him before - irrevocably committing yourself into his hands. Turning back I accosted - Captain Peleg, inquiring where Captain Ahab was to be found. -

-

- "And what dost thou want of Captain Ahab? It's all right enough; thou art - shipped." -

-

- "Yes, but I should like to see him." -

-

- "But I don't think thou wilt be able to at present. I don't know exactly - what's the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house; a sort of - sick, and yet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick; but no, he isn't - well either. Any how, young man, he won't always see me, so I don't - suppose he will thee. He's a queer man, Captain Ahab—so some think—but - a good one. Oh, thou'lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He's a - grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when - he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's - above the common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals; - been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in - mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the - surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain't Captain Bildad; no, and he - ain't Captain Peleg; HE'S AHAB, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a - crowned king!" -

-

- "And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they - not lick his blood?" -

-

- "Come hither to me—hither, hither," said Peleg, with a significance - in his eye that almost startled me. "Look ye, lad; never say that on board - the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself. - 'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when - he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, - said that the name would somehow prove prophetic. And, perhaps, other - fools like her may tell thee the same. I wish to warn thee. It's a lie. I - know Captain Ahab well; I've sailed with him as mate years ago; I know - what he is—a good man—not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but - a swearing good man—something like me—only there's a good deal - more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and I know - that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell; but - it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought that - about, as any one might see. I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg - last voyage by that accursed whale, he's been a kind of moody—desperate - moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off. And once for all, - let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it's better to sail with a - moody good captain than a laughing bad one. So good-bye to thee—and - wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens to have a wicked name. Besides, - my boy, he has a wife—not three voyages wedded—a sweet, - resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man has a child: - hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my - lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!" -

-

- As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been incidentally - revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain wild vagueness of - painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the time, I felt a sympathy - and a sorrow for him, but for I don't know what, unless it was the cruel - loss of his leg. And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that sort - of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know - what it was. But I felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him; - though I felt impatience at what seemed like mystery in him, so - imperfectly as he was known to me then. However, my thoughts were at - length carried in other directions, so that for the present dark Ahab - slipped my mind. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 17. The Ramadan. -

-

- As Queequeg's Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all - day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall; for I - cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, - never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart to undervalue - even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other - creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism - quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a - deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions - yet owned and rented in his name. -

-

- I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these - things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, - pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these - subjects. There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most absurd - notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;—but what of that? Queequeg - thought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content; and - there let him rest. All our arguing with him would not avail; let him be, - I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans - alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and - sadly need mending. -

-

- Towards evening, when I felt assured that all his performances and rituals - must be over, I went up to his room and knocked at the door; but no - answer. I tried to open it, but it was fastened inside. "Queequeg," said I - softly through the key-hole:—all silent. "I say, Queequeg! why don't - you speak? It's I—Ishmael." But all remained still as before. I - began to grow alarmed. I had allowed him such abundant time; I thought he - might have had an apoplectic fit. I looked through the key-hole; but the - door opening into an odd corner of the room, the key-hole prospect was but - a crooked and sinister one. I could only see part of the foot-board of the - bed and a line of the wall, but nothing more. I was surprised to behold - resting against the wall the wooden shaft of Queequeg's harpoon, which the - landlady the evening previous had taken from him, before our mounting to - the chamber. That's strange, thought I; but at any rate, since the harpoon - stands yonder, and he seldom or never goes abroad without it, therefore he - must be inside here, and no possible mistake. -

-

- "Queequeg!—Queequeg!"—all still. Something must have happened. - Apoplexy! I tried to burst open the door; but it stubbornly resisted. - Running down stairs, I quickly stated my suspicions to the first person I - met—the chamber-maid. "La! la!" she cried, "I thought something must - be the matter. I went to make the bed after breakfast, and the door was - locked; and not a mouse to be heard; and it's been just so silent ever - since. But I thought, may be, you had both gone off and locked your - baggage in for safe keeping. La! la, ma'am!—Mistress! murder! Mrs. - Hussey! apoplexy!"—and with these cries, she ran towards the - kitchen, I following. -

-

- Mrs. Hussey soon appeared, with a mustard-pot in one hand and a - vinegar-cruet in the other, having just broken away from the occupation of - attending to the castors, and scolding her little black boy meantime. -

-

- "Wood-house!" cried I, "which way to it? Run for God's sake, and fetch - something to pry open the door—the axe!—the axe! he's had a - stroke; depend upon it!"—and so saying I was unmethodically rushing - up stairs again empty-handed, when Mrs. Hussey interposed the mustard-pot - and vinegar-cruet, and the entire castor of her countenance. -

-

- "What's the matter with you, young man?" -

-

- "Get the axe! For God's sake, run for the doctor, some one, while I pry it - open!" -

-

- "Look here," said the landlady, quickly putting down the vinegar-cruet, so - as to have one hand free; "look here; are you talking about prying open - any of my doors?"—and with that she seized my arm. "What's the - matter with you? What's the matter with you, shipmate?" -

-

- In as calm, but rapid a manner as possible, I gave her to understand the - whole case. Unconsciously clapping the vinegar-cruet to one side of her - nose, she ruminated for an instant; then exclaimed—"No! I haven't - seen it since I put it there." Running to a little closet under the - landing of the stairs, she glanced in, and returning, told me that - Queequeg's harpoon was missing. "He's killed himself," she cried. "It's - unfort'nate Stiggs done over again there goes another counterpane—God - pity his poor mother!—it will be the ruin of my house. Has the poor - lad a sister? Where's that girl?—there, Betty, go to Snarles the - Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with—"no suicides - permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor;"—might as well kill - both birds at once. Kill? The Lord be merciful to his ghost! What's that - noise there? You, young man, avast there!" -

-

- And running up after me, she caught me as I was again trying to force open - the door. -

-

- "I don't allow it; I won't have my premises spoiled. Go for the locksmith, - there's one about a mile from here. But avast!" putting her hand in her - side-pocket, "here's a key that'll fit, I guess; let's see." And with - that, she turned it in the lock; but, alas! Queequeg's supplemental bolt - remained unwithdrawn within. -

-

- "Have to burst it open," said I, and was running down the entry a little, - for a good start, when the landlady caught at me, again vowing I should - not break down her premises; but I tore from her, and with a sudden bodily - rush dashed myself full against the mark. -

-

- With a prodigious noise the door flew open, and the knob slamming against - the wall, sent the plaster to the ceiling; and there, good heavens! there - sat Queequeg, altogether cool and self-collected; right in the middle of - the room; squatting on his hams, and holding Yojo on top of his head. He - looked neither one way nor the other way, but sat like a carved image with - scarce a sign of active life. -

-

- "Queequeg," said I, going up to him, "Queequeg, what's the matter with - you?" -

-

- "He hain't been a sittin' so all day, has he?" said the landlady. -

-

- But all we said, not a word could we drag out of him; I almost felt like - pushing him over, so as to change his position, for it was almost - intolerable, it seemed so painfully and unnaturally constrained; - especially, as in all probability he had been sitting so for upwards of - eight or ten hours, going too without his regular meals. -

-

- "Mrs. Hussey," said I, "he's ALIVE at all events; so leave us, if you - please, and I will see to this strange affair myself." -

-

- Closing the door upon the landlady, I endeavored to prevail upon Queequeg - to take a chair; but in vain. There he sat; and all he could do—for - all my polite arts and blandishments—he would not move a peg, nor - say a single word, nor even look at me, nor notice my presence in the - slightest way. -

-

- I wonder, thought I, if this can possibly be a part of his Ramadan; do - they fast on their hams that way in his native island. It must be so; yes, - it's part of his creed, I suppose; well, then, let him rest; he'll get up - sooner or later, no doubt. It can't last for ever, thank God, and his - Ramadan only comes once a year; and I don't believe it's very punctual - then. -

-

- I went down to supper. After sitting a long time listening to the long - stories of some sailors who had just come from a plum-pudding voyage, as - they called it (that is, a short whaling-voyage in a schooner or brig, - confined to the north of the line, in the Atlantic Ocean only); after - listening to these plum-puddingers till nearly eleven o'clock, I went up - stairs to go to bed, feeling quite sure by this time Queequeg must - certainly have brought his Ramadan to a termination. But no; there he was - just where I had left him; he had not stirred an inch. I began to grow - vexed with him; it seemed so downright senseless and insane to be sitting - there all day and half the night on his hams in a cold room, holding a - piece of wood on his head. -

-

- "For heaven's sake, Queequeg, get up and shake yourself; get up and have - some supper. You'll starve; you'll kill yourself, Queequeg." But not a - word did he reply. -

-

- Despairing of him, therefore, I determined to go to bed and to sleep; and - no doubt, before a great while, he would follow me. But previous to - turning in, I took my heavy bearskin jacket, and threw it over him, as it - promised to be a very cold night; and he had nothing but his ordinary - round jacket on. For some time, do all I would, I could not get into the - faintest doze. I had blown out the candle; and the mere thought of - Queequeg—not four feet off—sitting there in that uneasy - position, stark alone in the cold and dark; this made me really wretched. - Think of it; sleeping all night in the same room with a wide awake pagan - on his hams in this dreary, unaccountable Ramadan! -

-

- But somehow I dropped off at last, and knew nothing more till break of - day; when, looking over the bedside, there squatted Queequeg, as if he had - been screwed down to the floor. But as soon as the first glimpse of sun - entered the window, up he got, with stiff and grating joints, but with a - cheerful look; limped towards me where I lay; pressed his forehead again - against mine; and said his Ramadan was over. -

-

- Now, as I before hinted, I have no objection to any person's religion, be - it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other - person, because that other person don't believe it also. But when a man's - religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; - and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; - then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the - point with him. -

-

- And just so I now did with Queequeg. "Queequeg," said I, "get into bed - now, and lie and listen to me." I then went on, beginning with the rise - and progress of the primitive religions, and coming down to the various - religions of the present time, during which time I labored to show - Queequeg that all these Lents, Ramadans, and prolonged ham-squattings in - cold, cheerless rooms were stark nonsense; bad for the health; useless for - the soul; opposed, in short, to the obvious laws of Hygiene and common - sense. I told him, too, that he being in other things such an extremely - sensible and sagacious savage, it pained me, very badly pained me, to see - him now so deplorably foolish about this ridiculous Ramadan of his. - Besides, argued I, fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves - in; and all thoughts born of a fast must necessarily be half-starved. This - is the reason why most dyspeptic religionists cherish such melancholy - notions about their hereafters. In one word, Queequeg, said I, rather - digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; - and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by - Ramadans. -

-

- I then asked Queequeg whether he himself was ever troubled with dyspepsia; - expressing the idea very plainly, so that he could take it in. He said no; - only upon one memorable occasion. It was after a great feast given by his - father the king, on the gaining of a great battle wherein fifty of the - enemy had been killed by about two o'clock in the afternoon, and all - cooked and eaten that very evening. -

-

- "No more, Queequeg," said I, shuddering; "that will do;" for I knew the - inferences without his further hinting them. I had seen a sailor who had - visited that very island, and he told me that it was the custom, when a - great battle had been gained there, to barbecue all the slain in the yard - or garden of the victor; and then, one by one, they were placed in great - wooden trenchers, and garnished round like a pilau, with breadfruit and - cocoanuts; and with some parsley in their mouths, were sent round with the - victor's compliments to all his friends, just as though these presents - were so many Christmas turkeys. -

-

- After all, I do not think that my remarks about religion made much - impression upon Queequeg. Because, in the first place, he somehow seemed - dull of hearing on that important subject, unless considered from his own - point of view; and, in the second place, he did not more than one third - understand me, couch my ideas simply as I would; and, finally, he no doubt - thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did. He - looked at me with a sort of condescending concern and compassion, as - though he thought it a great pity that such a sensible young man should be - so hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan piety. -

-

- At last we rose and dressed; and Queequeg, taking a prodigiously hearty - breakfast of chowders of all sorts, so that the landlady should not make - much profit by reason of his Ramadan, we sallied out to board the Pequod, - sauntering along, and picking our teeth with halibut bones. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 18. His Mark. -

-

- As we were walking down the end of the wharf towards the ship, Queequeg - carrying his harpoon, Captain Peleg in his gruff voice loudly hailed us - from his wigwam, saying he had not suspected my friend was a cannibal, and - furthermore announcing that he let no cannibals on board that craft, - unless they previously produced their papers. -

-

- "What do you mean by that, Captain Peleg?" said I, now jumping on the - bulwarks, and leaving my comrade standing on the wharf. -

-

- "I mean," he replied, "he must show his papers." -

-

- "Yes," said Captain Bildad in his hollow voice, sticking his head from - behind Peleg's, out of the wigwam. "He must show that he's converted. Son - of darkness," he added, turning to Queequeg, "art thou at present in - communion with any Christian church?" -

-

- "Why," said I, "he's a member of the first Congregational Church." Here be - it said, that many tattooed savages sailing in Nantucket ships at last - come to be converted into the churches. -

-

- "First Congregational Church," cried Bildad, "what! that worships in - Deacon Deuteronomy Coleman's meeting-house?" and so saying, taking out his - spectacles, he rubbed them with his great yellow bandana handkerchief, and - putting them on very carefully, came out of the wigwam, and leaning - stiffly over the bulwarks, took a good long look at Queequeg. -

-

- "How long hath he been a member?" he then said, turning to me; "not very - long, I rather guess, young man." -

-

- "No," said Peleg, "and he hasn't been baptized right either, or it would - have washed some of that devil's blue off his face." -

-

- "Do tell, now," cried Bildad, "is this Philistine a regular member of - Deacon Deuteronomy's meeting? I never saw him going there, and I pass it - every Lord's day." -

-

- "I don't know anything about Deacon Deuteronomy or his meeting," said I; - "all I know is, that Queequeg here is a born member of the First - Congregational Church. He is a deacon himself, Queequeg is." -

-

- "Young man," said Bildad sternly, "thou art skylarking with me—explain - thyself, thou young Hittite. What church dost thee mean? answer me." -

-

- Finding myself thus hard pushed, I replied. "I mean, sir, the same ancient - Catholic Church to which you and I, and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg - here, and all of us, and every mother's son and soul of us belong; the - great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; - we all belong to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no - ways touching the grand belief; in THAT we all join hands." -

-

- "Splice, thou mean'st SPLICE hands," cried Peleg, drawing nearer. "Young - man, you'd better ship for a missionary, instead of a fore-mast hand; I - never heard a better sermon. Deacon Deuteronomy—why Father Mapple - himself couldn't beat it, and he's reckoned something. Come aboard, come - aboard; never mind about the papers. I say, tell Quohog there—what's - that you call him? tell Quohog to step along. By the great anchor, what a - harpoon he's got there! looks like good stuff that; and he handles it - about right. I say, Quohog, or whatever your name is, did you ever stand - in the head of a whale-boat? did you ever strike a fish?" -

-

- Without saying a word, Queequeg, in his wild sort of way, jumped upon the - bulwarks, from thence into the bows of one of the whale-boats hanging to - the side; and then bracing his left knee, and poising his harpoon, cried - out in some such way as this:— -

-

- "Cap'ain, you see him small drop tar on water dere? You see him? well, - spose him one whale eye, well, den!" and taking sharp aim at it, he darted - the iron right over old Bildad's broad brim, clean across the ship's - decks, and struck the glistening tar spot out of sight. -

-

- "Now," said Queequeg, quietly hauling in the line, "spos-ee him whale-e - eye; why, dad whale dead." -

-

- "Quick, Bildad," said Peleg, his partner, who, aghast at the close - vicinity of the flying harpoon, had retreated towards the cabin gangway. - "Quick, I say, you Bildad, and get the ship's papers. We must have - Hedgehog there, I mean Quohog, in one of our boats. Look ye, Quohog, we'll - give ye the ninetieth lay, and that's more than ever was given a - harpooneer yet out of Nantucket." -

-

- So down we went into the cabin, and to my great joy Queequeg was soon - enrolled among the same ship's company to which I myself belonged. -

-

- When all preliminaries were over and Peleg had got everything ready for - signing, he turned to me and said, "I guess, Quohog there don't know how - to write, does he? I say, Quohog, blast ye! dost thou sign thy name or - make thy mark?" -

-

- But at this question, Queequeg, who had twice or thrice before taken part - in similar ceremonies, looked no ways abashed; but taking the offered pen, - copied upon the paper, in the proper place, an exact counterpart of a - queer round figure which was tattooed upon his arm; so that through - Captain Peleg's obstinate mistake touching his appellative, it stood - something like this:— -

-

- Quohog. his X mark. -

-

- Meanwhile Captain Bildad sat earnestly and steadfastly eyeing Queequeg, - and at last rising solemnly and fumbling in the huge pockets of his - broad-skirted drab coat, took out a bundle of tracts, and selecting one - entitled "The Latter Day Coming; or No Time to Lose," placed it in - Queequeg's hands, and then grasping them and the book with both his, - looked earnestly into his eyes, and said, "Son of darkness, I must do my - duty by thee; I am part owner of this ship, and feel concerned for the - souls of all its crew; if thou still clingest to thy Pagan ways, which I - sadly fear, I beseech thee, remain not for aye a Belial bondsman. Spurn - the idol Bell, and the hideous dragon; turn from the wrath to come; mind - thine eye, I say; oh! goodness gracious! steer clear of the fiery pit!" -

-

- Something of the salt sea yet lingered in old Bildad's language, - heterogeneously mixed with Scriptural and domestic phrases. -

-

- "Avast there, avast there, Bildad, avast now spoiling our harpooneer," - cried Peleg. "Pious harpooneers never make good voyagers—it takes the shark out of 'em; no harpooneer is worth a straw who aint pretty sharkish. - There was young Nat Swaine, once the bravest boat-header out of all - Nantucket and the Vineyard; he joined the meeting, and never came to good. - He got so frightened about his plaguy soul, that he shrinked and sheered - away from whales, for fear of after-claps, in case he got stove and went - to Davy Jones." -

-

- "Peleg! Peleg!" said Bildad, lifting his eyes and hands, "thou thyself, as - I myself, hast seen many a perilous time; thou knowest, Peleg, what it is - to have the fear of death; how, then, can'st thou prate in this ungodly - guise. Thou beliest thine own heart, Peleg. Tell me, when this same Pequod - here had her three masts overboard in that typhoon on Japan, that same - voyage when thou went mate with Captain Ahab, did'st thou not think of - Death and the Judgment then?" -

-

- "Hear him, hear him now," cried Peleg, marching across the cabin, and - thrusting his hands far down into his pockets,—"hear him, all of ye. - Think of that! When every moment we thought the ship would sink! Death and - the Judgment then? What? With all three masts making such an everlasting - thundering against the side; and every sea breaking over us, fore and aft. - Think of Death and the Judgment then? No! no time to think about Death - then. Life was what Captain Ahab and I was thinking of; and how to save - all hands—how to rig jury-masts—how to get into the nearest - port; that was what I was thinking of." -

-

- Bildad said no more, but buttoning up his coat, stalked on deck, where we - followed him. There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who - were mending a top-sail in the waist. Now and then he stooped to pick up a - patch, or save an end of tarred twine, which otherwise might have been - wasted. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 19. The Prophet. -

-

- "Shipmates, have ye shipped in that ship?" -

-

- Queequeg and I had just left the Pequod, and were sauntering away from the - water, for the moment each occupied with his own thoughts, when the above - words were put to us by a stranger, who, pausing before us, levelled his - massive forefinger at the vessel in question. He was but shabbily - apparelled in faded jacket and patched trowsers; a rag of a black - handkerchief investing his neck. A confluent small-pox had in all - directions flowed over his face, and left it like the complicated ribbed - bed of a torrent, when the rushing waters have been dried up. -

-

- "Have ye shipped in her?" he repeated. -

-

- "You mean the ship Pequod, I suppose," said I, trying to gain a little - more time for an uninterrupted look at him. -

-

- "Aye, the Pequod—that ship there," he said, drawing back his whole - arm, and then rapidly shoving it straight out from him, with the fixed - bayonet of his pointed finger darted full at the object. -

-

- "Yes," said I, "we have just signed the articles." -

-

- "Anything down there about your souls?" -

-

- "About what?" -

-

- "Oh, perhaps you hav'n't got any," he said quickly. "No matter though, I - know many chaps that hav'n't got any,—good luck to 'em; and they are - all the better off for it. A soul's a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon." -

-

- "What are you jabbering about, shipmate?" said I. -

-

- "HE'S got enough, though, to make up for all deficiencies of that sort in - other chaps," abruptly said the stranger, placing a nervous emphasis upon - the word HE. -

-

- "Queequeg," said I, "let's go; this fellow has broken loose from - somewhere; he's talking about something and somebody we don't know." -

-

- "Stop!" cried the stranger. "Ye said true—ye hav'n't seen Old - Thunder yet, have ye?" -

-

- "Who's Old Thunder?" said I, again riveted with the insane earnestness of - his manner. -

-

- "Captain Ahab." -

-

- "What! the captain of our ship, the Pequod?" -

-

- "Aye, among some of us old sailor chaps, he goes by that name. Ye hav'n't - seen him yet, have ye?" -

-

- "No, we hav'n't. He's sick they say, but is getting better, and will be - all right again before long." -

-

- "All right again before long!" laughed the stranger, with a solemnly - derisive sort of laugh. "Look ye; when Captain Ahab is all right, then - this left arm of mine will be all right; not before." -

-

- "What do you know about him?" -

-

- "What did they TELL you about him? Say that!" -

-

- "They didn't tell much of anything about him; only I've heard that he's a - good whale-hunter, and a good captain to his crew." -

-

- "That's true, that's true—yes, both true enough. But you must jump - when he gives an order. Step and growl; growl and go—that's the word - with Captain Ahab. But nothing about that thing that happened to him off - Cape Horn, long ago, when he lay like dead for three days and nights; - nothing about that deadly skrimmage with the Spaniard afore the altar in - Santa?—heard nothing about that, eh? Nothing about the silver - calabash he spat into? And nothing about his losing his leg last voyage, - according to the prophecy. Didn't ye hear a word about them matters and - something more, eh? No, I don't think ye did; how could ye? Who knows it? - Not all Nantucket, I guess. But hows'ever, mayhap, ye've heard tell about - the leg, and how he lost it; aye, ye have heard of that, I dare say. Oh - yes, THAT every one knows a'most—I mean they know he's only one leg; - and that a parmacetti took the other off." -

-

- "My friend," said I, "what all this gibberish of yours is about, I don't - know, and I don't much care; for it seems to me that you must be a little - damaged in the head. But if you are speaking of Captain Ahab, of that ship - there, the Pequod, then let me tell you, that I know all about the loss of - his leg." -

-

- "ALL about it, eh—sure you do?—all?" -

-

- "Pretty sure." -

-

- With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggar-like - stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; then starting a - little, turned and said:—"Ye've shipped, have ye? Names down on the - papers? Well, well, what's signed, is signed; and what's to be, will be; - and then again, perhaps it won't be, after all. Anyhow, it's all fixed and - arranged a'ready; and some sailors or other must go with him, I suppose; - as well these as any other men, God pity 'em! Morning to ye, shipmates, - morning; the ineffable heavens bless ye; I'm sorry I stopped ye." -

-

- "Look here, friend," said I, "if you have anything important to tell us, - out with it; but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken - in your game; that's all I have to say." -

-

- "And it's said very well, and I like to hear a chap talk up that way; you - are just the man for him—the likes of ye. Morning to ye, shipmates, - morning! Oh! when ye get there, tell 'em I've concluded not to make one of - 'em." -

-

- "Ah, my dear fellow, you can't fool us that way—you can't fool us. - It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a - great secret in him." -

-

- "Morning to ye, shipmates, morning." -

-

- "Morning it is," said I. "Come along, Queequeg, let's leave this crazy - man. But stop, tell me your name, will you?" -

-

- "Elijah." -

-

- Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other's - fashion, upon this ragged old sailor; and agreed that he was nothing but a - humbug, trying to be a bugbear. But we had not gone perhaps above a - hundred yards, when chancing to turn a corner, and looking back as I did - so, who should be seen but Elijah following us, though at a distance. - Somehow, the sight of him struck me so, that I said nothing to Queequeg of - his being behind, but passed on with my comrade, anxious to see whether - the stranger would turn the same corner that we did. He did; and then it - seemed to me that he was dogging us, but with what intent I could not for - the life of me imagine. This circumstance, coupled with his ambiguous, - half-hinting, half-revealing, shrouded sort of talk, now begat in me all - kinds of vague wonderments and half-apprehensions, and all connected with - the Pequod; and Captain Ahab; and the leg he had lost; and the Cape Horn - fit; and the silver calabash; and what Captain Peleg had said of him, when - I left the ship the day previous; and the prediction of the squaw Tistig; - and the voyage we had bound ourselves to sail; and a hundred other shadowy - things. -

-

- I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really - dogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg, and - on that side of it retraced our steps. But Elijah passed on, without - seeming to notice us. This relieved me; and once more, and finally as it - seemed to me, I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 20. All Astir. -

-

- A day or two passed, and there was great activity aboard the Pequod. Not - only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on board, - and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything betokened - that the ship's preparations were hurrying to a close. Captain Peleg - seldom or never went ashore, but sat in his wigwam keeping a sharp - look-out upon the hands: Bildad did all the purchasing and providing at - the stores; and the men employed in the hold and on the rigging were - working till long after night-fall. -

-

- On the day following Queequeg's signing the articles, word was given at - all the inns where the ship's company were stopping, that their chests - must be on board before night, for there was no telling how soon the - vessel might be sailing. So Queequeg and I got down our traps, resolving, - however, to sleep ashore till the last. But it seems they always give very - long notice in these cases, and the ship did not sail for several days. - But no wonder; there was a good deal to be done, and there is no telling - how many things to be thought of, before the Pequod was fully equipped. -

-

- Every one knows what a multitude of things—beds, sauce-pans, knives - and forks, shovels and tongs, napkins, nut-crackers, and what not, are - indispensable to the business of housekeeping. Just so with whaling, which - necessitates a three-years' housekeeping upon the wide ocean, far from all - grocers, costermongers, doctors, bakers, and bankers. And though this also - holds true of merchant vessels, yet not by any means to the same extent as - with whalemen. For besides the great length of the whaling voyage, the - numerous articles peculiar to the prosecution of the fishery, and the - impossibility of replacing them at the remote harbors usually frequented, - it must be remembered, that of all ships, whaling vessels are the most - exposed to accidents of all kinds, and especially to the destruction and - loss of the very things upon which the success of the voyage most depends. - Hence, the spare boats, spare spars, and spare lines and harpoons, and - spare everythings, almost, but a spare Captain and duplicate ship. -

-

- At the period of our arrival at the Island, the heaviest storage of the - Pequod had been almost completed; comprising her beef, bread, water, fuel, - and iron hoops and staves. But, as before hinted, for some time there was - a continual fetching and carrying on board of divers odds and ends of - things, both large and small. -

-

- Chief among those who did this fetching and carrying was Captain Bildad's - sister, a lean old lady of a most determined and indefatigable spirit, but - withal very kindhearted, who seemed resolved that, if SHE could help it, - nothing should be found wanting in the Pequod, after once fairly getting - to sea. At one time she would come on board with a jar of pickles for the - steward's pantry; another time with a bunch of quills for the chief mate's - desk, where he kept his log; a third time with a roll of flannel for the - small of some one's rheumatic back. Never did any woman better deserve her - name, which was Charity—Aunt Charity, as everybody called her. And - like a sister of charity did this charitable Aunt Charity bustle about - hither and thither, ready to turn her hand and heart to anything that - promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation to all on board a ship - in which her beloved brother Bildad was concerned, and in which she - herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars. -

-

- But it was startling to see this excellent hearted Quakeress coming on - board, as she did the last day, with a long oil-ladle in one hand, and a - still longer whaling lance in the other. Nor was Bildad himself nor - Captain Peleg at all backward. As for Bildad, he carried about with him a - long list of the articles needed, and at every fresh arrival, down went - his mark opposite that article upon the paper. Every once in a while Peleg - came hobbling out of his whalebone den, roaring at the men down the - hatchways, roaring up to the riggers at the mast-head, and then concluded - by roaring back into his wigwam. -

-

- During these days of preparation, Queequeg and I often visited the craft, - and as often I asked about Captain Ahab, and how he was, and when he was - going to come on board his ship. To these questions they would answer, - that he was getting better and better, and was expected aboard every day; - meantime, the two captains, Peleg and Bildad, could attend to everything - necessary to fit the vessel for the voyage. If I had been downright honest - with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but - half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once - laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so - soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any - wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, - he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And - much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing. -

-

- At last it was given out that some time next day the ship would certainly - sail. So next morning, Queequeg and I took a very early start. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 21. Going Aboard. -

-

- It was nearly six o'clock, but only grey imperfect misty dawn, when we - drew nigh the wharf. -

-

- "There are some sailors running ahead there, if I see right," said I to - Queequeg, "it can't be shadows; she's off by sunrise, I guess; come on!" -

-

- "Avast!" cried a voice, whose owner at the same time coming close behind - us, laid a hand upon both our shoulders, and then insinuating himself - between us, stood stooping forward a little, in the uncertain twilight, - strangely peering from Queequeg to me. It was Elijah. -

-

- "Going aboard?" -

-

- "Hands off, will you," said I. -

-

- "Lookee here," said Queequeg, shaking himself, "go 'way!" -

-

- "Ain't going aboard, then?" -

-

- "Yes, we are," said I, "but what business is that of yours? Do you know, - Mr. Elijah, that I consider you a little impertinent?" -

-

- "No, no, no; I wasn't aware of that," said Elijah, slowly and wonderingly - looking from me to Queequeg, with the most unaccountable glances. -

-

- "Elijah," said I, "you will oblige my friend and me by withdrawing. We are - going to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and would prefer not to be - detained." -

-

- "Ye be, be ye? Coming back afore breakfast?" -

-

- "He's cracked, Queequeg," said I, "come on." -

-

- "Holloa!" cried stationary Elijah, hailing us when we had removed a few - paces. -

-

- "Never mind him," said I, "Queequeg, come on." -

-

- But he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping his hand on my - shoulder, said—"Did ye see anything looking like men going towards - that ship a while ago?" -

-

- Struck by this plain matter-of-fact question, I answered, saying, "Yes, I - thought I did see four or five men; but it was too dim to be sure." -

-

- "Very dim, very dim," said Elijah. "Morning to ye." -

-

- Once more we quitted him; but once more he came softly after us; and - touching my shoulder again, said, "See if you can find 'em now, will ye? -

-

- "Find who?" -

-

- "Morning to ye! morning to ye!" he rejoined, again moving off. "Oh! I was - going to warn ye against—but never mind, never mind—it's all - one, all in the family too;—sharp frost this morning, ain't it? - Good-bye to ye. Shan't see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it's before - the Grand Jury." And with these cracked words he finally departed, leaving - me, for the moment, in no small wonderment at his frantic impudence. -

-

- At last, stepping on board the Pequod, we found everything in profound - quiet, not a soul moving. The cabin entrance was locked within; the - hatches were all on, and lumbered with coils of rigging. Going forward to - the forecastle, we found the slide of the scuttle open. Seeing a light, we - went down, and found only an old rigger there, wrapped in a tattered - pea-jacket. He was thrown at whole length upon two chests, his face - downwards and inclosed in his folded arms. The profoundest slumber slept - upon him. -

-

- "Those sailors we saw, Queequeg, where can they have gone to?" said I, - looking dubiously at the sleeper. But it seemed that, when on the wharf, - Queequeg had not at all noticed what I now alluded to; hence I would have - thought myself to have been optically deceived in that matter, were it not - for Elijah's otherwise inexplicable question. But I beat the thing down; - and again marking the sleeper, jocularly hinted to Queequeg that perhaps - we had best sit up with the body; telling him to establish himself - accordingly. He put his hand upon the sleeper's rear, as though feeling if - it was soft enough; and then, without more ado, sat quietly down there. -

-

- "Gracious! Queequeg, don't sit there," said I. -

-

- "Oh! perry dood seat," said Queequeg, "my country way; won't hurt him - face." -

-

- "Face!" said I, "call that his face? very benevolent countenance then; but - how hard he breathes, he's heaving himself; get off, Queequeg, you are - heavy, it's grinding the face of the poor. Get off, Queequeg! Look, he'll - twitch you off soon. I wonder he don't wake." -

-

- Queequeg removed himself to just beyond the head of the sleeper, and - lighted his tomahawk pipe. I sat at the feet. We kept the pipe passing - over the sleeper, from one to the other. Meanwhile, upon questioning him - in his broken fashion, Queequeg gave me to understand that, in his land, - owing to the absence of settees and sofas of all sorts, the king, chiefs, - and great people generally, were in the custom of fattening some of the - lower orders for ottomans; and to furnish a house comfortably in that - respect, you had only to buy up eight or ten lazy fellows, and lay them - round in the piers and alcoves. Besides, it was very convenient on an - excursion; much better than those garden-chairs which are convertible into - walking-sticks; upon occasion, a chief calling his attendant, and desiring - him to make a settee of himself under a spreading tree, perhaps in some - damp marshy place. -

-

- While narrating these things, every time Queequeg received the tomahawk - from me, he flourished the hatchet-side of it over the sleeper's head. -

-

- "What's that for, Queequeg?" -

-

- "Perry easy, kill-e; oh! perry easy!" -

-

- He was going on with some wild reminiscences about his tomahawk-pipe, - which, it seemed, had in its two uses both brained his foes and soothed - his soul, when we were directly attracted to the sleeping rigger. The - strong vapour now completely filling the contracted hole, it began to tell - upon him. He breathed with a sort of muffledness; then seemed troubled in - the nose; then revolved over once or twice; then sat up and rubbed his - eyes. -

-

- "Holloa!" he breathed at last, "who be ye smokers?" -

-

- "Shipped men," answered I, "when does she sail?" -

-

- "Aye, aye, ye are going in her, be ye? She sails to-day. The Captain came - aboard last night." -

-

- "What Captain?—Ahab?" -

-

- "Who but him indeed?" -

-

- I was going to ask him some further questions concerning Ahab, when we - heard a noise on deck. -

-

- "Holloa! Starbuck's astir," said the rigger. "He's a lively chief mate, - that; good man, and a pious; but all alive now, I must turn to." And so - saying he went on deck, and we followed. -

-

- It was now clear sunrise. Soon the crew came on board in twos and threes; - the riggers bestirred themselves; the mates were actively engaged; and - several of the shore people were busy in bringing various last things on - board. Meanwhile Captain Ahab remained invisibly enshrined within his - cabin. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas. -

-

- At length, towards noon, upon the final dismissal of the ship's riggers, - and after the Pequod had been hauled out from the wharf, and after the - ever-thoughtful Charity had come off in a whale-boat, with her last gift—a - night-cap for Stubb, the second mate, her brother-in-law, and a spare - Bible for the steward—after all this, the two Captains, Peleg and - Bildad, issued from the cabin, and turning to the chief mate, Peleg said: -

-

- "Now, Mr. Starbuck, are you sure everything is right? Captain Ahab is all - ready—just spoke to him—nothing more to be got from shore, eh? - Well, call all hands, then. Muster 'em aft here—blast 'em!" -

-

- "No need of profane words, however great the hurry, Peleg," said Bildad, - "but away with thee, friend Starbuck, and do our bidding." -

-

- How now! Here upon the very point of starting for the voyage, Captain - Peleg and Captain Bildad were going it with a high hand on the - quarter-deck, just as if they were to be joint-commanders at sea, as well - as to all appearances in port. And, as for Captain Ahab, no sign of him - was yet to be seen; only, they said he was in the cabin. But then, the - idea was, that his presence was by no means necessary in getting the ship - under weigh, and steering her well out to sea. Indeed, as that was not at - all his proper business, but the pilot's; and as he was not yet completely - recovered—so they said—therefore, Captain Ahab stayed below. - And all this seemed natural enough; especially as in the merchant service - many captains never show themselves on deck for a considerable time after - heaving up the anchor, but remain over the cabin table, having a farewell - merry-making with their shore friends, before they quit the ship for good - with the pilot. -

-

- But there was not much chance to think over the matter, for Captain Peleg - was now all alive. He seemed to do most of the talking and commanding, and - not Bildad. -

-

- "Aft here, ye sons of bachelors," he cried, as the sailors lingered at the - main-mast. "Mr. Starbuck, drive'em aft." -

-

- "Strike the tent there!"—was the next order. As I hinted before, - this whalebone marquee was never pitched except in port; and on board the - Pequod, for thirty years, the order to strike the tent was well known to - be the next thing to heaving up the anchor. -

-

- "Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!"—was the next - command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes. -

-

- Now in getting under weigh, the station generally occupied by the pilot is - the forward part of the ship. And here Bildad, who, with Peleg, be it - known, in addition to his other officers, was one of the licensed pilots - of the port—he being suspected to have got himself made a pilot in - order to save the Nantucket pilot-fee to all the ships he was concerned - in, for he never piloted any other craft—Bildad, I say, might now be - seen actively engaged in looking over the bows for the approaching anchor, - and at intervals singing what seemed a dismal stave of psalmody, to cheer - the hands at the windlass, who roared forth some sort of a chorus about - the girls in Booble Alley, with hearty good will. Nevertheless, not three - days previous, Bildad had told them that no profane songs would be allowed - on board the Pequod, particularly in getting under weigh; and Charity, his - sister, had placed a small choice copy of Watts in each seaman's berth. -

-

- Meantime, overseeing the other part of the ship, Captain Peleg ripped and - swore astern in the most frightful manner. I almost thought he would sink - the ship before the anchor could be got up; involuntarily I paused on my - handspike, and told Queequeg to do the same, thinking of the perils we - both ran, in starting on the voyage with such a devil for a pilot. I was - comforting myself, however, with the thought that in pious Bildad might be - found some salvation, spite of his seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay; - when I felt a sudden sharp poke in my rear, and turning round, was - horrified at the apparition of Captain Peleg in the act of withdrawing his - leg from my immediate vicinity. That was my first kick. -

-

- "Is that the way they heave in the marchant service?" he roared. "Spring, - thou sheep-head; spring, and break thy backbone! Why don't ye spring, I - say, all of ye—spring! Quohog! spring, thou chap with the red - whiskers; spring there, Scotch-cap; spring, thou green pants. Spring, I - say, all of ye, and spring your eyes out!" And so saying, he moved along - the windlass, here and there using his leg very freely, while - imperturbable Bildad kept leading off with his psalmody. Thinks I, Captain - Peleg must have been drinking something to-day. -

-

- At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a - short, cold Christmas; and as the short northern day merged into night, we - found ourselves almost broad upon the wintry ocean, whose freezing spray - cased us in ice, as in polished armor. The long rows of teeth on the - bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of - some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows. -

-

- Lank Bildad, as pilot, headed the first watch, and ever and anon, as the - old craft deep dived into the green seas, and sent the shivering frost all - over her, and the winds howled, and the cordage rang, his steady notes - were heard,— -

-

- "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, Stand dressed in living green. So - to the Jews old Canaan stood, While Jordan rolled between." -

-

- Never did those sweet words sound more sweetly to me than then. They were - full of hope and fruition. Spite of this frigid winter night in the - boisterous Atlantic, spite of my wet feet and wetter jacket, there was - yet, it then seemed to me, many a pleasant haven in store; and meads and - glades so eternally vernal, that the grass shot up by the spring, - untrodden, unwilted, remains at midsummer. -

-

- At last we gained such an offing, that the two pilots were needed no - longer. The stout sail-boat that had accompanied us began ranging - alongside. -

-

- It was curious and not unpleasing, how Peleg and Bildad were affected at - this juncture, especially Captain Bildad. For loath to depart, yet; very - loath to leave, for good, a ship bound on so long and perilous a voyage—beyond - both stormy Capes; a ship in which some thousands of his hard earned - dollars were invested; a ship, in which an old shipmate sailed as captain; - a man almost as old as he, once more starting to encounter all the terrors - of the pitiless jaw; loath to say good-bye to a thing so every way brimful - of every interest to him,—poor old Bildad lingered long; paced the - deck with anxious strides; ran down into the cabin to speak another - farewell word there; again came on deck, and looked to windward; looked - towards the wide and endless waters, only bounded by the far-off unseen - Eastern Continents; looked towards the land; looked aloft; looked right - and left; looked everywhere and nowhere; and at last, mechanically coiling - a rope upon its pin, convulsively grasped stout Peleg by the hand, and - holding up a lantern, for a moment stood gazing heroically in his face, as - much as to say, "Nevertheless, friend Peleg, I can stand it; yes, I can." -

-

- As for Peleg himself, he took it more like a philosopher; but for all his - philosophy, there was a tear twinkling in his eye, when the lantern came - too near. And he, too, did not a little run from cabin to deck—now a - word below, and now a word with Starbuck, the chief mate. -

-

- But, at last, he turned to his comrade, with a final sort of look about - him,—"Captain Bildad—come, old shipmate, we must go. Back the - main-yard there! Boat ahoy! Stand by to come close alongside, now! - Careful, careful!—come, Bildad, boy—say your last. Luck to ye, - Starbuck—luck to ye, Mr. Stubb—luck to ye, Mr. Flask—good-bye - and good luck to ye all—and this day three years I'll have a hot - supper smoking for ye in old Nantucket. Hurrah and away!" -

-

- "God bless ye, and have ye in His holy keeping, men," murmured old Bildad, - almost incoherently. "I hope ye'll have fine weather now, so that Captain - Ahab may soon be moving among ye—a pleasant sun is all he needs, and - ye'll have plenty of them in the tropic voyage ye go. Be careful in the - hunt, ye mates. Don't stave the boats needlessly, ye harpooneers; good - white cedar plank is raised full three per cent. within the year. Don't - forget your prayers, either. Mr. Starbuck, mind that cooper don't waste - the spare staves. Oh! the sail-needles are in the green locker! Don't - whale it too much a' Lord's days, men; but don't miss a fair chance - either, that's rejecting Heaven's good gifts. Have an eye to the molasses - tierce, Mr. Stubb; it was a little leaky, I thought. If ye touch at the - islands, Mr. Flask, beware of fornication. Good-bye, good-bye! Don't keep - that cheese too long down in the hold, Mr. Starbuck; it'll spoil. Be - careful with the butter—twenty cents the pound it was, and mind ye, - if—" -

-

- "Come, come, Captain Bildad; stop palavering,—away!" and with that, - Peleg hurried him over the side, and both dropt into the boat. -

-

- Ship and boat diverged; the cold, damp night breeze blew between; a - screaming gull flew overhead; the two hulls wildly rolled; we gave three - heavy-hearted cheers, and blindly plunged like fate into the lone - Atlantic. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 23. The Lee Shore. -

-

- Some chapters back, one Bulkington was spoken of, a tall, newlanded - mariner, encountered in New Bedford at the inn. -

-

- When on that shivering winter's night, the Pequod thrust her vindictive - bows into the cold malicious waves, who should I see standing at her helm - but Bulkington! I looked with sympathetic awe and fearfulness upon the - man, who in mid-winter just landed from a four years' dangerous voyage, - could so unrestingly push off again for still another tempestuous term. - The land seemed scorching to his feet. Wonderfullest things are ever the - unmentionable; deep memories yield no epitaphs; this six-inch chapter is - the stoneless grave of Bulkington. Let me only say that it fared with him - as with the storm-tossed ship, that miserably drives along the leeward - land. The port would fain give succor; the port is pitiful; in the port is - safety, comfort, hearthstone, supper, warm blankets, friends, all that's - kind to our mortalities. But in that gale, the port, the land, is that - ship's direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, - though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through. - With all her might she crowds all sail off shore; in so doing, fights - 'gainst the very winds that fain would blow her homeward; seeks all the - lashed sea's landlessness again; for refuge's sake forlornly rushing into - peril; her only friend her bitterest foe! -

-

- Know ye now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally - intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid - effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the - wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, - slavish shore? -

-

- But as in landlessness alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite - as God—so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be - ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, - then, oh! who would craven crawl to land! Terrors of the terrible! is all - this agony so vain? Take heart, take heart, O Bulkington! Bear thee - grimly, demigod! Up from the spray of thy ocean-perishing—straight - up, leaps thy apotheosis! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 24. The Advocate. -

-

- As Queequeg and I are now fairly embarked in this business of whaling; and - as this business of whaling has somehow come to be regarded among landsmen - as a rather unpoetical and disreputable pursuit; therefore, I am all - anxiety to convince ye, ye landsmen, of the injustice hereby done to us - hunters of whales. -

-

- In the first place, it may be deemed almost superfluous to establish the - fact, that among people at large, the business of whaling is not accounted - on a level with what are called the liberal professions. If a stranger - were introduced into any miscellaneous metropolitan society, it would but - slightly advance the general opinion of his merits, were he presented to - the company as a harpooneer, say; and if in emulation of the naval - officers he should append the initials S.W.F. (Sperm Whale Fishery) to his - visiting card, such a procedure would be deemed pre-eminently presuming - and ridiculous. -

-

- Doubtless one leading reason why the world declines honouring us whalemen, - is this: they think that, at best, our vocation amounts to a butchering - sort of business; and that when actively engaged therein, we are - surrounded by all manner of defilements. Butchers we are, that is true. - But butchers, also, and butchers of the bloodiest badge have been all - Martial Commanders whom the world invariably delights to honour. And as - for the matter of the alleged uncleanliness of our business, ye shall soon - be initiated into certain facts hitherto pretty generally unknown, and - which, upon the whole, will triumphantly plant the sperm whale-ship at - least among the cleanliest things of this tidy earth. But even granting - the charge in question to be true; what disordered slippery decks of a - whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those - battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' - plaudits? And if the idea of peril so much enhances the popular conceit of - the soldier's profession; let me assure ye that many a veteran who has - freely marched up to a battery, would quickly recoil at the apparition of - the sperm whale's vast tail, fanning into eddies the air over his head. - For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the - interlinked terrors and wonders of God! -

-

- But, though the world scouts at us whale hunters, yet does it unwittingly - pay us the profoundest homage; yea, an all-abounding adoration! for almost - all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn round the globe, burn, as - before so many shrines, to our glory! -

-

- But look at this matter in other lights; weigh it in all sorts of scales; - see what we whalemen are, and have been. -

-

- Why did the Dutch in De Witt's time have admirals of their whaling fleets? - Why did Louis XVI. of France, at his own personal expense, fit out whaling - ships from Dunkirk, and politely invite to that town some score or two of - families from our own island of Nantucket? Why did Britain between the - years 1750 and 1788 pay to her whalemen in bounties upwards of L1,000,000? - And lastly, how comes it that we whalemen of America now outnumber all the - rest of the banded whalemen in the world; sail a navy of upwards of seven - hundred vessels; manned by eighteen thousand men; yearly consuming - 4,000,000 of dollars; the ships worth, at the time of sailing, - $20,000,000! and every year importing into our harbors a well reaped - harvest of $7,000,000. How comes all this, if there be not something - puissant in whaling? -

-

- But this is not the half; look again. -

-

- I freely assert, that the cosmopolite philosopher cannot, for his life, - point out one single peaceful influence, which within the last sixty years - has operated more potentially upon the whole broad world, taken in one - aggregate, than the high and mighty business of whaling. One way and - another, it has begotten events so remarkable in themselves, and so - continuously momentous in their sequential issues, that whaling may well - be regarded as that Egyptian mother, who bore offspring themselves - pregnant from her womb. It would be a hopeless, endless task to catalogue - all these things. Let a handful suffice. For many years past the - whale-ship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and least - known parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which - had no chart, where no Cook or Vancouver had ever sailed. If American and - European men-of-war now peacefully ride in once savage harbors, let them - fire salutes to the honour and glory of the whale-ship, which originally - showed them the way, and first interpreted between them and the savages. - They may celebrate as they will the heroes of Exploring Expeditions, your - Cooks, your Krusensterns; but I say that scores of anonymous Captains have - sailed out of Nantucket, that were as great, and greater than your Cook - and your Krusenstern. For in their succourless empty-handedness, they, in - the heathenish sharked waters, and by the beaches of unrecorded, javelin - islands, battled with virgin wonders and terrors that Cook with all his - marines and muskets would not willingly have dared. All that is made such - a flourish of in the old South Sea Voyages, those things were but the - life-time commonplaces of our heroic Nantucketers. Often, adventures which - Vancouver dedicates three chapters to, these men accounted unworthy of - being set down in the ship's common log. Ah, the world! Oh, the world! -

-

- Until the whale fishery rounded Cape Horn, no commerce but colonial, - scarcely any intercourse but colonial, was carried on between Europe and - the long line of the opulent Spanish provinces on the Pacific coast. It - was the whaleman who first broke through the jealous policy of the Spanish - crown, touching those colonies; and, if space permitted, it might be - distinctly shown how from those whalemen at last eventuated the liberation - of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia from the yoke of Old Spain, and the - establishment of the eternal democracy in those parts. -

-

- That great America on the other side of the sphere, Australia, was given - to the enlightened world by the whaleman. After its first blunder-born - discovery by a Dutchman, all other ships long shunned those shores as - pestiferously barbarous; but the whale-ship touched there. The whale-ship - is the true mother of that now mighty colony. Moreover, in the infancy of - the first Australian settlement, the emigrants were several times saved - from starvation by the benevolent biscuit of the whale-ship luckily - dropping an anchor in their waters. The uncounted isles of all Polynesia - confess the same truth, and do commercial homage to the whale-ship, that - cleared the way for the missionary and the merchant, and in many cases - carried the primitive missionaries to their first destinations. If that - double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to become hospitable, it is the - whale-ship alone to whom the credit will be due; for already she is on the - threshold. -

-

- But if, in the face of all this, you still declare that whaling has no - aesthetically noble associations connected with it, then am I ready to - shiver fifty lances with you there, and unhorse you with a split helmet - every time. -

-

- The whale has no famous author, and whaling no famous chronicler, you will - say. -

-

- THE WHALE NO FAMOUS AUTHOR, AND WHALING NO FAMOUS CHRONICLER? Who wrote - the first account of our Leviathan? Who but mighty Job! And who composed - the first narrative of a whaling-voyage? Who, but no less a prince than - Alfred the Great, who, with his own royal pen, took down the words from - Other, the Norwegian whale-hunter of those times! And who pronounced our - glowing eulogy in Parliament? Who, but Edmund Burke! -

-

- True enough, but then whalemen themselves are poor devils; they have no - good blood in their veins. -

-

- NO GOOD BLOOD IN THEIR VEINS? They have something better than royal blood - there. The grandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel; afterwards, - by marriage, Mary Folger, one of the old settlers of Nantucket, and the - ancestress to a long line of Folgers and harpooneers—all kith and - kin to noble Benjamin—this day darting the barbed iron from one side - of the world to the other. -

-

- Good again; but then all confess that somehow whaling is not respectable. -

-

- WHALING NOT RESPECTABLE? Whaling is imperial! By old English statutory - law, the whale is declared "a royal fish."* -

-

- Oh, that's only nominal! The whale himself has never figured in any grand - imposing way. -

-

- THE WHALE NEVER FIGURED IN ANY GRAND IMPOSING WAY? In one of the mighty - triumphs given to a Roman general upon his entering the world's capital, - the bones of a whale, brought all the way from the Syrian coast, were the - most conspicuous object in the cymballed procession.* -

-

- *See subsequent chapters for something more on this head. -

-

- Grant it, since you cite it; but, say what you will, there is no real - dignity in whaling. -

-

- NO DIGNITY IN WHALING? The dignity of our calling the very heavens attest. - Cetus is a constellation in the South! No more! Drive down your hat in - presence of the Czar, and take it off to Queequeg! No more! I know a man - that, in his lifetime, has taken three hundred and fifty whales. I account - that man more honourable than that great captain of antiquity who boasted - of taking as many walled towns. -

-

- And, as for me, if, by any possibility, there be any as yet undiscovered - prime thing in me; if I shall ever deserve any real repute in that small - but high hushed world which I might not be unreasonably ambitious of; if - hereafter I shall do anything that, upon the whole, a man might rather - have done than to have left undone; if, at my death, my executors, or more - properly my creditors, find any precious MSS. in my desk, then here I - prospectively ascribe all the honour and the glory to whaling; for a - whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 25. Postscript. -

-

- In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but - substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who - should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell - eloquently upon his cause—such an advocate, would he not be - blameworthy? -

-

- It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern - ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is - gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be - a castor of state. How they use the salt, precisely—who knows? - Certain I am, however, that a king's head is solemnly oiled at his - coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint - it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery? - Much might be ruminated here, concerning the essential dignity of this - regal process, because in common life we esteem but meanly and - contemptibly a fellow who anoints his hair, and palpably smells of that - anointing. In truth, a mature man who uses hair-oil, unless medicinally, - that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general - rule, he can't amount to much in his totality. -

-

- But the only thing to be considered here, is this—what kind of oil - is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar - oil, nor castor oil, nor bear's oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. - What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, - unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils? -

-

- Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens - with coronation stuff! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires. -

-

- The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a - Quaker by descent. He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an icy - coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot latitudes, his flesh being hard - as twice-baked biscuit. Transported to the Indies, his live blood would - not spoil like bottled ale. He must have been born in some time of general - drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which his state is - famous. Only some thirty arid summers had he seen; those summers had dried - up all his physical superfluousness. But this, his thinness, so to speak, - seemed no more the token of wasting anxieties and cares, than it seemed - the indication of any bodily blight. It was merely the condensation of the - man. He was by no means ill-looking; quite the contrary. His pure tight - skin was an excellent fit; and closely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with - inner health and strength, like a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck - seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as - now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his - interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates. Looking into - his eyes, you seemed to see there the yet lingering images of those - thousand-fold perils he had calmly confronted through life. A staid, - steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of - action, and not a tame chapter of sounds. Yet, for all his hardy sobriety - and fortitude, there were certain qualities in him which at times - affected, and in some cases seemed well nigh to overbalance all the rest. - Uncommonly conscientious for a seaman, and endued with a deep natural - reverence, the wild watery loneliness of his life did therefore strongly - incline him to superstition; but to that sort of superstition, which in - some organizations seems rather to spring, somehow, from intelligence than - from ignorance. Outward portents and inward presentiments were his. And if - at times these things bent the welded iron of his soul, much more did his - far-away domestic memories of his young Cape wife and child, tend to bend - him still more from the original ruggedness of his nature, and open him - still further to those latent influences which, in some honest-hearted - men, restrain the gush of dare-devil daring, so often evinced by others in - the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. "I will have no man in my - boat," said Starbuck, "who is not afraid of a whale." By this, he seemed - to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which - arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an - utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. -

-

- "Aye, aye," said Stubb, the second mate, "Starbuck, there, is as careful a - man as you'll find anywhere in this fishery." But we shall ere long see - what that word "careful" precisely means when used by a man like Stubb, or - almost any other whale hunter. -

-

- Starbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a sentiment; - but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all mortally - practical occasions. Besides, he thought, perhaps, that in this business - of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits of the ship, like - her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly wasted. Wherefore he had - no fancy for lowering for whales after sun-down; nor for persisting in - fighting a fish that too much persisted in fighting him. For, thought - Starbuck, I am here in this critical ocean to kill whales for my living, - and not to be killed by them for theirs; and that hundreds of men had been - so killed Starbuck well knew. What doom was his own father's? Where, in - the bottomless deeps, could he find the torn limbs of his brother? -

-

- With memories like these in him, and, moreover, given to a certain - superstitiousness, as has been said; the courage of this Starbuck which - could, nevertheless, still flourish, must indeed have been extreme. But it - was not in reasonable nature that a man so organized, and with such - terrible experiences and remembrances as he had; it was not in nature that - these things should fail in latently engendering an element in him, which, - under suitable circumstances, would break out from its confinement, and - burn all his courage up. And brave as he might be, it was that sort of - bravery chiefly, visible in some intrepid men, which, while generally - abiding firm in the conflict with seas, or winds, or whales, or any of the - ordinary irrational horrors of the world, yet cannot withstand those more - terrific, because more spiritual terrors, which sometimes menace you from - the concentrating brow of an enraged and mighty man. -

-

- But were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete - abasement of poor Starbuck's fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to - write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose the - fall of valour in the soul. Men may seem detestable as joint - stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; - men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and - so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious - blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes. - That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that - it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with - keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man. Nor can - piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings - against the permitting stars. But this august dignity I treat of, is not - the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no - robed investiture. Thou shalt see it shining in the arm that wields a pick - or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates - without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The centre and - circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality! -

-

- If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall - hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic - graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among them - all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall touch - that workman's arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a rainbow - over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics bear me - out in it, thou Just Spirit of Equality, which hast spread one royal - mantle of humanity over all my kind! Bear me out in it, thou great - democratic God! who didst not refuse to the swart convict, Bunyan, the - pale, poetic pearl; Thou who didst clothe with doubly hammered leaves of - finest gold, the stumped and paupered arm of old Cervantes; Thou who didst - pick up Andrew Jackson from the pebbles; who didst hurl him upon a - war-horse; who didst thunder him higher than a throne! Thou who, in all - Thy mighty, earthly marchings, ever cullest Thy selectest champions from - the kingly commons; bear me out in it, O God! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires. -

-

- Stubb was the second mate. He was a native of Cape Cod; and hence, - according to local usage, was called a Cape-Cod-man. A happy-go-lucky; - neither craven nor valiant; taking perils as they came with an indifferent - air; and while engaged in the most imminent crisis of the chase, toiling - away, calm and collected as a journeyman joiner engaged for the year. - Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if - the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited - guests. He was as particular about the comfortable arrangement of his part - of the boat, as an old stage-driver is about the snugness of his box. When - close to the whale, in the very death-lock of the fight, he handled his - unpitying lance coolly and off-handedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer. - He would hum over his old rigadig tunes while flank and flank with the - most exasperated monster. Long usage had, for this Stubb, converted the - jaws of death into an easy chair. What he thought of death itself, there - is no telling. Whether he ever thought of it at all, might be a question; - but, if he ever did chance to cast his mind that way after a comfortable - dinner, no doubt, like a good sailor, he took it to be a sort of call of - the watch to tumble aloft, and bestir themselves there, about something - which he would find out when he obeyed the order, and not sooner. -

-

- What, perhaps, with other things, made Stubb such an easy-going, unfearing - man, so cheerily trudging off with the burden of life in a world full of - grave pedlars, all bowed to the ground with their packs; what helped to - bring about that almost impious good-humor of his; that thing must have - been his pipe. For, like his nose, his short, black little pipe was one of - the regular features of his face. You would almost as soon have expected - him to turn out of his bunk without his nose as without his pipe. He kept - a whole row of pipes there ready loaded, stuck in a rack, within easy - reach of his hand; and, whenever he turned in, he smoked them all out in - succession, lighting one from the other to the end of the chapter; then - loading them again to be in readiness anew. For, when Stubb dressed, - instead of first putting his legs into his trowsers, he put his pipe into - his mouth. -

-

- I say this continual smoking must have been one cause, at least, of his - peculiar disposition; for every one knows that this earthly air, whether - ashore or afloat, is terribly infected with the nameless miseries of the - numberless mortals who have died exhaling it; and as in time of the - cholera, some people go about with a camphorated handkerchief to their - mouths; so, likewise, against all mortal tribulations, Stubb's tobacco - smoke might have operated as a sort of disinfecting agent. -

-

- The third mate was Flask, a native of Tisbury, in Martha's Vineyard. A - short, stout, ruddy young fellow, very pugnacious concerning whales, who - somehow seemed to think that the great leviathans had personally and - hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort of point of honour - with him, to destroy them whenever encountered. So utterly lost was he to - all sense of reverence for the many marvels of their majestic bulk and - mystic ways; and so dead to anything like an apprehension of any possible - danger from encountering them; that in his poor opinion, the wondrous - whale was but a species of magnified mouse, or at least water-rat, - requiring only a little circumvention and some small application of time - and trouble in order to kill and boil. This ignorant, unconscious - fearlessness of his made him a little waggish in the matter of whales; he - followed these fish for the fun of it; and a three years' voyage round - Cape Horn was only a jolly joke that lasted that length of time. As a - carpenter's nails are divided into wrought nails and cut nails; so mankind - may be similarly divided. Little Flask was one of the wrought ones; made - to clinch tight and last long. They called him King-Post on board of the - Pequod; because, in form, he could be well likened to the short, square - timber known by that name in Arctic whalers; and which by the means of - many radiating side timbers inserted into it, serves to brace the ship - against the icy concussions of those battering seas. -

-

- Now these three mates—Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, were momentous - men. They it was who by universal prescription commanded three of the - Pequod's boats as headsmen. In that grand order of battle in which Captain - Ahab would probably marshal his forces to descend on the whales, these - three headsmen were as captains of companies. Or, being armed with their - long keen whaling spears, they were as a picked trio of lancers; even as - the harpooneers were flingers of javelins. -

-

- And since in this famous fishery, each mate or headsman, like a Gothic - Knight of old, is always accompanied by his boat-steerer or harpooneer, - who in certain conjunctures provides him with a fresh lance, when the - former one has been badly twisted, or elbowed in the assault; and - moreover, as there generally subsists between the two, a close intimacy - and friendliness; it is therefore but meet, that in this place we set down - who the Pequod's harpooneers were, and to what headsman each of them - belonged. -

-

- First of all was Queequeg, whom Starbuck, the chief mate, had selected for - his squire. But Queequeg is already known. -

-

- Next was Tashtego, an unmixed Indian from Gay Head, the most westerly - promontory of Martha's Vineyard, where there still exists the last remnant - of a village of red men, which has long supplied the neighboring island of - Nantucket with many of her most daring harpooneers. In the fishery, they - usually go by the generic name of Gay-Headers. Tashtego's long, lean, - sable hair, his high cheek bones, and black rounding eyes—for an - Indian, Oriental in their largeness, but Antarctic in their glittering - expression—all this sufficiently proclaimed him an inheritor of the - unvitiated blood of those proud warrior hunters, who, in quest of the - great New England moose, had scoured, bow in hand, the aboriginal forests - of the main. But no longer snuffing in the trail of the wild beasts of the - woodland, Tashtego now hunted in the wake of the great whales of the sea; - the unerring harpoon of the son fitly replacing the infallible arrow of - the sires. To look at the tawny brawn of his lithe snaky limbs, you would - almost have credited the superstitions of some of the earlier Puritans, - and half-believed this wild Indian to be a son of the Prince of the Powers - of the Air. Tashtego was Stubb the second mate's squire. -

-

- Third among the harpooneers was Daggoo, a gigantic, coal-black - negro-savage, with a lion-like tread—an Ahasuerus to behold. - Suspended from his ears were two golden hoops, so large that the sailors - called them ring-bolts, and would talk of securing the top-sail halyards - to them. In his youth Daggoo had voluntarily shipped on board of a whaler, - lying in a lonely bay on his native coast. And never having been anywhere - in the world but in Africa, Nantucket, and the pagan harbors most - frequented by whalemen; and having now led for many years the bold life of - the fishery in the ships of owners uncommonly heedful of what manner of - men they shipped; Daggoo retained all his barbaric virtues, and erect as a - giraffe, moved about the decks in all the pomp of six feet five in his - socks. There was a corporeal humility in looking up at him; and a white - man standing before him seemed a white flag come to beg truce of a - fortress. Curious to tell, this imperial negro, Ahasuerus Daggoo, was the - Squire of little Flask, who looked like a chess-man beside him. As for the - residue of the Pequod's company, be it said, that at the present day not - one in two of the many thousand men before the mast employed in the - American whale fishery, are Americans born, though pretty nearly all the - officers are. Herein it is the same with the American whale fishery as - with the American army and military and merchant navies, and the - engineering forces employed in the construction of the American Canals and - Railroads. The same, I say, because in all these cases the native American - liberally provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously - supplying the muscles. No small number of these whaling seamen belong to - the Azores, where the outward bound Nantucket whalers frequently touch to - augment their crews from the hardy peasants of those rocky shores. In like - manner, the Greenland whalers sailing out of Hull or London, put in at the - Shetland Islands, to receive the full complement of their crew. Upon the - passage homewards, they drop them there again. How it is, there is no - telling, but Islanders seem to make the best whalemen. They were nearly - all Islanders in the Pequod, ISOLATOES too, I call such, not acknowledging - the common continent of men, but each ISOLATO living on a separate - continent of his own. Yet now, federated along one keel, what a set these - Isolatoes were! An Anacharsis Clootz deputation from all the isles of the - sea, and all the ends of the earth, accompanying Old Ahab in the Pequod to - lay the world's grievances before that bar from which not very many of - them ever come back. Black Little Pip—he never did—oh, no! he - went before. Poor Alabama boy! On the grim Pequod's forecastle, ye shall - ere long see him, beating his tambourine; prelusive of the eternal time, - when sent for, to the great quarter-deck on high, he was bid strike in - with angels, and beat his tambourine in glory; called a coward here, - hailed a hero there! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 28. Ahab. -

-

- For several days after leaving Nantucket, nothing above hatches was seen - of Captain Ahab. The mates regularly relieved each other at the watches, - and for aught that could be seen to the contrary, they seemed to be the - only commanders of the ship; only they sometimes issued from the cabin - with orders so sudden and peremptory, that after all it was plain they but - commanded vicariously. Yes, their supreme lord and dictator was there, - though hitherto unseen by any eyes not permitted to penetrate into the now - sacred retreat of the cabin. -

-

- Every time I ascended to the deck from my watches below, I instantly gazed - aft to mark if any strange face were visible; for my first vague - disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, - became almost a perturbation. This was strangely heightened at times by - the ragged Elijah's diabolical incoherences uninvitedly recurring to me, - with a subtle energy I could not have before conceived of. But poorly - could I withstand them, much as in other moods I was almost ready to smile - at the solemn whimsicalities of that outlandish prophet of the wharves. - But whatever it was of apprehensiveness or uneasiness—to call it so—which - I felt, yet whenever I came to look about me in the ship, it seemed - against all warrantry to cherish such emotions. For though the - harpooneers, with the great body of the crew, were a far more barbaric, - heathenish, and motley set than any of the tame merchant-ship companies - which my previous experiences had made me acquainted with, still I - ascribed this—and rightly ascribed it—to the fierce uniqueness - of the very nature of that wild Scandinavian vocation in which I had so - abandonedly embarked. But it was especially the aspect of the three chief - officers of the ship, the mates, which was most forcibly calculated to - allay these colourless misgivings, and induce confidence and cheerfulness - in every presentment of the voyage. Three better, more likely sea-officers - and men, each in his own different way, could not readily be found, and - they were every one of them Americans; a Nantucketer, a Vineyarder, a Cape - man. Now, it being Christmas when the ship shot from out her harbor, for a - space we had biting Polar weather, though all the time running away from - it to the southward; and by every degree and minute of latitude which we - sailed, gradually leaving that merciless winter, and all its intolerable - weather behind us. It was one of those less lowering, but still grey and - gloomy enough mornings of the transition, when with a fair wind the ship - was rushing through the water with a vindictive sort of leaping and - melancholy rapidity, that as I mounted to the deck at the call of the - forenoon watch, so soon as I levelled my glance towards the taffrail, - foreboding shivers ran over me. Reality outran apprehension; Captain Ahab - stood upon his quarter-deck. -

-

- There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the - recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the - fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or - taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole - high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an - unalterable mould, like Cellini's cast Perseus. Threading its way out from - among his grey hairs, and continuing right down one side of his tawny - scorched face and neck, till it disappeared in his clothing, you saw a - slender rod-like mark, lividly whitish. It resembled that perpendicular - seam sometimes made in the straight, lofty trunk of a great tree, when the - upper lightning tearingly darts down it, and without wrenching a single - twig, peels and grooves out the bark from top to bottom, ere running off - into the soil, leaving the tree still greenly alive, but branded. Whether - that mark was born with him, or whether it was the scar left by some - desperate wound, no one could certainly say. By some tacit consent, - throughout the voyage little or no allusion was made to it, especially by - the mates. But once Tashtego's senior, an old Gay-Head Indian among the - crew, superstitiously asserted that not till he was full forty years old - did Ahab become that way branded, and then it came upon him, not in the - fury of any mortal fray, but in an elemental strife at sea. Yet, this wild - hint seemed inferentially negatived, by what a grey Manxman insinuated, an - old sepulchral man, who, having never before sailed out of Nantucket, had - never ere this laid eye upon wild Ahab. Nevertheless, the old - sea-traditions, the immemorial credulities, popularly invested this old - Manxman with preternatural powers of discernment. So that no white sailor - seriously contradicted him when he said that if ever Captain Ahab should - be tranquilly laid out—which might hardly come to pass, so he - muttered—then, whoever should do that last office for the dead, - would find a birth-mark on him from crown to sole. -

-

- So powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me, and the livid - brand which streaked it, that for the first few moments I hardly noted - that not a little of this overbearing grimness was owing to the barbaric - white leg upon which he partly stood. It had previously come to me that - this ivory leg had at sea been fashioned from the polished bone of the - sperm whale's jaw. "Aye, he was dismasted off Japan," said the old - Gay-Head Indian once; "but like his dismasted craft, he shipped another - mast without coming home for it. He has a quiver of 'em." -

-

- I was struck with the singular posture he maintained. Upon each side of - the Pequod's quarter deck, and pretty close to the mizzen shrouds, there - was an auger hole, bored about half an inch or so, into the plank. His - bone leg steadied in that hole; one arm elevated, and holding by a shroud; - Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship's - ever-pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a - determinate, unsurrenderable wilfulness, in the fixed and fearless, - forward dedication of that glance. Not a word he spoke; nor did his - officers say aught to him; though by all their minutest gestures and - expressions, they plainly showed the uneasy, if not painful, consciousness - of being under a troubled master-eye. And not only that, but moody - stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the - nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe. -

-

- Ere long, from his first visit in the air, he withdrew into his cabin. But - after that morning, he was every day visible to the crew; either standing - in his pivot-hole, or seated upon an ivory stool he had; or heavily - walking the deck. As the sky grew less gloomy; indeed, began to grow a - little genial, he became still less and less a recluse; as if, when the - ship had sailed from home, nothing but the dead wintry bleakness of the - sea had then kept him so secluded. And, by and by, it came to pass, that - he was almost continually in the air; but, as yet, for all that he said, - or perceptibly did, on the at last sunny deck, he seemed as unnecessary - there as another mast. But the Pequod was only making a passage now; not - regularly cruising; nearly all whaling preparatives needing supervision - the mates were fully competent to, so that there was little or nothing, - out of himself, to employ or excite Ahab, now; and thus chase away, for - that one interval, the clouds that layer upon layer were piled upon his - brow, as ever all clouds choose the loftiest peaks to pile themselves - upon. -

-

- Nevertheless, ere long, the warm, warbling persuasiveness of the pleasant, - holiday weather we came to, seemed gradually to charm him from his mood. - For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to - the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most - thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to - welcome such glad-hearted visitants; so Ahab did, in the end, a little - respond to the playful allurings of that girlish air. More than once did - he put forth the faint blossom of a look, which, in any other man, would - have soon flowered out in a smile. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb. -

-

- Some days elapsed, and ice and icebergs all astern, the Pequod now went - rolling through the bright Quito spring, which, at sea, almost perpetually - reigns on the threshold of the eternal August of the Tropic. The warmly - cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as - crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up—flaked up, with - rose-water snow. The starred and stately nights seemed haughty dames in - jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely pride, the memory of their - absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted suns! For sleeping man, 'twas - hard to choose between such winsome days and such seducing nights. But all - the witcheries of that unwaning weather did not merely lend new spells and - potencies to the outward world. Inward they turned upon the soul, - especially when the still mild hours of eve came on; then, memory shot her - crystals as the clear ice most forms of noiseless twilights. And all these - subtle agencies, more and more they wrought on Ahab's texture. -

-

- Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less - man has to do with aught that looks like death. Among sea-commanders, the - old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the night-cloaked - deck. It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to - live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the - cabin, than from the cabin to the planks. "It feels like going down into - one's tomb,"—he would mutter to himself—"for an old captain - like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug - berth." -

-

- So, almost every twenty-four hours, when the watches of the night were - set, and the band on deck sentinelled the slumbers of the band below; and - when if a rope was to be hauled upon the forecastle, the sailors flung it - not rudely down, as by day, but with some cautiousness dropt it to its - place for fear of disturbing their slumbering shipmates; when this sort of - steady quietude would begin to prevail, habitually, the silent steersman - would watch the cabin-scuttle; and ere long the old man would emerge, - gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled way. Some considering - touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually - abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, - seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been - the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would - have been on the crunching teeth of sharks. But once, the mood was on him - too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was - measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the old second mate, - came up from below, with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, - hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one - could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting - something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the - insertion into it, of the ivory heel. Ah! Stubb, thou didst not know Ahab - then. -

-

- "Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb," said Ahab, "that thou wouldst wad me that - fashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave; where - such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filling one at last.—Down, - dog, and kennel!" -

-

- Starting at the unforseen concluding exclamation of the so suddenly - scornful old man, Stubb was speechless a moment; then said excitedly, "I - am not used to be spoken to that way, sir; I do but less than half like - it, sir." -

-

- "Avast! gritted Ahab between his set teeth, and violently moving away, as - if to avoid some passionate temptation. -

-

- "No, sir; not yet," said Stubb, emboldened, "I will not tamely be called a - dog, sir." -

-

- "Then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone, or - I'll clear the world of thee!" -

-

- As he said this, Ahab advanced upon him with such overbearing terrors in - his aspect, that Stubb involuntarily retreated. -

-

- "I was never served so before without giving a hard blow for it," muttered - Stubb, as he found himself descending the cabin-scuttle. "It's very queer. - Stop, Stubb; somehow, now, I don't well know whether to go back and strike - him, or—what's that?—down here on my knees and pray for him? - Yes, that was the thought coming up in me; but it would be the first time - I ever DID pray. It's queer; very queer; and he's queer too; aye, take him - fore and aft, he's about the queerest old man Stubb ever sailed with. How - he flashed at me!—his eyes like powder-pans! is he mad? Anyway - there's something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a - deck when it cracks. He aint in his bed now, either, more than three hours - out of the twenty-four; and he don't sleep then. Didn't that Dough-Boy, - the steward, tell me that of a morning he always finds the old man's - hammock clothes all rumpled and tumbled, and the sheets down at the foot, - and the coverlid almost tied into knots, and the pillow a sort of - frightful hot, as though a baked brick had been on it? A hot old man! I - guess he's got what some folks ashore call a conscience; it's a kind of - Tic-Dolly-row they say—worse nor a toothache. Well, well; I don't - know what it is, but the Lord keep me from catching it. He's full of - riddles; I wonder what he goes into the after hold for, every night, as - Dough-Boy tells me he suspects; what's that for, I should like to know? - Who's made appointments with him in the hold? Ain't that queer, now? But - there's no telling, it's the old game—Here goes for a snooze. Damn - me, it's worth a fellow's while to be born into the world, if only to fall - right asleep. And now that I think of it, that's about the first thing - babies do, and that's a sort of queer, too. Damn me, but all things are - queer, come to think of 'em. But that's against my principles. Think not, - is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth—So - here goes again. But how's that? didn't he call me a dog? blazes! he - called me ten times a donkey, and piled a lot of jackasses on top of THAT! - He might as well have kicked me, and done with it. Maybe he DID kick me, - and I didn't observe it, I was so taken all aback with his brow, somehow. - It flashed like a bleached bone. What the devil's the matter with me? I - don't stand right on my legs. Coming afoul of that old man has a sort of - turned me wrong side out. By the Lord, I must have been dreaming, though—How? - how? how?—but the only way's to stash it; so here goes to hammock - again; and in the morning, I'll see how this plaguey juggling thinks over - by daylight." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 30. The Pipe. -

-

- When Stubb had departed, Ahab stood for a while leaning over the bulwarks; - and then, as had been usual with him of late, calling a sailor of the - watch, he sent him below for his ivory stool, and also his pipe. Lighting - the pipe at the binnacle lamp and planting the stool on the weather side - of the deck, he sat and smoked. -

-

- In old Norse times, the thrones of the sea-loving Danish kings were - fabricated, saith tradition, of the tusks of the narwhale. How could one - look at Ahab then, seated on that tripod of bones, without bethinking him - of the royalty it symbolized? For a Khan of the plank, and a king of the - sea, and a great lord of Leviathans was Ahab. -

-

- Some moments passed, during which the thick vapour came from his mouth in - quick and constant puffs, which blew back again into his face. "How now," - he soliloquized at last, withdrawing the tube, "this smoking no longer - soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here - have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring—aye, and - ignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such - nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jets were the - strongest and fullest of trouble. What business have I with this pipe? - This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapours - among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I'll - smoke no more—" -

-

- He tossed the still lighted pipe into the sea. The fire hissed in the - waves; the same instant the ship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made. - With slouched hat, Ahab lurchingly paced the planks. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 31. Queen Mab. -

-

- Next morning Stubb accosted Flask. -

-

- "Such a queer dream, King-Post, I never had. You know the old man's ivory - leg, well I dreamed he kicked me with it; and when I tried to kick back, - upon my soul, my little man, I kicked my leg right off! And then, presto! - Ahab seemed a pyramid, and I, like a blazing fool, kept kicking at it. But - what was still more curious, Flask—you know how curious all dreams - are—through all this rage that I was in, I somehow seemed to be - thinking to myself, that after all, it was not much of an insult, that - kick from Ahab. 'Why,' thinks I, 'what's the row? It's not a real leg, - only a false leg.' And there's a mighty difference between a living thump - and a dead thump. That's what makes a blow from the hand, Flask, fifty - times more savage to bear than a blow from a cane. The living member—that - makes the living insult, my little man. And thinks I to myself all the - while, mind, while I was stubbing my silly toes against that cursed - pyramid—so confoundedly contradictory was it all, all the while, I - say, I was thinking to myself, 'what's his leg now, but a cane—a - whalebone cane. Yes,' thinks I, 'it was only a playful cudgelling—in - fact, only a whaleboning that he gave me—not a base kick. Besides,' - thinks I, 'look at it once; why, the end of it—the foot part—what - a small sort of end it is; whereas, if a broad footed farmer kicked me, - THERE'S a devilish broad insult. But this insult is whittled down to a - point only.' But now comes the greatest joke of the dream, Flask. While I - was battering away at the pyramid, a sort of badger-haired old merman, - with a hump on his back, takes me by the shoulders, and slews me round. - 'What are you 'bout?' says he. Slid! man, but I was frightened. Such a - phiz! But, somehow, next moment I was over the fright. 'What am I about?' - says I at last. 'And what business is that of yours, I should like to - know, Mr. Humpback? Do YOU want a kick?' By the lord, Flask, I had no - sooner said that, than he turned round his stern to me, bent over, and - dragging up a lot of seaweed he had for a clout—what do you think, I - saw?—why thunder alive, man, his stern was stuck full of - marlinspikes, with the points out. Says I, on second thoughts, 'I guess I - won't kick you, old fellow.' 'Wise Stubb,' said he, 'wise Stubb;' and kept - muttering it all the time, a sort of eating of his own gums like a chimney - hag. Seeing he wasn't going to stop saying over his 'wise Stubb, wise - Stubb,' I thought I might as well fall to kicking the pyramid again. But I - had only just lifted my foot for it, when he roared out, 'Stop that - kicking!' 'Halloa,' says I, 'what's the matter now, old fellow?' 'Look ye - here,' says he; 'let's argue the insult. Captain Ahab kicked ye, didn't - he?' 'Yes, he did,' says I—'right HERE it was.' 'Very good,' says he—'he - used his ivory leg, didn't he?' 'Yes, he did,' says I. 'Well then,' says - he, 'wise Stubb, what have you to complain of? Didn't he kick with right - good will? it wasn't a common pitch pine leg he kicked with, was it? No, - you were kicked by a great man, and with a beautiful ivory leg, Stubb. - It's an honour; I consider it an honour. Listen, wise Stubb. In old - England the greatest lords think it great glory to be slapped by a queen, - and made garter-knights of; but, be YOUR boast, Stubb, that ye were kicked - by old Ahab, and made a wise man of. Remember what I say; BE kicked by - him; account his kicks honours; and on no account kick back; for you can't - help yourself, wise Stubb. Don't you see that pyramid?' With that, he all - of a sudden seemed somehow, in some queer fashion, to swim off into the - air. I snored; rolled over; and there I was in my hammock! Now, what do - you think of that dream, Flask?" -

-

- "I don't know; it seems a sort of foolish to me, tho.'" -

-

- "May be; may be. But it's made a wise man of me, Flask. D'ye see Ahab - standing there, sideways looking over the stern? Well, the best thing you - can do, Flask, is to let the old man alone; never speak to him, whatever - he says. Halloa! What's that he shouts? Hark!" -

-

- "Mast-head, there! Look sharp, all of ye! There are whales hereabouts! -

-

- "If ye see a white one, split your lungs for him! -

-

- "What do you think of that now, Flask? ain't there a small drop of - something queer about that, eh? A white whale—did ye mark that, man? - Look ye—there's something special in the wind. Stand by for it, - Flask. Ahab has that that's bloody on his mind. But, mum; he comes this - way." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 32. Cetology. -

-

- Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in - its unshored, harbourless immensities. Ere that come to pass; ere the - Pequod's weedy hull rolls side by side with the barnacled hulls of the - leviathan; at the outset it is but well to attend to a matter almost - indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special - leviathanic revelations and allusions of all sorts which are to follow. -

-

- It is some systematized exhibition of the whale in his broad genera, that - I would now fain put before you. Yet is it no easy task. The - classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here - essayed. Listen to what the best and latest authorities have laid down. -

-

- "No branch of Zoology is so much involved as that which is entitled - Cetology," says Captain Scoresby, A.D. 1820. -

-

- "It is not my intention, were it in my power, to enter into the inquiry as - to the true method of dividing the cetacea into groups and families.... - Utter confusion exists among the historians of this animal" (sperm whale), - says Surgeon Beale, A.D. 1839. -

-

- "Unfitness to pursue our research in the unfathomable waters." - "Impenetrable veil covering our knowledge of the cetacea." "A field strewn - with thorns." "All these incomplete indications but serve to torture us - naturalists." -

-

- Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and John Hunter, and Lesson, - those lights of zoology and anatomy. Nevertheless, though of real - knowledge there be little, yet of books there are a plenty; and so in some - small degree, with cetology, or the science of whales. Many are the men, - small and great, old and new, landsmen and seamen, who have at large or in - little, written of the whale. Run over a few:—The Authors of the - Bible; Aristotle; Pliny; Aldrovandi; Sir Thomas Browne; Gesner; Ray; - Linnaeus; Rondeletius; Willoughby; Green; Artedi; Sibbald; Brisson; - Marten; Lacepede; Bonneterre; Desmarest; Baron Cuvier; Frederick Cuvier; - John Hunter; Owen; Scoresby; Beale; Bennett; J. Ross Browne; the Author of - Miriam Coffin; Olmstead; and the Rev. T. Cheever. But to what ultimate - generalizing purpose all these have written, the above cited extracts will - show. -

-

- Of the names in this list of whale authors, only those following Owen ever - saw living whales; and but one of them was a real professional harpooneer - and whaleman. I mean Captain Scoresby. On the separate subject of the - Greenland or right-whale, he is the best existing authority. But Scoresby - knew nothing and says nothing of the great sperm whale, compared with - which the Greenland whale is almost unworthy mentioning. And here be it - said, that the Greenland whale is an usurper upon the throne of the seas. - He is not even by any means the largest of the whales. Yet, owing to the - long priority of his claims, and the profound ignorance which, till some - seventy years back, invested the then fabulous or utterly unknown - sperm-whale, and which ignorance to this present day still reigns in all - but some few scientific retreats and whale-ports; this usurpation has been - every way complete. Reference to nearly all the leviathanic allusions in - the great poets of past days, will satisfy you that the Greenland whale, - without one rival, was to them the monarch of the seas. But the time has - at last come for a new proclamation. This is Charing Cross; hear ye! good - people all,—the Greenland whale is deposed,—the great sperm - whale now reigneth! -

-

- There are only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living - sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree - succeed in the attempt. Those books are Beale's and Bennett's; both in - their time surgeons to English South-Sea whale-ships, and both exact and - reliable men. The original matter touching the sperm whale to be found in - their volumes is necessarily small; but so far as it goes, it is of - excellent quality, though mostly confined to scientific description. As - yet, however, the sperm whale, scientific or poetic, lives not complete in - any literature. Far above all other hunted whales, his is an unwritten - life. -

-

- Now the various species of whales need some sort of popular comprehensive - classification, if only an easy outline one for the present, hereafter to - be filled in all its departments by subsequent laborers. As no better man - advances to take this matter in hand, I hereupon offer my own poor - endeavors. I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to - be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty. I shall not - pretend to a minute anatomical description of the various species, or—in - this place at least—to much of any description. My object here is - simply to project the draught of a systematization of cetology. I am the - architect, not the builder. -

-

- But it is a ponderous task; no ordinary letter-sorter in the Post-Office - is equal to it. To grope down into the bottom of the sea after them; to - have one's hands among the unspeakable foundations, ribs, and very pelvis - of the world; this is a fearful thing. What am I that I should essay to - hook the nose of this leviathan! The awful tauntings in Job might well - appal me. Will he the (leviathan) make a covenant with thee? Behold the - hope of him is vain! But I have swam through libraries and sailed through - oceans; I have had to do with whales with these visible hands; I am in - earnest; and I will try. There are some preliminaries to settle. -

-

- First: The uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is - in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still - remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish. In his System of Nature, - A.D. 1776, Linnaeus declares, "I hereby separate the whales from the - fish." But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year 1850, sharks - and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnaeus's express edict, were - still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan. -

-

- The grounds upon which Linnaeus would fain have banished the whales from - the waters, he states as follows: "On account of their warm bilocular - heart, their lungs, their movable eyelids, their hollow ears, penem - intrantem feminam mammis lactantem," and finally, "ex lege naturae jure - meritoque." I submitted all this to my friends Simeon Macey and Charley - Coffin, of Nantucket, both messmates of mine in a certain voyage, and they - united in the opinion that the reasons set forth were altogether - insufficient. Charley profanely hinted they were humbug. -

-

- Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned - ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me. This - fundamental thing settled, the next point is, in what internal respect - does the whale differ from other fish. Above, Linnaeus has given you those - items. But in brief, they are these: lungs and warm blood; whereas, all - other fish are lungless and cold blooded. -

-

- Next: how shall we define the whale, by his obvious externals, so as - conspicuously to label him for all time to come? To be short, then, a - whale is A SPOUTING FISH WITH A HORIZONTAL TAIL. There you have him. - However contracted, that definition is the result of expanded meditation. - A walrus spouts much like a whale, but the walrus is not a fish, because - he is amphibious. But the last term of the definition is still more - cogent, as coupled with the first. Almost any one must have noticed that - all the fish familiar to landsmen have not a flat, but a vertical, or - up-and-down tail. Whereas, among spouting fish the tail, though it may be - similarly shaped, invariably assumes a horizontal position. -

-

- By the above definition of what a whale is, I do by no means exclude from - the leviathanic brotherhood any sea creature hitherto identified with the - whale by the best informed Nantucketers; nor, on the other hand, link with - it any fish hitherto authoritatively regarded as alien.* Hence, all the - smaller, spouting, and horizontal tailed fish must be included in this - ground-plan of Cetology. Now, then, come the grand divisions of the entire - whale host. -

-

- *I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and - Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included - by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, - contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on - wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as - whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom - of Cetology. -

-

- First: According to magnitude I divide the whales into three primary BOOKS - (subdivisible into CHAPTERS), and these shall comprehend them all, both - small and large. -

-

- I. THE FOLIO WHALE; II. the OCTAVO WHALE; III. the DUODECIMO WHALE. -

-

- As the type of the FOLIO I present the SPERM WHALE; of the OCTAVO, the - GRAMPUS; of the DUODECIMO, the PORPOISE. -

-

- FOLIOS. Among these I here include the following chapters:—I. The - SPERM WHALE; II. the RIGHT WHALE; III. the FIN-BACK WHALE; IV. the - HUMP-BACKED WHALE; V. the RAZOR-BACK WHALE; VI. the SULPHUR-BOTTOM WHALE. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO), CHAPTER I. (SPERM WHALE).—This whale, among the - English of old vaguely known as the Trumpa whale, and the Physeter whale, - and the Anvil Headed whale, is the present Cachalot of the French, and the - Pottsfich of the Germans, and the Macrocephalus of the Long Words. He is, - without doubt, the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of - all whales to encounter; the most majestic in aspect; and lastly, by far - the most valuable in commerce; he being the only creature from which that - valuable substance, spermaceti, is obtained. All his peculiarities will, - in many other places, be enlarged upon. It is chiefly with his name that I - now have to do. Philologically considered, it is absurd. Some centuries - ago, when the Sperm whale was almost wholly unknown in his own proper - individuality, and when his oil was only accidentally obtained from the - stranded fish; in those days spermaceti, it would seem, was popularly - supposed to be derived from a creature identical with the one then known - in England as the Greenland or Right Whale. It was the idea also, that - this same spermaceti was that quickening humor of the Greenland Whale - which the first syllable of the word literally expresses. In those times, - also, spermaceti was exceedingly scarce, not being used for light, but - only as an ointment and medicament. It was only to be had from the - druggists as you nowadays buy an ounce of rhubarb. When, as I opine, in - the course of time, the true nature of spermaceti became known, its - original name was still retained by the dealers; no doubt to enhance its - value by a notion so strangely significant of its scarcity. And so the - appellation must at last have come to be bestowed upon the whale from - which this spermaceti was really derived. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO), CHAPTER II. (RIGHT WHALE).—In one respect this is - the most venerable of the leviathans, being the one first regularly hunted - by man. It yields the article commonly known as whalebone or baleen; and - the oil specially known as "whale oil," an inferior article in commerce. - Among the fishermen, he is indiscriminately designated by all the - following titles: The Whale; the Greenland Whale; the Black Whale; the - Great Whale; the True Whale; the Right Whale. There is a deal of obscurity - concerning the identity of the species thus multitudinously baptised. What - then is the whale, which I include in the second species of my Folios? It - is the Great Mysticetus of the English naturalists; the Greenland Whale of - the English whalemen; the Baliene Ordinaire of the French whalemen; the - Growlands Walfish of the Swedes. It is the whale which for more than two - centuries past has been hunted by the Dutch and English in the Arctic - seas; it is the whale which the American fishermen have long pursued in - the Indian ocean, on the Brazil Banks, on the Nor' West Coast, and various - other parts of the world, designated by them Right Whale Cruising Grounds. -

-

- Some pretend to see a difference between the Greenland whale of the - English and the right whale of the Americans. But they precisely agree in - all their grand features; nor has there yet been presented a single - determinate fact upon which to ground a radical distinction. It is by - endless subdivisions based upon the most inconclusive differences, that - some departments of natural history become so repellingly intricate. The - right whale will be elsewhere treated of at some length, with reference to - elucidating the sperm whale. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO), CHAPTER III. (FIN-BACK).—Under this head I reckon a - monster which, by the various names of Fin-Back, Tall-Spout, and - Long-John, has been seen almost in every sea and is commonly the whale - whose distant jet is so often descried by passengers crossing the - Atlantic, in the New York packet-tracks. In the length he attains, and in - his baleen, the Fin-back resembles the right whale, but is of a less - portly girth, and a lighter colour, approaching to olive. His great lips - present a cable-like aspect, formed by the intertwisting, slanting folds - of large wrinkles. His grand distinguishing feature, the fin, from which - he derives his name, is often a conspicuous object. This fin is some three - or four feet long, growing vertically from the hinder part of the back, of - an angular shape, and with a very sharp pointed end. Even if not the - slightest other part of the creature be visible, this isolated fin will, - at times, be seen plainly projecting from the surface. When the sea is - moderately calm, and slightly marked with spherical ripples, and this - gnomon-like fin stands up and casts shadows upon the wrinkled surface, it - may well be supposed that the watery circle surrounding it somewhat - resembles a dial, with its style and wavy hour-lines graved on it. On that - Ahaz-dial the shadow often goes back. The Fin-Back is not gregarious. He - seems a whale-hater, as some men are man-haters. Very shy; always going - solitary; unexpectedly rising to the surface in the remotest and most - sullen waters; his straight and single lofty jet rising like a tall - misanthropic spear upon a barren plain; gifted with such wondrous power - and velocity in swimming, as to defy all present pursuit from man; this - leviathan seems the banished and unconquerable Cain of his race, bearing - for his mark that style upon his back. From having the baleen in his - mouth, the Fin-Back is sometimes included with the right whale, among a - theoretic species denominated WHALEBONE WHALES, that is, whales with - baleen. Of these so called Whalebone whales, there would seem to be - several varieties, most of which, however, are little known. Broad-nosed - whales and beaked whales; pike-headed whales; bunched whales; under-jawed - whales and rostrated whales, are the fishermen's names for a few sorts. -

-

- In connection with this appellative of "Whalebone whales," it is of great - importance to mention, that however such a nomenclature may be convenient - in facilitating allusions to some kind of whales, yet it is in vain to - attempt a clear classification of the Leviathan, founded upon either his - baleen, or hump, or fin, or teeth; notwithstanding that those marked parts - or features very obviously seem better adapted to afford the basis for a - regular system of Cetology than any other detached bodily distinctions, - which the whale, in his kinds, presents. How then? The baleen, hump, - back-fin, and teeth; these are things whose peculiarities are - indiscriminately dispersed among all sorts of whales, without any regard - to what may be the nature of their structure in other and more essential - particulars. Thus, the sperm whale and the humpbacked whale, each has a - hump; but there the similitude ceases. Then, this same humpbacked whale - and the Greenland whale, each of these has baleen; but there again the - similitude ceases. And it is just the same with the other parts above - mentioned. In various sorts of whales, they form such irregular - combinations; or, in the case of any one of them detached, such an - irregular isolation; as utterly to defy all general methodization formed - upon such a basis. On this rock every one of the whale-naturalists has - split. -

-

- But it may possibly be conceived that, in the internal parts of the whale, - in his anatomy—there, at least, we shall be able to hit the right - classification. Nay; what thing, for example, is there in the Greenland - whale's anatomy more striking than his baleen? Yet we have seen that by - his baleen it is impossible correctly to classify the Greenland whale. And - if you descend into the bowels of the various leviathans, why there you - will not find distinctions a fiftieth part as available to the - systematizer as those external ones already enumerated. What then remains? - nothing but to take hold of the whales bodily, in their entire liberal - volume, and boldly sort them that way. And this is the Bibliographical - system here adopted; and it is the only one that can possibly succeed, for - it alone is practicable. To proceed. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO) CHAPTER IV. (HUMP-BACK).—This whale is often seen on - the northern American coast. He has been frequently captured there, and - towed into harbor. He has a great pack on him like a peddler; or you might - call him the Elephant and Castle whale. At any rate, the popular name for - him does not sufficiently distinguish him, since the sperm whale also has - a hump though a smaller one. His oil is not very valuable. He has baleen. - He is the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more - gay foam and white water generally than any other of them. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO), CHAPTER V. (RAZOR-BACK).—Of this whale little is - known but his name. I have seen him at a distance off Cape Horn. Of a - retiring nature, he eludes both hunters and philosophers. Though no - coward, he has never yet shown any part of him but his back, which rises - in a long sharp ridge. Let him go. I know little more of him, nor does - anybody else. -

-

- BOOK I. (FOLIO), CHAPTER VI. (SULPHUR-BOTTOM).—Another retiring - gentleman, with a brimstone belly, doubtless got by scraping along the - Tartarian tiles in some of his profounder divings. He is seldom seen; at - least I have never seen him except in the remoter southern seas, and then - always at too great a distance to study his countenance. He is never - chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of - him. Adieu, Sulphur Bottom! I can say nothing more that is true of ye, nor - can the oldest Nantucketer. -

-

- Thus ends BOOK I. (FOLIO), and now begins BOOK II. (OCTAVO). -

-

- OCTAVOES.*—These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among - which present may be numbered:—I., the GRAMPUS; II., the BLACK FISH; - III., the NARWHALE; IV., the THRASHER; V., the KILLER. -

-

- *Why this book of whales is not denominated the Quarto is very plain. - Because, while the whales of this order, though smaller than those of the - former order, nevertheless retain a proportionate likeness to them in - figure, yet the bookbinder's Quarto volume in its dimensioned form does - not preserve the shape of the Folio volume, but the Octavo volume does. -

-

- BOOK II. (OCTAVO), CHAPTER I. (GRAMPUS).—Though this fish, whose - loud sonorous breathing, or rather blowing, has furnished a proverb to - landsmen, is so well known a denizen of the deep, yet is he not popularly - classed among whales. But possessing all the grand distinctive features of - the leviathan, most naturalists have recognised him for one. He is of - moderate octavo size, varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, - and of corresponding dimensions round the waist. He swims in herds; he is - never regularly hunted, though his oil is considerable in quantity, and - pretty good for light. By some fishermen his approach is regarded as - premonitory of the advance of the great sperm whale. -

-

- BOOK II. (OCTAVO), CHAPTER II. (BLACK FISH).—I give the popular - fishermen's names for all these fish, for generally they are the best. - Where any name happens to be vague or inexpressive, I shall say so, and - suggest another. I do so now, touching the Black Fish, so-called, because - blackness is the rule among almost all whales. So, call him the Hyena - Whale, if you please. His voracity is well known, and from the - circumstance that the inner angles of his lips are curved upwards, he - carries an everlasting Mephistophelean grin on his face. This whale - averages some sixteen or eighteen feet in length. He is found in almost - all latitudes. He has a peculiar way of showing his dorsal hooked fin in - swimming, which looks something like a Roman nose. When not more - profitably employed, the sperm whale hunters sometimes capture the Hyena - whale, to keep up the supply of cheap oil for domestic employment—as - some frugal housekeepers, in the absence of company, and quite alone by - themselves, burn unsavory tallow instead of odorous wax. Though their - blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you upwards of - thirty gallons of oil. -

-

- BOOK II. (OCTAVO), CHAPTER III. (NARWHALE), that is, NOSTRIL WHALE.—Another - instance of a curiously named whale, so named I suppose from his peculiar - horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. The creature is some - sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five feet, though some - exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. Strictly speaking, this horn - is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw in a line a little - depressed from the horizontal. But it is only found on the sinister side, - which has an ill effect, giving its owner something analogous to the - aspect of a clumsy left-handed man. What precise purpose this ivory horn - or lance answers, it would be hard to say. It does not seem to be used - like the blade of the sword-fish and bill-fish; though some sailors tell - me that the Narwhale employs it for a rake in turning over the bottom of - the sea for food. Charley Coffin said it was used for an ice-piercer; for - the Narwhale, rising to the surface of the Polar Sea, and finding it - sheeted with ice, thrusts his horn up, and so breaks through. But you - cannot prove either of these surmises to be correct. My own opinion is, - that however this one-sided horn may really be used by the Narwhale—however - that may be—it would certainly be very convenient to him for a - folder in reading pamphlets. The Narwhale I have heard called the Tusked - whale, the Horned whale, and the Unicorn whale. He is certainly a curious - example of the Unicornism to be found in almost every kingdom of animated - nature. From certain cloistered old authors I have gathered that this same - sea-unicorn's horn was in ancient days regarded as the great antidote - against poison, and as such, preparations of it brought immense prices. It - was also distilled to a volatile salts for fainting ladies, the same way - that the horns of the male deer are manufactured into hartshorn. - Originally it was in itself accounted an object of great curiosity. Black - Letter tells me that Sir Martin Frobisher on his return from that voyage, - when Queen Bess did gallantly wave her jewelled hand to him from a window - of Greenwich Palace, as his bold ship sailed down the Thames; "when Sir - Martin returned from that voyage," saith Black Letter, "on bended knees he - presented to her highness a prodigious long horn of the Narwhale, which - for a long period after hung in the castle at Windsor." An Irish author - avers that the Earl of Leicester, on bended knees, did likewise present to - her highness another horn, pertaining to a land beast of the unicorn - nature. -

-

- The Narwhale has a very picturesque, leopard-like look, being of a - milk-white ground colour, dotted with round and oblong spots of black. His - oil is very superior, clear and fine; but there is little of it, and he is - seldom hunted. He is mostly found in the circumpolar seas. -

-

- BOOK II. (OCTAVO), CHAPTER IV. (KILLER).—Of this whale little is - precisely known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed - naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that - he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage—a sort of - Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip, and - hangs there like a leech, till the mighty brute is worried to death. The - Killer is never hunted. I never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception - might be taken to the name bestowed upon this whale, on the ground of its - indistinctness. For we are all killers, on land and on sea; Bonapartes and - Sharks included. -

-

- BOOK II. (OCTAVO), CHAPTER V. (THRASHER).—This gentleman is famous - for his tail, which he uses for a ferule in thrashing his foes. He mounts - the Folio whale's back, and as he swims, he works his passage by flogging - him; as some schoolmasters get along in the world by a similar process. - Still less is known of the Thrasher than of the Killer. Both are outlaws, - even in the lawless seas. -

-

- Thus ends BOOK II. (OCTAVO), and begins BOOK III. (DUODECIMO). -

-

- DUODECIMOES.—These include the smaller whales. I. The Huzza - Porpoise. II. The Algerine Porpoise. III. The Mealy-mouthed Porpoise. -

-

- To those who have not chanced specially to study the subject, it may - possibly seem strange, that fishes not commonly exceeding four or five - feet should be marshalled among WHALES—a word, which, in the popular - sense, always conveys an idea of hugeness. But the creatures set down - above as Duodecimoes are infallibly whales, by the terms of my definition - of what a whale is—i.e. a spouting fish, with a horizontal tail. -

-

- BOOK III. (DUODECIMO), CHAPTER 1. (HUZZA PORPOISE).—This is the - common porpoise found almost all over the globe. The name is of my own - bestowal; for there are more than one sort of porpoises, and something - must be done to distinguish them. I call him thus, because he always swims - in hilarious shoals, which upon the broad sea keep tossing themselves to - heaven like caps in a Fourth-of-July crowd. Their appearance is generally - hailed with delight by the mariner. Full of fine spirits, they invariably - come from the breezy billows to windward. They are the lads that always - live before the wind. They are accounted a lucky omen. If you yourself can - withstand three cheers at beholding these vivacious fish, then heaven help - ye; the spirit of godly gamesomeness is not in ye. A well-fed, plump Huzza - Porpoise will yield you one good gallon of good oil. But the fine and - delicate fluid extracted from his jaws is exceedingly valuable. It is in - request among jewellers and watchmakers. Sailors put it on their hones. - Porpoise meat is good eating, you know. It may never have occurred to you - that a porpoise spouts. Indeed, his spout is so small that it is not very - readily discernible. But the next time you have a chance, watch him; and - you will then see the great Sperm whale himself in miniature. -

-

- BOOK III. (DUODECIMO), CHAPTER II. (ALGERINE PORPOISE).—A pirate. - Very savage. He is only found, I think, in the Pacific. He is somewhat - larger than the Huzza Porpoise, but much of the same general make. Provoke - him, and he will buckle to a shark. I have lowered for him many times, but - never yet saw him captured. -

-

- BOOK III. (DUODECIMO), CHAPTER III. (MEALY-MOUTHED PORPOISE).—The - largest kind of Porpoise; and only found in the Pacific, so far as it is - known. The only English name, by which he has hitherto been designated, is - that of the fishers—Right-Whale Porpoise, from the circumstance that - he is chiefly found in the vicinity of that Folio. In shape, he differs in - some degree from the Huzza Porpoise, being of a less rotund and jolly - girth; indeed, he is of quite a neat and gentleman-like figure. He has no - fins on his back (most other porpoises have), he has a lovely tail, and - sentimental Indian eyes of a hazel hue. But his mealy-mouth spoils all. - Though his entire back down to his side fins is of a deep sable, yet a - boundary line, distinct as the mark in a ship's hull, called the "bright - waist," that line streaks him from stem to stern, with two separate - colours, black above and white below. The white comprises part of his - head, and the whole of his mouth, which makes him look as if he had just - escaped from a felonious visit to a meal-bag. A most mean and mealy - aspect! His oil is much like that of the common porpoise. -

-

- Beyond the DUODECIMO, this system does not proceed, inasmuch as the - Porpoise is the smallest of the whales. Above, you have all the Leviathans - of note. But there are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive, half-fabulous - whales, which, as an American whaleman, I know by reputation, but not - personally. I shall enumerate them by their fore-castle appellations; for - possibly such a list may be valuable to future investigators, who may - complete what I have here but begun. If any of the following whales, shall - hereafter be caught and marked, then he can readily be incorporated into - this System, according to his Folio, Octavo, or Duodecimo magnitude:—The - Bottle-Nose Whale; the Junk Whale; the Pudding-Headed Whale; the Cape - Whale; the Leading Whale; the Cannon Whale; the Scragg Whale; the Coppered - Whale; the Elephant Whale; the Iceberg Whale; the Quog Whale; the Blue - Whale; etc. From Icelandic, Dutch, and old English authorities, there - might be quoted other lists of uncertain whales, blessed with all manner - of uncouth names. But I omit them as altogether obsolete; and can hardly - help suspecting them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying - nothing. -

-

- Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, - and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my - word. But I now leave my cetological System standing thus unfinished, even - as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing - upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished - by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone - to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book - is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, - Strength, Cash, and Patience! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 33. The Specksnyder. -

-

- Concerning the officers of the whale-craft, this seems as good a place as - any to set down a little domestic peculiarity on ship-board, arising from - the existence of the harpooneer class of officers, a class unknown of - course in any other marine than the whale-fleet. -

-

- The large importance attached to the harpooneer's vocation is evinced by - the fact, that originally in the old Dutch Fishery, two centuries and more - ago, the command of a whale ship was not wholly lodged in the person now - called the captain, but was divided between him and an officer called the - Specksnyder. Literally this word means Fat-Cutter; usage, however, in time - made it equivalent to Chief Harpooneer. In those days, the captain's - authority was restricted to the navigation and general management of the - vessel; while over the whale-hunting department and all its concerns, the - Specksnyder or Chief Harpooneer reigned supreme. In the British Greenland - Fishery, under the corrupted title of Specksioneer, this old Dutch - official is still retained, but his former dignity is sadly abridged. At - present he ranks simply as senior Harpooneer; and as such, is but one of - the captain's more inferior subalterns. Nevertheless, as upon the good - conduct of the harpooneers the success of a whaling voyage largely - depends, and since in the American Fishery he is not only an important - officer in the boat, but under certain circumstances (night watches on a - whaling ground) the command of the ship's deck is also his; therefore the - grand political maxim of the sea demands, that he should nominally live - apart from the men before the mast, and be in some way distinguished as - their professional superior; though always, by them, familiarly regarded - as their social equal. -

-

- Now, the grand distinction drawn between officer and man at sea, is this—the - first lives aft, the last forward. Hence, in whale-ships and merchantmen - alike, the mates have their quarters with the captain; and so, too, in - most of the American whalers the harpooneers are lodged in the after part - of the ship. That is to say, they take their meals in the captain's cabin, - and sleep in a place indirectly communicating with it. -

-

- Though the long period of a Southern whaling voyage (by far the longest of - all voyages now or ever made by man), the peculiar perils of it, and the - community of interest prevailing among a company, all of whom, high or - low, depend for their profits, not upon fixed wages, but upon their common - luck, together with their common vigilance, intrepidity, and hard work; - though all these things do in some cases tend to beget a less rigorous - discipline than in merchantmen generally; yet, never mind how much like an - old Mesopotamian family these whalemen may, in some primitive instances, - live together; for all that, the punctilious externals, at least, of the - quarter-deck are seldom materially relaxed, and in no instance done away. - Indeed, many are the Nantucket ships in which you will see the skipper - parading his quarter-deck with an elated grandeur not surpassed in any - military navy; nay, extorting almost as much outward homage as if he wore - the imperial purple, and not the shabbiest of pilot-cloth. -

-

- And though of all men the moody captain of the Pequod was the least given - to that sort of shallowest assumption; and though the only homage he ever - exacted, was implicit, instantaneous obedience; though he required no man - to remove the shoes from his feet ere stepping upon the quarter-deck; and - though there were times when, owing to peculiar circumstances connected - with events hereafter to be detailed, he addressed them in unusual terms, - whether of condescension or IN TERROREM, or otherwise; yet even Captain - Ahab was by no means unobservant of the paramount forms and usages of the - sea. -

-

- Nor, perhaps, will it fail to be eventually perceived, that behind those - forms and usages, as it were, he sometimes masked himself; incidentally - making use of them for other and more private ends than they were - legitimately intended to subserve. That certain sultanism of his brain, - which had otherwise in a good degree remained unmanifested; through those - forms that same sultanism became incarnate in an irresistible - dictatorship. For be a man's intellectual superiority what it will, it can - never assume the practical, available supremacy over other men, without - the aid of some sort of external arts and entrenchments, always, in - themselves, more or less paltry and base. This it is, that for ever keeps - God's true princes of the Empire from the world's hustings; and leaves the - highest honours that this air can give, to those men who become famous - more through their infinite inferiority to the choice hidden handful of - the Divine Inert, than through their undoubted superiority over the dead - level of the mass. Such large virtue lurks in these small things when - extreme political superstitions invest them, that in some royal instances - even to idiot imbecility they have imparted potency. But when, as in the - case of Nicholas the Czar, the ringed crown of geographical empire - encircles an imperial brain; then, the plebeian herds crouch abased before - the tremendous centralization. Nor, will the tragic dramatist who would - depict mortal indomitableness in its fullest sweep and direct swing, ever - forget a hint, incidentally so important in his art, as the one now - alluded to. -

-

- But Ahab, my Captain, still moves before me in all his Nantucket grimness - and shagginess; and in this episode touching Emperors and Kings, I must - not conceal that I have only to do with a poor old whale-hunter like him; - and, therefore, all outward majestical trappings and housings are denied - me. Oh, Ahab! what shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at - from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied - air! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 34. The Cabin-Table. -

-

- It is noon; and Dough-Boy, the steward, thrusting his pale loaf-of-bread - face from the cabin-scuttle, announces dinner to his lord and master; who, - sitting in the lee quarter-boat, has just been taking an observation of - the sun; and is now mutely reckoning the latitude on the smooth, - medallion-shaped tablet, reserved for that daily purpose on the upper part - of his ivory leg. From his complete inattention to the tidings, you would - think that moody Ahab had not heard his menial. But presently, catching - hold of the mizen shrouds, he swings himself to the deck, and in an even, - unexhilarated voice, saying, "Dinner, Mr. Starbuck," disappears into the - cabin. -

-

- When the last echo of his sultan's step has died away, and Starbuck, the - first Emir, has every reason to suppose that he is seated, then Starbuck - rouses from his quietude, takes a few turns along the planks, and, after a - grave peep into the binnacle, says, with some touch of pleasantness, - "Dinner, Mr. Stubb," and descends the scuttle. The second Emir lounges - about the rigging awhile, and then slightly shaking the main brace, to see - whether it will be all right with that important rope, he likewise takes - up the old burden, and with a rapid "Dinner, Mr. Flask," follows after his - predecessors. -

-

- But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, - seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts - of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he - strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the - Grand Turk's head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up - into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as - he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by - bringing up the rear with music. But ere stepping into the cabin doorway - below, he pauses, ships a new face altogether, and, then, independent, - hilarious little Flask enters King Ahab's presence, in the character of - Abjectus, or the Slave. -

-

- It is not the least among the strange things bred by the intense - artificialness of sea-usages, that while in the open air of the deck some - officers will, upon provocation, bear themselves boldly and defyingly - enough towards their commander; yet, ten to one, let those very officers - the next moment go down to their customary dinner in that same commander's - cabin, and straightway their inoffensive, not to say deprecatory and - humble air towards him, as he sits at the head of the table; this is - marvellous, sometimes most comical. Wherefore this difference? A problem? - Perhaps not. To have been Belshazzar, King of Babylon; and to have been - Belshazzar, not haughtily but courteously, therein certainly must have - been some touch of mundane grandeur. But he who in the rightly regal and - intelligent spirit presides over his own private dinner-table of invited - guests, that man's unchallenged power and dominion of individual influence - for the time; that man's royalty of state transcends Belshazzar's, for - Belshazzar was not the greatest. Who has but once dined his friends, has - tasted what it is to be Caesar. It is a witchery of social czarship which - there is no withstanding. Now, if to this consideration you superadd the - official supremacy of a ship-master, then, by inference, you will derive - the cause of that peculiarity of sea-life just mentioned. -

-

- Over his ivory-inlaid table, Ahab presided like a mute, maned sea-lion on - the white coral beach, surrounded by his warlike but still deferential - cubs. In his own proper turn, each officer waited to be served. They were - as little children before Ahab; and yet, in Ahab, there seemed not to lurk - the smallest social arrogance. With one mind, their intent eyes all - fastened upon the old man's knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. - I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment - with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the - weather. No! And when reaching out his knife and fork, between which the - slice of beef was locked, Ahab thereby motioned Starbuck's plate towards - him, the mate received his meat as though receiving alms; and cut it - tenderly; and a little started if, perchance, the knife grazed against the - plate; and chewed it noiselessly; and swallowed it, not without - circumspection. For, like the Coronation banquet at Frankfort, where the - German Emperor profoundly dines with the seven Imperial Electors, so these - cabin meals were somehow solemn meals, eaten in awful silence; and yet at - table old Ahab forbade not conversation; only he himself was dumb. What a - relief it was to choking Stubb, when a rat made a sudden racket in the - hold below. And poor little Flask, he was the youngest son, and little boy - of this weary family party. His were the shinbones of the saline beef; his - would have been the drumsticks. For Flask to have presumed to help - himself, this must have seemed to him tantamount to larceny in the first - degree. Had he helped himself at that table, doubtless, never more would - he have been able to hold his head up in this honest world; nevertheless, - strange to say, Ahab never forbade him. And had Flask helped himself, the - chances were Ahab had never so much as noticed it. Least of all, did Flask - presume to help himself to butter. Whether he thought the owners of the - ship denied it to him, on account of its clotting his clear, sunny - complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so long a voyage in such - marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and therefore was not for him, - a subaltern; however it was, Flask, alas! was a butterless man! -

-

- Another thing. Flask was the last person down at the dinner, and Flask is - the first man up. Consider! For hereby Flask's dinner was badly jammed in - point of time. Starbuck and Stubb both had the start of him; and yet they - also have the privilege of lounging in the rear. If Stubb even, who is but - a peg higher than Flask, happens to have but a small appetite, and soon - shows symptoms of concluding his repast, then Flask must bestir himself, - he will not get more than three mouthfuls that day; for it is against holy - usage for Stubb to precede Flask to the deck. Therefore it was that Flask - once admitted in private, that ever since he had arisen to the dignity of - an officer, from that moment he had never known what it was to be - otherwise than hungry, more or less. For what he ate did not so much - relieve his hunger, as keep it immortal in him. Peace and satisfaction, - thought Flask, have for ever departed from my stomach. I am an officer; - but, how I wish I could fish a bit of old-fashioned beef in the - forecastle, as I used to when I was before the mast. There's the fruits of - promotion now; there's the vanity of glory: there's the insanity of life! - Besides, if it were so that any mere sailor of the Pequod had a grudge - against Flask in Flask's official capacity, all that sailor had to do, in - order to obtain ample vengeance, was to go aft at dinner-time, and get a - peep at Flask through the cabin sky-light, sitting silly and dumfoundered - before awful Ahab. -

-

- Now, Ahab and his three mates formed what may be called the first table in - the Pequod's cabin. After their departure, taking place in inverted order - to their arrival, the canvas cloth was cleared, or rather was restored to - some hurried order by the pallid steward. And then the three harpooneers - were bidden to the feast, they being its residuary legatees. They made a - sort of temporary servants' hall of the high and mighty cabin. -

-

- In strange contrast to the hardly tolerable constraint and nameless - invisible domineerings of the captain's table, was the entire care-free - license and ease, the almost frantic democracy of those inferior fellows - the harpooneers. While their masters, the mates, seemed afraid of the - sound of the hinges of their own jaws, the harpooneers chewed their food - with such a relish that there was a report to it. They dined like lords; - they filled their bellies like Indian ships all day loading with spices. - Such portentous appetites had Queequeg and Tashtego, that to fill out the - vacancies made by the previous repast, often the pale Dough-Boy was fain - to bring on a great baron of salt-junk, seemingly quarried out of the - solid ox. And if he were not lively about it, if he did not go with a - nimble hop-skip-and-jump, then Tashtego had an ungentlemanly way of - accelerating him by darting a fork at his back, harpoon-wise. And once - Daggoo, seized with a sudden humor, assisted Dough-Boy's memory by - snatching him up bodily, and thrusting his head into a great empty wooden - trencher, while Tashtego, knife in hand, began laying out the circle - preliminary to scalping him. He was naturally a very nervous, shuddering - sort of little fellow, this bread-faced steward; the progeny of a bankrupt - baker and a hospital nurse. And what with the standing spectacle of the - black terrific Ahab, and the periodical tumultuous visitations of these - three savages, Dough-Boy's whole life was one continual lip-quiver. - Commonly, after seeing the harpooneers furnished with all things they - demanded, he would escape from their clutches into his little pantry - adjoining, and fearfully peep out at them through the blinds of its door, - till all was over. -

-

- It was a sight to see Queequeg seated over against Tashtego, opposing his - filed teeth to the Indian's: crosswise to them, Daggoo seated on the - floor, for a bench would have brought his hearse-plumed head to the low - carlines; at every motion of his colossal limbs, making the low cabin - framework to shake, as when an African elephant goes passenger in a ship. - But for all this, the great negro was wonderfully abstemious, not to say - dainty. It seemed hardly possible that by such comparatively small - mouthfuls he could keep up the vitality diffused through so broad, - baronial, and superb a person. But, doubtless, this noble savage fed - strong and drank deep of the abounding element of air; and through his - dilated nostrils snuffed in the sublime life of the worlds. Not by beef or - by bread, are giants made or nourished. But Queequeg, he had a mortal, - barbaric smack of the lip in eating—an ugly sound enough—so - much so, that the trembling Dough-Boy almost looked to see whether any - marks of teeth lurked in his own lean arms. And when he would hear - Tashtego singing out for him to produce himself, that his bones might be - picked, the simple-witted steward all but shattered the crockery hanging - round him in the pantry, by his sudden fits of the palsy. Nor did the - whetstone which the harpooneers carried in their pockets, for their lances - and other weapons; and with which whetstones, at dinner, they would - ostentatiously sharpen their knives; that grating sound did not at all - tend to tranquillize poor Dough-Boy. How could he forget that in his - Island days, Queequeg, for one, must certainly have been guilty of some - murderous, convivial indiscretions. Alas! Dough-Boy! hard fares the white - waiter who waits upon cannibals. Not a napkin should he carry on his arm, - but a buckler. In good time, though, to his great delight, the three - salt-sea warriors would rise and depart; to his credulous, fable-mongering - ears, all their martial bones jingling in them at every step, like Moorish - scimetars in scabbards. -

-

- But, though these barbarians dined in the cabin, and nominally lived - there; still, being anything but sedentary in their habits, they were - scarcely ever in it except at mealtimes, and just before sleeping-time, - when they passed through it to their own peculiar quarters. -

-

- In this one matter, Ahab seemed no exception to most American whale - captains, who, as a set, rather incline to the opinion that by rights the - ship's cabin belongs to them; and that it is by courtesy alone that - anybody else is, at any time, permitted there. So that, in real truth, the - mates and harpooneers of the Pequod might more properly be said to have - lived out of the cabin than in it. For when they did enter it, it was - something as a street-door enters a house; turning inwards for a moment, - only to be turned out the next; and, as a permanent thing, residing in the - open air. Nor did they lose much hereby; in the cabin was no - companionship; socially, Ahab was inaccessible. Though nominally included - in the census of Christendom, he was still an alien to it. He lived in the - world, as the last of the Grisly Bears lived in settled Missouri. And as - when Spring and Summer had departed, that wild Logan of the woods, burying - himself in the hollow of a tree, lived out the winter there, sucking his - own paws; so, in his inclement, howling old age, Ahab's soul, shut up in - the caved trunk of his body, there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head. -

-

- It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation with the - other seamen my first mast-head came round. -

-

- In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned almost simultaneously - with the vessel's leaving her port; even though she may have fifteen - thousand miles, and more, to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground. - And if, after a three, four, or five years' voyage she is drawing nigh - home with anything empty in her—say, an empty vial even—then, - her mast-heads are kept manned to the last; and not till her skysail-poles - sail in among the spires of the port, does she altogether relinquish the - hope of capturing one whale more. -

-

- Now, as the business of standing mast-heads, ashore or afloat, is a very - ancient and interesting one, let us in some measure expatiate here. I take - it, that the earliest standers of mast-heads were the old Egyptians; - because, in all my researches, I find none prior to them. For though their - progenitors, the builders of Babel, must doubtless, by their tower, have - intended to rear the loftiest mast-head in all Asia, or Africa either; yet - (ere the final truck was put to it) as that great stone mast of theirs may - be said to have gone by the board, in the dread gale of God's wrath; - therefore, we cannot give these Babel builders priority over the - Egyptians. And that the Egyptians were a nation of mast-head standers, is - an assertion based upon the general belief among archaeologists, that the - first pyramids were founded for astronomical purposes: a theory singularly - supported by the peculiar stair-like formation of all four sides of those - edifices; whereby, with prodigious long upliftings of their legs, those - old astronomers were wont to mount to the apex, and sing out for new - stars; even as the look-outs of a modern ship sing out for a sail, or a - whale just bearing in sight. In Saint Stylites, the famous Christian - hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and - spent the whole latter portion of his life on its summit, hoisting his - food from the ground with a tackle; in him we have a remarkable instance - of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his - place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet; but valiantly facing - everything out to the last, literally died at his post. Of modern - standers-of-mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and - bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still - entirely incompetent to the business of singing out upon discovering any - strange sight. There is Napoleon; who, upon the top of the column of - Vendome, stands with arms folded, some one hundred and fifty feet in the - air; careless, now, who rules the decks below; whether Louis Philippe, - Louis Blanc, or Louis the Devil. Great Washington, too, stands high aloft - on his towering main-mast in Baltimore, and like one of Hercules' pillars, - his column marks that point of human grandeur beyond which few mortals - will go. Admiral Nelson, also, on a capstan of gun-metal, stands his - mast-head in Trafalgar Square; and ever when most obscured by that London - smoke, token is yet given that a hidden hero is there; for where there is - smoke, must be fire. But neither great Washington, nor Napoleon, nor - Nelson, will answer a single hail from below, however madly invoked to - befriend by their counsels the distracted decks upon which they gaze; - however it may be surmised, that their spirits penetrate through the thick - haze of the future, and descry what shoals and what rocks must be shunned. -

-

- It may seem unwarrantable to couple in any respect the mast-head standers - of the land with those of the sea; but that in truth it is not so, is - plainly evinced by an item for which Obed Macy, the sole historian of - Nantucket, stands accountable. The worthy Obed tells us, that in the early - times of the whale fishery, ere ships were regularly launched in pursuit - of the game, the people of that island erected lofty spars along the - sea-coast, to which the look-outs ascended by means of nailed cleats, - something as fowls go upstairs in a hen-house. A few years ago this same - plan was adopted by the Bay whalemen of New Zealand, who, upon descrying - the game, gave notice to the ready-manned boats nigh the beach. But this - custom has now become obsolete; turn we then to the one proper mast-head, - that of a whale-ship at sea. The three mast-heads are kept manned from - sun-rise to sun-set; the seamen taking their regular turns (as at the - helm), and relieving each other every two hours. In the serene weather of - the tropics it is exceedingly pleasant the mast-head; nay, to a dreamy - meditative man it is delightful. There you stand, a hundred feet above the - silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic - stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the - hugest monsters of the sea, even as ships once sailed between the boots of - the famous Colossus at old Rhodes. There you stand, lost in the infinite - series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves. The tranced ship - indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you - into languor. For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime - uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras - with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary - excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; - fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have - for dinner—for all your meals for three years and more are snugly - stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable. -

-

- In one of those southern whalesmen, on a long three or four years' voyage, - as often happens, the sum of the various hours you spend at the mast-head - would amount to several entire months. And it is much to be deplored that - the place to which you devote so considerable a portion of the whole term - of your natural life, should be so sadly destitute of anything approaching - to a cosy inhabitiveness, or adapted to breed a comfortable localness of - feeling, such as pertains to a bed, a hammock, a hearse, a sentry box, a - pulpit, a coach, or any other of those small and snug contrivances in - which men temporarily isolate themselves. Your most usual point of perch - is the head of the t' gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel - sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t' gallant cross-trees. - Here, tossed about by the sea, the beginner feels about as cosy as he - would standing on a bull's horns. To be sure, in cold weather you may - carry your house aloft with you, in the shape of a watch-coat; but - properly speaking the thickest watch-coat is no more of a house than the - unclad body; for as the soul is glued inside of its fleshy tabernacle, and - cannot freely move about in it, nor even move out of it, without running - great risk of perishing (like an ignorant pilgrim crossing the snowy Alps - in winter); so a watch-coat is not so much of a house as it is a mere - envelope, or additional skin encasing you. You cannot put a shelf or chest - of drawers in your body, and no more can you make a convenient closet of - your watch-coat. -

-

- Concerning all this, it is much to be deplored that the mast-heads of a - southern whale ship are unprovided with those enviable little tents or - pulpits, called CROW'S-NESTS, in which the look-outs of a Greenland whaler - are protected from the inclement weather of the frozen seas. In the - fireside narrative of Captain Sleet, entitled "A Voyage among the - Icebergs, in quest of the Greenland Whale, and incidentally for the - re-discovery of the Lost Icelandic Colonies of Old Greenland;" in this - admirable volume, all standers of mast-heads are furnished with a - charmingly circumstantial account of the then recently invented - CROW'S-NEST of the Glacier, which was the name of Captain Sleet's good - craft. He called it the SLEET'S CROW'S-NEST, in honour of himself; he - being the original inventor and patentee, and free from all ridiculous - false delicacy, and holding that if we call our own children after our own - names (we fathers being the original inventors and patentees), so likewise - should we denominate after ourselves any other apparatus we may beget. In - shape, the Sleet's crow's-nest is something like a large tierce or pipe; - it is open above, however, where it is furnished with a movable - side-screen to keep to windward of your head in a hard gale. Being fixed - on the summit of the mast, you ascend into it through a little trap-hatch - in the bottom. On the after side, or side next the stern of the ship, is a - comfortable seat, with a locker underneath for umbrellas, comforters, and - coats. In front is a leather rack, in which to keep your speaking trumpet, - pipe, telescope, and other nautical conveniences. When Captain Sleet in - person stood his mast-head in this crow's-nest of his, he tells us that he - always had a rifle with him (also fixed in the rack), together with a - powder flask and shot, for the purpose of popping off the stray narwhales, - or vagrant sea unicorns infesting those waters; for you cannot - successfully shoot at them from the deck owing to the resistance of the - water, but to shoot down upon them is a very different thing. Now, it was - plainly a labor of love for Captain Sleet to describe, as he does, all the - little detailed conveniences of his crow's-nest; but though he so enlarges - upon many of these, and though he treats us to a very scientific account - of his experiments in this crow's-nest, with a small compass he kept there - for the purpose of counteracting the errors resulting from what is called - the "local attraction" of all binnacle magnets; an error ascribable to the - horizontal vicinity of the iron in the ship's planks, and in the Glacier's - case, perhaps, to there having been so many broken-down blacksmiths among - her crew; I say, that though the Captain is very discreet and scientific - here, yet, for all his learned "binnacle deviations," "azimuth compass - observations," and "approximate errors," he knows very well, Captain - Sleet, that he was not so much immersed in those profound magnetic - meditations, as to fail being attracted occasionally towards that well - replenished little case-bottle, so nicely tucked in on one side of his - crow's nest, within easy reach of his hand. Though, upon the whole, I - greatly admire and even love the brave, the honest, and learned Captain; - yet I take it very ill of him that he should so utterly ignore that - case-bottle, seeing what a faithful friend and comforter it must have - been, while with mittened fingers and hooded head he was studying the - mathematics aloft there in that bird's nest within three or four perches - of the pole. -

-

- But if we Southern whale-fishers are not so snugly housed aloft as Captain - Sleet and his Greenlandmen were; yet that disadvantage is greatly - counter-balanced by the widely contrasting serenity of those seductive - seas in which we South fishers mostly float. For one, I used to lounge up - the rigging very leisurely, resting in the top to have a chat with - Queequeg, or any one else off duty whom I might find there; then ascending - a little way further, and throwing a lazy leg over the top-sail yard, take - a preliminary view of the watery pastures, and so at last mount to my - ultimate destination. -

-

- Let me make a clean breast of it here, and frankly admit that I kept but - sorry guard. With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I—being - left completely to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude—how - could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whale-ships' - standing orders, "Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time." -

-

- And let me in this place movingly admonish you, ye ship-owners of - Nantucket! Beware of enlisting in your vigilant fisheries any lad with - lean brow and hollow eye; given to unseasonable meditativeness; and who - offers to ship with the Phaedon instead of Bowditch in his head. Beware of - such an one, I say; your whales must be seen before they can be killed; - and this sunken-eyed young Platonist will tow you ten wakes round the - world, and never make you one pint of sperm the richer. Nor are these - monitions at all unneeded. For nowadays, the whale-fishery furnishes an - asylum for many romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men, - disgusted with the carking cares of earth, and seeking sentiment in tar - and blubber. Childe Harold not unfrequently perches himself upon the - mast-head of some luckless disappointed whale-ship, and in moody phrase - ejaculates:— -

-

- "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll! Ten thousand - blubber-hunters sweep over thee in vain." -

-

- Very often do the captains of such ships take those absent-minded young - philosophers to task, upbraiding them with not feeling sufficient - "interest" in the voyage; half-hinting that they are so hopelessly lost to - all honourable ambition, as that in their secret souls they would rather - not see whales than otherwise. But all in vain; those young Platonists - have a notion that their vision is imperfect; they are short-sighted; what - use, then, to strain the visual nerve? They have left their opera-glasses - at home. -

-

- "Why, thou monkey," said a harpooneer to one of these lads, "we've been - cruising now hard upon three years, and thou hast not raised a whale yet. - Whales are scarce as hen's teeth whenever thou art up here." Perhaps they - were; or perhaps there might have been shoals of them in the far horizon; - but lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious - reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with - thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at - his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, - pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, - beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of - some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive - thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it. In - this enchanted mood, thy spirit ebbs away to whence it came; becomes - diffused through time and space; like Crammer's sprinkled Pantheistic - ashes, forming at last a part of every shore the round globe over. -

-

- There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a - gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the - inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move - your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes - back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at - mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop - through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for - ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck. -

-

- (ENTER AHAB: THEN, ALL) -

-

- It was not a great while after the affair of the pipe, that one morning - shortly after breakfast, Ahab, as was his wont, ascended the cabin-gangway - to the deck. There most sea-captains usually walk at that hour, as country - gentlemen, after the same meal, take a few turns in the garden. -

-

- Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as to and fro he paced his old - rounds, upon planks so familiar to his tread, that they were all over - dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar mark of his walk. Did - you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow; there also, you - would see still stranger foot-prints—the foot-prints of his one - unsleeping, ever-pacing thought. -

-

- But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his - nervous step that morning left a deeper mark. And, so full of his thought - was Ahab, that at every uniform turn that he made, now at the main-mast - and now at the binnacle, you could almost see that thought turn in him as - he turned, and pace in him as he paced; so completely possessing him, - indeed, that it all but seemed the inward mould of every outer movement. -

-

- "D'ye mark him, Flask?" whispered Stubb; "the chick that's in him pecks - the shell. 'Twill soon be out." -

-

- The hours wore on;—Ahab now shut up within his cabin; anon, pacing - the deck, with the same intense bigotry of purpose in his aspect. -

-

- It drew near the close of day. Suddenly he came to a halt by the bulwarks, - and inserting his bone leg into the auger-hole there, and with one hand - grasping a shroud, he ordered Starbuck to send everybody aft. -

-

- "Sir!" said the mate, astonished at an order seldom or never given on - ship-board except in some extraordinary case. -

-

- "Send everybody aft," repeated Ahab. "Mast-heads, there! come down!" -

-

- When the entire ship's company were assembled, and with curious and not - wholly unapprehensive faces, were eyeing him, for he looked not unlike the - weather horizon when a storm is coming up, Ahab, after rapidly glancing - over the bulwarks, and then darting his eyes among the crew, started from - his standpoint; and as though not a soul were nigh him resumed his heavy - turns upon the deck. With bent head and half-slouched hat he continued to - pace, unmindful of the wondering whispering among the men; till Stubb - cautiously whispered to Flask, that Ahab must have summoned them there for - the purpose of witnessing a pedestrian feat. But this did not last long. - Vehemently pausing, he cried:— -

-

- "What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?" -

-

- "Sing out for him!" was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed - voices. -

-

- "Good!" cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the - hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically - thrown them. -

-

- "And what do ye next, men?" -

-

- "Lower away, and after him!" -

-

- "And what tune is it ye pull to, men?" -

-

- "A dead whale or a stove boat!" -

-

- More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving, grew the - countenance of the old man at every shout; while the mariners began to - gaze curiously at each other, as if marvelling how it was that they - themselves became so excited at such seemingly purposeless questions. -

-

- But, they were all eagerness again, as Ahab, now half-revolving in his - pivot-hole, with one hand reaching high up a shroud, and tightly, almost - convulsively grasping it, addressed them thus:— -

-

- "All ye mast-headers have before now heard me give orders about a white - whale. Look ye! d'ye see this Spanish ounce of gold?"—holding up a - broad bright coin to the sun—"it is a sixteen dollar piece, men. - D'ye see it? Mr. Starbuck, hand me yon top-maul." -

-

- While the mate was getting the hammer, Ahab, without speaking, was slowly - rubbing the gold piece against the skirts of his jacket, as if to heighten - its lustre, and without using any words was meanwhile lowly humming to - himself, producing a sound so strangely muffled and inarticulate that it - seemed the mechanical humming of the wheels of his vitality in him. -

-

- Receiving the top-maul from Starbuck, he advanced towards the main-mast - with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold with the other, - and with a high raised voice exclaiming: "Whosoever of ye raises me a - white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye - raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his - starboard fluke—look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white - whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!" -

-

- "Huzza! huzza!" cried the seamen, as with swinging tarpaulins they hailed - the act of nailing the gold to the mast. -

-

- "It's a white whale, I say," resumed Ahab, as he threw down the topmaul: - "a white whale. Skin your eyes for him, men; look sharp for white water; - if ye see but a bubble, sing out." -

-

- All this while Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg had looked on with even more - intense interest and surprise than the rest, and at the mention of the - wrinkled brow and crooked jaw they had started as if each was separately - touched by some specific recollection. -

-

- "Captain Ahab," said Tashtego, "that white whale must be the same that - some call Moby Dick." -

-

- "Moby Dick?" shouted Ahab. "Do ye know the white whale then, Tash?" -

-

- "Does he fan-tail a little curious, sir, before he goes down?" said the - Gay-Header deliberately. -

-

- "And has he a curious spout, too," said Daggoo, "very bushy, even for a - parmacetty, and mighty quick, Captain Ahab?" -

-

- "And he have one, two, three—oh! good many iron in him hide, too, - Captain," cried Queequeg disjointedly, "all twiske-tee be-twisk, like him—him—" - faltering hard for a word, and screwing his hand round and round as though - uncorking a bottle—"like him—him—" -

-

- "Corkscrew!" cried Ahab, "aye, Queequeg, the harpoons lie all twisted and - wrenched in him; aye, Daggoo, his spout is a big one, like a whole shock - of wheat, and white as a pile of our Nantucket wool after the great annual - sheep-shearing; aye, Tashtego, and he fan-tails like a split jib in a - squall. Death and devils! men, it is Moby Dick ye have seen—Moby - Dick—Moby Dick!" -

-

- "Captain Ahab," said Starbuck, who, with Stubb and Flask, had thus far - been eyeing his superior with increasing surprise, but at last seemed - struck with a thought which somewhat explained all the wonder. "Captain - Ahab, I have heard of Moby Dick—but it was not Moby Dick that took - off thy leg?" -

-

- "Who told thee that?" cried Ahab; then pausing, "Aye, Starbuck; aye, my - hearties all round; it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that - brought me to this dead stump I stand on now. Aye, aye," he shouted with a - terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; "Aye, - aye! it was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging - lubber of me for ever and a day!" Then tossing both arms, with measureless - imprecations he shouted out: "Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good - Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round - perdition's flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped - for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all - sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, - men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave." -

-

- "Aye, aye!" shouted the harpooneers and seamen, running closer to the - excited old man: "A sharp eye for the white whale; a sharp lance for Moby - Dick!" -

-

- "God bless ye," he seemed to half sob and half shout. "God bless ye, men. - Steward! go draw the great measure of grog. But what's this long face - about, Mr. Starbuck; wilt thou not chase the white whale? art not game for - Moby Dick?" -

-

- "I am game for his crooked jaw, and for the jaws of Death too, Captain - Ahab, if it fairly comes in the way of the business we follow; but I came - here to hunt whales, not my commander's vengeance. How many barrels will - thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? it will - not fetch thee much in our Nantucket market." -

-

- "Nantucket market! Hoot! But come closer, Starbuck; thou requirest a - little lower layer. If money's to be the measurer, man, and the - accountants have computed their great counting-house the globe, by - girdling it with guineas, one to every three parts of an inch; then, let - me tell thee, that my vengeance will fetch a great premium HERE!" -

-

- "He smites his chest," whispered Stubb, "what's that for? methinks it - rings most vast, but hollow." -

-

- "Vengeance on a dumb brute!" cried Starbuck, "that simply smote thee from - blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, - seems blasphemous." -

-

- "Hark ye yet again—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, - are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, - the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing - puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. - If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach - outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is - that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there's naught beyond. But - 'tis enough. He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, - with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly - what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale - principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, - man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me. For could the sun do that, then - could I do the other; since there is ever a sort of fair play herein, - jealousy presiding over all creations. But not my master, man, is even - that fair play. Who's over me? Truth hath no confines. Take off thine eye! - more intolerable than fiends' glarings is a doltish stare! So, so; thou - reddenest and palest; my heat has melted thee to anger-glow. But look ye, - Starbuck, what is said in heat, that thing unsays itself. There are men - from whom warm words are small indignity. I meant not to incense thee. Let - it go. Look! see yonder Turkish cheeks of spotted tawn—living, - breathing pictures painted by the sun. The Pagan leopards—the - unrecking and unworshipping things, that live; and seek, and give no - reasons for the torrid life they feel! The crew, man, the crew! Are they - not one and all with Ahab, in this matter of the whale? See Stubb! he - laughs! See yonder Chilian! he snorts to think of it. Stand up amid the - general hurricane, thy one tost sapling cannot, Starbuck! And what is it? - Reckon it. 'Tis but to help strike a fin; no wondrous feat for Starbuck. - What is it more? From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all - Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has - clutched a whetstone? Ah! constrainings seize thee; I see! the billow - lifts thee! Speak, but speak!—Aye, aye! thy silence, then, THAT - voices thee. (ASIDE) Something shot from my dilated nostrils, he has - inhaled it in his lungs. Starbuck now is mine; cannot oppose me now, - without rebellion." -

-

- "God keep me!—keep us all!" murmured Starbuck, lowly. -

-

- But in his joy at the enchanted, tacit acquiescence of the mate, Ahab did - not hear his foreboding invocation; nor yet the low laugh from the hold; - nor yet the presaging vibrations of the winds in the cordage; nor yet the - hollow flap of the sails against the masts, as for a moment their hearts - sank in. For again Starbuck's downcast eyes lighted up with the - stubbornness of life; the subterranean laugh died away; the winds blew on; - the sails filled out; the ship heaved and rolled as before. Ah, ye - admonitions and warnings! why stay ye not when ye come? But rather are ye - predictions than warnings, ye shadows! Yet not so much predictions from - without, as verifications of the foregoing things within. For with little - external to constrain us, the innermost necessities in our being, these - still drive us on. -

-

- "The measure! the measure!" cried Ahab. -

-

- Receiving the brimming pewter, and turning to the harpooneers, he ordered - them to produce their weapons. Then ranging them before him near the - capstan, with their harpoons in their hands, while his three mates stood - at his side with their lances, and the rest of the ship's company formed a - circle round the group; he stood for an instant searchingly eyeing every - man of his crew. But those wild eyes met his, as the bloodshot eyes of the - prairie wolves meet the eye of their leader, ere he rushes on at their - head in the trail of the bison; but, alas! only to fall into the hidden - snare of the Indian. -

-

- "Drink and pass!" he cried, handing the heavy charged flagon to the - nearest seaman. "The crew alone now drink. Round with it, round! Short - draughts—long swallows, men; 'tis hot as Satan's hoof. So, so; it - goes round excellently. It spiralizes in ye; forks out at the - serpent-snapping eye. Well done; almost drained. That way it went, this - way it comes. Hand it me—here's a hollow! Men, ye seem the years; so - brimming life is gulped and gone. Steward, refill! -

-

- "Attend now, my braves. I have mustered ye all round this capstan; and ye - mates, flank me with your lances; and ye harpooneers, stand there with - your irons; and ye, stout mariners, ring me in, that I may in some sort - revive a noble custom of my fisherman fathers before me. O men, you will - yet see that—Ha! boy, come back? bad pennies come not sooner. Hand - it me. Why, now, this pewter had run brimming again, were't not thou St. - Vitus' imp—away, thou ague! -

-

- "Advance, ye mates! Cross your lances full before me. Well done! Let me - touch the axis." So saying, with extended arm, he grasped the three level, - radiating lances at their crossed centre; while so doing, suddenly and - nervously twitched them; meanwhile, glancing intently from Starbuck to - Stubb; from Stubb to Flask. It seemed as though, by some nameless, - interior volition, he would fain have shocked into them the same fiery - emotion accumulated within the Leyden jar of his own magnetic life. The - three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic aspect. Stubb - and Flask looked sideways from him; the honest eye of Starbuck fell - downright. -

-

- "In vain!" cried Ahab; "but, maybe, 'tis well. For did ye three but once - take the full-forced shock, then mine own electric thing, THAT had perhaps - expired from out me. Perchance, too, it would have dropped ye dead. - Perchance ye need it not. Down lances! And now, ye mates, I do appoint ye - three cupbearers to my three pagan kinsmen there—yon three most - honourable gentlemen and noblemen, my valiant harpooneers. Disdain the - task? What, when the great Pope washes the feet of beggars, using his - tiara for ewer? Oh, my sweet cardinals! your own condescension, THAT shall - bend ye to it. I do not order ye; ye will it. Cut your seizings and draw - the poles, ye harpooneers!" -

-

- Silently obeying the order, the three harpooneers now stood with the - detached iron part of their harpoons, some three feet long, held, barbs - up, before him. -

-

- "Stab me not with that keen steel! Cant them; cant them over! know ye not - the goblet end? Turn up the socket! So, so; now, ye cup-bearers, advance. - The irons! take them; hold them while I fill!" Forthwith, slowly going - from one officer to the other, he brimmed the harpoon sockets with the - fiery waters from the pewter. -

-

- "Now, three to three, ye stand. Commend the murderous chalices! Bestow - them, ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league. Ha! - Starbuck! but the deed is done! Yon ratifying sun now waits to sit upon - it. Drink, ye harpooneers! drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful - whaleboat's bow—Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not - hunt Moby Dick to his death!" The long, barbed steel goblets were lifted; - and to cries and maledictions against the white whale, the spirits were - simultaneously quaffed down with a hiss. Starbuck paled, and turned, and - shivered. Once more, and finally, the replenished pewter went the rounds - among the frantic crew; when, waving his free hand to them, they all - dispersed; and Ahab retired within his cabin. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 37. Sunset. -

-

- THE CABIN; BY THE STERN WINDOWS; AHAB SITTING ALONE, AND GAZING OUT. -

-

- I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I - sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but - first I pass. -

-

- Yonder, by ever-brimming goblet's rim, the warm waves blush like wine. The - gold brow plumbs the blue. The diver sun—slow dived from noon—goes - down; my soul mounts up! she wearies with her endless hill. Is, then, the - crown too heavy that I wear? this Iron Crown of Lombardy. Yet is it bright - with many a gem; I the wearer, see not its far flashings; but darkly feel - that I wear that, that dazzlingly confounds. 'Tis iron—that I know—not - gold. 'Tis split, too—that I feel; the jagged edge galls me so, my - brain seems to beat against the solid metal; aye, steel skull, mine; the - sort that needs no helmet in the most brain-battering fight! -

-

- Dry heat upon my brow? Oh! time was, when as the sunrise nobly spurred me, - so the sunset soothed. No more. This lovely light, it lights not me; all - loveliness is anguish to me, since I can ne'er enjoy. Gifted with the high - perception, I lack the low, enjoying power; damned, most subtly and most - malignantly! damned in the midst of Paradise! Good night—good night! - (WAVING HIS HAND, HE MOVES FROM THE WINDOW.) -

-

- 'Twas not so hard a task. I thought to find one stubborn, at the least; - but my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they - revolve. Or, if you will, like so many ant-hills of powder, they all stand - before me; and I their match. Oh, hard! that to fire others, the match - itself must needs be wasting! What I've dared, I've willed; and what I've - willed, I'll do! They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac, - I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend - itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and—Aye! I - lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, - then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That's more than ye, ye great - gods, ever were. I laugh and hoot at ye, ye cricket-players, ye pugilists, - ye deaf Burkes and blinded Bendigoes! I will not say as schoolboys do to - bullies—Take some one of your own size; don't pommel ME! No, ye've - knocked me down, and I am up again; but YE have run and hidden. Come forth - from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye. Come, Ahab's - compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot - swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The - path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is - grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of - mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, - naught's an angle to the iron way! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 38. Dusk. -

-

- BY THE MAINMAST; STARBUCK LEANING AGAINST IT. -

-

- My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned; and by a madman! - Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he - drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his - impious end; but feel that I must help him to it. Will I, nill I, the - ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife - to cut. Horrible old man! Who's over him, he cries;—aye, he would be - a democrat to all above; look, how he lords it over all below! Oh! I - plainly see my miserable office,—to obey, rebelling; and worse yet, - to hate with touch of pity! For in his eyes I read some lurid woe would - shrivel me up, had I it. Yet is there hope. Time and tide flow wide. The - hated whale has the round watery world to swim in, as the small gold-fish - has its glassy globe. His heaven-insulting purpose, God may wedge aside. I - would up heart, were it not like lead. But my whole clock's run down; my - heart the all-controlling weight, I have no key to lift again. -

-

- [A BURST OF REVELRY FROM THE FORECASTLE.] -

-

- Oh, God! to sail with such a heathen crew that have small touch of human - mothers in them! Whelped somewhere by the sharkish sea. The white whale is - their demigorgon. Hark! the infernal orgies! that revelry is forward! mark - the unfaltering silence aft! Methinks it pictures life. Foremost through - the sparkling sea shoots on the gay, embattled, bantering bow, but only to - drag dark Ahab after it, where he broods within his sternward cabin, - builded over the dead water of the wake, and further on, hunted by its - wolfish gurglings. The long howl thrills me through! Peace! ye revellers, - and set the watch! Oh, life! 'tis in an hour like this, with soul beat - down and held to knowledge,—as wild, untutored things are forced to - feed—Oh, life! 'tis now that I do feel the latent horror in thee! - but 'tis not me! that horror's out of me! and with the soft feeling of the - human in me, yet will I try to fight ye, ye grim, phantom futures! Stand - by me, hold me, bind me, O ye blessed influences! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 39. First Night Watch. -

-

- Fore-Top. -

-

- (STUBB SOLUS, AND MENDING A BRACE.) -

-

- Ha! ha! ha! ha! hem! clear my throat!—I've been thinking over it - ever since, and that ha, ha's the final consequence. Why so? Because a - laugh's the wisest, easiest answer to all that's queer; and come what - will, one comfort's always left—that unfailing comfort is, it's all - predestinated. I heard not all his talk with Starbuck; but to my poor eye - Starbuck then looked something as I the other evening felt. Be sure the - old Mogul has fixed him, too. I twigged it, knew it; had had the gift, - might readily have prophesied it—for when I clapped my eye upon his - skull I saw it. Well, Stubb, WISE Stubb—that's my title—well, - Stubb, what of it, Stubb? Here's a carcase. I know not all that may be - coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing. Such a waggish - leering as lurks in all your horribles! I feel funny. Fa, la! lirra, - skirra! What's my juicy little pear at home doing now? Crying its eyes - out?—Giving a party to the last arrived harpooneers, I dare say, gay - as a frigate's pennant, and so am I—fa, la! lirra, skirra! Oh— -

-

- We'll drink to-night with hearts as light, To love, as gay and fleeting As - bubbles that swim, on the beaker's brim, And break on the lips while - meeting. -

-

- A brave stave that—who calls? Mr. Starbuck? Aye, aye, sir—(ASIDE) - he's my superior, he has his too, if I'm not mistaken.—Aye, aye, - sir, just through with this job—coming. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle. -

-

- HARPOONEERS AND SAILORS. -

-

- (FORESAIL RISES AND DISCOVERS THE WATCH STANDING, LOUNGING, LEANING, AND - LYING IN VARIOUS ATTITUDES, ALL SINGING IN CHORUS.) -

-
-     Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies!
-     Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain!
-     Our captain's commanded.—
-
-

- 1ST NANTUCKET SAILOR. Oh, boys, don't be sentimental; it's bad for the - digestion! Take a tonic, follow me! (SINGS, AND ALL FOLLOW) -

-
-    Our captain stood upon the deck,
-    A spy-glass in his hand,
-    A viewing of those gallant whales
-    That blew at every strand.
-    Oh, your tubs in your boats, my boys,
-    And by your braces stand,
-    And we'll have one of those fine whales,
-    Hand, boys, over hand!
-    So, be cheery, my lads! may your hearts never fail!
-    While the bold harpooner is striking the whale!
-
-

- MATE'S VOICE FROM THE QUARTER-DECK. Eight bells there, forward! -

-

- 2ND NANTUCKET SAILOR. Avast the chorus! Eight bells there! d'ye hear, - bell-boy? Strike the bell eight, thou Pip! thou blackling! and let me call - the watch. I've the sort of mouth for that—the hogshead mouth. So, - so, (THRUSTS HIS HEAD DOWN THE SCUTTLE,) Star-bo-l-e-e-n-s, a-h-o-y! Eight - bells there below! Tumble up! -

-

- DUTCH SAILOR. Grand snoozing to-night, maty; fat night for that. I mark - this in our old Mogul's wine; it's quite as deadening to some as filliping - to others. We sing; they sleep—aye, lie down there, like ground-tier - butts. At 'em again! There, take this copper-pump, and hail 'em through - it. Tell 'em to avast dreaming of their lasses. Tell 'em it's the - resurrection; they must kiss their last, and come to judgment. That's the - way—THAT'S it; thy throat ain't spoiled with eating Amsterdam - butter. -

-

- FRENCH SAILOR. Hist, boys! let's have a jig or two before we ride to - anchor in Blanket Bay. What say ye? There comes the other watch. Stand by - all legs! Pip! little Pip! hurrah with your tambourine! -

-

- PIP. (SULKY AND SLEEPY) Don't know where it is. -

-

- FRENCH SAILOR. Beat thy belly, then, and wag thy ears. Jig it, men, I say; - merry's the word; hurrah! Damn me, won't you dance? Form, now, - Indian-file, and gallop into the double-shuffle? Throw yourselves! Legs! - legs! -

-

- ICELAND SAILOR. I don't like your floor, maty; it's too springy to my - taste. I'm used to ice-floors. I'm sorry to throw cold water on the - subject; but excuse me. -

-

- MALTESE SAILOR. Me too; where's your girls? Who but a fool would take his - left hand by his right, and say to himself, how d'ye do? Partners! I must - have partners! -

-

- SICILIAN SAILOR. Aye; girls and a green!—then I'll hop with ye; yea, - turn grasshopper! -

-

- LONG-ISLAND SAILOR. Well, well, ye sulkies, there's plenty more of us. Hoe - corn when you may, say I. All legs go to harvest soon. Ah! here comes the - music; now for it! -

-

- AZORE SAILOR. (ASCENDING, AND PITCHING THE TAMBOURINE UP THE SCUTTLE.) - Here you are, Pip; and there's the windlass-bitts; up you mount! Now, - boys! (THE HALF OF THEM DANCE TO THE TAMBOURINE; SOME GO BELOW; SOME SLEEP - OR LIE AMONG THE COILS OF RIGGING. OATHS A-PLENTY.) -

-

- AZORE SAILOR. (DANCING) Go it, Pip! Bang it, bell-boy! Rig it, dig it, - stig it, quig it, bell-boy! Make fire-flies; break the jinglers! -

-

- PIP. Jinglers, you say?—there goes another, dropped off; I pound it - so. -

-

- CHINA SAILOR. Rattle thy teeth, then, and pound away; make a pagoda of - thyself. -

-

- FRENCH SAILOR. Merry-mad! Hold up thy hoop, Pip, till I jump through it! - Split jibs! tear yourselves! -

-

- TASHTEGO. (QUIETLY SMOKING) That's a white man; he calls that fun: humph! - I save my sweat. -

-

- OLD MANX SAILOR. I wonder whether those jolly lads bethink them of what - they are dancing over. I'll dance over your grave, I will—that's the - bitterest threat of your night-women, that beat head-winds round corners. - O Christ! to think of the green navies and the green-skulled crews! Well, - well; belike the whole world's a ball, as you scholars have it; and so - 'tis right to make one ballroom of it. Dance on, lads, you're young; I was - once. -

-

- 3D NANTUCKET SAILOR. Spell oh!—whew! this is worse than pulling - after whales in a calm—give us a whiff, Tash. -

-

- (THEY CEASE DANCING, AND GATHER IN CLUSTERS. MEANTIME THE SKY DARKENS—THE - WIND RISES.) -

-

- LASCAR SAILOR. By Brahma! boys, it'll be douse sail soon. The sky-born, - high-tide Ganges turned to wind! Thou showest thy black brow, Seeva! -

-

- MALTESE SAILOR. (RECLINING AND SHAKING HIS CAP.) It's the waves—the - snow's caps turn to jig it now. They'll shake their tassels soon. Now - would all the waves were women, then I'd go drown, and chassee with them - evermore! There's naught so sweet on earth—heaven may not match it!—as - those swift glances of warm, wild bosoms in the dance, when the - over-arboring arms hide such ripe, bursting grapes. -

-

- SICILIAN SAILOR. (RECLINING.) Tell me not of it! Hark ye, lad—fleet - interlacings of the limbs—lithe swayings—coyings—flutterings! - lip! heart! hip! all graze: unceasing touch and go! not taste, observe ye, - else come satiety. Eh, Pagan? (NUDGING.) -

-

- TAHITAN SAILOR. (RECLINING ON A MAT.) Hail, holy nakedness of our dancing - girls!—the Heeva-Heeva! Ah! low veiled, high palmed Tahiti! I still - rest me on thy mat, but the soft soil has slid! I saw thee woven in the - wood, my mat! green the first day I brought ye thence; now worn and wilted - quite. Ah me!—not thou nor I can bear the change! How then, if so be - transplanted to yon sky? Hear I the roaring streams from Pirohitee's peak - of spears, when they leap down the crags and drown the villages?—The - blast! the blast! Up, spine, and meet it! (LEAPS TO HIS FEET.) -

-

- PORTUGUESE SAILOR. How the sea rolls swashing 'gainst the side! Stand by - for reefing, hearties! the winds are just crossing swords, pell-mell - they'll go lunging presently. -

-

- DANISH SAILOR. Crack, crack, old ship! so long as thou crackest, thou - holdest! Well done! The mate there holds ye to it stiffly. He's no more - afraid than the isle fort at Cattegat, put there to fight the Baltic with - storm-lashed guns, on which the sea-salt cakes! -

-

- 4TH NANTUCKET SAILOR. He has his orders, mind ye that. I heard old Ahab - tell him he must always kill a squall, something as they burst a - waterspout with a pistol—fire your ship right into it! -

-

- ENGLISH SAILOR. Blood! but that old man's a grand old cove! We are the - lads to hunt him up his whale! -

-

- ALL. Aye! aye! -

-

- OLD MANX SAILOR. How the three pines shake! Pines are the hardest sort of - tree to live when shifted to any other soil, and here there's none but the - crew's cursed clay. Steady, helmsman! steady. This is the sort of weather - when brave hearts snap ashore, and keeled hulls split at sea. Our captain - has his birthmark; look yonder, boys, there's another in the sky—lurid-like, - ye see, all else pitch black. -

-

- DAGGOO. What of that? Who's afraid of black's afraid of me! I'm quarried - out of it! -

-

- SPANISH SAILOR. (ASIDE.) He wants to bully, ah!—the old grudge makes - me touchy (ADVANCING.) Aye, harpooneer, thy race is the undeniable dark - side of mankind—devilish dark at that. No offence. -

-

- DAGGOO (GRIMLY). None. -

-

- ST. JAGO'S SAILOR. That Spaniard's mad or drunk. But that can't be, or - else in his one case our old Mogul's fire-waters are somewhat long in - working. -

-

- 5TH NANTUCKET SAILOR. What's that I saw—lightning? Yes. -

-

- SPANISH SAILOR. No; Daggoo showing his teeth. -

-

- DAGGOO (SPRINGING). Swallow thine, mannikin! White skin, white liver! -

-

- SPANISH SAILOR (MEETING HIM). Knife thee heartily! big frame, small - spirit! -

-

- ALL. A row! a row! a row! -

-

- TASHTEGO (WITH A WHIFF). A row a'low, and a row aloft—Gods and men—both - brawlers! Humph! -

-

- BELFAST SAILOR. A row! arrah a row! The Virgin be blessed, a row! Plunge - in with ye! -

-

- ENGLISH SAILOR. Fair play! Snatch the Spaniard's knife! A ring, a ring! -

-

- OLD MANX SAILOR. Ready formed. There! the ringed horizon. In that ring - Cain struck Abel. Sweet work, right work! No? Why then, God, mad'st thou - the ring? -

-

- MATE'S VOICE FROM THE QUARTER-DECK. Hands by the halyards! in top-gallant - sails! Stand by to reef topsails! -

-

- ALL. The squall! the squall! jump, my jollies! (THEY SCATTER.) -

-

- PIP (SHRINKING UNDER THE WINDLASS). Jollies? Lord help such jollies! - Crish, crash! there goes the jib-stay! Blang-whang! God! Duck lower, Pip, - here comes the royal yard! It's worse than being in the whirled woods, the - last day of the year! Who'd go climbing after chestnuts now? But there - they go, all cursing, and here I don't. Fine prospects to 'em; they're on - the road to heaven. Hold on hard! Jimmini, what a squall! But those chaps - there are worse yet—they are your white squalls, they. White - squalls? white whale, shirr! shirr! Here have I heard all their chat just - now, and the white whale—shirr! shirr!—but spoken of once! and - only this evening—it makes me jingle all over like my tambourine—that - anaconda of an old man swore 'em in to hunt him! Oh, thou big white God - aloft there somewhere in yon darkness, have mercy on this small black boy - down here; preserve him from all men that have no bowels to feel fear! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick. -

-

- I, Ishmael, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my - oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I - hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, - mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab's quenchless feud seemed - mine. With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster - against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and - revenge. -

-

- For some time past, though at intervals only, the unaccompanied, secluded - White Whale had haunted those uncivilized seas mostly frequented by the - Sperm Whale fishermen. But not all of them knew of his existence; only a - few of them, comparatively, had knowingly seen him; while the number who - as yet had actually and knowingly given battle to him, was small indeed. - For, owing to the large number of whale-cruisers; the disorderly way they - were sprinkled over the entire watery circumference, many of them - adventurously pushing their quest along solitary latitudes, so as seldom - or never for a whole twelvemonth or more on a stretch, to encounter a - single news-telling sail of any sort; the inordinate length of each - separate voyage; the irregularity of the times of sailing from home; all - these, with other circumstances, direct and indirect, long obstructed the - spread through the whole world-wide whaling-fleet of the special - individualizing tidings concerning Moby Dick. It was hardly to be doubted, - that several vessels reported to have encountered, at such or such a time, - or on such or such a meridian, a Sperm Whale of uncommon magnitude and - malignity, which whale, after doing great mischief to his assailants, had - completely escaped them; to some minds it was not an unfair presumption, I - say, that the whale in question must have been no other than Moby Dick. - Yet as of late the Sperm Whale fishery had been marked by various and not - unfrequent instances of great ferocity, cunning, and malice in the monster - attacked; therefore it was, that those who by accident ignorantly gave - battle to Moby Dick; such hunters, perhaps, for the most part, were - content to ascribe the peculiar terror he bred, more, as it were, to the - perils of the Sperm Whale fishery at large, than to the individual cause. - In that way, mostly, the disastrous encounter between Ahab and the whale - had hitherto been popularly regarded. -

-

- And as for those who, previously hearing of the White Whale, by chance - caught sight of him; in the beginning of the thing they had every one of - them, almost, as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him, as for any other - whale of that species. But at length, such calamities did ensue in these - assaults—not restricted to sprained wrists and ankles, broken limbs, - or devouring amputations—but fatal to the last degree of fatality; - those repeated disastrous repulses, all accumulating and piling their - terrors upon Moby Dick; those things had gone far to shake the fortitude - of many brave hunters, to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually - come. -

-

- Nor did wild rumors of all sorts fail to exaggerate, and still the more - horrify the true histories of these deadly encounters. For not only do - fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising - terrible events,—as the smitten tree gives birth to its fungi; but, - in maritime life, far more than in that of terra firma, wild rumors - abound, wherever there is any adequate reality for them to cling to. And - as the sea surpasses the land in this matter, so the whale fishery - surpasses every other sort of maritime life, in the wonderfulness and - fearfulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there. For not only - are whalemen as a body unexempt from that ignorance and superstitiousness - hereditary to all sailors; but of all sailors, they are by all odds the - most directly brought into contact with whatever is appallingly - astonishing in the sea; face to face they not only eye its greatest - marvels, but, hand to jaw, give battle to them. Alone, in such remotest - waters, that though you sailed a thousand miles, and passed a thousand - shores, you would not come to any chiseled hearth-stone, or aught - hospitable beneath that part of the sun; in such latitudes and longitudes, - pursuing too such a calling as he does, the whaleman is wrapped by - influences all tending to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty - birth. -

-

- No wonder, then, that ever gathering volume from the mere transit over the - widest watery spaces, the outblown rumors of the White Whale did in the - end incorporate with themselves all manner of morbid hints, and - half-formed foetal suggestions of supernatural agencies, which eventually - invested Moby Dick with new terrors unborrowed from anything that visibly - appears. So that in many cases such a panic did he finally strike, that - few who by those rumors, at least, had heard of the White Whale, few of - those hunters were willing to encounter the perils of his jaw. -

-

- But there were still other and more vital practical influences at work. - Not even at the present day has the original prestige of the Sperm Whale, - as fearfully distinguished from all other species of the leviathan, died - out of the minds of the whalemen as a body. There are those this day among - them, who, though intelligent and courageous enough in offering battle to - the Greenland or Right whale, would perhaps—either from professional - inexperience, or incompetency, or timidity, decline a contest with the - Sperm Whale; at any rate, there are plenty of whalemen, especially among - those whaling nations not sailing under the American flag, who have never - hostilely encountered the Sperm Whale, but whose sole knowledge of the - leviathan is restricted to the ignoble monster primitively pursued in the - North; seated on their hatches, these men will hearken with a childish - fireside interest and awe, to the wild, strange tales of Southern whaling. - Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere - more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him. -

-

- And as if the now tested reality of his might had in former legendary - times thrown its shadow before it; we find some book naturalists—Olassen - and Povelson—declaring the Sperm Whale not only to be a - consternation to every other creature in the sea, but also to be so - incredibly ferocious as continually to be athirst for human blood. Nor - even down to so late a time as Cuvier's, were these or almost similar - impressions effaced. For in his Natural History, the Baron himself affirms - that at sight of the Sperm Whale, all fish (sharks included) are "struck - with the most lively terrors," and "often in the precipitancy of their - flight dash themselves against the rocks with such violence as to cause - instantaneous death." And however the general experiences in the fishery - may amend such reports as these; yet in their full terribleness, even to - the bloodthirsty item of Povelson, the superstitious belief in them is, in - some vicissitudes of their vocation, revived in the minds of the hunters. -

-

- So that overawed by the rumors and portents concerning him, not a few of - the fishermen recalled, in reference to Moby Dick, the earlier days of the - Sperm Whale fishery, when it was oftentimes hard to induce long practised - Right whalemen to embark in the perils of this new and daring warfare; - such men protesting that although other leviathans might be hopefully - pursued, yet to chase and point lance at such an apparition as the Sperm - Whale was not for mortal man. That to attempt it, would be inevitably to - be torn into a quick eternity. On this head, there are some remarkable - documents that may be consulted. -

-

- Nevertheless, some there were, who even in the face of these things were - ready to give chase to Moby Dick; and a still greater number who, chancing - only to hear of him distantly and vaguely, without the specific details of - any certain calamity, and without superstitious accompaniments, were - sufficiently hardy not to flee from the battle if offered. -

-

- One of the wild suggestions referred to, as at last coming to be linked - with the White Whale in the minds of the superstitiously inclined, was the - unearthly conceit that Moby Dick was ubiquitous; that he had actually been - encountered in opposite latitudes at one and the same instant of time. -

-

- Nor, credulous as such minds must have been, was this conceit altogether - without some faint show of superstitious probability. For as the secrets - of the currents in the seas have never yet been divulged, even to the most - erudite research; so the hidden ways of the Sperm Whale when beneath the - surface remain, in great part, unaccountable to his pursuers; and from - time to time have originated the most curious and contradictory - speculations regarding them, especially concerning the mystic modes - whereby, after sounding to a great depth, he transports himself with such - vast swiftness to the most widely distant points. -

-

- It is a thing well known to both American and English whale-ships, and as - well a thing placed upon authoritative record years ago by Scoresby, that - some whales have been captured far north in the Pacific, in whose bodies - have been found the barbs of harpoons darted in the Greenland seas. Nor is - it to be gainsaid, that in some of these instances it has been declared - that the interval of time between the two assaults could not have exceeded - very many days. Hence, by inference, it has been believed by some - whalemen, that the Nor' West Passage, so long a problem to man, was never - a problem to the whale. So that here, in the real living experience of - living men, the prodigies related in old times of the inland Strello - mountain in Portugal (near whose top there was said to be a lake in which - the wrecks of ships floated up to the surface); and that still more - wonderful story of the Arethusa fountain near Syracuse (whose waters were - believed to have come from the Holy Land by an underground passage); these - fabulous narrations are almost fully equalled by the realities of the - whalemen. -

-

- Forced into familiarity, then, with such prodigies as these; and knowing - that after repeated, intrepid assaults, the White Whale had escaped alive; - it cannot be much matter of surprise that some whalemen should go still - further in their superstitions; declaring Moby Dick not only ubiquitous, - but immortal (for immortality is but ubiquity in time); that though groves - of spears should be planted in his flanks, he would still swim away - unharmed; or if indeed he should ever be made to spout thick blood, such a - sight would be but a ghastly deception; for again in unensanguined billows - hundreds of leagues away, his unsullied jet would once more be seen. -

-

- But even stripped of these supernatural surmisings, there was enough in - the earthly make and incontestable character of the monster to strike the - imagination with unwonted power. For, it was not so much his uncommon bulk - that so much distinguished him from other sperm whales, but, as was - elsewhere thrown out—a peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead, and a - high, pyramidical white hump. These were his prominent features; the - tokens whereby, even in the limitless, uncharted seas, he revealed his - identity, at a long distance, to those who knew him. -

-

- The rest of his body was so streaked, and spotted, and marbled with the - same shrouded hue, that, in the end, he had gained his distinctive - appellation of the White Whale; a name, indeed, literally justified by his - vivid aspect, when seen gliding at high noon through a dark blue sea, - leaving a milky-way wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden - gleamings. -

-

- Nor was it his unwonted magnitude, nor his remarkable hue, nor yet his - deformed lower jaw, that so much invested the whale with natural terror, - as that unexampled, intelligent malignity which, according to specific - accounts, he had over and over again evinced in his assaults. More than - all, his treacherous retreats struck more of dismay than perhaps aught - else. For, when swimming before his exulting pursuers, with every apparent - symptom of alarm, he had several times been known to turn round suddenly, - and, bearing down upon them, either stave their boats to splinters, or - drive them back in consternation to their ship. -

-

- Already several fatalities had attended his chase. But though similar - disasters, however little bruited ashore, were by no means unusual in the - fishery; yet, in most instances, such seemed the White Whale's infernal - aforethought of ferocity, that every dismembering or death that he caused, - was not wholly regarded as having been inflicted by an unintelligent - agent. -

-

- Judge, then, to what pitches of inflamed, distracted fury the minds of his - more desperate hunters were impelled, when amid the chips of chewed boats, - and the sinking limbs of torn comrades, they swam out of the white curds - of the whale's direful wrath into the serene, exasperating sunlight, that - smiled on, as if at a birth or a bridal. -

-

- His three boats stove around him, and oars and men both whirling in the - eddies; one captain, seizing the line-knife from his broken prow, had - dashed at the whale, as an Arkansas duellist at his foe, blindly seeking - with a six inch blade to reach the fathom-deep life of the whale. That - captain was Ahab. And then it was, that suddenly sweeping his - sickle-shaped lower jaw beneath him, Moby Dick had reaped away Ahab's leg, - as a mower a blade of grass in the field. No turbaned Turk, no hired - Venetian or Malay, could have smote him with more seeming malice. Small - reason was there to doubt, then, that ever since that almost fatal - encounter, Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale, all - the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to - identify with him, not only all his bodily woes, but all his intellectual - and spiritual exasperations. The White Whale swam before him as the - monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men - feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and - half a lung. That intangible malignity which has been from the beginning; - to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the - worlds; which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue - devil;—Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them; but - deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale, he pitted - himself, all mutilated, against it. All that most maddens and torments; - all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all - that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of - life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and - made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white - hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from - Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot - heart's shell upon it. -

-

- It is not probable that this monomania in him took its instant rise at the - precise time of his bodily dismemberment. Then, in darting at the monster, - knife in hand, he had but given loose to a sudden, passionate, corporal - animosity; and when he received the stroke that tore him, he probably but - felt the agonizing bodily laceration, but nothing more. Yet, when by this - collision forced to turn towards home, and for long months of days and - weeks, Ahab and anguish lay stretched together in one hammock, rounding in - mid winter that dreary, howling Patagonian Cape; then it was, that his - torn body and gashed soul bled into one another; and so interfusing, made - him mad. That it was only then, on the homeward voyage, after the - encounter, that the final monomania seized him, seems all but certain from - the fact that, at intervals during the passage, he was a raving lunatic; - and, though unlimbed of a leg, yet such vital strength yet lurked in his - Egyptian chest, and was moreover intensified by his delirium, that his - mates were forced to lace him fast, even there, as he sailed, raving in - his hammock. In a strait-jacket, he swung to the mad rockings of the - gales. And, when running into more sufferable latitudes, the ship, with - mild stun'sails spread, floated across the tranquil tropics, and, to all - appearances, the old man's delirium seemed left behind him with the Cape - Horn swells, and he came forth from his dark den into the blessed light - and air; even then, when he bore that firm, collected front, however pale, - and issued his calm orders once again; and his mates thanked God the - direful madness was now gone; even then, Ahab, in his hidden self, raved - on. Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you - think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler - form. Ahab's full lunacy subsided not, but deepeningly contracted; like - the unabated Hudson, when that noble Northman flows narrowly, but - unfathomably through the Highland gorge. But, as in his narrow-flowing - monomania, not one jot of Ahab's broad madness had been left behind; so in - that broad madness, not one jot of his great natural intellect had - perished. That before living agent, now became the living instrument. If - such a furious trope may stand, his special lunacy stormed his general - sanity, and carried it, and turned all its concentred cannon upon its own - mad mark; so that far from having lost his strength, Ahab, to that one - end, did now possess a thousand fold more potency than ever he had sanely - brought to bear upon any one reasonable object. -

-

- This is much; yet Ahab's larger, darker, deeper part remains unhinted. But - vain to popularize profundities, and all truth is profound. Winding far - down from within the very heart of this spiked Hotel de Cluny where we - here stand—however grand and wonderful, now quit it;—and take - your way, ye nobler, sadder souls, to those vast Roman halls of Thermes; - where far beneath the fantastic towers of man's upper earth, his root of - grandeur, his whole awful essence sits in bearded state; an antique buried - beneath antiquities, and throned on torsoes! So with a broken throne, the - great gods mock that captive king; so like a Caryatid, he patient sits, - upholding on his frozen brow the piled entablatures of ages. Wind ye down - there, ye prouder, sadder souls! question that proud, sad king! A family - likeness! aye, he did beget ye, ye young exiled royalties; and from your - grim sire only will the old State-secret come. -

-

- Now, in his heart, Ahab had some glimpse of this, namely: all my means are - sane, my motive and my object mad. Yet without power to kill, or change, - or shun the fact; he likewise knew that to mankind he did long dissemble; - in some sort, did still. But that thing of his dissembling was only - subject to his perceptibility, not to his will determinate. Nevertheless, - so well did he succeed in that dissembling, that when with ivory leg he - stepped ashore at last, no Nantucketer thought him otherwise than but - naturally grieved, and that to the quick, with the terrible casualty which - had overtaken him. -

-

- The report of his undeniable delirium at sea was likewise popularly - ascribed to a kindred cause. And so too, all the added moodiness which - always afterwards, to the very day of sailing in the Pequod on the present - voyage, sat brooding on his brow. Nor is it so very unlikely, that far - from distrusting his fitness for another whaling voyage, on account of - such dark symptoms, the calculating people of that prudent isle were - inclined to harbor the conceit, that for those very reasons he was all the - better qualified and set on edge, for a pursuit so full of rage and - wildness as the bloody hunt of whales. Gnawed within and scorched without, - with the infixed, unrelenting fangs of some incurable idea; such an one, - could he be found, would seem the very man to dart his iron and lift his - lance against the most appalling of all brutes. Or, if for any reason - thought to be corporeally incapacitated for that, yet such an one would - seem superlatively competent to cheer and howl on his underlings to the - attack. But be all this as it may, certain it is, that with the mad secret - of his unabated rage bolted up and keyed in him, Ahab had purposely sailed - upon the present voyage with the one only and all-engrossing object of - hunting the White Whale. Had any one of his old acquaintances on shore but - half dreamed of what was lurking in him then, how soon would their aghast - and righteous souls have wrenched the ship from such a fiendish man! They - were bent on profitable cruises, the profit to be counted down in dollars - from the mint. He was intent on an audacious, immitigable, and - supernatural revenge. -

-

- Here, then, was this grey-headed, ungodly old man, chasing with curses a - Job's whale round the world, at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up - of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals—morally enfeebled - also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in - Starbuck, the invunerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in - Stubb, and the pervading mediocrity in Flask. Such a crew, so officered, - seemed specially picked and packed by some infernal fatality to help him - to his monomaniac revenge. How it was that they so aboundingly responded - to the old man's ire—by what evil magic their souls were possessed, - that at times his hate seemed almost theirs; the White Whale as much their - insufferable foe as his; how all this came to be—what the White - Whale was to them, or how to their unconscious understandings, also, in - some dim, unsuspected way, he might have seemed the gliding great demon of - the seas of life,—all this to explain, would be to dive deeper than - Ishmael can go. The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one - tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his - pick? Who does not feel the irresistible arm drag? What skiff in tow of a - seventy-four can stand still? For one, I gave myself up to the abandonment - of the time and the place; but while yet all a-rush to encounter the - whale, could see naught in that brute but the deadliest ill. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 42. The Whiteness of The Whale. -

-

- What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was - to me, as yet remains unsaid. -

-

- Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which - could not but occasionally awaken in any man's soul some alarm, there was - another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at - times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so - mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting - it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above - all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and - yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these - chapters might be naught. -

-

- Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as - if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and - pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain - royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu - placing the title "Lord of the White Elephants" above all their other - magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam - unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the - Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the - great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the - imperial colour the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it - applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership - over every dusky tribe; and though, besides, all this, whiteness has been - even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone - marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and - symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble - things—the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among - the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the - deepest pledge of honour; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the - majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the - daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in - the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the - symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire - worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; - and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a - snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice - of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, - that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could - send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; - and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests - derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, - worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish - faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of - our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the - redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the - great-white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; - yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and - honourable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the - innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than - that redness which affrights in blood. -

-

- This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when - divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object - terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds. - Witness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the tropics; - what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the transcendent horrors - they are? That ghastly whiteness it is which imparts such an abhorrent - mildness, even more loathsome than terrific, to the dumb gloating of their - aspect. So that not the fierce-fanged tiger in his heraldic coat can so - stagger courage as the white-shrouded bear or shark.* -

-

- *With reference to the Polar bear, it may possibly be urged by him who - would fain go still deeper into this matter, that it is not the whiteness, - separately regarded, which heightens the intolerable hideousness of that - brute; for, analysed, that heightened hideousness, it might be said, only - rises from the circumstance, that the irresponsible ferociousness of the - creature stands invested in the fleece of celestial innocence and love; - and hence, by bringing together two such opposite emotions in our minds, - the Polar bear frightens us with so unnatural a contrast. But even - assuming all this to be true; yet, were it not for the whiteness, you - would not have that intensified terror. -

-

- As for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that - creature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the - same quality in the Polar quadruped. This peculiarity is most vividly hit - by the French in the name they bestow upon that fish. The Romish mass for - the dead begins with "Requiem eternam" (eternal rest), whence REQUIEM - denominating the mass itself, and any other funeral music. Now, in - allusion to the white, silent stillness of death in this shark, and the - mild deadliness of his habits, the French call him REQUIN. -

-

- Bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual - wonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all - imaginations? Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God's great, - unflattering laureate, Nature.* -

-

- *I remember the first albatross I ever saw. It was during a prolonged - gale, in waters hard upon the Antarctic seas. From my forenoon watch - below, I ascended to the overclouded deck; and there, dashed upon the main - hatches, I saw a regal, feathery thing of unspotted whiteness, and with a - hooked, Roman bill sublime. At intervals, it arched forth its vast - archangel wings, as if to embrace some holy ark. Wondrous flutterings and - throbbings shook it. Though bodily unharmed, it uttered cries, as some - king's ghost in supernatural distress. Through its inexpressible, strange - eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God. As Abraham - before the angels, I bowed myself; the white thing was so white, its wings - so wide, and in those for ever exiled waters, I had lost the miserable - warping memories of traditions and of towns. Long I gazed at that prodigy - of plumage. I cannot tell, can only hint, the things that darted through - me then. But at last I awoke; and turning, asked a sailor what bird was - this. A goney, he replied. Goney! never had heard that name before; is it - conceivable that this glorious thing is utterly unknown to men ashore! - never! But some time after, I learned that goney was some seaman's name - for albatross. So that by no possibility could Coleridge's wild Rhyme have - had aught to do with those mystical impressions which were mine, when I - saw that bird upon our deck. For neither had I then read the Rhyme, nor - knew the bird to be an albatross. Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly - burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet. -

-

- I assert, then, that in the wondrous bodily whiteness of the bird chiefly - lurks the secret of the spell; a truth the more evinced in this, that by a - solecism of terms there are birds called grey albatrosses; and these I - have frequently seen, but never with such emotions as when I beheld the - Antarctic fowl. -

-

- But how had the mystic thing been caught? Whisper it not, and I will tell; - with a treacherous hook and line, as the fowl floated on the sea. At last - the Captain made a postman of it; tying a lettered, leathern tally round - its neck, with the ship's time and place; and then letting it escape. But - I doubt not, that leathern tally, meant for man, was taken off in Heaven, - when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and - adoring cherubim! -

-

- Most famous in our Western annals and Indian traditions is that of the - White Steed of the Prairies; a magnificent milk-white charger, large-eyed, - small-headed, bluff-chested, and with the dignity of a thousand monarchs - in his lofty, overscorning carriage. He was the elected Xerxes of vast - herds of wild horses, whose pastures in those days were only fenced by the - Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies. At their flaming head he westward - trooped it like that chosen star which every evening leads on the hosts of - light. The flashing cascade of his mane, the curving comet of his tail, - invested him with housings more resplendent than gold and silver-beaters - could have furnished him. A most imperial and archangelical apparition of - that unfallen, western world, which to the eyes of the old trappers and - hunters revived the glories of those primeval times when Adam walked - majestic as a god, bluff-browed and fearless as this mighty steed. Whether - marching amid his aides and marshals in the van of countless cohorts that - endlessly streamed it over the plains, like an Ohio; or whether with his - circumambient subjects browsing all around at the horizon, the White Steed - gallopingly reviewed them with warm nostrils reddening through his cool - milkiness; in whatever aspect he presented himself, always to the bravest - Indians he was the object of trembling reverence and awe. Nor can it be - questioned from what stands on legendary record of this noble horse, that - it was his spiritual whiteness chiefly, which so clothed him with - divineness; and that this divineness had that in it which, though - commanding worship, at the same time enforced a certain nameless terror. -

-

- But there are other instances where this whiteness loses all that - accessory and strange glory which invests it in the White Steed and - Albatross. -

-

- What is it that in the Albino man so peculiarly repels and often shocks - the eye, as that sometimes he is loathed by his own kith and kin! It is - that whiteness which invests him, a thing expressed by the name he bears. - The Albino is as well made as other men—has no substantive deformity—and - yet this mere aspect of all-pervading whiteness makes him more strangely - hideous than the ugliest abortion. Why should this be so? -

-

- Nor, in quite other aspects, does Nature in her least palpable but not the - less malicious agencies, fail to enlist among her forces this crowning - attribute of the terrible. From its snowy aspect, the gauntleted ghost of - the Southern Seas has been denominated the White Squall. Nor, in some - historic instances, has the art of human malice omitted so potent an - auxiliary. How wildly it heightens the effect of that passage in - Froissart, when, masked in the snowy symbol of their faction, the - desperate White Hoods of Ghent murder their bailiff in the market-place! -

-

- Nor, in some things, does the common, hereditary experience of all mankind - fail to bear witness to the supernaturalism of this hue. It cannot well be - doubted, that the one visible quality in the aspect of the dead which most - appals the gazer, is the marble pallor lingering there; as if indeed that - pallor were as much like the badge of consternation in the other world, as - of mortal trepidation here. And from that pallor of the dead, we borrow - the expressive hue of the shroud in which we wrap them. Nor even in our - superstitions do we fail to throw the same snowy mantle round our - phantoms; all ghosts rising in a milk-white fog—Yea, while these - terrors seize us, let us add, that even the king of terrors, when - personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse. -

-

- Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing - he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized - significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul. -

-

- But though without dissent this point be fixed, how is mortal man to - account for it? To analyse it, would seem impossible. Can we, then, by the - citation of some of those instances wherein this thing of whiteness—though - for the time either wholly or in great part stripped of all direct - associations calculated to impart to it aught fearful, but nevertheless, - is found to exert over us the same sorcery, however modified;—can we - thus hope to light upon some chance clue to conduct us to the hidden cause - we seek? -

-

- Let us try. But in a matter like this, subtlety appeals to subtlety, and - without imagination no man can follow another into these halls. And - though, doubtless, some at least of the imaginative impressions about to - be presented may have been shared by most men, yet few perhaps were - entirely conscious of them at the time, and therefore may not be able to - recall them now. -

-

- Why to the man of untutored ideality, who happens to be but loosely - acquainted with the peculiar character of the day, does the bare mention - of Whitsuntide marshal in the fancy such long, dreary, speechless - processions of slow-pacing pilgrims, down-cast and hooded with new-fallen - snow? Or, to the unread, unsophisticated Protestant of the Middle American - States, why does the passing mention of a White Friar or a White Nun, - evoke such an eyeless statue in the soul? -

-

- Or what is there apart from the traditions of dungeoned warriors and kings - (which will not wholly account for it) that makes the White Tower of - London tell so much more strongly on the imagination of an untravelled - American, than those other storied structures, its neighbors—the - Byward Tower, or even the Bloody? And those sublimer towers, the White - Mountains of New Hampshire, whence, in peculiar moods, comes that gigantic - ghostliness over the soul at the bare mention of that name, while the - thought of Virginia's Blue Ridge is full of a soft, dewy, distant - dreaminess? Or why, irrespective of all latitudes and longitudes, does the - name of the White Sea exert such a spectralness over the fancy, while that - of the Yellow Sea lulls us with mortal thoughts of long lacquered mild - afternoons on the waves, followed by the gaudiest and yet sleepiest of - sunsets? Or, to choose a wholly unsubstantial instance, purely addressed - to the fancy, why, in reading the old fairy tales of Central Europe, does - "the tall pale man" of the Hartz forests, whose changeless pallor - unrustlingly glides through the green of the groves—why is this - phantom more terrible than all the whooping imps of the Blocksburg? -

-

- Nor is it, altogether, the remembrance of her cathedral-toppling - earthquakes; nor the stampedoes of her frantic seas; nor the tearlessness - of arid skies that never rain; nor the sight of her wide field of leaning - spires, wrenched cope-stones, and crosses all adroop (like canted yards of - anchored fleets); and her suburban avenues of house-walls lying over upon - each other, as a tossed pack of cards;—it is not these things alone - which make tearless Lima, the strangest, saddest city thou can'st see. For - Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this - whiteness of her woe. Old as Pizarro, this whiteness keeps her ruins for - ever new; admits not the cheerful greenness of complete decay; spreads - over her broken ramparts the rigid pallor of an apoplexy that fixes its - own distortions. -

-

- I know that, to the common apprehension, this phenomenon of whiteness is - not confessed to be the prime agent in exaggerating the terror of objects - otherwise terrible; nor to the unimaginative mind is there aught of terror - in those appearances whose awfulness to another mind almost solely - consists in this one phenomenon, especially when exhibited under any form - at all approaching to muteness or universality. What I mean by these two - statements may perhaps be respectively elucidated by the following - examples. -

-

- First: The mariner, when drawing nigh the coasts of foreign lands, if by - night he hear the roar of breakers, starts to vigilance, and feels just - enough of trepidation to sharpen all his faculties; but under precisely - similar circumstances, let him be called from his hammock to view his ship - sailing through a midnight sea of milky whiteness—as if from - encircling headlands shoals of combed white bears were swimming round him, - then he feels a silent, superstitious dread; the shrouded phantom of the - whitened waters is horrible to him as a real ghost; in vain the lead - assures him he is still off soundings; heart and helm they both go down; - he never rests till blue water is under him again. Yet where is the - mariner who will tell thee, "Sir, it was not so much the fear of striking - hidden rocks, as the fear of that hideous whiteness that so stirred me?" -

-

- Second: To the native Indian of Peru, the continual sight of the - snowhowdahed Andes conveys naught of dread, except, perhaps, in the mere - fancying of the eternal frosted desolateness reigning at such vast - altitudes, and the natural conceit of what a fearfulness it would be to - lose oneself in such inhuman solitudes. Much the same is it with the - backwoodsman of the West, who with comparative indifference views an - unbounded prairie sheeted with driven snow, no shadow of tree or twig to - break the fixed trance of whiteness. Not so the sailor, beholding the - scenery of the Antarctic seas; where at times, by some infernal trick of - legerdemain in the powers of frost and air, he, shivering and half - shipwrecked, instead of rainbows speaking hope and solace to his misery, - views what seems a boundless churchyard grinning upon him with its lean - ice monuments and splintered crosses. -

-

- But thou sayest, methinks that white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a - white flag hung out from a craven soul; thou surrenderest to a hypo, - Ishmael. -

-

- Tell me, why this strong young colt, foaled in some peaceful valley of - Vermont, far removed from all beasts of prey—why is it that upon the - sunniest day, if you but shake a fresh buffalo robe behind him, so that he - cannot even see it, but only smells its wild animal muskiness—why - will he start, snort, and with bursting eyes paw the ground in phrensies - of affright? There is no remembrance in him of any gorings of wild - creatures in his green northern home, so that the strange muskiness he - smells cannot recall to him anything associated with the experience of - former perils; for what knows he, this New England colt, of the black - bisons of distant Oregon? -

-

- No; but here thou beholdest even in a dumb brute, the instinct of the - knowledge of the demonism in the world. Though thousands of miles from - Oregon, still when he smells that savage musk, the rending, goring bison - herds are as present as to the deserted wild foal of the prairies, which - this instant they may be trampling into dust. -

-

- Thus, then, the muffled rollings of a milky sea; the bleak rustlings of - the festooned frosts of mountains; the desolate shiftings of the windrowed - snows of prairies; all these, to Ishmael, are as the shaking of that - buffalo robe to the frightened colt! -

-

- Though neither knows where lie the nameless things of which the mystic - sign gives forth such hints; yet with me, as with the colt, somewhere - those things must exist. Though in many of its aspects this visible world - seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright. -

-

- But not yet have we solved the incantation of this whiteness, and learned - why it appeals with such power to the soul; and more strange and far more - portentous—why, as we have seen, it is at once the most meaning - symbol of spiritual things, nay, the very veil of the Christian's Deity; - and yet should be as it is, the intensifying agent in things the most - appalling to mankind. -

-

- Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and - immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the - thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? - Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a colour as the - visible absence of colour; and at the same time the concrete of all - colours; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full - of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows—a colourless, all-colour of - atheism from which we shrink? And when we consider that other theory of - the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues—every stately - or lovely emblazoning—the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; - yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of - young girls; all these are but subtile deceits, not actually inherent in - substances, but only laid on from without; so that all deified Nature - absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the - charnel-house within; and when we proceed further, and consider that the - mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great - principle of light, for ever remains white or colourless in itself, and if - operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips - and roses, with its own blank tinge—pondering all this, the palsied - universe lies before us a leper; and like wilful travellers in Lapland, - who refuse to wear coloured and colouring glasses upon their eyes, so the - wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that - wraps all the prospect around him. And of all these things the Albino - whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 43. Hark! -

-

- "HIST! Did you hear that noise, Cabaco?" -

-

- It was the middle-watch; a fair moonlight; the seamen were standing in a - cordon, extending from one of the fresh-water butts in the waist, to the - scuttle-butt near the taffrail. In this manner, they passed the buckets to - fill the scuttle-butt. Standing, for the most part, on the hallowed - precincts of the quarter-deck, they were careful not to speak or rustle - their feet. From hand to hand, the buckets went in the deepest silence, - only broken by the occasional flap of a sail, and the steady hum of the - unceasingly advancing keel. -

-

- It was in the midst of this repose, that Archy, one of the cordon, whose - post was near the after-hatches, whispered to his neighbor, a Cholo, the - words above. -

-

- "Hist! did you hear that noise, Cabaco?" -

-

- "Take the bucket, will ye, Archy? what noise d'ye mean?" -

-

- "There it is again—under the hatches—don't you hear it—a - cough—it sounded like a cough." -

-

- "Cough be damned! Pass along that return bucket." -

-

- "There again—there it is!—it sounds like two or three sleepers - turning over, now!" -

-

- "Caramba! have done, shipmate, will ye? It's the three soaked biscuits ye - eat for supper turning over inside of ye—nothing else. Look to the - bucket!" -

-

- "Say what ye will, shipmate; I've sharp ears." -

-

- "Aye, you are the chap, ain't ye, that heard the hum of the old - Quakeress's knitting-needles fifty miles at sea from Nantucket; you're the - chap." -

-

- "Grin away; we'll see what turns up. Hark ye, Cabaco, there is somebody - down in the after-hold that has not yet been seen on deck; and I suspect - our old Mogul knows something of it too. I heard Stubb tell Flask, one - morning watch, that there was something of that sort in the wind." -

-

- "Tish! the bucket!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 44. The Chart. -

-

- Had you followed Captain Ahab down into his cabin after the squall that - took place on the night succeeding that wild ratification of his purpose - with his crew, you would have seen him go to a locker in the transom, and - bringing out a large wrinkled roll of yellowish sea charts, spread them - before him on his screwed-down table. Then seating himself before it, you - would have seen him intently study the various lines and shadings which - there met his eye; and with slow but steady pencil trace additional - courses over spaces that before were blank. At intervals, he would refer - to piles of old log-books beside him, wherein were set down the seasons - and places in which, on various former voyages of various ships, sperm - whales had been captured or seen. -

-

- While thus employed, the heavy pewter lamp suspended in chains over his - head, continually rocked with the motion of the ship, and for ever threw - shifting gleams and shadows of lines upon his wrinkled brow, till it - almost seemed that while he himself was marking out lines and courses on - the wrinkled charts, some invisible pencil was also tracing lines and - courses upon the deeply marked chart of his forehead. -

-

- But it was not this night in particular that, in the solitude of his - cabin, Ahab thus pondered over his charts. Almost every night they were - brought out; almost every night some pencil marks were effaced, and others - were substituted. For with the charts of all four oceans before him, Ahab - was threading a maze of currents and eddies, with a view to the more - certain accomplishment of that monomaniac thought of his soul. -

-

- Now, to any one not fully acquainted with the ways of the leviathans, it - might seem an absurdly hopeless task thus to seek out one solitary - creature in the unhooped oceans of this planet. But not so did it seem to - Ahab, who knew the sets of all tides and currents; and thereby calculating - the driftings of the sperm whale's food; and, also, calling to mind the - regular, ascertained seasons for hunting him in particular latitudes; - could arrive at reasonable surmises, almost approaching to certainties, - concerning the timeliest day to be upon this or that ground in search of - his prey. -

-

- So assured, indeed, is the fact concerning the periodicalness of the sperm - whale's resorting to given waters, that many hunters believe that, could - he be closely observed and studied throughout the world; were the logs for - one voyage of the entire whale fleet carefully collated, then the - migrations of the sperm whale would be found to correspond in - invariability to those of the herring-shoals or the flights of swallows. - On this hint, attempts have been made to construct elaborate migratory - charts of the sperm whale.* -

-
-     *Since the above was written, the statement is happily borne
-     out by an official circular, issued by Lieutenant Maury, of
-     the National Observatory, Washington, April 16th, 1851. By
-     that circular, it appears that precisely such a chart is in
-     course of completion; and portions of it are presented in
-     the circular. "This chart divides the ocean into districts
-     of five degrees of latitude by five degrees of longitude;
-     perpendicularly through each of which districts are twelve
-     columns for the twelve months; and horizontally through each
-     of which districts are three lines; one to show the number
-     of days that have been spent in each month in every
-     district, and the two others to show the number of days in
-     which whales, sperm or right, have been seen."
-
-

- Besides, when making a passage from one feeding-ground to another, the - sperm whales, guided by some infallible instinct—say, rather, secret - intelligence from the Deity—mostly swim in VEINS, as they are - called; continuing their way along a given ocean-line with such - undeviating exactitude, that no ship ever sailed her course, by any chart, - with one tithe of such marvellous precision. Though, in these cases, the - direction taken by any one whale be straight as a surveyor's parallel, and - though the line of advance be strictly confined to its own unavoidable, - straight wake, yet the arbitrary VEIN in which at these times he is said - to swim, generally embraces some few miles in width (more or less, as the - vein is presumed to expand or contract); but never exceeds the visual - sweep from the whale-ship's mast-heads, when circumspectly gliding along - this magic zone. The sum is, that at particular seasons within that - breadth and along that path, migrating whales may with great confidence be - looked for. -

-

- And hence not only at substantiated times, upon well known separate - feeding-grounds, could Ahab hope to encounter his prey; but in crossing - the widest expanses of water between those grounds he could, by his art, - so place and time himself on his way, as even then not to be wholly - without prospect of a meeting. -

-

- There was a circumstance which at first sight seemed to entangle his - delirious but still methodical scheme. But not so in the reality, perhaps. - Though the gregarious sperm whales have their regular seasons for - particular grounds, yet in general you cannot conclude that the herds - which haunted such and such a latitude or longitude this year, say, will - turn out to be identically the same with those that were found there the - preceding season; though there are peculiar and unquestionable instances - where the contrary of this has proved true. In general, the same remark, - only within a less wide limit, applies to the solitaries and hermits among - the matured, aged sperm whales. So that though Moby Dick had in a former - year been seen, for example, on what is called the Seychelle ground in the - Indian ocean, or Volcano Bay on the Japanese Coast; yet it did not follow, - that were the Pequod to visit either of those spots at any subsequent - corresponding season, she would infallibly encounter him there. So, too, - with some other feeding grounds, where he had at times revealed himself. - But all these seemed only his casual stopping-places and ocean-inns, so to - speak, not his places of prolonged abode. And where Ahab's chances of - accomplishing his object have hitherto been spoken of, allusion has only - been made to whatever way-side, antecedent, extra prospects were his, ere - a particular set time or place were attained, when all possibilities would - become probabilities, and, as Ahab fondly thought, every possibility the - next thing to a certainty. That particular set time and place were - conjoined in the one technical phrase—the Season-on-the-Line. For - there and then, for several consecutive years, Moby Dick had been - periodically descried, lingering in those waters for awhile, as the sun, - in its annual round, loiters for a predicted interval in any one sign of - the Zodiac. There it was, too, that most of the deadly encounters with the - white whale had taken place; there the waves were storied with his deeds; - there also was that tragic spot where the monomaniac old man had found the - awful motive to his vengeance. But in the cautious comprehensiveness and - unloitering vigilance with which Ahab threw his brooding soul into this - unfaltering hunt, he would not permit himself to rest all his hopes upon - the one crowning fact above mentioned, however flattering it might be to - those hopes; nor in the sleeplessness of his vow could he so tranquillize - his unquiet heart as to postpone all intervening quest. -

-

- Now, the Pequod had sailed from Nantucket at the very beginning of the - Season-on-the-Line. No possible endeavor then could enable her commander - to make the great passage southwards, double Cape Horn, and then running - down sixty degrees of latitude arrive in the equatorial Pacific in time to - cruise there. Therefore, he must wait for the next ensuing season. Yet the - premature hour of the Pequod's sailing had, perhaps, been correctly - selected by Ahab, with a view to this very complexion of things. Because, - an interval of three hundred and sixty-five days and nights was before - him; an interval which, instead of impatiently enduring ashore, he would - spend in a miscellaneous hunt; if by chance the White Whale, spending his - vacation in seas far remote from his periodical feeding-grounds, should - turn up his wrinkled brow off the Persian Gulf, or in the Bengal Bay, or - China Seas, or in any other waters haunted by his race. So that Monsoons, - Pampas, Nor'-Westers, Harmattans, Trades; any wind but the Levanter and - Simoon, might blow Moby Dick into the devious zig-zag world-circle of the - Pequod's circumnavigating wake. -

-

- But granting all this; yet, regarded discreetly and coolly, seems it not - but a mad idea, this; that in the broad boundless ocean, one solitary - whale, even if encountered, should be thought capable of individual - recognition from his hunter, even as a white-bearded Mufti in the thronged - thoroughfares of Constantinople? Yes. For the peculiar snow-white brow of - Moby Dick, and his snow-white hump, could not but be unmistakable. And - have I not tallied the whale, Ahab would mutter to himself, as after - poring over his charts till long after midnight he would throw himself - back in reveries—tallied him, and shall he escape? His broad fins - are bored, and scalloped out like a lost sheep's ear! And here, his mad - mind would run on in a breathless race; till a weariness and faintness of - pondering came over him; and in the open air of the deck he would seek to - recover his strength. Ah, God! what trances of torments does that man - endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps - with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms. -

-

- Often, when forced from his hammock by exhausting and intolerably vivid - dreams of the night, which, resuming his own intense thoughts through the - day, carried them on amid a clashing of phrensies, and whirled them round - and round and round in his blazing brain, till the very throbbing of his - life-spot became insufferable anguish; and when, as was sometimes the - case, these spiritual throes in him heaved his being up from its base, and - a chasm seemed opening in him, from which forked flames and lightnings - shot up, and accursed fiends beckoned him to leap down among them; when - this hell in himself yawned beneath him, a wild cry would be heard through - the ship; and with glaring eyes Ahab would burst from his state room, as - though escaping from a bed that was on fire. Yet these, perhaps, instead - of being the unsuppressable symptoms of some latent weakness, or fright at - his own resolve, were but the plainest tokens of its intensity. For, at - such times, crazy Ahab, the scheming, unappeasedly steadfast hunter of the - white whale; this Ahab that had gone to his hammock, was not the agent - that so caused him to burst from it in horror again. The latter was the - eternal, living principle or soul in him; and in sleep, being for the time - dissociated from the characterizing mind, which at other times employed it - for its outer vehicle or agent, it spontaneously sought escape from the - scorching contiguity of the frantic thing, of which, for the time, it was - no longer an integral. But as the mind does not exist unless leagued with - the soul, therefore it must have been that, in Ahab's case, yielding up - all his thoughts and fancies to his one supreme purpose; that purpose, by - its own sheer inveteracy of will, forced itself against gods and devils - into a kind of self-assumed, independent being of its own. Nay, could - grimly live and burn, while the common vitality to which it was conjoined, - fled horror-stricken from the unbidden and unfathered birth. Therefore, - the tormented spirit that glared out of bodily eyes, when what seemed Ahab - rushed from his room, was for the time but a vacated thing, a formless - somnambulistic being, a ray of living light, to be sure, but without an - object to colour, and therefore a blankness in itself. God help thee, old - man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense - thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for - ever; that vulture the very creature he creates. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit. -

-

- So far as what there may be of a narrative in this book; and, indeed, as - indirectly touching one or two very interesting and curious particulars in - the habits of sperm whales, the foregoing chapter, in its earlier part, is - as important a one as will be found in this volume; but the leading matter - of it requires to be still further and more familiarly enlarged upon, in - order to be adequately understood, and moreover to take away any - incredulity which a profound ignorance of the entire subject may induce in - some minds, as to the natural verity of the main points of this affair. -

-

- I care not to perform this part of my task methodically; but shall be - content to produce the desired impression by separate citations of items, - practically or reliably known to me as a whaleman; and from these - citations, I take it—the conclusion aimed at will naturally follow - of itself. -

-

- First: I have personally known three instances where a whale, after - receiving a harpoon, has effected a complete escape; and, after an - interval (in one instance of three years), has been again struck by the - same hand, and slain; when the two irons, both marked by the same private - cypher, have been taken from the body. In the instance where three years - intervened between the flinging of the two harpoons; and I think it may - have been something more than that; the man who darted them happening, in - the interval, to go in a trading ship on a voyage to Africa, went ashore - there, joined a discovery party, and penetrated far into the interior, - where he travelled for a period of nearly two years, often endangered by - serpents, savages, tigers, poisonous miasmas, with all the other common - perils incident to wandering in the heart of unknown regions. Meanwhile, - the whale he had struck must also have been on its travels; no doubt it - had thrice circumnavigated the globe, brushing with its flanks all the - coasts of Africa; but to no purpose. This man and this whale again came - together, and the one vanquished the other. I say I, myself, have known - three instances similar to this; that is in two of them I saw the whales - struck; and, upon the second attack, saw the two irons with the respective - marks cut in them, afterwards taken from the dead fish. In the three-year - instance, it so fell out that I was in the boat both times, first and - last, and the last time distinctly recognised a peculiar sort of huge mole - under the whale's eye, which I had observed there three years previous. I - say three years, but I am pretty sure it was more than that. Here are - three instances, then, which I personally know the truth of; but I have - heard of many other instances from persons whose veracity in the matter - there is no good ground to impeach. -

-

- Secondly: It is well known in the Sperm Whale Fishery, however ignorant - the world ashore may be of it, that there have been several memorable - historical instances where a particular whale in the ocean has been at - distant times and places popularly cognisable. Why such a whale became - thus marked was not altogether and originally owing to his bodily - peculiarities as distinguished from other whales; for however peculiar in - that respect any chance whale may be, they soon put an end to his - peculiarities by killing him, and boiling him down into a peculiarly - valuable oil. No: the reason was this: that from the fatal experiences of - the fishery there hung a terrible prestige of perilousness about such a - whale as there did about Rinaldo Rinaldini, insomuch that most fishermen - were content to recognise him by merely touching their tarpaulins when he - would be discovered lounging by them on the sea, without seeking to - cultivate a more intimate acquaintance. Like some poor devils ashore that - happen to know an irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive - salutations to him in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance - further, they might receive a summary thump for their presumption. -

-

- But not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great individual - celebrity—Nay, you may call it an ocean-wide renown; not only was he - famous in life and now is immortal in forecastle stories after death, but - he was admitted into all the rights, privileges, and distinctions of a - name; had as much a name indeed as Cambyses or Caesar. Was it not so, O - Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan, scarred like an iceberg, who so long - did'st lurk in the Oriental straits of that name, whose spout was oft seen - from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it not so, O New Zealand Jack! thou - terror of all cruisers that crossed their wakes in the vicinity of the - Tattoo Land? Was it not so, O Morquan! King of Japan, whose lofty jet they - say at times assumed the semblance of a snow-white cross against the sky? - Was it not so, O Don Miguel! thou Chilian whale, marked like an old - tortoise with mystic hieroglyphics upon the back! In plain prose, here are - four whales as well known to the students of Cetacean History as Marius or - Sylla to the classic scholar. -

-

- But this is not all. New Zealand Tom and Don Miguel, after at various - times creating great havoc among the boats of different vessels, were - finally gone in quest of, systematically hunted out, chased and killed by - valiant whaling captains, who heaved up their anchors with that express - object as much in view, as in setting out through the Narragansett Woods, - Captain Butler of old had it in his mind to capture that notorious - murderous savage Annawon, the headmost warrior of the Indian King Philip. -

-

- I do not know where I can find a better place than just here, to make - mention of one or two other things, which to me seem important, as in - printed form establishing in all respects the reasonableness of the whole - story of the White Whale, more especially the catastrophe. For this is one - of those disheartening instances where truth requires full as much - bolstering as error. So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest - and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching - the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might - scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more - detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory. -

-

- First: Though most men have some vague flitting ideas of the general - perils of the grand fishery, yet they have nothing like a fixed, vivid - conception of those perils, and the frequency with which they recur. One - reason perhaps is, that not one in fifty of the actual disasters and - deaths by casualties in the fishery, ever finds a public record at home, - however transient and immediately forgotten that record. Do you suppose - that that poor fellow there, who this moment perhaps caught by the - whale-line off the coast of New Guinea, is being carried down to the - bottom of the sea by the sounding leviathan—do you suppose that that - poor fellow's name will appear in the newspaper obituary you will read - to-morrow at your breakfast? No: because the mails are very irregular - between here and New Guinea. In fact, did you ever hear what might be - called regular news direct or indirect from New Guinea? Yet I tell you - that upon one particular voyage which I made to the Pacific, among many - others we spoke thirty different ships, every one of which had had a death - by a whale, some of them more than one, and three that had each lost a - boat's crew. For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! - not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man's blood was spilled - for it. -

-

- Secondly: People ashore have indeed some indefinite idea that a whale is - an enormous creature of enormous power; but I have ever found that when - narrating to them some specific example of this two-fold enormousness, - they have significantly complimented me upon my facetiousness; when, I - declare upon my soul, I had no more idea of being facetious than Moses, - when he wrote the history of the plagues of Egypt. -

-

- But fortunately the special point I here seek can be established upon - testimony entirely independent of my own. That point is this: The Sperm - Whale is in some cases sufficiently powerful, knowing, and judiciously - malicious, as with direct aforethought to stave in, utterly destroy, and - sink a large ship; and what is more, the Sperm Whale HAS done it. -

-

- First: In the year 1820 the ship Essex, Captain Pollard, of Nantucket, was - cruising in the Pacific Ocean. One day she saw spouts, lowered her boats, - and gave chase to a shoal of sperm whales. Ere long, several of the whales - were wounded; when, suddenly, a very large whale escaping from the boats, - issued from the shoal, and bore directly down upon the ship. Dashing his - forehead against her hull, he so stove her in, that in less than "ten - minutes" she settled down and fell over. Not a surviving plank of her has - been seen since. After the severest exposure, part of the crew reached the - land in their boats. Being returned home at last, Captain Pollard once - more sailed for the Pacific in command of another ship, but the gods - shipwrecked him again upon unknown rocks and breakers; for the second time - his ship was utterly lost, and forthwith forswearing the sea, he has never - tempted it since. At this day Captain Pollard is a resident of Nantucket. - I have seen Owen Chace, who was chief mate of the Essex at the time of the - tragedy; I have read his plain and faithful narrative; I have conversed - with his son; and all this within a few miles of the scene of the - catastrophe.* -

-

- *The following are extracts from Chace's narrative: "Every fact seemed to - warrant me in concluding that it was anything but chance which directed - his operations; he made two several attacks upon the ship, at a short - interval between them, both of which, according to their direction, were - calculated to do us the most injury, by being made ahead, and thereby - combining the speed of the two objects for the shock; to effect which, the - exact manoeuvres which he made were necessary. His aspect was most - horrible, and such as indicated resentment and fury. He came directly from - the shoal which we had just before entered, and in which we had struck - three of his companions, as if fired with revenge for their sufferings." - Again: "At all events, the whole circumstances taken together, all - happening before my own eyes, and producing, at the time, impressions in - my mind of decided, calculating mischief, on the part of the whale (many - of which impressions I cannot now recall), induce me to be satisfied that - I am correct in my opinion." -

-

- Here are his reflections some time after quitting the ship, during a black - night in an open boat, when almost despairing of reaching any hospitable - shore. "The dark ocean and swelling waters were nothing; the fears of - being swallowed up by some dreadful tempest, or dashed upon hidden rocks, - with all the other ordinary subjects of fearful contemplation, seemed - scarcely entitled to a moment's thought; the dismal looking wreck, and THE - HORRID ASPECT AND REVENGE OF THE WHALE, wholly engrossed my reflections, - until day again made its appearance." -

-

- In another place—p. 45,—he speaks of "THE MYSTERIOUS AND - MORTAL ATTACK OF THE ANIMAL." -

-

- Secondly: The ship Union, also of Nantucket, was in the year 1807 totally - lost off the Azores by a similar onset, but the authentic particulars of - this catastrophe I have never chanced to encounter, though from the whale - hunters I have now and then heard casual allusions to it. -

-

- Thirdly: Some eighteen or twenty years ago Commodore J—-, then - commanding an American sloop-of-war of the first class, happened to be - dining with a party of whaling captains, on board a Nantucket ship in the - harbor of Oahu, Sandwich Islands. Conversation turning upon whales, the - Commodore was pleased to be sceptical touching the amazing strength - ascribed to them by the professional gentlemen present. He peremptorily - denied for example, that any whale could so smite his stout sloop-of-war - as to cause her to leak so much as a thimbleful. Very good; but there is - more coming. Some weeks after, the Commodore set sail in this impregnable - craft for Valparaiso. But he was stopped on the way by a portly sperm - whale, that begged a few moments' confidential business with him. That - business consisted in fetching the Commodore's craft such a thwack, that - with all his pumps going he made straight for the nearest port to heave - down and repair. I am not superstitious, but I consider the Commodore's - interview with that whale as providential. Was not Saul of Tarsus - converted from unbelief by a similar fright? I tell you, the sperm whale - will stand no nonsense. -

-

- I will now refer you to Langsdorff's Voyages for a little circumstance in - point, peculiarly interesting to the writer hereof. Langsdorff, you must - know by the way, was attached to the Russian Admiral Krusenstern's famous - Discovery Expedition in the beginning of the present century. Captain - Langsdorff thus begins his seventeenth chapter: -

-

- "By the thirteenth of May our ship was ready to sail, and the next day we - were out in the open sea, on our way to Ochotsh. The weather was very - clear and fine, but so intolerably cold that we were obliged to keep on - our fur clothing. For some days we had very little wind; it was not till - the nineteenth that a brisk gale from the northwest sprang up. An uncommon - large whale, the body of which was larger than the ship itself, lay almost - at the surface of the water, but was not perceived by any one on board - till the moment when the ship, which was in full sail, was almost upon - him, so that it was impossible to prevent its striking against him. We - were thus placed in the most imminent danger, as this gigantic creature, - setting up its back, raised the ship three feet at least out of the water. - The masts reeled, and the sails fell altogether, while we who were below - all sprang instantly upon the deck, concluding that we had struck upon - some rock; instead of this we saw the monster sailing off with the utmost - gravity and solemnity. Captain D'Wolf applied immediately to the pumps to - examine whether or not the vessel had received any damage from the shock, - but we found that very happily it had escaped entirely uninjured." -

-

- Now, the Captain D'Wolf here alluded to as commanding the ship in - question, is a New Englander, who, after a long life of unusual adventures - as a sea-captain, this day resides in the village of Dorchester near - Boston. I have the honour of being a nephew of his. I have particularly - questioned him concerning this passage in Langsdorff. He substantiates - every word. The ship, however, was by no means a large one: a Russian - craft built on the Siberian coast, and purchased by my uncle after - bartering away the vessel in which he sailed from home. -

-

- In that up and down manly book of old-fashioned adventure, so full, too, - of honest wonders—the voyage of Lionel Wafer, one of ancient - Dampier's old chums—I found a little matter set down so like that - just quoted from Langsdorff, that I cannot forbear inserting it here for a - corroborative example, if such be needed. -

-

- Lionel, it seems, was on his way to "John Ferdinando," as he calls the - modern Juan Fernandes. "In our way thither," he says, "about four o'clock - in the morning, when we were about one hundred and fifty leagues from the - Main of America, our ship felt a terrible shock, which put our men in such - consternation that they could hardly tell where they were or what to - think; but every one began to prepare for death. And, indeed, the shock - was so sudden and violent, that we took it for granted the ship had struck - against a rock; but when the amazement was a little over, we cast the - lead, and sounded, but found no ground..... The suddenness of the shock - made the guns leap in their carriages, and several of the men were shaken - out of their hammocks. Captain Davis, who lay with his head on a gun, was - thrown out of his cabin!" Lionel then goes on to impute the shock to an - earthquake, and seems to substantiate the imputation by stating that a - great earthquake, somewhere about that time, did actually do great - mischief along the Spanish land. But I should not much wonder if, in the - darkness of that early hour of the morning, the shock was after all caused - by an unseen whale vertically bumping the hull from beneath. -

-

- I might proceed with several more examples, one way or another known to - me, of the great power and malice at times of the sperm whale. In more - than one instance, he has been known, not only to chase the assailing - boats back to their ships, but to pursue the ship itself, and long - withstand all the lances hurled at him from its decks. The English ship - Pusie Hall can tell a story on that head; and, as for his strength, let me - say, that there have been examples where the lines attached to a running - sperm whale have, in a calm, been transferred to the ship, and secured - there; the whale towing her great hull through the water, as a horse walks - off with a cart. Again, it is very often observed that, if the sperm - whale, once struck, is allowed time to rally, he then acts, not so often - with blind rage, as with wilful, deliberate designs of destruction to his - pursuers; nor is it without conveying some eloquent indication of his - character, that upon being attacked he will frequently open his mouth, and - retain it in that dread expansion for several consecutive minutes. But I - must be content with only one more and a concluding illustration; a - remarkable and most significant one, by which you will not fail to see, - that not only is the most marvellous event in this book corroborated by - plain facts of the present day, but that these marvels (like all marvels) - are mere repetitions of the ages; so that for the millionth time we say - amen with Solomon—Verily there is nothing new under the sun. -

-

- In the sixth Christian century lived Procopius, a Christian magistrate of - Constantinople, in the days when Justinian was Emperor and Belisarius - general. As many know, he wrote the history of his own times, a work every - way of uncommon value. By the best authorities, he has always been - considered a most trustworthy and unexaggerating historian, except in some - one or two particulars, not at all affecting the matter presently to be - mentioned. -

-

- Now, in this history of his, Procopius mentions that, during the term of - his prefecture at Constantinople, a great sea-monster was captured in the - neighboring Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, after having destroyed vessels - at intervals in those waters for a period of more than fifty years. A fact - thus set down in substantial history cannot easily be gainsaid. Nor is - there any reason it should be. Of what precise species this sea-monster - was, is not mentioned. But as he destroyed ships, as well as for other - reasons, he must have been a whale; and I am strongly inclined to think a - sperm whale. And I will tell you why. For a long time I fancied that the - sperm whale had been always unknown in the Mediterranean and the deep - waters connecting with it. Even now I am certain that those seas are not, - and perhaps never can be, in the present constitution of things, a place - for his habitual gregarious resort. But further investigations have - recently proved to me, that in modern times there have been isolated - instances of the presence of the sperm whale in the Mediterranean. I am - told, on good authority, that on the Barbary coast, a Commodore Davis of - the British navy found the skeleton of a sperm whale. Now, as a vessel of - war readily passes through the Dardanelles, hence a sperm whale could, by - the same route, pass out of the Mediterranean into the Propontis. -

-

- In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance - called BRIT is to be found, the aliment of the right whale. But I have - every reason to believe that the food of the sperm whale—squid or - cuttle-fish—lurks at the bottom of that sea, because large - creatures, but by no means the largest of that sort, have been found at - its surface. If, then, you properly put these statements together, and - reason upon them a bit, you will clearly perceive that, according to all - human reasoning, Procopius's sea-monster, that for half a century stove - the ships of a Roman Emperor, must in all probability have been a sperm - whale. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 46. Surmises. -

-

- Though, consumed with the hot fire of his purpose, Ahab in all his - thoughts and actions ever had in view the ultimate capture of Moby Dick; - though he seemed ready to sacrifice all mortal interests to that one - passion; nevertheless it may have been that he was by nature and long - habituation far too wedded to a fiery whaleman's ways, altogether to - abandon the collateral prosecution of the voyage. Or at least if this were - otherwise, there were not wanting other motives much more influential with - him. It would be refining too much, perhaps, even considering his - monomania, to hint that his vindictiveness towards the White Whale might - have possibly extended itself in some degree to all sperm whales, and that - the more monsters he slew by so much the more he multiplied the chances - that each subsequently encountered whale would prove to be the hated one - he hunted. But if such an hypothesis be indeed exceptionable, there were - still additional considerations which, though not so strictly according - with the wildness of his ruling passion, yet were by no means incapable of - swaying him. -

-

- To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools used in the - shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order. He knew, for - example, that however magnetic his ascendency in some respects was over - Starbuck, yet that ascendency did not cover the complete spiritual man any - more than mere corporeal superiority involves intellectual mastership; for - to the purely spiritual, the intellectual but stand in a sort of corporeal - relation. Starbuck's body and Starbuck's coerced will were Ahab's, so long - as Ahab kept his magnet at Starbuck's brain; still he knew that for all - this the chief mate, in his soul, abhorred his captain's quest, and could - he, would joyfully disintegrate himself from it, or even frustrate it. It - might be that a long interval would elapse ere the White Whale was seen. - During that long interval Starbuck would ever be apt to fall into open - relapses of rebellion against his captain's leadership, unless some - ordinary, prudential, circumstantial influences were brought to bear upon - him. Not only that, but the subtle insanity of Ahab respecting Moby Dick - was noways more significantly manifested than in his superlative sense and - shrewdness in foreseeing that, for the present, the hunt should in some - way be stripped of that strange imaginative impiousness which naturally - invested it; that the full terror of the voyage must be kept withdrawn - into the obscure background (for few men's courage is proof against - protracted meditation unrelieved by action); that when they stood their - long night watches, his officers and men must have some nearer things to - think of than Moby Dick. For however eagerly and impetuously the savage - crew had hailed the announcement of his quest; yet all sailors of all - sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable—they live in the - varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness—and when - retained for any object remote and blank in the pursuit, however - promissory of life and passion in the end, it is above all things - requisite that temporary interests and employments should intervene and - hold them healthily suspended for the final dash. -

-

- Nor was Ahab unmindful of another thing. In times of strong emotion - mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. - The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought - Ahab, is sordidness. Granting that the White Whale fully incites the - hearts of this my savage crew, and playing round their savageness even - breeds a certain generous knight-errantism in them, still, while for the - love of it they give chase to Moby Dick, they must also have food for - their more common, daily appetites. For even the high lifted and chivalric - Crusaders of old times were not content to traverse two thousand miles of - land to fight for their holy sepulchre, without committing burglaries, - picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way. Had they - been strictly held to their one final and romantic object—that final - and romantic object, too many would have turned from in disgust. I will - not strip these men, thought Ahab, of all hopes of cash—aye, cash. - They may scorn cash now; but let some months go by, and no perspective - promise of it to them, and then this same quiescent cash all at once - mutinying in them, this same cash would soon cashier Ahab. -

-

- Nor was there wanting still another precautionary motive more related to - Ahab personally. Having impulsively, it is probable, and perhaps somewhat - prematurely revealed the prime but private purpose of the Pequod's voyage, - Ahab was now entirely conscious that, in so doing, he had indirectly laid - himself open to the unanswerable charge of usurpation; and with perfect - impunity, both moral and legal, his crew if so disposed, and to that end - competent, could refuse all further obedience to him, and even violently - wrest from him the command. From even the barely hinted imputation of - usurpation, and the possible consequences of such a suppressed impression - gaining ground, Ahab must of course have been most anxious to protect - himself. That protection could only consist in his own predominating brain - and heart and hand, backed by a heedful, closely calculating attention to - every minute atmospheric influence which it was possible for his crew to - be subjected to. -

-

- For all these reasons then, and others perhaps too analytic to be verbally - developed here, Ahab plainly saw that he must still in a good degree - continue true to the natural, nominal purpose of the Pequod's voyage; - observe all customary usages; and not only that, but force himself to - evince all his well known passionate interest in the general pursuit of - his profession. -

-

- Be all this as it may, his voice was now often heard hailing the three - mast-heads and admonishing them to keep a bright look-out, and not omit - reporting even a porpoise. This vigilance was not long without reward. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 47. The Mat-Maker. -

-

- It was a cloudy, sultry afternoon; the seamen were lazily lounging about - the decks, or vacantly gazing over into the lead-coloured waters. Queequeg - and I were mildly employed weaving what is called a sword-mat, for an - additional lashing to our boat. So still and subdued and yet somehow - preluding was all the scene, and such an incantation of reverie lurked in - the air, that each silent sailor seemed resolved into his own invisible - self. -

-

- I was the attendant or page of Queequeg, while busy at the mat. As I kept - passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long - yarns of the warp, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, - standing sideways, ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the - threads, and idly looking off upon the water, carelessly and unthinkingly - drove home every yarn: I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign - all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting - dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, - and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the - Fates. There lay the fixed threads of the warp subject to but one single, - ever returning, unchanging vibration, and that vibration merely enough to - admit of the crosswise interblending of other threads with its own. This - warp seemed necessity; and here, thought I, with my own hand I ply my own - shuttle and weave my own destiny into these unalterable threads. Meantime, - Queequeg's impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof - slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; - and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding - contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric; this savage's sword, - thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this - easy, indifferent sword must be chance—aye, chance, free will, and - necessity—nowise incompatible—all interweavingly working - together. The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its - ultimate course—its every alternating vibration, indeed, only - tending to that; free will still free to ply her shuttle between given - threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines - of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though - thus prescribed to by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the last - featuring blow at events. -

-

- Thus we were weaving and weaving away when I started at a sound so - strange, long drawn, and musically wild and unearthly, that the ball of - free will dropped from my hand, and I stood gazing up at the clouds whence - that voice dropped like a wing. High aloft in the cross-trees was that mad - Gay-Header, Tashtego. His body was reaching eagerly forward, his hand - stretched out like a wand, and at brief sudden intervals he continued his - cries. To be sure the same sound was that very moment perhaps being heard - all over the seas, from hundreds of whalemen's look-outs perched as high - in the air; but from few of those lungs could that accustomed old cry have - derived such a marvellous cadence as from Tashtego the Indian's. -

-

- As he stood hovering over you half suspended in air, so wildly and eagerly - peering towards the horizon, you would have thought him some prophet or - seer beholding the shadows of Fate, and by those wild cries announcing - their coming. -

-

- "There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!" -

-

- "Where-away?" -

-

- "On the lee-beam, about two miles off! a school of them!" -

-

- Instantly all was commotion. -

-

- The Sperm Whale blows as a clock ticks, with the same undeviating and - reliable uniformity. And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from other - tribes of his genus. -

-

- "There go flukes!" was now the cry from Tashtego; and the whales - disappeared. -

-

- "Quick, steward!" cried Ahab. "Time! time!" -

-

- Dough-Boy hurried below, glanced at the watch, and reported the exact - minute to Ahab. -

-

- The ship was now kept away from the wind, and she went gently rolling - before it. Tashtego reporting that the whales had gone down heading to - leeward, we confidently looked to see them again directly in advance of - our bows. For that singular craft at times evinced by the Sperm Whale - when, sounding with his head in one direction, he nevertheless, while - concealed beneath the surface, mills round, and swiftly swims off in the - opposite quarter—this deceitfulness of his could not now be in - action; for there was no reason to suppose that the fish seen by Tashtego - had been in any way alarmed, or indeed knew at all of our vicinity. One of - the men selected for shipkeepers—that is, those not appointed to the - boats, by this time relieved the Indian at the main-mast head. The sailors - at the fore and mizzen had come down; the line tubs were fixed in their - places; the cranes were thrust out; the mainyard was backed, and the three - boats swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs. - Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the rail, - while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale. So look the long - line of man-of-war's men about to throw themselves on board an enemy's - ship. -

-

- But at this critical instant a sudden exclamation was heard that took - every eye from the whale. With a start all glared at dark Ahab, who was - surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of air. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 48. The First Lowering. -

-

- The phantoms, for so they then seemed, were flitting on the other side of - the deck, and, with a noiseless celerity, were casting loose the tackles - and bands of the boat which swung there. This boat had always been deemed - one of the spare boats, though technically called the captain's, on - account of its hanging from the starboard quarter. The figure that now - stood by its bows was tall and swart, with one white tooth evilly - protruding from its steel-like lips. A rumpled Chinese jacket of black - cotton funereally invested him, with wide black trowsers of the same dark - stuff. But strangely crowning this ebonness was a glistening white plaited - turban, the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head. - Less swart in aspect, the companions of this figure were of that vivid, - tiger-yellow complexion peculiar to some of the aboriginal natives of the - Manillas;—a race notorious for a certain diabolism of subtilty, and - by some honest white mariners supposed to be the paid spies and secret - confidential agents on the water of the devil, their lord, whose - counting-room they suppose to be elsewhere. -

-

- While yet the wondering ship's company were gazing upon these strangers, - Ahab cried out to the white-turbaned old man at their head, "All ready - there, Fedallah?" -

-

- "Ready," was the half-hissed reply. -

-

- "Lower away then; d'ye hear?" shouting across the deck. "Lower away there, - I say." -

-

- Such was the thunder of his voice, that spite of their amazement the men - sprang over the rail; the sheaves whirled round in the blocks; with a - wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, with a dexterous, - off-handed daring, unknown in any other vocation, the sailors, goat-like, - leaped down the rolling ship's side into the tossed boats below. -

-

- Hardly had they pulled out from under the ship's lee, when a fourth keel, - coming from the windward side, pulled round under the stern, and showed - the five strangers rowing Ahab, who, standing erect in the stern, loudly - hailed Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, to spread themselves widely, so as to - cover a large expanse of water. But with all their eyes again riveted upon - the swart Fedallah and his crew, the inmates of the other boats obeyed not - the command. -

-

- "Captain Ahab?—" said Starbuck. -

-

- "Spread yourselves," cried Ahab; "give way, all four boats. Thou, Flask, - pull out more to leeward!" -

-

- "Aye, aye, sir," cheerily cried little King-Post, sweeping round his great - steering oar. "Lay back!" addressing his crew. "There!—there!—there - again! There she blows right ahead, boys!—lay back!" -

-

- "Never heed yonder yellow boys, Archy." -

-

- "Oh, I don't mind'em, sir," said Archy; "I knew it all before now. Didn't - I hear 'em in the hold? And didn't I tell Cabaco here of it? What say ye, - Cabaco? They are stowaways, Mr. Flask." -

-

- "Pull, pull, my fine hearts-alive; pull, my children; pull, my little - ones," drawlingly and soothingly sighed Stubb to his crew, some of whom - still showed signs of uneasiness. "Why don't you break your backbones, my - boys? What is it you stare at? Those chaps in yonder boat? Tut! They are - only five more hands come to help us—never mind from where—the - more the merrier. Pull, then, do pull; never mind the brimstone—devils - are good fellows enough. So, so; there you are now; that's the stroke for - a thousand pounds; that's the stroke to sweep the stakes! Hurrah for the - gold cup of sperm oil, my heroes! Three cheers, men—all hearts - alive! Easy, easy; don't be in a hurry—don't be in a hurry. Why - don't you snap your oars, you rascals? Bite something, you dogs! So, so, - so, then:—softly, softly! That's it—that's it! long and - strong. Give way there, give way! The devil fetch ye, ye ragamuffin - rapscallions; ye are all asleep. Stop snoring, ye sleepers, and pull. - Pull, will ye? pull, can't ye? pull, won't ye? Why in the name of gudgeons - and ginger-cakes don't ye pull?—pull and break something! pull, and - start your eyes out! Here!" whipping out the sharp knife from his girdle; - "every mother's son of ye draw his knife, and pull with the blade between - his teeth. That's it—that's it. Now ye do something; that looks like - it, my steel-bits. Start her—start her, my silver-spoons! Start her, - marling-spikes!" -

-

- Stubb's exordium to his crew is given here at large, because he had rather - a peculiar way of talking to them in general, and especially in - inculcating the religion of rowing. But you must not suppose from this - specimen of his sermonizings that he ever flew into downright passions - with his congregation. Not at all; and therein consisted his chief - peculiarity. He would say the most terrific things to his crew, in a tone - so strangely compounded of fun and fury, and the fury seemed so calculated - merely as a spice to the fun, that no oarsman could hear such queer - invocations without pulling for dear life, and yet pulling for the mere - joke of the thing. Besides he all the time looked so easy and indolent - himself, so loungingly managed his steering-oar, and so broadly gaped—open-mouthed - at times—that the mere sight of such a yawning commander, by sheer - force of contrast, acted like a charm upon the crew. Then again, Stubb was - one of those odd sort of humorists, whose jollity is sometimes so - curiously ambiguous, as to put all inferiors on their guard in the matter - of obeying them. -

-

- In obedience to a sign from Ahab, Starbuck was now pulling obliquely - across Stubb's bow; and when for a minute or so the two boats were pretty - near to each other, Stubb hailed the mate. -

-

- "Mr. Starbuck! larboard boat there, ahoy! a word with ye, sir, if ye - please!" -

-

- "Halloa!" returned Starbuck, turning round not a single inch as he spoke; - still earnestly but whisperingly urging his crew; his face set like a - flint from Stubb's. -

-

- "What think ye of those yellow boys, sir! -

-

- "Smuggled on board, somehow, before the ship sailed. (Strong, strong, - boys!)" in a whisper to his crew, then speaking out loud again: "A sad - business, Mr. Stubb! (seethe her, seethe her, my lads!) but never mind, - Mr. Stubb, all for the best. Let all your crew pull strong, come what - will. (Spring, my men, spring!) There's hogsheads of sperm ahead, Mr. - Stubb, and that's what ye came for. (Pull, my boys!) Sperm, sperm's the - play! This at least is duty; duty and profit hand in hand." -

-

- "Aye, aye, I thought as much," soliloquized Stubb, when the boats - diverged, "as soon as I clapt eye on 'em, I thought so. Aye, and that's - what he went into the after hold for, so often, as Dough-Boy long - suspected. They were hidden down there. The White Whale's at the bottom of - it. Well, well, so be it! Can't be helped! All right! Give way, men! It - ain't the White Whale to-day! Give way!" -

-

- Now the advent of these outlandish strangers at such a critical instant as - the lowering of the boats from the deck, this had not unreasonably - awakened a sort of superstitious amazement in some of the ship's company; - but Archy's fancied discovery having some time previous got abroad among - them, though indeed not credited then, this had in some small measure - prepared them for the event. It took off the extreme edge of their wonder; - and so what with all this and Stubb's confident way of accounting for - their appearance, they were for the time freed from superstitious - surmisings; though the affair still left abundant room for all manner of - wild conjectures as to dark Ahab's precise agency in the matter from the - beginning. For me, I silently recalled the mysterious shadows I had seen - creeping on board the Pequod during the dim Nantucket dawn, as well as the - enigmatical hintings of the unaccountable Elijah. -

-

- Meantime, Ahab, out of hearing of his officers, having sided the furthest - to windward, was still ranging ahead of the other boats; a circumstance - bespeaking how potent a crew was pulling him. Those tiger yellow creatures - of his seemed all steel and whalebone; like five trip-hammers they rose - and fell with regular strokes of strength, which periodically started the - boat along the water like a horizontal burst boiler out of a Mississippi - steamer. As for Fedallah, who was seen pulling the harpooneer oar, he had - thrown aside his black jacket, and displayed his naked chest with the - whole part of his body above the gunwale, clearly cut against the - alternating depressions of the watery horizon; while at the other end of - the boat Ahab, with one arm, like a fencer's, thrown half backward into - the air, as if to counterbalance any tendency to trip; Ahab was seen - steadily managing his steering oar as in a thousand boat lowerings ere the - White Whale had torn him. All at once the outstretched arm gave a peculiar - motion and then remained fixed, while the boat's five oars were seen - simultaneously peaked. Boat and crew sat motionless on the sea. Instantly - the three spread boats in the rear paused on their way. The whales had - irregularly settled bodily down into the blue, thus giving no distantly - discernible token of the movement, though from his closer vicinity Ahab - had observed it. -

-

- "Every man look out along his oars!" cried Starbuck. "Thou, Queequeg, - stand up!" -

-

- Nimbly springing up on the triangular raised box in the bow, the savage - stood erect there, and with intensely eager eyes gazed off towards the - spot where the chase had last been descried. Likewise upon the extreme - stern of the boat where it was also triangularly platformed level with the - gunwale, Starbuck himself was seen coolly and adroitly balancing himself - to the jerking tossings of his chip of a craft, and silently eyeing the - vast blue eye of the sea. -

-

- Not very far distant Flask's boat was also lying breathlessly still; its - commander recklessly standing upon the top of the loggerhead, a stout sort - of post rooted in the keel, and rising some two feet above the level of - the stern platform. It is used for catching turns with the whale line. Its - top is not more spacious than the palm of a man's hand, and standing upon - such a base as that, Flask seemed perched at the mast-head of some ship - which had sunk to all but her trucks. But little King-Post was small and - short, and at the same time little King-Post was full of a large and tall - ambition, so that this loggerhead stand-point of his did by no means - satisfy King-Post. -

-

- "I can't see three seas off; tip us up an oar there, and let me on to - that." -

-

- Upon this, Daggoo, with either hand upon the gunwale to steady his way, - swiftly slid aft, and then erecting himself volunteered his lofty - shoulders for a pedestal. -

-

- "Good a mast-head as any, sir. Will you mount?" -

-

- "That I will, and thank ye very much, my fine fellow; only I wish you - fifty feet taller." -

-

- Whereupon planting his feet firmly against two opposite planks of the - boat, the gigantic negro, stooping a little, presented his flat palm to - Flask's foot, and then putting Flask's hand on his hearse-plumed head and - bidding him spring as he himself should toss, with one dexterous fling - landed the little man high and dry on his shoulders. And here was Flask - now standing, Daggoo with one lifted arm furnishing him with a breastband - to lean against and steady himself by. -

-

- At any time it is a strange sight to the tyro to see with what wondrous - habitude of unconscious skill the whaleman will maintain an erect posture - in his boat, even when pitched about by the most riotously perverse and - cross-running seas. Still more strange to see him giddily perched upon the - loggerhead itself, under such circumstances. But the sight of little Flask - mounted upon gigantic Daggoo was yet more curious; for sustaining himself - with a cool, indifferent, easy, unthought of, barbaric majesty, the noble - negro to every roll of the sea harmoniously rolled his fine form. On his - broad back, flaxen-haired Flask seemed a snow-flake. The bearer looked - nobler than the rider. Though truly vivacious, tumultuous, ostentatious - little Flask would now and then stamp with impatience; but not one added - heave did he thereby give to the negro's lordly chest. So have I seen - Passion and Vanity stamping the living magnanimous earth, but the earth - did not alter her tides and her seasons for that. -

-

- Meanwhile Stubb, the third mate, betrayed no such far-gazing solicitudes. - The whales might have made one of their regular soundings, not a temporary - dive from mere fright; and if that were the case, Stubb, as his wont in - such cases, it seems, was resolved to solace the languishing interval with - his pipe. He withdrew it from his hatband, where he always wore it aslant - like a feather. He loaded it, and rammed home the loading with his - thumb-end; but hardly had he ignited his match across the rough sandpaper - of his hand, when Tashtego, his harpooneer, whose eyes had been setting to - windward like two fixed stars, suddenly dropped like light from his erect - attitude to his seat, crying out in a quick phrensy of hurry, "Down, down - all, and give way!—there they are!" -

-

- To a landsman, no whale, nor any sign of a herring, would have been - visible at that moment; nothing but a troubled bit of greenish white - water, and thin scattered puffs of vapour hovering over it, and - suffusingly blowing off to leeward, like the confused scud from white - rolling billows. The air around suddenly vibrated and tingled, as it were, - like the air over intensely heated plates of iron. Beneath this - atmospheric waving and curling, and partially beneath a thin layer of - water, also, the whales were swimming. Seen in advance of all the other - indications, the puffs of vapour they spouted, seemed their forerunning - couriers and detached flying outriders. -

-

- All four boats were now in keen pursuit of that one spot of troubled water - and air. But it bade fair to outstrip them; it flew on and on, as a mass - of interblending bubbles borne down a rapid stream from the hills. -

-

- "Pull, pull, my good boys," said Starbuck, in the lowest possible but - intensest concentrated whisper to his men; while the sharp fixed glance - from his eyes darted straight ahead of the bow, almost seemed as two - visible needles in two unerring binnacle compasses. He did not say much to - his crew, though, nor did his crew say anything to him. Only the silence - of the boat was at intervals startlingly pierced by one of his peculiar - whispers, now harsh with command, now soft with entreaty. -

-

- How different the loud little King-Post. "Sing out and say something, my - hearties. Roar and pull, my thunderbolts! Beach me, beach me on their - black backs, boys; only do that for me, and I'll sign over to you my - Martha's Vineyard plantation, boys; including wife and children, boys. Lay - me on—lay me on! O Lord, Lord! but I shall go stark, staring mad! - See! see that white water!" And so shouting, he pulled his hat from his - head, and stamped up and down on it; then picking it up, flirted it far - off upon the sea; and finally fell to rearing and plunging in the boat's - stern like a crazed colt from the prairie. -

-

- "Look at that chap now," philosophically drawled Stubb, who, with his - unlighted short pipe, mechanically retained between his teeth, at a short - distance, followed after—"He's got fits, that Flask has. Fits? yes, - give him fits—that's the very word—pitch fits into 'em. - Merrily, merrily, hearts-alive. Pudding for supper, you know;—merry's - the word. Pull, babes—pull, sucklings—pull, all. But what the - devil are you hurrying about? Softly, softly, and steadily, my men. Only - pull, and keep pulling; nothing more. Crack all your backbones, and bite - your knives in two—that's all. Take it easy—why don't ye take - it easy, I say, and burst all your livers and lungs!" -

-

- But what it was that inscrutable Ahab said to that tiger-yellow crew of - his—these were words best omitted here; for you live under the - blessed light of the evangelical land. Only the infidel sharks in the - audacious seas may give ear to such words, when, with tornado brow, and - eyes of red murder, and foam-glued lips, Ahab leaped after his prey. -

-

- Meanwhile, all the boats tore on. The repeated specific allusions of Flask - to "that whale," as he called the fictitious monster which he declared to - be incessantly tantalizing his boat's bow with its tail—these - allusions of his were at times so vivid and life-like, that they would - cause some one or two of his men to snatch a fearful look over the - shoulder. But this was against all rule; for the oarsmen must put out - their eyes, and ram a skewer through their necks; usage pronouncing that - they must have no organs but ears, and no limbs but arms, in these - critical moments. -

-

- It was a sight full of quick wonder and awe! The vast swells of the - omnipotent sea; the surging, hollow roar they made, as they rolled along - the eight gunwales, like gigantic bowls in a boundless bowling-green; the - brief suspended agony of the boat, as it would tip for an instant on the - knife-like edge of the sharper waves, that almost seemed threatening to - cut it in two; the sudden profound dip into the watery glens and hollows; - the keen spurrings and goadings to gain the top of the opposite hill; the - headlong, sled-like slide down its other side;—all these, with the - cries of the headsmen and harpooneers, and the shuddering gasps of the - oarsmen, with the wondrous sight of the ivory Pequod bearing down upon her - boats with outstretched sails, like a wild hen after her screaming brood;—all - this was thrilling. -

-

- Not the raw recruit, marching from the bosom of his wife into the fever - heat of his first battle; not the dead man's ghost encountering the first - unknown phantom in the other world;—neither of these can feel - stranger and stronger emotions than that man does, who for the first time - finds himself pulling into the charmed, churned circle of the hunted sperm - whale. -

-

- The dancing white water made by the chase was now becoming more and more - visible, owing to the increasing darkness of the dun cloud-shadows flung - upon the sea. The jets of vapour no longer blended, but tilted everywhere - to right and left; the whales seemed separating their wakes. The boats - were pulled more apart; Starbuck giving chase to three whales running dead - to leeward. Our sail was now set, and, with the still rising wind, we - rushed along; the boat going with such madness through the water, that the - lee oars could scarcely be worked rapidly enough to escape being torn from - the row-locks. -

-

- Soon we were running through a suffusing wide veil of mist; neither ship - nor boat to be seen. -

-

- "Give way, men," whispered Starbuck, drawing still further aft the sheet - of his sail; "there is time to kill a fish yet before the squall comes. - There's white water again!—close to! Spring!" -

-

- Soon after, two cries in quick succession on each side of us denoted that - the other boats had got fast; but hardly were they overheard, when with a - lightning-like hurtling whisper Starbuck said: "Stand up!" and Queequeg, - harpoon in hand, sprang to his feet. -

-

- Though not one of the oarsmen was then facing the life and death peril so - close to them ahead, yet with their eyes on the intense countenance of the - mate in the stern of the boat, they knew that the imminent instant had - come; they heard, too, an enormous wallowing sound as of fifty elephants - stirring in their litter. Meanwhile the boat was still booming through the - mist, the waves curling and hissing around us like the erected crests of - enraged serpents. -

-

- "That's his hump. THERE, THERE, give it to him!" whispered Starbuck. -

-

- A short rushing sound leaped out of the boat; it was the darted iron of - Queequeg. Then all in one welded commotion came an invisible push from - astern, while forward the boat seemed striking on a ledge; the sail - collapsed and exploded; a gush of scalding vapour shot up near by; - something rolled and tumbled like an earthquake beneath us. The whole crew - were half suffocated as they were tossed helter-skelter into the white - curdling cream of the squall. Squall, whale, and harpoon had all blended - together; and the whale, merely grazed by the iron, escaped. -

-

- Though completely swamped, the boat was nearly unharmed. Swimming round it - we picked up the floating oars, and lashing them across the gunwale, - tumbled back to our places. There we sat up to our knees in the sea, the - water covering every rib and plank, so that to our downward gazing eyes - the suspended craft seemed a coral boat grown up to us from the bottom of - the ocean. -

-

- The wind increased to a howl; the waves dashed their bucklers together; - the whole squall roared, forked, and crackled around us like a white fire - upon the prairie, in which, unconsumed, we were burning; immortal in these - jaws of death! In vain we hailed the other boats; as well roar to the live - coals down the chimney of a flaming furnace as hail those boats in that - storm. Meanwhile the driving scud, rack, and mist, grew darker with the - shadows of night; no sign of the ship could be seen. The rising sea - forbade all attempts to bale out the boat. The oars were useless as - propellers, performing now the office of life-preservers. So, cutting the - lashing of the waterproof match keg, after many failures Starbuck - contrived to ignite the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif - pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. - There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that - almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man - without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair. -

-

- Wet, drenched through, and shivering cold, despairing of ship or boat, we - lifted up our eyes as the dawn came on. The mist still spread over the - sea, the empty lantern lay crushed in the bottom of the boat. Suddenly - Queequeg started to his feet, hollowing his hand to his ear. We all heard - a faint creaking, as of ropes and yards hitherto muffled by the storm. The - sound came nearer and nearer; the thick mists were dimly parted by a huge, - vague form. Affrighted, we all sprang into the sea as the ship at last - loomed into view, bearing right down upon us within a distance of not much - more than its length. -

-

- Floating on the waves we saw the abandoned boat, as for one instant it - tossed and gaped beneath the ship's bows like a chip at the base of a - cataract; and then the vast hull rolled over it, and it was seen no more - till it came up weltering astern. Again we swam for it, were dashed - against it by the seas, and were at last taken up and safely landed on - board. Ere the squall came close to, the other boats had cut loose from - their fish and returned to the ship in good time. The ship had given us - up, but was still cruising, if haply it might light upon some token of our - perishing,—an oar or a lance pole. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 49. The Hyena. -

-

- There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair - we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical - joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects - that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. However, nothing - dispirits, and nothing seems worth while disputing. He bolts down all - events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible - and invisible, never mind how knobby; as an ostrich of potent digestion - gobbles down bullets and gun flints. And as for small difficulties and - worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all - these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and - jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old - joker. That odd sort of wayward mood I am speaking of, comes over a man - only in some time of extreme tribulation; it comes in the very midst of - his earnestness, so that what just before might have seemed to him a thing - most momentous, now seems but a part of the general joke. There is nothing - like the perils of whaling to breed this free and easy sort of genial, - desperado philosophy; and with it I now regarded this whole voyage of the - Pequod, and the great White Whale its object. -

-

- "Queequeg," said I, when they had dragged me, the last man, to the deck, - and I was still shaking myself in my jacket to fling off the water; - "Queequeg, my fine friend, does this sort of thing often happen?" Without - much emotion, though soaked through just like me, he gave me to understand - that such things did often happen. -

-

- "Mr. Stubb," said I, turning to that worthy, who, buttoned up in his - oil-jacket, was now calmly smoking his pipe in the rain; "Mr. Stubb, I - think I have heard you say that of all whalemen you ever met, our chief - mate, Mr. Starbuck, is by far the most careful and prudent. I suppose - then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy - squall is the height of a whaleman's discretion?" -

-

- "Certain. I've lowered for whales from a leaking ship in a gale off Cape - Horn." -

-

- "Mr. Flask," said I, turning to little King-Post, who was standing close - by; "you are experienced in these things, and I am not. Will you tell me - whether it is an unalterable law in this fishery, Mr. Flask, for an - oarsman to break his own back pulling himself back-foremost into death's - jaws?" -

-

- "Can't you twist that smaller?" said Flask. "Yes, that's the law. I should - like to see a boat's crew backing water up to a whale face foremost. Ha, - ha! the whale would give them squint for squint, mind that!" -

-

- Here then, from three impartial witnesses, I had a deliberate statement of - the entire case. Considering, therefore, that squalls and capsizings in - the water and consequent bivouacks on the deep, were matters of common - occurrence in this kind of life; considering that at the superlatively - critical instant of going on to the whale I must resign my life into the - hands of him who steered the boat—oftentimes a fellow who at that - very moment is in his impetuousness upon the point of scuttling the craft - with his own frantic stampings; considering that the particular disaster - to our own particular boat was chiefly to be imputed to Starbuck's driving - on to his whale almost in the teeth of a squall, and considering that - Starbuck, notwithstanding, was famous for his great heedfulness in the - fishery; considering that I belonged to this uncommonly prudent Starbuck's - boat; and finally considering in what a devil's chase I was implicated, - touching the White Whale: taking all things together, I say, I thought I - might as well go below and make a rough draft of my will. "Queequeg," said - I, "come along, you shall be my lawyer, executor, and legatee." -

-

- It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering at their - last wills and testaments, but there are no people in the world more fond - of that diversion. This was the fourth time in my nautical life that I had - done the same thing. After the ceremony was concluded upon the present - occasion, I felt all the easier; a stone was rolled away from my heart. - Besides, all the days I should now live would be as good as the days that - Lazarus lived after his resurrection; a supplementary clean gain of so - many months or weeks as the case might be. I survived myself; my death and - burial were locked up in my chest. I looked round me tranquilly and - contentedly, like a quiet ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the - bars of a snug family vault. -

-

- Now then, thought I, unconsciously rolling up the sleeves of my frock, - here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the - devil fetch the hindmost. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 50. Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah. -

-

- "Who would have thought it, Flask!" cried Stubb; "if I had but one leg you - would not catch me in a boat, unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my - timber toe. Oh! he's a wonderful old man!" -

-

- "I don't think it so strange, after all, on that account," said Flask. "If - his leg were off at the hip, now, it would be a different thing. That - would disable him; but he has one knee, and good part of the other left, - you know." -

-

- "I don't know that, my little man; I never yet saw him kneel." -

-

- Among whale-wise people it has often been argued whether, considering the - paramount importance of his life to the success of the voyage, it is right - for a whaling captain to jeopardize that life in the active perils of the - chase. So Tamerlane's soldiers often argued with tears in their eyes, - whether that invaluable life of his ought to be carried into the thickest - of the fight. -

-

- But with Ahab the question assumed a modified aspect. Considering that - with two legs man is but a hobbling wight in all times of danger; - considering that the pursuit of whales is always under great and - extraordinary difficulties; that every individual moment, indeed, then - comprises a peril; under these circumstances is it wise for any maimed man - to enter a whale-boat in the hunt? As a general thing, the joint-owners of - the Pequod must have plainly thought not. -

-

- Ahab well knew that although his friends at home would think little of his - entering a boat in certain comparatively harmless vicissitudes of the - chase, for the sake of being near the scene of action and giving his - orders in person, yet for Captain Ahab to have a boat actually apportioned - to him as a regular headsman in the hunt—above all for Captain Ahab - to be supplied with five extra men, as that same boat's crew, he well knew - that such generous conceits never entered the heads of the owners of the - Pequod. Therefore he had not solicited a boat's crew from them, nor had he - in any way hinted his desires on that head. Nevertheless he had taken - private measures of his own touching all that matter. Until Cabaco's - published discovery, the sailors had little foreseen it, though to be sure - when, after being a little while out of port, all hands had concluded the - customary business of fitting the whaleboats for service; when some time - after this Ahab was now and then found bestirring himself in the matter of - making thole-pins with his own hands for what was thought to be one of the - spare boats, and even solicitously cutting the small wooden skewers, which - when the line is running out are pinned over the groove in the bow: when - all this was observed in him, and particularly his solicitude in having an - extra coat of sheathing in the bottom of the boat, as if to make it better - withstand the pointed pressure of his ivory limb; and also the anxiety he - evinced in exactly shaping the thigh board, or clumsy cleat, as it is - sometimes called, the horizontal piece in the boat's bow for bracing the - knee against in darting or stabbing at the whale; when it was observed how - often he stood up in that boat with his solitary knee fixed in the - semi-circular depression in the cleat, and with the carpenter's chisel - gouged out a little here and straightened it a little there; all these - things, I say, had awakened much interest and curiosity at the time. But - almost everybody supposed that this particular preparative heedfulness in - Ahab must only be with a view to the ultimate chase of Moby Dick; for he - had already revealed his intention to hunt that mortal monster in person. - But such a supposition did by no means involve the remotest suspicion as - to any boat's crew being assigned to that boat. -

-

- Now, with the subordinate phantoms, what wonder remained soon waned away; - for in a whaler wonders soon wane. Besides, now and then such - unaccountable odds and ends of strange nations come up from the unknown - nooks and ash-holes of the earth to man these floating outlaws of whalers; - and the ships themselves often pick up such queer castaway creatures found - tossing about the open sea on planks, bits of wreck, oars, whaleboats, - canoes, blown-off Japanese junks, and what not; that Beelzebub himself - might climb up the side and step down into the cabin to chat with the - captain, and it would not create any unsubduable excitement in the - forecastle. -

-

- But be all this as it may, certain it is that while the subordinate - phantoms soon found their place among the crew, though still as it were - somehow distinct from them, yet that hair-turbaned Fedallah remained a - muffled mystery to the last. Whence he came in a mannerly world like this, - by what sort of unaccountable tie he soon evinced himself to be linked - with Ahab's peculiar fortunes; nay, so far as to have some sort of a - half-hinted influence; Heaven knows, but it might have been even authority - over him; all this none knew. But one cannot sustain an indifferent air - concerning Fedallah. He was such a creature as civilized, domestic people - in the temperate zone only see in their dreams, and that but dimly; but - the like of whom now and then glide among the unchanging Asiatic - communities, especially the Oriental isles to the east of the continent—those - insulated, immemorial, unalterable countries, which even in these modern - days still preserve much of the ghostly aboriginalness of earth's primal - generations, when the memory of the first man was a distinct recollection, - and all men his descendants, unknowing whence he came, eyed each other as - real phantoms, and asked of the sun and the moon why they were created and - to what end; when though, according to Genesis, the angels indeed - consorted with the daughters of men, the devils also, add the uncanonical - Rabbins, indulged in mundane amours. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 51. The Spirit-Spout. -

-

- Days, weeks passed, and under easy sail, the ivory Pequod had slowly swept - across four several cruising-grounds; that off the Azores; off the Cape de - Verdes; on the Plate (so called), being off the mouth of the Rio de la - Plata; and the Carrol Ground, an unstaked, watery locality, southerly from - St. Helena. -

-

- It was while gliding through these latter waters that one serene and - moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver; and, - by their soft, suffusing seethings, made what seemed a silvery silence, - not a solitude; on such a silent night a silvery jet was seen far in - advance of the white bubbles at the bow. Lit up by the moon, it looked - celestial; seemed some plumed and glittering god uprising from the sea. - Fedallah first descried this jet. For of these moonlight nights, it was - his wont to mount to the main-mast head, and stand a look-out there, with - the same precision as if it had been day. And yet, though herds of whales - were seen by night, not one whaleman in a hundred would venture a lowering - for them. You may think with what emotions, then, the seamen beheld this - old Oriental perched aloft at such unusual hours; his turban and the moon, - companions in one sky. But when, after spending his uniform interval there - for several successive nights without uttering a single sound; when, after - all this silence, his unearthly voice was heard announcing that silvery, - moon-lit jet, every reclining mariner started to his feet as if some - winged spirit had lighted in the rigging, and hailed the mortal crew. - "There she blows!" Had the trump of judgment blown, they could not have - quivered more; yet still they felt no terror; rather pleasure. For though - it was a most unwonted hour, yet so impressive was the cry, and so - deliriously exciting, that almost every soul on board instinctively - desired a lowering. -

-

- Walking the deck with quick, side-lunging strides, Ahab commanded the - t'gallant sails and royals to be set, and every stunsail spread. The best - man in the ship must take the helm. Then, with every mast-head manned, the - piled-up craft rolled down before the wind. The strange, upheaving, - lifting tendency of the taffrail breeze filling the hollows of so many - sails, made the buoyant, hovering deck to feel like air beneath the feet; - while still she rushed along, as if two antagonistic influences were - struggling in her—one to mount direct to heaven, the other to drive - yawingly to some horizontal goal. And had you watched Ahab's face that - night, you would have thought that in him also two different things were - warring. While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every - stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap. On life and death this - old man walked. But though the ship so swiftly sped, and though from every - eye, like arrows, the eager glances shot, yet the silvery jet was no more - seen that night. Every sailor swore he saw it once, but not a second time. -

-

- This midnight-spout had almost grown a forgotten thing, when, some days - after, lo! at the same silent hour, it was again announced: again it was - descried by all; but upon making sail to overtake it, once more it - disappeared as if it had never been. And so it served us night after - night, till no one heeded it but to wonder at it. Mysteriously jetted into - the clear moonlight, or starlight, as the case might be; disappearing - again for one whole day, or two days, or three; and somehow seeming at - every distinct repetition to be advancing still further and further in our - van, this solitary jet seemed for ever alluring us on. -

-

- Nor with the immemorial superstition of their race, and in accordance with - the preternaturalness, as it seemed, which in many things invested the - Pequod, were there wanting some of the seamen who swore that whenever and - wherever descried; at however remote times, or in however far apart - latitudes and longitudes, that unnearable spout was cast by one self-same - whale; and that whale, Moby Dick. For a time, there reigned, too, a sense - of peculiar dread at this flitting apparition, as if it were treacherously - beckoning us on and on, in order that the monster might turn round upon - us, and rend us at last in the remotest and most savage seas. -

-

- These temporary apprehensions, so vague but so awful, derived a wondrous - potency from the contrasting serenity of the weather, in which, beneath - all its blue blandness, some thought there lurked a devilish charm, as for - days and days we voyaged along, through seas so wearily, lonesomely mild, - that all space, in repugnance to our vengeful errand, seemed vacating - itself of life before our urn-like prow. -

-

- But, at last, when turning to the eastward, the Cape winds began howling - around us, and we rose and fell upon the long, troubled seas that are - there; when the ivory-tusked Pequod sharply bowed to the blast, and gored - the dark waves in her madness, till, like showers of silver chips, the - foam-flakes flew over her bulwarks; then all this desolate vacuity of life - went away, but gave place to sights more dismal than before. -

-

- Close to our bows, strange forms in the water darted hither and thither - before us; while thick in our rear flew the inscrutable sea-ravens. And - every morning, perched on our stays, rows of these birds were seen; and - spite of our hootings, for a long time obstinately clung to the hemp, as - though they deemed our ship some drifting, uninhabited craft; a thing - appointed to desolation, and therefore fit roosting-place for their - homeless selves. And heaved and heaved, still unrestingly heaved the black - sea, as if its vast tides were a conscience; and the great mundane soul - were in anguish and remorse for the long sin and suffering it had bred. -

-

- Cape of Good Hope, do they call ye? Rather Cape Tormentoto, as called of - yore; for long allured by the perfidious silences that before had attended - us, we found ourselves launched into this tormented sea, where guilty - beings transformed into those fowls and these fish, seemed condemned to - swim on everlastingly without any haven in store, or beat that black air - without any horizon. But calm, snow-white, and unvarying; still directing - its fountain of feathers to the sky; still beckoning us on from before, - the solitary jet would at times be descried. -

-

- During all this blackness of the elements, Ahab, though assuming for the - time the almost continual command of the drenched and dangerous deck, - manifested the gloomiest reserve; and more seldom than ever addressed his - mates. In tempestuous times like these, after everything above and aloft - has been secured, nothing more can be done but passively to await the - issue of the gale. Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists. So, - with his ivory leg inserted into its accustomed hole, and with one hand - firmly grasping a shroud, Ahab for hours and hours would stand gazing dead - to windward, while an occasional squall of sleet or snow would all but - congeal his very eyelashes together. Meantime, the crew driven from the - forward part of the ship by the perilous seas that burstingly broke over - its bows, stood in a line along the bulwarks in the waist; and the better - to guard against the leaping waves, each man had slipped himself into a - sort of bowline secured to the rail, in which he swung as in a loosened - belt. Few or no words were spoken; and the silent ship, as if manned by - painted sailors in wax, day after day tore on through all the swift - madness and gladness of the demoniac waves. By night the same muteness of - humanity before the shrieks of the ocean prevailed; still in silence the - men swung in the bowlines; still wordless Ahab stood up to the blast. Even - when wearied nature seemed demanding repose he would not seek that repose - in his hammock. Never could Starbuck forget the old man's aspect, when one - night going down into the cabin to mark how the barometer stood, he saw - him with closed eyes sitting straight in his floor-screwed chair; the rain - and half-melted sleet of the storm from which he had some time before - emerged, still slowly dripping from the unremoved hat and coat. On the - table beside him lay unrolled one of those charts of tides and currents - which have previously been spoken of. His lantern swung from his tightly - clenched hand. Though the body was erect, the head was thrown back so that - the closed eyes were pointed towards the needle of the tell-tale that - swung from a beam in the ceiling.* -

-

- *The cabin-compass is called the tell-tale, because without going to the - compass at the helm, the Captain, while below, can inform himself of the - course of the ship. -

-

- Terrible old man! thought Starbuck with a shudder, sleeping in this gale, - still thou steadfastly eyest thy purpose. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 52. The Albatross. -

-

- South-eastward from the Cape, off the distant Crozetts, a good cruising - ground for Right Whalemen, a sail loomed ahead, the Goney (Albatross) by - name. As she slowly drew nigh, from my lofty perch at the fore-mast-head, - I had a good view of that sight so remarkable to a tyro in the far ocean - fisheries—a whaler at sea, and long absent from home. -

-

- As if the waves had been fullers, this craft was bleached like the - skeleton of a stranded walrus. All down her sides, this spectral - appearance was traced with long channels of reddened rust, while all her - spars and her rigging were like the thick branches of trees furred over - with hoar-frost. Only her lower sails were set. A wild sight it was to see - her long-bearded look-outs at those three mast-heads. They seemed clad in - the skins of beasts, so torn and bepatched the raiment that had survived - nearly four years of cruising. Standing in iron hoops nailed to the mast, - they swayed and swung over a fathomless sea; and though, when the ship - slowly glided close under our stern, we six men in the air came so nigh to - each other that we might almost have leaped from the mast-heads of one - ship to those of the other; yet, those forlorn-looking fishermen, mildly - eyeing us as they passed, said not one word to our own look-outs, while - the quarter-deck hail was being heard from below. -

-

- "Ship ahoy! Have ye seen the White Whale?" -

-

- But as the strange captain, leaning over the pallid bulwarks, was in the - act of putting his trumpet to his mouth, it somehow fell from his hand - into the sea; and the wind now rising amain, he in vain strove to make - himself heard without it. Meantime his ship was still increasing the - distance between. While in various silent ways the seamen of the Pequod - were evincing their observance of this ominous incident at the first mere - mention of the White Whale's name to another ship, Ahab for a moment - paused; it almost seemed as though he would have lowered a boat to board - the stranger, had not the threatening wind forbade. But taking advantage - of his windward position, he again seized his trumpet, and knowing by her - aspect that the stranger vessel was a Nantucketer and shortly bound home, - he loudly hailed—"Ahoy there! This is the Pequod, bound round the - world! Tell them to address all future letters to the Pacific ocean! and - this time three years, if I am not at home, tell them to address them to—" -

-

- At that moment the two wakes were fairly crossed, and instantly, then, in - accordance with their singular ways, shoals of small harmless fish, that - for some days before had been placidly swimming by our side, darted away - with what seemed shuddering fins, and ranged themselves fore and aft with - the stranger's flanks. Though in the course of his continual voyagings - Ahab must often before have noticed a similar sight, yet, to any - monomaniac man, the veriest trifles capriciously carry meanings. -

-

- "Swim away from me, do ye?" murmured Ahab, gazing over into the water. - There seemed but little in the words, but the tone conveyed more of deep - helpless sadness than the insane old man had ever before evinced. But - turning to the steersman, who thus far had been holding the ship in the - wind to diminish her headway, he cried out in his old lion voice,—"Up - helm! Keep her off round the world!" -

-

- Round the world! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; - but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only through - numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we - left behind secure, were all the time before us. -

-

- Were this world an endless plain, and by sailing eastward we could for - ever reach new distances, and discover sights more sweet and strange than - any Cyclades or Islands of King Solomon, then there were promise in the - voyage. But in pursuit of those far mysteries we dream of, or in tormented - chase of that demon phantom that, some time or other, swims before all - human hearts; while chasing such over this round globe, they either lead - us on in barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 53. The Gam. -

-

- The ostensible reason why Ahab did not go on board of the whaler we had - spoken was this: the wind and sea betokened storms. But even had this not - been the case, he would not after all, perhaps, have boarded her—judging - by his subsequent conduct on similar occasions—if so it had been - that, by the process of hailing, he had obtained a negative answer to the - question he put. For, as it eventually turned out, he cared not to - consort, even for five minutes, with any stranger captain, except he could - contribute some of that information he so absorbingly sought. But all this - might remain inadequately estimated, were not something said here of the - peculiar usages of whaling-vessels when meeting each other in foreign - seas, and especially on a common cruising-ground. -

-

- If two strangers crossing the Pine Barrens in New York State, or the - equally desolate Salisbury Plain in England; if casually encountering each - other in such inhospitable wilds, these twain, for the life of them, - cannot well avoid a mutual salutation; and stopping for a moment to - interchange the news; and, perhaps, sitting down for a while and resting - in concert: then, how much more natural that upon the illimitable Pine - Barrens and Salisbury Plains of the sea, two whaling vessels descrying - each other at the ends of the earth—off lone Fanning's Island, or - the far away King's Mills; how much more natural, I say, that under such - circumstances these ships should not only interchange hails, but come into - still closer, more friendly and sociable contact. And especially would - this seem to be a matter of course, in the case of vessels owned in one - seaport, and whose captains, officers, and not a few of the men are - personally known to each other; and consequently, have all sorts of dear - domestic things to talk about. -

-

- For the long absent ship, the outward-bounder, perhaps, has letters on - board; at any rate, she will be sure to let her have some papers of a date - a year or two later than the last one on her blurred and thumb-worn files. - And in return for that courtesy, the outward-bound ship would receive the - latest whaling intelligence from the cruising-ground to which she may be - destined, a thing of the utmost importance to her. And in degree, all this - will hold true concerning whaling vessels crossing each other's track on - the cruising-ground itself, even though they are equally long absent from - home. For one of them may have received a transfer of letters from some - third, and now far remote vessel; and some of those letters may be for the - people of the ship she now meets. Besides, they would exchange the whaling - news, and have an agreeable chat. For not only would they meet with all - the sympathies of sailors, but likewise with all the peculiar - congenialities arising from a common pursuit and mutually shared - privations and perils. -

-

- Nor would difference of country make any very essential difference; that - is, so long as both parties speak one language, as is the case with - Americans and English. Though, to be sure, from the small number of - English whalers, such meetings do not very often occur, and when they do - occur there is too apt to be a sort of shyness between them; for your - Englishman is rather reserved, and your Yankee, he does not fancy that - sort of thing in anybody but himself. Besides, the English whalers - sometimes affect a kind of metropolitan superiority over the American - whalers; regarding the long, lean Nantucketer, with his nondescript - provincialisms, as a sort of sea-peasant. But where this superiority in - the English whalemen does really consist, it would be hard to say, seeing - that the Yankees in one day, collectively, kill more whales than all the - English, collectively, in ten years. But this is a harmless little foible - in the English whale-hunters, which the Nantucketer does not take much to - heart; probably, because he knows that he has a few foibles himself. -

-

- So, then, we see that of all ships separately sailing the sea, the whalers - have most reason to be sociable—and they are so. Whereas, some - merchant ships crossing each other's wake in the mid-Atlantic, will - oftentimes pass on without so much as a single word of recognition, - mutually cutting each other on the high seas, like a brace of dandies in - Broadway; and all the time indulging, perhaps, in finical criticism upon - each other's rig. As for Men-of-War, when they chance to meet at sea, they - first go through such a string of silly bowings and scrapings, such a - ducking of ensigns, that there does not seem to be much right-down hearty - good-will and brotherly love about it at all. As touching Slave-ships - meeting, why, they are in such a prodigious hurry, they run away from each - other as soon as possible. And as for Pirates, when they chance to cross - each other's cross-bones, the first hail is—"How many skulls?"—the - same way that whalers hail—"How many barrels?" And that question - once answered, pirates straightway steer apart, for they are infernal - villains on both sides, and don't like to see overmuch of each other's - villanous likenesses. -

-

- But look at the godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable, sociable, - free-and-easy whaler! What does the whaler do when she meets another - whaler in any sort of decent weather? She has a "GAM," a thing so utterly - unknown to all other ships that they never heard of the name even; and if - by chance they should hear of it, they only grin at it, and repeat - gamesome stuff about "spouters" and "blubber-boilers," and such like - pretty exclamations. Why it is that all Merchant-seamen, and also all - Pirates and Man-of-War's men, and Slave-ship sailors, cherish such a - scornful feeling towards Whale-ships; this is a question it would be hard - to answer. Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know - whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it. It - sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows. And - besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper - foundation for his superior altitude. Hence, I conclude, that in boasting - himself to be high lifted above a whaleman, in that assertion the pirate - has no solid basis to stand on. -

-

- But what is a GAM? You might wear out your index-finger running up and - down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word. Dr. Johnson - never attained to that erudition; Noah Webster's ark does not hold it. - Nevertheless, this same expressive word has now for many years been in - constant use among some fifteen thousand true born Yankees. Certainly, it - needs a definition, and should be incorporated into the Lexicon. With that - view, let me learnedly define it. -

-

- GAM. NOUN—A SOCIAL MEETING OF TWO (OR MORE) WHALESHIPS, GENERALLY ON - A CRUISING-GROUND; WHEN, AFTER EXCHANGING HAILS, THEY EXCHANGE VISITS BY - BOATS' CREWS; THE TWO CAPTAINS REMAINING, FOR THE TIME, ON BOARD OF ONE - SHIP, AND THE TWO CHIEF MATES ON THE OTHER. -

-

- There is another little item about Gamming which must not be forgotten - here. All professions have their own little peculiarities of detail; so - has the whale fishery. In a pirate, man-of-war, or slave ship, when the - captain is rowed anywhere in his boat, he always sits in the stern sheets - on a comfortable, sometimes cushioned seat there, and often steers himself - with a pretty little milliner's tiller decorated with gay cords and - ribbons. But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa of that sort - whatever, and no tiller at all. High times indeed, if whaling captains - were wheeled about the water on castors like gouty old aldermen in patent - chairs. And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never admits of any such - effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete boat's crew must leave - the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or harpooneer is of the number, - that subordinate is the steersman upon the occasion, and the captain, - having no place to sit in, is pulled off to his visit all standing like a - pine tree. And often you will notice that being conscious of the eyes of - the whole visible world resting on him from the sides of the two ships, - this standing captain is all alive to the importance of sustaining his - dignity by maintaining his legs. Nor is this any very easy matter; for in - his rear is the immense projecting steering oar hitting him now and then - in the small of his back, the after-oar reciprocating by rapping his knees - in front. He is thus completely wedged before and behind, and can only - expand himself sideways by settling down on his stretched legs; but a - sudden, violent pitch of the boat will often go far to topple him, because - length of foundation is nothing without corresponding breadth. Merely make - a spread angle of two poles, and you cannot stand them up. Then, again, it - would never do in plain sight of the world's riveted eyes, it would never - do, I say, for this straddling captain to be seen steadying himself the - slightest particle by catching hold of anything with his hands; indeed, as - token of his entire, buoyant self-command, he generally carries his hands - in his trowsers' pockets; but perhaps being generally very large, heavy - hands, he carries them there for ballast. Nevertheless there have occurred - instances, well authenticated ones too, where the captain has been known - for an uncommonly critical moment or two, in a sudden squall say—to - seize hold of the nearest oarsman's hair, and hold on there like grim - death. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho's Story. -

-

- (AS TOLD AT THE GOLDEN INN) -

-

- The Cape of Good Hope, and all the watery region round about there, is - much like some noted four corners of a great highway, where you meet more - travellers than in any other part. -

-

- It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound - whaleman, the Town-Ho,* was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by - Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby - Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now wildly - heightened by a circumstance of the Town-Ho's story, which seemed - obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted - visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are - said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own - particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of - the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab - or his mates. For that secret part of the story was unknown to the captain - of the Town-Ho himself. It was the private property of three confederate - white seamen of that ship, one of whom, it seems, communicated it to - Tashtego with Romish injunctions of secrecy, but the following night - Tashtego rambled in his sleep, and revealed so much of it in that way, - that when he was wakened he could not well withhold the rest. - Nevertheless, so potent an influence did this thing have on those seamen - in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange - delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept - the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod's - main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the - story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I - now proceed to put on lasting record. -

-

- *The ancient whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head, - still used by whalemen in hunting the famous Gallipagos terrapin. -

-

- For my humor's sake, I shall preserve the style in which I once narrated - it at Lima, to a lounging circle of my Spanish friends, one saint's eve, - smoking upon the thick-gilt tiled piazza of the Golden Inn. Of those fine - cavaliers, the young Dons, Pedro and Sebastian, were on the closer terms - with me; and hence the interluding questions they occasionally put, and - which are duly answered at the time. -

-

- "Some two years prior to my first learning the events which I am about - rehearsing to you, gentlemen, the Town-Ho, Sperm Whaler of Nantucket, was - cruising in your Pacific here, not very many days' sail eastward from the - eaves of this good Golden Inn. She was somewhere to the northward of the - Line. One morning upon handling the pumps, according to daily usage, it - was observed that she made more water in her hold than common. They - supposed a sword-fish had stabbed her, gentlemen. But the captain, having - some unusual reason for believing that rare good luck awaited him in those - latitudes; and therefore being very averse to quit them, and the leak not - being then considered at all dangerous, though, indeed, they could not - find it after searching the hold as low down as was possible in rather - heavy weather, the ship still continued her cruisings, the mariners - working at the pumps at wide and easy intervals; but no good luck came; - more days went by, and not only was the leak yet undiscovered, but it - sensibly increased. So much so, that now taking some alarm, the captain, - making all sail, stood away for the nearest harbor among the islands, - there to have his hull hove out and repaired. -

-

- "Though no small passage was before her, yet, if the commonest chance - favoured, he did not at all fear that his ship would founder by the way, - because his pumps were of the best, and being periodically relieved at - them, those six-and-thirty men of his could easily keep the ship free; - never mind if the leak should double on her. In truth, well nigh the whole - of this passage being attended by very prosperous breezes, the Town-Ho had - all but certainly arrived in perfect safety at her port without the - occurrence of the least fatality, had it not been for the brutal - overbearing of Radney, the mate, a Vineyarder, and the bitterly provoked - vengeance of Steelkilt, a Lakeman and desperado from Buffalo. -

-

- "'Lakeman!—Buffalo! Pray, what is a Lakeman, and where is Buffalo?' - said Don Sebastian, rising in his swinging mat of grass. -

-

- "On the eastern shore of our Lake Erie, Don; but—I crave your - courtesy—may be, you shall soon hear further of all that. Now, - gentlemen, in square-sail brigs and three-masted ships, well-nigh as large - and stout as any that ever sailed out of your old Callao to far Manilla; - this Lakeman, in the land-locked heart of our America, had yet been - nurtured by all those agrarian freebooting impressions popularly connected - with the open ocean. For in their interflowing aggregate, those grand - fresh-water seas of ours,—Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and - Superior, and Michigan,—possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with - many of the ocean's noblest traits; with many of its rimmed varieties of - races and of climes. They contain round archipelagoes of romantic isles, - even as the Polynesian waters do; in large part, are shored by two great - contrasting nations, as the Atlantic is; they furnish long maritime - approaches to our numerous territorial colonies from the East, dotted all - round their banks; here and there are frowned upon by batteries, and by - the goat-like craggy guns of lofty Mackinaw; they have heard the fleet - thunderings of naval victories; at intervals, they yield their beaches to - wild barbarians, whose red painted faces flash from out their peltry - wigwams; for leagues and leagues are flanked by ancient and unentered - forests, where the gaunt pines stand like serried lines of kings in Gothic - genealogies; those same woods harboring wild Afric beasts of prey, and - silken creatures whose exported furs give robes to Tartar Emperors; they - mirror the paved capitals of Buffalo and Cleveland, as well as Winnebago - villages; they float alike the full-rigged merchant ship, the armed - cruiser of the State, the steamer, and the beech canoe; they are swept by - Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; - they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, - they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew. - Thus, gentlemen, though an inlander, Steelkilt was wild-ocean born, and - wild-ocean nurtured; as much of an audacious mariner as any. And for - Radney, though in his infancy he may have laid him down on the lone - Nantucket beach, to nurse at his maternal sea; though in after life he had - long followed our austere Atlantic and your contemplative Pacific; yet was - he quite as vengeful and full of social quarrel as the backwoods seaman, - fresh from the latitudes of buck-horn handled bowie-knives. Yet was this - Nantucketer a man with some good-hearted traits; and this Lakeman, a - mariner, who though a sort of devil indeed, might yet by inflexible - firmness, only tempered by that common decency of human recognition which - is the meanest slave's right; thus treated, this Steelkilt had long been - retained harmless and docile. At all events, he had proved so thus far; - but Radney was doomed and made mad, and Steelkilt—but, gentlemen, - you shall hear. -

-

- "It was not more than a day or two at the furthest after pointing her prow - for her island haven, that the Town-Ho's leak seemed again increasing, but - only so as to require an hour or more at the pumps every day. You must - know that in a settled and civilized ocean like our Atlantic, for example, - some skippers think little of pumping their whole way across it; though of - a still, sleepy night, should the officer of the deck happen to forget his - duty in that respect, the probability would be that he and his shipmates - would never again remember it, on account of all hands gently subsiding to - the bottom. Nor in the solitary and savage seas far from you to the - westward, gentlemen, is it altogether unusual for ships to keep clanging - at their pump-handles in full chorus even for a voyage of considerable - length; that is, if it lie along a tolerably accessible coast, or if any - other reasonable retreat is afforded them. It is only when a leaky vessel - is in some very out of the way part of those waters, some really landless - latitude, that her captain begins to feel a little anxious. -

-

- "Much this way had it been with the Town-Ho; so when her leak was found - gaining once more, there was in truth some small concern manifested by - several of her company; especially by Radney the mate. He commanded the - upper sails to be well hoisted, sheeted home anew, and every way expanded - to the breeze. Now this Radney, I suppose, was as little of a coward, and - as little inclined to any sort of nervous apprehensiveness touching his - own person as any fearless, unthinking creature on land or on sea that you - can conveniently imagine, gentlemen. Therefore when he betrayed this - solicitude about the safety of the ship, some of the seamen declared that - it was only on account of his being a part owner in her. So when they were - working that evening at the pumps, there was on this head no small - gamesomeness slily going on among them, as they stood with their feet - continually overflowed by the rippling clear water; clear as any mountain - spring, gentlemen—that bubbling from the pumps ran across the deck, - and poured itself out in steady spouts at the lee scupper-holes. -

-

- "Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional - world of ours—watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in - command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his - superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he - conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a chance - he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern's tower, and make a little - heap of dust of it. Be this conceit of mine as it may, gentlemen, at all - events Steelkilt was a tall and noble animal with a head like a Roman, and - a flowing golden beard like the tasseled housings of your last viceroy's - snorting charger; and a brain, and a heart, and a soul in him, gentlemen, - which had made Steelkilt Charlemagne, had he been born son to - Charlemagne's father. But Radney, the mate, was ugly as a mule; yet as - hardy, as stubborn, as malicious. He did not love Steelkilt, and Steelkilt - knew it. -

-

- "Espying the mate drawing near as he was toiling at the pump with the - rest, the Lakeman affected not to notice him, but unawed, went on with his - gay banterings. -

-

- "'Aye, aye, my merry lads, it's a lively leak this; hold a cannikin, one - of ye, and let's have a taste. By the Lord, it's worth bottling! I tell ye - what, men, old Rad's investment must go for it! he had best cut away his - part of the hull and tow it home. The fact is, boys, that sword-fish only - began the job; he's come back again with a gang of ship-carpenters, - saw-fish, and file-fish, and what not; and the whole posse of 'em are now - hard at work cutting and slashing at the bottom; making improvements, I - suppose. If old Rad were here now, I'd tell him to jump overboard and - scatter 'em. They're playing the devil with his estate, I can tell him. - But he's a simple old soul,—Rad, and a beauty too. Boys, they say - the rest of his property is invested in looking-glasses. I wonder if he'd - give a poor devil like me the model of his nose.' -

-

- "'Damn your eyes! what's that pump stopping for?' roared Radney, - pretending not to have heard the sailors' talk. 'Thunder away at it!' -

-

- "'Aye, aye, sir,' said Steelkilt, merry as a cricket. 'Lively, boys, - lively, now!' And with that the pump clanged like fifty fire-engines; the - men tossed their hats off to it, and ere long that peculiar gasping of the - lungs was heard which denotes the fullest tension of life's utmost - energies. -

-

- "Quitting the pump at last, with the rest of his band, the Lakeman went - forward all panting, and sat himself down on the windlass; his face fiery - red, his eyes bloodshot, and wiping the profuse sweat from his brow. Now - what cozening fiend it was, gentlemen, that possessed Radney to meddle - with such a man in that corporeally exasperated state, I know not; but so - it happened. Intolerably striding along the deck, the mate commanded him - to get a broom and sweep down the planks, and also a shovel, and remove - some offensive matters consequent upon allowing a pig to run at large. -

-

- "Now, gentlemen, sweeping a ship's deck at sea is a piece of household - work which in all times but raging gales is regularly attended to every - evening; it has been known to be done in the case of ships actually - foundering at the time. Such, gentlemen, is the inflexibility of - sea-usages and the instinctive love of neatness in seamen; some of whom - would not willingly drown without first washing their faces. But in all - vessels this broom business is the prescriptive province of the boys, if - boys there be aboard. Besides, it was the stronger men in the Town-Ho that - had been divided into gangs, taking turns at the pumps; and being the most - athletic seaman of them all, Steelkilt had been regularly assigned captain - of one of the gangs; consequently he should have been freed from any - trivial business not connected with truly nautical duties, such being the - case with his comrades. I mention all these particulars so that you may - understand exactly how this affair stood between the two men. -

-

- "But there was more than this: the order about the shovel was almost as - plainly meant to sting and insult Steelkilt, as though Radney had spat in - his face. Any man who has gone sailor in a whale-ship will understand - this; and all this and doubtless much more, the Lakeman fully comprehended - when the mate uttered his command. But as he sat still for a moment, and - as he steadfastly looked into the mate's malignant eye and perceived the - stacks of powder-casks heaped up in him and the slow-match silently - burning along towards them; as he instinctively saw all this, that strange - forbearance and unwillingness to stir up the deeper passionateness in any - already ireful being—a repugnance most felt, when felt at all, by - really valiant men even when aggrieved—this nameless phantom - feeling, gentlemen, stole over Steelkilt. -

-

- "Therefore, in his ordinary tone, only a little broken by the bodily - exhaustion he was temporarily in, he answered him saying that sweeping the - deck was not his business, and he would not do it. And then, without at - all alluding to the shovel, he pointed to three lads as the customary - sweepers; who, not being billeted at the pumps, had done little or nothing - all day. To this, Radney replied with an oath, in a most domineering and - outrageous manner unconditionally reiterating his command; meanwhile - advancing upon the still seated Lakeman, with an uplifted cooper's club - hammer which he had snatched from a cask near by. -

-

- "Heated and irritated as he was by his spasmodic toil at the pumps, for - all his first nameless feeling of forbearance the sweating Steelkilt could - but ill brook this bearing in the mate; but somehow still smothering the - conflagration within him, without speaking he remained doggedly rooted to - his seat, till at last the incensed Radney shook the hammer within a few - inches of his face, furiously commanding him to do his bidding. -

-

- "Steelkilt rose, and slowly retreating round the windlass, steadily - followed by the mate with his menacing hammer, deliberately repeated his - intention not to obey. Seeing, however, that his forbearance had not the - slightest effect, by an awful and unspeakable intimation with his twisted - hand he warned off the foolish and infatuated man; but it was to no - purpose. And in this way the two went once slowly round the windlass; - when, resolved at last no longer to retreat, bethinking him that he had - now forborne as much as comported with his humor, the Lakeman paused on - the hatches and thus spoke to the officer: -

-

- "'Mr. Radney, I will not obey you. Take that hammer away, or look to - yourself.' But the predestinated mate coming still closer to him, where - the Lakeman stood fixed, now shook the heavy hammer within an inch of his - teeth; meanwhile repeating a string of insufferable maledictions. - Retreating not the thousandth part of an inch; stabbing him in the eye - with the unflinching poniard of his glance, Steelkilt, clenching his right - hand behind him and creepingly drawing it back, told his persecutor that - if the hammer but grazed his cheek he (Steelkilt) would murder him. But, - gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter by the gods. - Immediately the hammer touched the cheek; the next instant the lower jaw - of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch spouting blood - like a whale. -

-

- "Ere the cry could go aft Steelkilt was shaking one of the backstays - leading far aloft to where two of his comrades were standing their - mastheads. They were both Canallers. -

-

- "'Canallers!' cried Don Pedro. 'We have seen many whale-ships in our - harbours, but never heard of your Canallers. Pardon: who and what are - they?' -

-

- "'Canallers, Don, are the boatmen belonging to our grand Erie Canal. You - must have heard of it.' -

-

- "'Nay, Senor; hereabouts in this dull, warm, most lazy, and hereditary - land, we know but little of your vigorous North.' -

-

- "'Aye? Well then, Don, refill my cup. Your chicha's very fine; and ere - proceeding further I will tell ye what our Canallers are; for such - information may throw side-light upon my story.' -

-

- "For three hundred and sixty miles, gentlemen, through the entire breadth - of the state of New York; through numerous populous cities and most - thriving villages; through long, dismal, uninhabited swamps, and affluent, - cultivated fields, unrivalled for fertility; by billiard-room and - bar-room; through the holy-of-holies of great forests; on Roman arches - over Indian rivers; through sun and shade; by happy hearts or broken; - through all the wide contrasting scenery of those noble Mohawk counties; - and especially, by rows of snow-white chapels, whose spires stand almost - like milestones, flows one continual stream of Venetianly corrupt and - often lawless life. There's your true Ashantee, gentlemen; there howl your - pagans; where you ever find them, next door to you; under the long-flung - shadow, and the snug patronising lee of churches. For by some curious - fatality, as it is often noted of your metropolitan freebooters that they - ever encamp around the halls of justice, so sinners, gentlemen, most - abound in holiest vicinities. -

-

- "'Is that a friar passing?' said Don Pedro, looking downwards into the - crowded plazza, with humorous concern. -

-

- "'Well for our northern friend, Dame Isabella's Inquisition wanes in - Lima,' laughed Don Sebastian. 'Proceed, Senor.' -

-

- "'A moment! Pardon!' cried another of the company. 'In the name of all us - Limeese, I but desire to express to you, sir sailor, that we have by no - means overlooked your delicacy in not substituting present Lima for - distant Venice in your corrupt comparison. Oh! do not bow and look - surprised; you know the proverb all along this coast—"Corrupt as - Lima." It but bears out your saying, too; churches more plentiful than - billiard-tables, and for ever open—and "Corrupt as Lima." So, too, - Venice; I have been there; the holy city of the blessed evangelist, St. - Mark!—St. Dominic, purge it! Your cup! Thanks: here I refill; now, - you pour out again.' -

-

- "Freely depicted in his own vocation, gentlemen, the Canaller would make a - fine dramatic hero, so abundantly and picturesquely wicked is he. Like - Mark Antony, for days and days along his green-turfed, flowery Nile, he - indolently floats, openly toying with his red-cheeked Cleopatra, ripening - his apricot thigh upon the sunny deck. But ashore, all this effeminacy is - dashed. The brigandish guise which the Canaller so proudly sports; his - slouched and gaily-ribboned hat betoken his grand features. A terror to - the smiling innocence of the villages through which he floats; his swart - visage and bold swagger are not unshunned in cities. Once a vagabond on - his own canal, I have received good turns from one of these Canallers; I - thank him heartily; would fain be not ungrateful; but it is often one of - the prime redeeming qualities of your man of violence, that at times he - has as stiff an arm to back a poor stranger in a strait, as to plunder a - wealthy one. In sum, gentlemen, what the wildness of this canal life is, - is emphatically evinced by this; that our wild whale-fishery contains so - many of its most finished graduates, and that scarce any race of mankind, - except Sydney men, are so much distrusted by our whaling captains. Nor - does it at all diminish the curiousness of this matter, that to many - thousands of our rural boys and young men born along its line, the - probationary life of the Grand Canal furnishes the sole transition between - quietly reaping in a Christian corn-field, and recklessly ploughing the - waters of the most barbaric seas. -

-

- "'I see! I see!' impetuously exclaimed Don Pedro, spilling his chicha upon - his silvery ruffles. 'No need to travel! The world's one Lima. I had - thought, now, that at your temperate North the generations were cold and - holy as the hills.—But the story.' -

-

- "I left off, gentlemen, where the Lakeman shook the backstay. Hardly had - he done so, when he was surrounded by the three junior mates and the four - harpooneers, who all crowded him to the deck. But sliding down the ropes - like baleful comets, the two Canallers rushed into the uproar, and sought - to drag their man out of it towards the forecastle. Others of the sailors - joined with them in this attempt, and a twisted turmoil ensued; while - standing out of harm's way, the valiant captain danced up and down with a - whale-pike, calling upon his officers to manhandle that atrocious - scoundrel, and smoke him along to the quarter-deck. At intervals, he ran - close up to the revolving border of the confusion, and prying into the - heart of it with his pike, sought to prick out the object of his - resentment. But Steelkilt and his desperadoes were too much for them all; - they succeeded in gaining the forecastle deck, where, hastily slewing - about three or four large casks in a line with the windlass, these - sea-Parisians entrenched themselves behind the barricade. -

-

- "'Come out of that, ye pirates!' roared the captain, now menacing them - with a pistol in each hand, just brought to him by the steward. 'Come out - of that, ye cut-throats!' -

-

- "Steelkilt leaped on the barricade, and striding up and down there, defied - the worst the pistols could do; but gave the captain to understand - distinctly, that his (Steelkilt's) death would be the signal for a - murderous mutiny on the part of all hands. Fearing in his heart lest this - might prove but too true, the captain a little desisted, but still - commanded the insurgents instantly to return to their duty. -

-

- "'Will you promise not to touch us, if we do?' demanded their ringleader. -

-

- "'Turn to! turn to!—I make no promise;—to your duty! Do you - want to sink the ship, by knocking off at a time like this? Turn to!' and - he once more raised a pistol. -

-

- "'Sink the ship?' cried Steelkilt. 'Aye, let her sink. Not a man of us - turns to, unless you swear not to raise a rope-yarn against us. What say - ye, men?' turning to his comrades. A fierce cheer was their response. -

-

- "The Lakeman now patrolled the barricade, all the while keeping his eye on - the Captain, and jerking out such sentences as these:—'It's not our - fault; we didn't want it; I told him to take his hammer away; it was boy's - business; he might have known me before this; I told him not to prick the - buffalo; I believe I have broken a finger here against his cursed jaw; - ain't those mincing knives down in the forecastle there, men? look to - those handspikes, my hearties. Captain, by God, look to yourself; say the - word; don't be a fool; forget it all; we are ready to turn to; treat us - decently, and we're your men; but we won't be flogged.' -

-

- "'Turn to! I make no promises, turn to, I say!' -

-

- "'Look ye, now,' cried the Lakeman, flinging out his arm towards him, - 'there are a few of us here (and I am one of them) who have shipped for - the cruise, d'ye see; now as you well know, sir, we can claim our - discharge as soon as the anchor is down; so we don't want a row; it's not - our interest; we want to be peaceable; we are ready to work, but we won't - be flogged.' -

-

- "'Turn to!' roared the Captain. -

-

- "Steelkilt glanced round him a moment, and then said:—'I tell you - what it is now, Captain, rather than kill ye, and be hung for such a - shabby rascal, we won't lift a hand against ye unless ye attack us; but - till you say the word about not flogging us, we don't do a hand's turn.' -

-

- "'Down into the forecastle then, down with ye, I'll keep ye there till - ye're sick of it. Down ye go.' -

-

- "'Shall we?' cried the ringleader to his men. Most of them were against - it; but at length, in obedience to Steelkilt, they preceded him down into - their dark den, growlingly disappearing, like bears into a cave. -

-

- "As the Lakeman's bare head was just level with the planks, the Captain - and his posse leaped the barricade, and rapidly drawing over the slide of - the scuttle, planted their group of hands upon it, and loudly called for - the steward to bring the heavy brass padlock belonging to the - companionway. -

-

- "Then opening the slide a little, the Captain whispered something down the - crack, closed it, and turned the key upon them—ten in number—leaving - on deck some twenty or more, who thus far had remained neutral. -

-

- "All night a wide-awake watch was kept by all the officers, forward and - aft, especially about the forecastle scuttle and fore hatchway; at which - last place it was feared the insurgents might emerge, after breaking - through the bulkhead below. But the hours of darkness passed in peace; the - men who still remained at their duty toiling hard at the pumps, whose - clinking and clanking at intervals through the dreary night dismally - resounded through the ship. -

-

- "At sunrise the Captain went forward, and knocking on the deck, summoned - the prisoners to work; but with a yell they refused. Water was then - lowered down to them, and a couple of handfuls of biscuit were tossed - after it; when again turning the key upon them and pocketing it, the - Captain returned to the quarter-deck. Twice every day for three days this - was repeated; but on the fourth morning a confused wrangling, and then a - scuffling was heard, as the customary summons was delivered; and suddenly - four men burst up from the forecastle, saying they were ready to turn to. - The fetid closeness of the air, and a famishing diet, united perhaps to - some fears of ultimate retribution, had constrained them to surrender at - discretion. Emboldened by this, the Captain reiterated his demand to the - rest, but Steelkilt shouted up to him a terrific hint to stop his babbling - and betake himself where he belonged. On the fifth morning three others of - the mutineers bolted up into the air from the desperate arms below that - sought to restrain them. Only three were left. -

-

- "'Better turn to, now?' said the Captain with a heartless jeer. -

-

- "'Shut us up again, will ye!' cried Steelkilt. -

-

- "'Oh certainly,' said the Captain, and the key clicked. -

-

- "It was at this point, gentlemen, that enraged by the defection of seven - of his former associates, and stung by the mocking voice that had last - hailed him, and maddened by his long entombment in a place as black as the - bowels of despair; it was then that Steelkilt proposed to the two - Canallers, thus far apparently of one mind with him, to burst out of their - hole at the next summoning of the garrison; and armed with their keen - mincing knives (long, crescentic, heavy implements with a handle at each - end) run amuck from the bowsprit to the taffrail; and if by any - devilishness of desperation possible, seize the ship. For himself, he - would do this, he said, whether they joined him or not. That was the last - night he should spend in that den. But the scheme met with no opposition - on the part of the other two; they swore they were ready for that, or for - any other mad thing, for anything in short but a surrender. And what was - more, they each insisted upon being the first man on deck, when the time - to make the rush should come. But to this their leader as fiercely - objected, reserving that priority for himself; particularly as his two - comrades would not yield, the one to the other, in the matter; and both of - them could not be first, for the ladder would but admit one man at a time. - And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out. -

-

- "Upon hearing the frantic project of their leader, each in his own - separate soul had suddenly lighted, it would seem, upon the same piece of - treachery, namely: to be foremost in breaking out, in order to be the - first of the three, though the last of the ten, to surrender; and thereby - secure whatever small chance of pardon such conduct might merit. But when - Steelkilt made known his determination still to lead them to the last, - they in some way, by some subtle chemistry of villany, mixed their before - secret treacheries together; and when their leader fell into a doze, - verbally opened their souls to each other in three sentences; and bound - the sleeper with cords, and gagged him with cords; and shrieked out for - the Captain at midnight. -

-

- "Thinking murder at hand, and smelling in the dark for the blood, he and - all his armed mates and harpooneers rushed for the forecastle. In a few - minutes the scuttle was opened, and, bound hand and foot, the still - struggling ringleader was shoved up into the air by his perfidious allies, - who at once claimed the honour of securing a man who had been fully ripe - for murder. But all these were collared, and dragged along the deck like - dead cattle; and, side by side, were seized up into the mizzen rigging, - like three quarters of meat, and there they hung till morning. 'Damn ye,' - cried the Captain, pacing to and fro before them, 'the vultures would not - touch ye, ye villains!' -

-

- "At sunrise he summoned all hands; and separating those who had rebelled - from those who had taken no part in the mutiny, he told the former that he - had a good mind to flog them all round—thought, upon the whole, he - would do so—he ought to—justice demanded it; but for the - present, considering their timely surrender, he would let them go with a - reprimand, which he accordingly administered in the vernacular. -

-

- "'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men in the - rigging—'for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;' and, - seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two - traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their heads - sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn. -

-

- "'My wrist is sprained with ye!' he cried, at last; 'but there is still - rope enough left for you, my fine bantam, that wouldn't give up. Take that - gag from his mouth, and let us hear what he can say for himself.' -

-

- "For a moment the exhausted mutineer made a tremulous motion of his - cramped jaws, and then painfully twisting round his head, said in a sort - of hiss, 'What I say is this—and mind it well—if you flog me, - I murder you!' -

-

- "'Say ye so? then see how ye frighten me'—and the Captain drew off - with the rope to strike. -

-

- "'Best not,' hissed the Lakeman. -

-

- "'But I must,'—and the rope was once more drawn back for the stroke. -

-

- "Steelkilt here hissed out something, inaudible to all but the Captain; - who, to the amazement of all hands, started back, paced the deck rapidly - two or three times, and then suddenly throwing down his rope, said, 'I - won't do it—let him go—cut him down: d'ye hear?' -

-

- "But as the junior mates were hurrying to execute the order, a pale man, - with a bandaged head, arrested them—Radney the chief mate. Ever - since the blow, he had lain in his berth; but that morning, hearing the - tumult on the deck, he had crept out, and thus far had watched the whole - scene. Such was the state of his mouth, that he could hardly speak; but - mumbling something about his being willing and able to do what the captain - dared not attempt, he snatched the rope and advanced to his pinioned foe. -

-

- "'You are a coward!' hissed the Lakeman. -

-

- "'So I am, but take that.' The mate was in the very act of striking, when - another hiss stayed his uplifted arm. He paused: and then pausing no more, - made good his word, spite of Steelkilt's threat, whatever that might have - been. The three men were then cut down, all hands were turned to, and, - sullenly worked by the moody seamen, the iron pumps clanged as before. -

-

- "Just after dark that day, when one watch had retired below, a clamor was - heard in the forecastle; and the two trembling traitors running up, - besieged the cabin door, saying they durst not consort with the crew. - Entreaties, cuffs, and kicks could not drive them back, so at their own - instance they were put down in the ship's run for salvation. Still, no - sign of mutiny reappeared among the rest. On the contrary, it seemed, that - mainly at Steelkilt's instigation, they had resolved to maintain the - strictest peacefulness, obey all orders to the last, and, when the ship - reached port, desert her in a body. But in order to insure the speediest - end to the voyage, they all agreed to another thing—namely, not to - sing out for whales, in case any should be discovered. For, spite of her - leak, and spite of all her other perils, the Town-Ho still maintained her - mast-heads, and her captain was just as willing to lower for a fish that - moment, as on the day his craft first struck the cruising ground; and - Radney the mate was quite as ready to change his berth for a boat, and - with his bandaged mouth seek to gag in death the vital jaw of the whale. -

-

- "But though the Lakeman had induced the seamen to adopt this sort of - passiveness in their conduct, he kept his own counsel (at least till all - was over) concerning his own proper and private revenge upon the man who - had stung him in the ventricles of his heart. He was in Radney the chief - mate's watch; and as if the infatuated man sought to run more than half - way to meet his doom, after the scene at the rigging, he insisted, against - the express counsel of the captain, upon resuming the head of his watch at - night. Upon this, and one or two other circumstances, Steelkilt - systematically built the plan of his revenge. -

-

- "During the night, Radney had an unseamanlike way of sitting on the - bulwarks of the quarter-deck, and leaning his arm upon the gunwale of the - boat which was hoisted up there, a little above the ship's side. In this - attitude, it was well known, he sometimes dozed. There was a considerable - vacancy between the boat and the ship, and down between this was the sea. - Steelkilt calculated his time, and found that his next trick at the helm - would come round at two o'clock, in the morning of the third day from that - in which he had been betrayed. At his leisure, he employed the interval in - braiding something very carefully in his watches below. -

-

- "'What are you making there?' said a shipmate. -

-

- "'What do you think? what does it look like?' -

-

- "'Like a lanyard for your bag; but it's an odd one, seems to me.' -

-

- "'Yes, rather oddish,' said the Lakeman, holding it at arm's length before - him; 'but I think it will answer. Shipmate, I haven't enough twine,—have - you any?' -

-

- "But there was none in the forecastle. -

-

- "'Then I must get some from old Rad;' and he rose to go aft. -

-

- "'You don't mean to go a begging to HIM!' said a sailor. -

-

- "'Why not? Do you think he won't do me a turn, when it's to help himself - in the end, shipmate?' and going to the mate, he looked at him quietly, - and asked him for some twine to mend his hammock. It was given him—neither - twine nor lanyard were seen again; but the next night an iron ball, - closely netted, partly rolled from the pocket of the Lakeman's monkey - jacket, as he was tucking the coat into his hammock for a pillow. - Twenty-four hours after, his trick at the silent helm—nigh to the - man who was apt to doze over the grave always ready dug to the seaman's - hand—that fatal hour was then to come; and in the fore-ordaining - soul of Steelkilt, the mate was already stark and stretched as a corpse, - with his forehead crushed in. -

-

- "But, gentlemen, a fool saved the would-be murderer from the bloody deed - he had planned. Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the - avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in to - take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have done. -

-

- "It was just between daybreak and sunrise of the morning of the second - day, when they were washing down the decks, that a stupid Teneriffe man, - drawing water in the main-chains, all at once shouted out, 'There she - rolls! there she rolls!' Jesu, what a whale! It was Moby Dick. -

-

- "'Moby Dick!' cried Don Sebastian; 'St. Dominic! Sir sailor, but do whales - have christenings? Whom call you Moby Dick?' -

-

- "'A very white, and famous, and most deadly immortal monster, Don;—but - that would be too long a story.' -

-

- "'How? how?' cried all the young Spaniards, crowding. -

-

- "'Nay, Dons, Dons—nay, nay! I cannot rehearse that now. Let me get - more into the air, Sirs.' -

-

- "'The chicha! the chicha!' cried Don Pedro; 'our vigorous friend looks - faint;—fill up his empty glass!' -

-

- "No need, gentlemen; one moment, and I proceed.—Now, gentlemen, so - suddenly perceiving the snowy whale within fifty yards of the ship—forgetful - of the compact among the crew—in the excitement of the moment, the - Teneriffe man had instinctively and involuntarily lifted his voice for the - monster, though for some little time past it had been plainly beheld from - the three sullen mast-heads. All was now a phrensy. 'The White Whale—the - White Whale!' was the cry from captain, mates, and harpooneers, who, - undeterred by fearful rumours, were all anxious to capture so famous and - precious a fish; while the dogged crew eyed askance, and with curses, the - appalling beauty of the vast milky mass, that lit up by a horizontal - spangling sun, shifted and glistened like a living opal in the blue - morning sea. Gentlemen, a strange fatality pervades the whole career of - these events, as if verily mapped out before the world itself was charted. - The mutineer was the bowsman of the mate, and when fast to a fish, it was - his duty to sit next him, while Radney stood up with his lance in the - prow, and haul in or slacken the line, at the word of command. Moreover, - when the four boats were lowered, the mate's got the start; and none - howled more fiercely with delight than did Steelkilt, as he strained at - his oar. After a stiff pull, their harpooneer got fast, and, spear in - hand, Radney sprang to the bow. He was always a furious man, it seems, in - a boat. And now his bandaged cry was, to beach him on the whale's topmost - back. Nothing loath, his bowsman hauled him up and up, through a blinding - foam that blent two whitenesses together; till of a sudden the boat struck - as against a sunken ledge, and keeling over, spilled out the standing - mate. That instant, as he fell on the whale's slippery back, the boat - righted, and was dashed aside by the swell, while Radney was tossed over - into the sea, on the other flank of the whale. He struck out through the - spray, and, for an instant, was dimly seen through that veil, wildly - seeking to remove himself from the eye of Moby Dick. But the whale rushed - round in a sudden maelstrom; seized the swimmer between his jaws; and - rearing high up with him, plunged headlong again, and went down. -

-

- "Meantime, at the first tap of the boat's bottom, the Lakeman had - slackened the line, so as to drop astern from the whirlpool; calmly - looking on, he thought his own thoughts. But a sudden, terrific, downward - jerking of the boat, quickly brought his knife to the line. He cut it; and - the whale was free. But, at some distance, Moby Dick rose again, with some - tatters of Radney's red woollen shirt, caught in the teeth that had - destroyed him. All four boats gave chase again; but the whale eluded them, - and finally wholly disappeared. -

-

- "In good time, the Town-Ho reached her port—a savage, solitary place—where - no civilized creature resided. There, headed by the Lakeman, all but five - or six of the foremastmen deliberately deserted among the palms; - eventually, as it turned out, seizing a large double war-canoe of the - savages, and setting sail for some other harbor. -

-

- "The ship's company being reduced to but a handful, the captain called - upon the Islanders to assist him in the laborious business of heaving down - the ship to stop the leak. But to such unresting vigilance over their - dangerous allies was this small band of whites necessitated, both by night - and by day, and so extreme was the hard work they underwent, that upon the - vessel being ready again for sea, they were in such a weakened condition - that the captain durst not put off with them in so heavy a vessel. After - taking counsel with his officers, he anchored the ship as far off shore as - possible; loaded and ran out his two cannon from the bows; stacked his - muskets on the poop; and warning the Islanders not to approach the ship at - their peril, took one man with him, and setting the sail of his best - whale-boat, steered straight before the wind for Tahiti, five hundred - miles distant, to procure a reinforcement to his crew. -

-

- "On the fourth day of the sail, a large canoe was descried, which seemed - to have touched at a low isle of corals. He steered away from it; but the - savage craft bore down on him; and soon the voice of Steelkilt hailed him - to heave to, or he would run him under water. The captain presented a - pistol. With one foot on each prow of the yoked war-canoes, the Lakeman - laughed him to scorn; assuring him that if the pistol so much as clicked - in the lock, he would bury him in bubbles and foam. -

-

- "'What do you want of me?' cried the captain. -

-

- "'Where are you bound? and for what are you bound?' demanded Steelkilt; - 'no lies.' -

-

- "'I am bound to Tahiti for more men.' -

-

- "'Very good. Let me board you a moment—I come in peace.' With that - he leaped from the canoe, swam to the boat; and climbing the gunwale, - stood face to face with the captain. -

-

- "'Cross your arms, sir; throw back your head. Now, repeat after me. As - soon as Steelkilt leaves me, I swear to beach this boat on yonder island, - and remain there six days. If I do not, may lightning strike me!' -

-

- "'A pretty scholar,' laughed the Lakeman. 'Adios, Senor!' and leaping into - the sea, he swam back to his comrades. -

-

- "Watching the boat till it was fairly beached, and drawn up to the roots - of the cocoa-nut trees, Steelkilt made sail again, and in due time arrived - at Tahiti, his own place of destination. There, luck befriended him; two - ships were about to sail for France, and were providentially in want of - precisely that number of men which the sailor headed. They embarked; and - so for ever got the start of their former captain, had he been at all - minded to work them legal retribution. -

-

- "Some ten days after the French ships sailed, the whale-boat arrived, and - the captain was forced to enlist some of the more civilized Tahitians, who - had been somewhat used to the sea. Chartering a small native schooner, he - returned with them to his vessel; and finding all right there, again - resumed his cruisings. -

-

- "Where Steelkilt now is, gentlemen, none know; but upon the island of - Nantucket, the widow of Radney still turns to the sea which refuses to - give up its dead; still in dreams sees the awful white whale that - destroyed him. -

-

- "'Are you through?' said Don Sebastian, quietly. -

-

- "'I am, Don.' -

-

- "'Then I entreat you, tell me if to the best of your own convictions, this - your story is in substance really true? It is so passing wonderful! Did - you get it from an unquestionable source? Bear with me if I seem to - press.' -

-

- "'Also bear with all of us, sir sailor; for we all join in Don Sebastian's - suit,' cried the company, with exceeding interest. -

-

- "'Is there a copy of the Holy Evangelists in the Golden Inn, gentlemen?' -

-

- "'Nay,' said Don Sebastian; 'but I know a worthy priest near by, who will - quickly procure one for me. I go for it; but are you well advised? this - may grow too serious.' -

-

- "'Will you be so good as to bring the priest also, Don?' -

-

- "'Though there are no Auto-da-Fe's in Lima now,' said one of the company - to another; 'I fear our sailor friend runs risk of the archiepiscopacy. - Let us withdraw more out of the moonlight. I see no need of this.' -

-

- "'Excuse me for running after you, Don Sebastian; but may I also beg that - you will be particular in procuring the largest sized Evangelists you - can.' -

-

- "'This is the priest, he brings you the Evangelists,' said Don Sebastian, - gravely, returning with a tall and solemn figure. -

-

- "'Let me remove my hat. Now, venerable priest, further into the light, and - hold the Holy Book before me that I may touch it. -

-

- "'So help me Heaven, and on my honour the story I have told ye, gentlemen, - is in substance and its great items, true. I know it to be true; it - happened on this ball; I trod the ship; I knew the crew; I have seen and - talked with Steelkilt since the death of Radney.'" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales. -

-

- I shall ere long paint to you as well as one can without canvas, something - like the true form of the whale as he actually appears to the eye of the - whaleman when in his own absolute body the whale is moored alongside the - whale-ship so that he can be fairly stepped upon there. It may be worth - while, therefore, previously to advert to those curious imaginary - portraits of him which even down to the present day confidently challenge - the faith of the landsman. It is time to set the world right in this - matter, by proving such pictures of the whale all wrong. -

-

- It may be that the primal source of all those pictorial delusions will be - found among the oldest Hindoo, Egyptian, and Grecian sculptures. For ever - since those inventive but unscrupulous times when on the marble panellings - of temples, the pedestals of statues, and on shields, medallions, cups, - and coins, the dolphin was drawn in scales of chain-armor like Saladin's, - and a helmeted head like St. George's; ever since then has something of - the same sort of license prevailed, not only in most popular pictures of - the whale, but in many scientific presentations of him. -

-

- Now, by all odds, the most ancient extant portrait anyways purporting to - be the whale's, is to be found in the famous cavern-pagoda of Elephanta, - in India. The Brahmins maintain that in the almost endless sculptures of - that immemorial pagoda, all the trades and pursuits, every conceivable - avocation of man, were prefigured ages before any of them actually came - into being. No wonder then, that in some sort our noble profession of - whaling should have been there shadowed forth. The Hindoo whale referred - to, occurs in a separate department of the wall, depicting the incarnation - of Vishnu in the form of leviathan, learnedly known as the Matse Avatar. - But though this sculpture is half man and half whale, so as only to give - the tail of the latter, yet that small section of him is all wrong. It - looks more like the tapering tail of an anaconda, than the broad palms of - the true whale's majestic flukes. -

-

- But go to the old Galleries, and look now at a great Christian painter's - portrait of this fish; for he succeeds no better than the antediluvian - Hindoo. It is Guido's picture of Perseus rescuing Andromeda from the - sea-monster or whale. Where did Guido get the model of such a strange - creature as that? Nor does Hogarth, in painting the same scene in his own - "Perseus Descending," make out one whit better. The huge corpulence of - that Hogarthian monster undulates on the surface, scarcely drawing one - inch of water. It has a sort of howdah on its back, and its distended - tusked mouth into which the billows are rolling, might be taken for the - Traitors' Gate leading from the Thames by water into the Tower. Then, - there are the Prodromus whales of old Scotch Sibbald, and Jonah's whale, - as depicted in the prints of old Bibles and the cuts of old primers. What - shall be said of these? As for the book-binder's whale winding like a - vine-stalk round the stock of a descending anchor—as stamped and - gilded on the backs and title-pages of many books both old and new—that - is a very picturesque but purely fabulous creature, imitated, I take it, - from the like figures on antique vases. Though universally denominated a - dolphin, I nevertheless call this book-binder's fish an attempt at a - whale; because it was so intended when the device was first introduced. It - was introduced by an old Italian publisher somewhere about the 15th - century, during the Revival of Learning; and in those days, and even down - to a comparatively late period, dolphins were popularly supposed to be a - species of the Leviathan. -

-

- In the vignettes and other embellishments of some ancient books you will - at times meet with very curious touches at the whale, where all manner of - spouts, jets d'eau, hot springs and cold, Saratoga and Baden-Baden, come - bubbling up from his unexhausted brain. In the title-page of the original - edition of the "Advancement of Learning" you will find some curious - whales. -

-

- But quitting all these unprofessional attempts, let us glance at those - pictures of leviathan purporting to be sober, scientific delineations, by - those who know. In old Harris's collection of voyages there are some - plates of whales extracted from a Dutch book of voyages, A.D. 1671, - entitled "A Whaling Voyage to Spitzbergen in the ship Jonas in the Whale, - Peter Peterson of Friesland, master." In one of those plates the whales, - like great rafts of logs, are represented lying among ice-isles, with - white bears running over their living backs. In another plate, the - prodigious blunder is made of representing the whale with perpendicular - flukes. -

-

- Then again, there is an imposing quarto, written by one Captain Colnett, a - Post Captain in the English navy, entitled "A Voyage round Cape Horn into - the South Seas, for the purpose of extending the Spermaceti Whale - Fisheries." In this book is an outline purporting to be a "Picture of a - Physeter or Spermaceti whale, drawn by scale from one killed on the coast - of Mexico, August, 1793, and hoisted on deck." I doubt not the captain had - this veracious picture taken for the benefit of his marines. To mention - but one thing about it, let me say that it has an eye which applied, - according to the accompanying scale, to a full grown sperm whale, would - make the eye of that whale a bow-window some five feet long. Ah, my - gallant captain, why did ye not give us Jonah looking out of that eye! -

-

- Nor are the most conscientious compilations of Natural History for the - benefit of the young and tender, free from the same heinousness of - mistake. Look at that popular work "Goldsmith's Animated Nature." In the - abridged London edition of 1807, there are plates of an alleged "whale" - and a "narwhale." I do not wish to seem inelegant, but this unsightly - whale looks much like an amputated sow; and, as for the narwhale, one - glimpse at it is enough to amaze one, that in this nineteenth century such - a hippogriff could be palmed for genuine upon any intelligent public of - schoolboys. -

-

- Then, again, in 1825, Bernard Germain, Count de Lacepede, a great - naturalist, published a scientific systemized whale book, wherein are - several pictures of the different species of the Leviathan. All these are - not only incorrect, but the picture of the Mysticetus or Greenland whale - (that is to say, the Right whale), even Scoresby, a long experienced man - as touching that species, declares not to have its counterpart in nature. -

-

- But the placing of the cap-sheaf to all this blundering business was - reserved for the scientific Frederick Cuvier, brother to the famous Baron. - In 1836, he published a Natural History of Whales, in which he gives what - he calls a picture of the Sperm Whale. Before showing that picture to any - Nantucketer, you had best provide for your summary retreat from Nantucket. - In a word, Frederick Cuvier's Sperm Whale is not a Sperm Whale, but a - squash. Of course, he never had the benefit of a whaling voyage (such men - seldom have), but whence he derived that picture, who can tell? Perhaps he - got it as his scientific predecessor in the same field, Desmarest, got one - of his authentic abortions; that is, from a Chinese drawing. And what sort - of lively lads with the pencil those Chinese are, many queer cups and - saucers inform us. -

-

- As for the sign-painters' whales seen in the streets hanging over the - shops of oil-dealers, what shall be said of them? They are generally - Richard III. whales, with dromedary humps, and very savage; breakfasting - on three or four sailor tarts, that is whaleboats full of mariners: their - deformities floundering in seas of blood and blue paint. -

-

- But these manifold mistakes in depicting the whale are not so very - surprising after all. Consider! Most of the scientific drawings have been - taken from the stranded fish; and these are about as correct as a drawing - of a wrecked ship, with broken back, would correctly represent the noble - animal itself in all its undashed pride of hull and spars. Though - elephants have stood for their full-lengths, the living Leviathan has - never yet fairly floated himself for his portrait. The living whale, in - his full majesty and significance, is only to be seen at sea in - unfathomable waters; and afloat the vast bulk of him is out of sight, like - a launched line-of-battle ship; and out of that element it is a thing - eternally impossible for mortal man to hoist him bodily into the air, so - as to preserve all his mighty swells and undulations. And, not to speak of - the highly presumable difference of contour between a young sucking whale - and a full-grown Platonian Leviathan; yet, even in the case of one of - those young sucking whales hoisted to a ship's deck, such is then the - outlandish, eel-like, limbered, varying shape of him, that his precise - expression the devil himself could not catch. -

-

- But it may be fancied, that from the naked skeleton of the stranded whale, - accurate hints may be derived touching his true form. Not at all. For it - is one of the more curious things about this Leviathan, that his skeleton - gives very little idea of his general shape. Though Jeremy Bentham's - skeleton, which hangs for candelabra in the library of one of his - executors, correctly conveys the idea of a burly-browed utilitarian old - gentleman, with all Jeremy's other leading personal characteristics; yet - nothing of this kind could be inferred from any leviathan's articulated - bones. In fact, as the great Hunter says, the mere skeleton of the whale - bears the same relation to the fully invested and padded animal as the - insect does to the chrysalis that so roundingly envelopes it. This - peculiarity is strikingly evinced in the head, as in some part of this - book will be incidentally shown. It is also very curiously displayed in - the side fin, the bones of which almost exactly answer to the bones of the - human hand, minus only the thumb. This fin has four regular bone-fingers, - the index, middle, ring, and little finger. But all these are permanently - lodged in their fleshy covering, as the human fingers in an artificial - covering. "However recklessly the whale may sometimes serve us," said - humorous Stubb one day, "he can never be truly said to handle us without - mittens." -

-

- For all these reasons, then, any way you may look at it, you must needs - conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which - must remain unpainted to the last. True, one portrait may hit the mark - much nearer than another, but none can hit it with any very considerable - degree of exactness. So there is no earthly way of finding out precisely - what the whale really looks like. And the only mode in which you can - derive even a tolerable idea of his living contour, is by going a whaling - yourself; but by so doing, you run no small risk of being eternally stove - and sunk by him. Wherefore, it seems to me you had best not be too - fastidious in your curiosity touching this Leviathan. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True -

-

- Pictures of Whaling Scenes. -

-

- In connexion with the monstrous pictures of whales, I am strongly tempted - here to enter upon those still more monstrous stories of them which are to - be found in certain books, both ancient and modern, especially in Pliny, - Purchas, Hackluyt, Harris, Cuvier, etc. But I pass that matter by. -

-

- I know of only four published outlines of the great Sperm Whale; - Colnett's, Huggins's, Frederick Cuvier's, and Beale's. In the previous - chapter Colnett and Cuvier have been referred to. Huggins's is far better - than theirs; but, by great odds, Beale's is the best. All Beale's drawings - of this whale are good, excepting the middle figure in the picture of - three whales in various attitudes, capping his second chapter. His - frontispiece, boats attacking Sperm Whales, though no doubt calculated to - excite the civil scepticism of some parlor men, is admirably correct and - life-like in its general effect. Some of the Sperm Whale drawings in J. - Ross Browne are pretty correct in contour; but they are wretchedly - engraved. That is not his fault though. -

-

- Of the Right Whale, the best outline pictures are in Scoresby; but they - are drawn on too small a scale to convey a desirable impression. He has - but one picture of whaling scenes, and this is a sad deficiency, because - it is by such pictures only, when at all well done, that you can derive - anything like a truthful idea of the living whale as seen by his living - hunters. -

-

- But, taken for all in all, by far the finest, though in some details not - the most correct, presentations of whales and whaling scenes to be - anywhere found, are two large French engravings, well executed, and taken - from paintings by one Garnery. Respectively, they represent attacks on the - Sperm and Right Whale. In the first engraving a noble Sperm Whale is - depicted in full majesty of might, just risen beneath the boat from the - profundities of the ocean, and bearing high in the air upon his back the - terrific wreck of the stoven planks. The prow of the boat is partially - unbroken, and is drawn just balancing upon the monster's spine; and - standing in that prow, for that one single incomputable flash of time, you - behold an oarsman, half shrouded by the incensed boiling spout of the - whale, and in the act of leaping, as if from a precipice. The action of - the whole thing is wonderfully good and true. The half-emptied line-tub - floats on the whitened sea; the wooden poles of the spilled harpoons - obliquely bob in it; the heads of the swimming crew are scattered about - the whale in contrasting expressions of affright; while in the black - stormy distance the ship is bearing down upon the scene. Serious fault - might be found with the anatomical details of this whale, but let that - pass; since, for the life of me, I could not draw so good a one. -

-

- In the second engraving, the boat is in the act of drawing alongside the - barnacled flank of a large running Right Whale, that rolls his black weedy - bulk in the sea like some mossy rock-slide from the Patagonian cliffs. His - jets are erect, full, and black like soot; so that from so abounding a - smoke in the chimney, you would think there must be a brave supper cooking - in the great bowels below. Sea fowls are pecking at the small crabs, - shell-fish, and other sea candies and maccaroni, which the Right Whale - sometimes carries on his pestilent back. And all the while the - thick-lipped leviathan is rushing through the deep, leaving tons of - tumultuous white curds in his wake, and causing the slight boat to rock in - the swells like a skiff caught nigh the paddle-wheels of an ocean steamer. - Thus, the foreground is all raging commotion; but behind, in admirable - artistic contrast, is the glassy level of a sea becalmed, the drooping - unstarched sails of the powerless ship, and the inert mass of a dead - whale, a conquered fortress, with the flag of capture lazily hanging from - the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole. -

-

- Who Garnery the painter is, or was, I know not. But my life for it he was - either practically conversant with his subject, or else marvellously - tutored by some experienced whaleman. The French are the lads for painting - action. Go and gaze upon all the paintings of Europe, and where will you - find such a gallery of living and breathing commotion on canvas, as in - that triumphal hall at Versailles; where the beholder fights his way, - pell-mell, through the consecutive great battles of France; where every - sword seems a flash of the Northern Lights, and the successive armed kings - and Emperors dash by, like a charge of crowned centaurs? Not wholly - unworthy of a place in that gallery, are these sea battle-pieces of - Garnery. -

-

- The natural aptitude of the French for seizing the picturesqueness of - things seems to be peculiarly evinced in what paintings and engravings - they have of their whaling scenes. With not one tenth of England's - experience in the fishery, and not the thousandth part of that of the - Americans, they have nevertheless furnished both nations with the only - finished sketches at all capable of conveying the real spirit of the whale - hunt. For the most part, the English and American whale draughtsmen seem - entirely content with presenting the mechanical outline of things, such as - the vacant profile of the whale; which, so far as picturesqueness of - effect is concerned, is about tantamount to sketching the profile of a - pyramid. Even Scoresby, the justly renowned Right whaleman, after giving - us a stiff full length of the Greenland whale, and three or four delicate - miniatures of narwhales and porpoises, treats us to a series of classical - engravings of boat hooks, chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the - microscopic diligence of a Leuwenhoeck submits to the inspection of a - shivering world ninety-six fac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals. - I mean no disparagement to the excellent voyager (I honour him for a - veteran), but in so important a matter it was certainly an oversight not - to have procured for every crystal a sworn affidavit taken before a - Greenland Justice of the Peace. -

-

- In addition to those fine engravings from Garnery, there are two other - French engravings worthy of note, by some one who subscribes himself "H. - Durand." One of them, though not precisely adapted to our present purpose, - nevertheless deserves mention on other accounts. It is a quiet noon-scene - among the isles of the Pacific; a French whaler anchored, inshore, in a - calm, and lazily taking water on board; the loosened sails of the ship, - and the long leaves of the palms in the background, both drooping together - in the breezeless air. The effect is very fine, when considered with - reference to its presenting the hardy fishermen under one of their few - aspects of oriental repose. The other engraving is quite a different - affair: the ship hove-to upon the open sea, and in the very heart of the - Leviathanic life, with a Right Whale alongside; the vessel (in the act of - cutting-in) hove over to the monster as if to a quay; and a boat, - hurriedly pushing off from this scene of activity, is about giving chase - to whales in the distance. The harpoons and lances lie levelled for use; - three oarsmen are just setting the mast in its hole; while from a sudden - roll of the sea, the little craft stands half-erect out of the water, like - a rearing horse. From the ship, the smoke of the torments of the boiling - whale is going up like the smoke over a village of smithies; and to - windward, a black cloud, rising up with earnest of squalls and rains, - seems to quicken the activity of the excited seamen. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in -

-

- Stone; in Mountains; in Stars. -

-

- On Tower-hill, as you go down to the London docks, you may have seen a - crippled beggar (or KEDGER, as the sailors say) holding a painted board - before him, representing the tragic scene in which he lost his leg. There - are three whales and three boats; and one of the boats (presumed to - contain the missing leg in all its original integrity) is being crunched - by the jaws of the foremost whale. Any time these ten years, they tell me, - has that man held up that picture, and exhibited that stump to an - incredulous world. But the time of his justification has now come. His - three whales are as good whales as were ever published in Wapping, at any - rate; and his stump as unquestionable a stump as any you will find in the - western clearings. But, though for ever mounted on that stump, never a - stump-speech does the poor whaleman make; but, with downcast eyes, stands - ruefully contemplating his own amputation. -

-

- Throughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag - Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, - graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies' busks - wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other like skrimshander articles, - as the whalemen call the numerous little ingenious contrivances they - elaborately carve out of the rough material, in their hours of ocean - leisure. Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, - specially intended for the skrimshandering business. But, in general, they - toil with their jack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool - of the sailor, they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a - mariner's fancy. -

-

- Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to - that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery. Your - true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois. I myself am a - savage, owning no allegiance but to the King of the Cannibals; and ready - at any moment to rebel against him. -

-

- Now, one of the peculiar characteristics of the savage in his domestic - hours, is his wonderful patience of industry. An ancient Hawaiian war-club - or spear-paddle, in its full multiplicity and elaboration of carving, is - as great a trophy of human perseverance as a Latin lexicon. For, with but - a bit of broken sea-shell or a shark's tooth, that miraculous intricacy of - wooden net-work has been achieved; and it has cost steady years of steady - application. -

-

- As with the Hawaiian savage, so with the white sailor-savage. With the - same marvellous patience, and with the same single shark's tooth, of his - one poor jack-knife, he will carve you a bit of bone sculpture, not quite - as workmanlike, but as close packed in its maziness of design, as the - Greek savage, Achilles's shield; and full of barbaric spirit and - suggestiveness, as the prints of that fine old Dutch savage, Albert Durer. -

-

- Wooden whales, or whales cut in profile out of the small dark slabs of the - noble South Sea war-wood, are frequently met with in the forecastles of - American whalers. Some of them are done with much accuracy. -

-

- At some old gable-roofed country houses you will see brass whales hung by - the tail for knockers to the road-side door. When the porter is sleepy, - the anvil-headed whale would be best. But these knocking whales are seldom - remarkable as faithful essays. On the spires of some old-fashioned - churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weather-cocks; - but they are so elevated, and besides that are to all intents and purposes - so labelled with "HANDS OFF!" you cannot examine them closely enough to - decide upon their merit. -

-

- In bony, ribby regions of the earth, where at the base of high broken - cliffs masses of rock lie strewn in fantastic groupings upon the plain, - you will often discover images as of the petrified forms of the Leviathan - partly merged in grass, which of a windy day breaks against them in a surf - of green surges. -

-

- Then, again, in mountainous countries where the traveller is continually - girdled by amphitheatrical heights; here and there from some lucky point - of view you will catch passing glimpses of the profiles of whales defined - along the undulating ridges. But you must be a thorough whaleman, to see - these sights; and not only that, but if you wish to return to such a sight - again, you must be sure and take the exact intersecting latitude and - longitude of your first stand-point, else so chance-like are such - observations of the hills, that your precise, previous stand-point would - require a laborious re-discovery; like the Soloma Islands, which still - remain incognita, though once high-ruffed Mendanna trod them and old - Figuera chronicled them. -

-

- Nor when expandingly lifted by your subject, can you fail to trace out - great whales in the starry heavens, and boats in pursuit of them; as when - long filled with thoughts of war the Eastern nations saw armies locked in - battle among the clouds. Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round - and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first - defined him to me. And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have - boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far - beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish. -

-

- With a frigate's anchors for my bridle-bitts and fasces of harpoons for - spurs, would I could mount that whale and leap the topmost skies, to see - whether the fabled heavens with all their countless tents really lie - encamped beyond my mortal sight! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 58. Brit. -

-

- Steering north-eastward from the Crozetts, we fell in with vast meadows of - brit, the minute, yellow substance, upon which the Right Whale largely - feeds. For leagues and leagues it undulated round us, so that we seemed to - be sailing through boundless fields of ripe and golden wheat. -

-

- On the second day, numbers of Right Whales were seen, who, secure from the - attack of a Sperm Whaler like the Pequod, with open jaws sluggishly swam - through the brit, which, adhering to the fringing fibres of that wondrous - Venetian blind in their mouths, was in that manner separated from the - water that escaped at the lip. -

-

- As morning mowers, who side by side slowly and seethingly advance their - scythes through the long wet grass of marshy meads; even so these monsters - swam, making a strange, grassy, cutting sound; and leaving behind them - endless swaths of blue upon the yellow sea.* -

-

- *That part of the sea known among whalemen as the "Brazil Banks" does not - bear that name as the Banks of Newfoundland do, because of there being - shallows and soundings there, but because of this remarkable meadow-like - appearance, caused by the vast drifts of brit continually floating in - those latitudes, where the Right Whale is often chased. -

-

- But it was only the sound they made as they parted the brit which at all - reminded one of mowers. Seen from the mast-heads, especially when they - paused and were stationary for a while, their vast black forms looked more - like lifeless masses of rock than anything else. And as in the great - hunting countries of India, the stranger at a distance will sometimes pass - on the plains recumbent elephants without knowing them to be such, taking - them for bare, blackened elevations of the soil; even so, often, with him, - who for the first time beholds this species of the leviathans of the sea. - And even when recognised at last, their immense magnitude renders it very - hard really to believe that such bulky masses of overgrowth can possibly - be instinct, in all parts, with the same sort of life that lives in a dog - or a horse. -

-

- Indeed, in other respects, you can hardly regard any creatures of the deep - with the same feelings that you do those of the shore. For though some old - naturalists have maintained that all creatures of the land are of their - kind in the sea; and though taking a broad general view of the thing, this - may very well be; yet coming to specialties, where, for example, does the - ocean furnish any fish that in disposition answers to the sagacious - kindness of the dog? The accursed shark alone can in any generic respect - be said to bear comparative analogy to him. -

-

- But though, to landsmen in general, the native inhabitants of the seas - have ever been regarded with emotions unspeakably unsocial and repelling; - though we know the sea to be an everlasting terra incognita, so that - Columbus sailed over numberless unknown worlds to discover his one - superficial western one; though, by vast odds, the most terrific of all - mortal disasters have immemorially and indiscriminately befallen tens and - hundreds of thousands of those who have gone upon the waters; though but a - moment's consideration will teach, that however baby man may brag of his - science and skill, and however much, in a flattering future, that science - and skill may augment; yet for ever and for ever, to the crack of doom, - the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest - frigate he can make; nevertheless, by the continual repetition of these - very impressions, man has lost that sense of the full awfulness of the sea - which aboriginally belongs to it. -

-

- The first boat we read of, floated on an ocean, that with Portuguese - vengeance had whelmed a whole world without leaving so much as a widow. - That same ocean rolls now; that same ocean destroyed the wrecked ships of - last year. Yea, foolish mortals, Noah's flood is not yet subsided; two - thirds of the fair world it yet covers. -

-

- Wherein differ the sea and the land, that a miracle upon one is not a - miracle upon the other? Preternatural terrors rested upon the Hebrews, - when under the feet of Korah and his company the live ground opened and - swallowed them up for ever; yet not a modern sun ever sets, but in - precisely the same manner the live sea swallows up ships and crews. -

-

- But not only is the sea such a foe to man who is an alien to it, but it is - also a fiend to its own off-spring; worse than the Persian host who - murdered his own guests; sparing not the creatures which itself hath - spawned. Like a savage tigress that tossing in the jungle overlays her own - cubs, so the sea dashes even the mightiest whales against the rocks, and - leaves them there side by side with the split wrecks of ships. No mercy, - no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting like a mad battle - steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe. -

-

- Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide - under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden - beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish - brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the - dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, - the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each - other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. -

-

- Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile - earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a - strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean - surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular - Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the - half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst - never return! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 59. Squid. -

-

- Slowly wading through the meadows of brit, the Pequod still held on her - way north-eastward towards the island of Java; a gentle air impelling her - keel, so that in the surrounding serenity her three tall tapering masts - mildly waved to that languid breeze, as three mild palms on a plain. And - still, at wide intervals in the silvery night, the lonely, alluring jet - would be seen. -

-

- But one transparent blue morning, when a stillness almost preternatural - spread over the sea, however unattended with any stagnant calm; when the - long burnished sun-glade on the waters seemed a golden finger laid across - them, enjoining some secrecy; when the slippered waves whispered together - as they softly ran on; in this profound hush of the visible sphere a - strange spectre was seen by Daggoo from the main-mast-head. -

-

- In the distance, a great white mass lazily rose, and rising higher and - higher, and disentangling itself from the azure, at last gleamed before - our prow like a snow-slide, new slid from the hills. Thus glistening for a - moment, as slowly it subsided, and sank. Then once more arose, and - silently gleamed. It seemed not a whale; and yet is this Moby Dick? - thought Daggoo. Again the phantom went down, but on re-appearing once - more, with a stiletto-like cry that startled every man from his nod, the - negro yelled out—"There! there again! there she breaches! right - ahead! The White Whale, the White Whale!" -

-

- Upon this, the seamen rushed to the yard-arms, as in swarming-time the - bees rush to the boughs. Bare-headed in the sultry sun, Ahab stood on the - bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in readiness to wave his - orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance in the direction indicated - aloft by the outstretched motionless arm of Daggoo. -

-

- Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had - gradually worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect the - ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the particular whale - he pursued; however this was, or whether his eagerness betrayed him; - whichever way it might have been, no sooner did he distinctly perceive the - white mass, than with a quick intensity he instantly gave orders for - lowering. -

-

- The four boats were soon on the water; Ahab's in advance, and all swiftly - pulling towards their prey. Soon it went down, and while, with oars - suspended, we were awaiting its reappearance, lo! in the same spot where - it sank, once more it slowly rose. Almost forgetting for the moment all - thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most wondrous phenomenon which - the secret seas have hitherto revealed to mankind. A vast pulpy mass, - furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-colour, lay floating - on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling - and twisting like a nest of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any - hapless object within reach. No perceptible face or front did it have; no - conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; but undulated there on - the billows, an unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life. -

-

- As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck still - gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice - exclaimed—"Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than - to have seen thee, thou white ghost!" -

-

- "What was it, Sir?" said Flask. -

-

- "The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and - returned to their ports to tell of it." -

-

- But Ahab said nothing; turning his boat, he sailed back to the vessel; the - rest as silently following. -

-

- Whatever superstitions the sperm whalemen in general have connected with - the sight of this object, certain it is, that a glimpse of it being so - very unusual, that circumstance has gone far to invest it with - portentousness. So rarely is it beheld, that though one and all of them - declare it to be the largest animated thing in the ocean, yet very few of - them have any but the most vague ideas concerning its true nature and - form; notwithstanding, they believe it to furnish to the sperm whale his - only food. For though other species of whales find their food above water, - and may be seen by man in the act of feeding, the spermaceti whale obtains - his whole food in unknown zones below the surface; and only by inference - is it that any one can tell of what, precisely, that food consists. At - times, when closely pursued, he will disgorge what are supposed to be the - detached arms of the squid; some of them thus exhibited exceeding twenty - and thirty feet in length. They fancy that the monster to which these arms - belonged ordinarily clings by them to the bed of the ocean; and that the - sperm whale, unlike other species, is supplied with teeth in order to - attack and tear it. -

-

- There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop - Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid. The manner in which - the Bishop describes it, as alternately rising and sinking, with some - other particulars he narrates, in all this the two correspond. But much - abatement is necessary with respect to the incredible bulk he assigns it. -

-

- By some naturalists who have vaguely heard rumors of the mysterious - creature, here spoken of, it is included among the class of cuttle-fish, - to which, indeed, in certain external respects it would seem to belong, - but only as the Anak of the tribe. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 60. The Line. -

-

- With reference to the whaling scene shortly to be described, as well as - for the better understanding of all similar scenes elsewhere presented, I - have here to speak of the magical, sometimes horrible whale-line. -

-

- The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly - vapoured with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary - ropes; for while tar, as ordinarily used, makes the hemp more pliable to - the rope-maker, and also renders the rope itself more convenient to the - sailor for common ship use; yet, not only would the ordinary quantity too - much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which it must be - subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in general by no - means adds to the rope's durability or strength, however much it may give - it compactness and gloss. -

-

- Of late years the Manilla rope has in the American fishery almost entirely - superseded hemp as a material for whale-lines; for, though not so durable - as hemp, it is stronger, and far more soft and elastic; and I will add - (since there is an aesthetics in all things), is much more handsome and - becoming to the boat, than hemp. Hemp is a dusky, dark fellow, a sort of - Indian; but Manilla is as a golden-haired Circassian to behold. -

-

- The whale-line is only two-thirds of an inch in thickness. At first sight, - you would not think it so strong as it really is. By experiment its one - and fifty yarns will each suspend a weight of one hundred and twenty - pounds; so that the whole rope will bear a strain nearly equal to three - tons. In length, the common sperm whale-line measures something over two - hundred fathoms. Towards the stern of the boat it is spirally coiled away - in the tub, not like the worm-pipe of a still though, but so as to form - one round, cheese-shaped mass of densely bedded "sheaves," or layers of - concentric spiralizations, without any hollow but the "heart," or minute - vertical tube formed at the axis of the cheese. As the least tangle or - kink in the coiling would, in running out, infallibly take somebody's arm, - leg, or entire body off, the utmost precaution is used in stowing the line - in its tub. Some harpooneers will consume almost an entire morning in this - business, carrying the line high aloft and then reeving it downwards - through a block towards the tub, so as in the act of coiling to free it - from all possible wrinkles and twists. -

-

- In the English boats two tubs are used instead of one; the same line being - continuously coiled in both tubs. There is some advantage in this; because - these twin-tubs being so small they fit more readily into the boat, and do - not strain it so much; whereas, the American tub, nearly three feet in - diameter and of proportionate depth, makes a rather bulky freight for a - craft whose planks are but one half-inch in thickness; for the bottom of - the whale-boat is like critical ice, which will bear up a considerable - distributed weight, but not very much of a concentrated one. When the - painted canvas cover is clapped on the American line-tub, the boat looks - as if it were pulling off with a prodigious great wedding-cake to present - to the whales. -

-

- Both ends of the line are exposed; the lower end terminating in an - eye-splice or loop coming up from the bottom against the side of the tub, - and hanging over its edge completely disengaged from everything. This - arrangement of the lower end is necessary on two accounts. First: In order - to facilitate the fastening to it of an additional line from a neighboring - boat, in case the stricken whale should sound so deep as to threaten to - carry off the entire line originally attached to the harpoon. In these - instances, the whale of course is shifted like a mug of ale, as it were, - from the one boat to the other; though the first boat always hovers at - hand to assist its consort. Second: This arrangement is indispensable for - common safety's sake; for were the lower end of the line in any way - attached to the boat, and were the whale then to run the line out to the - end almost in a single, smoking minute as he sometimes does, he would not - stop there, for the doomed boat would infallibly be dragged down after him - into the profundity of the sea; and in that case no town-crier would ever - find her again. -

-

- Before lowering the boat for the chase, the upper end of the line is taken - aft from the tub, and passing round the loggerhead there, is again carried - forward the entire length of the boat, resting crosswise upon the loom or - handle of every man's oar, so that it jogs against his wrist in rowing; - and also passing between the men, as they alternately sit at the opposite - gunwales, to the leaded chocks or grooves in the extreme pointed prow of - the boat, where a wooden pin or skewer the size of a common quill, - prevents it from slipping out. From the chocks it hangs in a slight - festoon over the bows, and is then passed inside the boat again; and some - ten or twenty fathoms (called box-line) being coiled upon the box in the - bows, it continues its way to the gunwale still a little further aft, and - is then attached to the short-warp—the rope which is immediately - connected with the harpoon; but previous to that connexion, the short-warp - goes through sundry mystifications too tedious to detail. -

-

- Thus the whale-line folds the whole boat in its complicated coils, - twisting and writhing around it in almost every direction. All the oarsmen - are involved in its perilous contortions; so that to the timid eye of the - landsman, they seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes - sportively festooning their limbs. Nor can any son of mortal woman, for - the first time, seat himself amid those hempen intricacies, and while - straining his utmost at the oar, bethink him that at any unknown instant - the harpoon may be darted, and all these horrible contortions be put in - play like ringed lightnings; he cannot be thus circumstanced without a - shudder that makes the very marrow in his bones to quiver in him like a - shaken jelly. Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer - sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never - heard over your mahogany, than you will hear over the half-inch white - cedar of the whale-boat, when thus hung in hangman's nooses; and, like the - six burghers of Calais before King Edward, the six men composing the crew - pull into the jaws of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may - say. -

-

- Perhaps a very little thought will now enable you to account for those - repeated whaling disasters—some few of which are casually chronicled—of - this man or that man being taken out of the boat by the line, and lost. - For, when the line is darting out, to be seated then in the boat, is like - being seated in the midst of the manifold whizzings of a steam-engine in - full play, when every flying beam, and shaft, and wheel, is grazing you. - It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils, - because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way and - the other, without the slightest warning; and only by a certain - self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition and action, can - you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the all-seeing - sun himself could never pierce you out. -

-

- Again: as the profound calm which only apparently precedes and prophesies - of the storm, is perhaps more awful than the storm itself; for, indeed, - the calm is but the wrapper and envelope of the storm; and contains it in - itself, as the seemingly harmless rifle holds the fatal powder, and the - ball, and the explosion; so the graceful repose of the line, as it - silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being brought into actual - play—this is a thing which carries more of true terror than any - other aspect of this dangerous affair. But why say more? All men live - enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but - it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals - realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a - philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel - one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with - a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 61. Stubb Kills a Whale. -

-

- If to Starbuck the apparition of the Squid was a thing of portents, to - Queequeg it was quite a different object. -

-

- "When you see him 'quid," said the savage, honing his harpoon in the bow - of his hoisted boat, "then you quick see him 'parm whale." -

-

- The next day was exceedingly still and sultry, and with nothing special to - engage them, the Pequod's crew could hardly resist the spell of sleep - induced by such a vacant sea. For this part of the Indian Ocean through - which we then were voyaging is not what whalemen call a lively ground; - that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises, dolphins, flying-fish, - and other vivacious denizens of more stirring waters, than those off the - Rio de la Plata, or the in-shore ground off Peru. -

-

- It was my turn to stand at the foremast-head; and with my shoulders - leaning against the slackened royal shrouds, to and fro I idly swayed in - what seemed an enchanted air. No resolution could withstand it; in that - dreamy mood losing all consciousness, at last my soul went out of my body; - though my body still continued to sway as a pendulum will, long after the - power which first moved it is withdrawn. -

-

- Ere forgetfulness altogether came over me, I had noticed that the seamen - at the main and mizzen-mast-heads were already drowsy. So that at last all - three of us lifelessly swung from the spars, and for every swing that we - made there was a nod from below from the slumbering helmsman. The waves, - too, nodded their indolent crests; and across the wide trance of the sea, - east nodded to west, and the sun over all. -

-

- Suddenly bubbles seemed bursting beneath my closed eyes; like vices my - hands grasped the shrouds; some invisible, gracious agency preserved me; - with a shock I came back to life. And lo! close under our lee, not forty - fathoms off, a gigantic Sperm Whale lay rolling in the water like the - capsized hull of a frigate, his broad, glossy back, of an Ethiopian hue, - glistening in the sun's rays like a mirror. But lazily undulating in the - trough of the sea, and ever and anon tranquilly spouting his vapoury jet, - the whale looked like a portly burgher smoking his pipe of a warm - afternoon. But that pipe, poor whale, was thy last. As if struck by some - enchanter's wand, the sleepy ship and every sleeper in it all at once - started into wakefulness; and more than a score of voices from all parts - of the vessel, simultaneously with the three notes from aloft, shouted - forth the accustomed cry, as the great fish slowly and regularly spouted - the sparkling brine into the air. -

-

- "Clear away the boats! Luff!" cried Ahab. And obeying his own order, he - dashed the helm down before the helmsman could handle the spokes. -

-

- The sudden exclamations of the crew must have alarmed the whale; and ere - the boats were down, majestically turning, he swam away to the leeward, - but with such a steady tranquillity, and making so few ripples as he swam, - that thinking after all he might not as yet be alarmed, Ahab gave orders - that not an oar should be used, and no man must speak but in whispers. So - seated like Ontario Indians on the gunwales of the boats, we swiftly but - silently paddled along; the calm not admitting of the noiseless sails - being set. Presently, as we thus glided in chase, the monster - perpendicularly flitted his tail forty feet into the air, and then sank - out of sight like a tower swallowed up. -

-

- "There go flukes!" was the cry, an announcement immediately followed by - Stubb's producing his match and igniting his pipe, for now a respite was - granted. After the full interval of his sounding had elapsed, the whale - rose again, and being now in advance of the smoker's boat, and much nearer - to it than to any of the others, Stubb counted upon the honour of the - capture. It was obvious, now, that the whale had at length become aware of - his pursuers. All silence of cautiousness was therefore no longer of use. - Paddles were dropped, and oars came loudly into play. And still puffing at - his pipe, Stubb cheered on his crew to the assault. -

-

- Yes, a mighty change had come over the fish. All alive to his jeopardy, he - was going "head out"; that part obliquely projecting from the mad yeast - which he brewed.* -

-

- *It will be seen in some other place of what a very light substance the - entire interior of the sperm whale's enormous head consists. Though - apparently the most massive, it is by far the most buoyant part about him. - So that with ease he elevates it in the air, and invariably does so when - going at his utmost speed. Besides, such is the breadth of the upper part - of the front of his head, and such the tapering cut-water formation of the - lower part, that by obliquely elevating his head, he thereby may be said - to transform himself from a bluff-bowed sluggish galliot into a - sharppointed New York pilot-boat. -

-

- "Start her, start her, my men! Don't hurry yourselves; take plenty of time—but - start her; start her like thunder-claps, that's all," cried Stubb, - spluttering out the smoke as he spoke. "Start her, now; give 'em the long - and strong stroke, Tashtego. Start her, Tash, my boy—start her, all; - but keep cool, keep cool—cucumbers is the word—easy, easy—only - start her like grim death and grinning devils, and raise the buried dead - perpendicular out of their graves, boys—that's all. Start her!" -

-

- "Woo-hoo! Wa-hee!" screamed the Gay-Header in reply, raising some old - war-whoop to the skies; as every oarsman in the strained boat - involuntarily bounced forward with the one tremendous leading stroke which - the eager Indian gave. -

-

- But his wild screams were answered by others quite as wild. "Kee-hee! - Kee-hee!" yelled Daggoo, straining forwards and backwards on his seat, - like a pacing tiger in his cage. -

-

- "Ka-la! Koo-loo!" howled Queequeg, as if smacking his lips over a mouthful - of Grenadier's steak. And thus with oars and yells the keels cut the sea. - Meanwhile, Stubb retaining his place in the van, still encouraged his men - to the onset, all the while puffing the smoke from his mouth. Like - desperadoes they tugged and they strained, till the welcome cry was heard—"Stand - up, Tashtego!—give it to him!" The harpoon was hurled. "Stern all!" - The oarsmen backed water; the same moment something went hot and hissing - along every one of their wrists. It was the magical line. An instant - before, Stubb had swiftly caught two additional turns with it round the - loggerhead, whence, by reason of its increased rapid circlings, a hempen - blue smoke now jetted up and mingled with the steady fumes from his pipe. - As the line passed round and round the loggerhead; so also, just before - reaching that point, it blisteringly passed through and through both of - Stubb's hands, from which the hand-cloths, or squares of quilted canvas - sometimes worn at these times, had accidentally dropped. It was like - holding an enemy's sharp two-edged sword by the blade, and that enemy all - the time striving to wrest it out of your clutch. -

-

- "Wet the line! wet the line!" cried Stubb to the tub oarsman (him seated - by the tub) who, snatching off his hat, dashed sea-water into it.* More - turns were taken, so that the line began holding its place. The boat now - flew through the boiling water like a shark all fins. Stubb and Tashtego - here changed places—stem for stern—a staggering business truly - in that rocking commotion. -

-

- *Partly to show the indispensableness of this act, it may here be stated, - that, in the old Dutch fishery, a mop was used to dash the running line - with water; in many other ships, a wooden piggin, or bailer, is set apart - for that purpose. Your hat, however, is the most convenient. -

-

- From the vibrating line extending the entire length of the upper part of - the boat, and from its now being more tight than a harpstring, you would - have thought the craft had two keels—one cleaving the water, the - other the air—as the boat churned on through both opposing elements - at once. A continual cascade played at the bows; a ceaseless whirling eddy - in her wake; and, at the slightest motion from within, even but of a - little finger, the vibrating, cracking craft canted over her spasmodic - gunwale into the sea. Thus they rushed; each man with might and main - clinging to his seat, to prevent being tossed to the foam; and the tall - form of Tashtego at the steering oar crouching almost double, in order to - bring down his centre of gravity. Whole Atlantics and Pacifics seemed - passed as they shot on their way, till at length the whale somewhat - slackened his flight. -

-

- "Haul in—haul in!" cried Stubb to the bowsman! and, facing round - towards the whale, all hands began pulling the boat up to him, while yet - the boat was being towed on. Soon ranging up by his flank, Stubb, firmly - planting his knee in the clumsy cleat, darted dart after dart into the - flying fish; at the word of command, the boat alternately sterning out of - the way of the whale's horrible wallow, and then ranging up for another - fling. -

-

- The red tide now poured from all sides of the monster like brooks down a - hill. His tormented body rolled not in brine but in blood, which bubbled - and seethed for furlongs behind in their wake. The slanting sun playing - upon this crimson pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every - face, so that they all glowed to each other like red men. And all the - while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle - of the whale, and vehement puff after puff from the mouth of the excited - headsman; as at every dart, hauling in upon his crooked lance (by the line - attached to it), Stubb straightened it again and again, by a few rapid - blows against the gunwale, then again and again sent it into the whale. -

-

- "Pull up—pull up!" he now cried to the bowsman, as the waning whale - relaxed in his wrath. "Pull up!—close to!" and the boat ranged along - the fish's flank. When reaching far over the bow, Stubb slowly churned his - long sharp lance into the fish, and kept it there, carefully churning and - churning, as if cautiously seeking to feel after some gold watch that the - whale might have swallowed, and which he was fearful of breaking ere he - could hook it out. But that gold watch he sought was the innermost life of - the fish. And now it is struck; for, starting from his trance into that - unspeakable thing called his "flurry," the monster horribly wallowed in - his blood, overwrapped himself in impenetrable, mad, boiling spray, so - that the imperilled craft, instantly dropping astern, had much ado blindly - to struggle out from that phrensied twilight into the clear air of the - day. -

-

- And now abating in his flurry, the whale once more rolled out into view; - surging from side to side; spasmodically dilating and contracting his - spout-hole, with sharp, cracking, agonized respirations. At last, gush - after gush of clotted red gore, as if it had been the purple lees of red - wine, shot into the frighted air; and falling back again, ran dripping - down his motionless flanks into the sea. His heart had burst! -

-

- "He's dead, Mr. Stubb," said Daggoo. -

-

- "Yes; both pipes smoked out!" and withdrawing his own from his mouth, - Stubb scattered the dead ashes over the water; and, for a moment, stood - thoughtfully eyeing the vast corpse he had made. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 62. The Dart. -

-

- A word concerning an incident in the last chapter. -

-

- According to the invariable usage of the fishery, the whale-boat pushes - off from the ship, with the headsman or whale-killer as temporary - steersman, and the harpooneer or whale-fastener pulling the foremost oar, - the one known as the harpooneer-oar. Now it needs a strong, nervous arm to - strike the first iron into the fish; for often, in what is called a long - dart, the heavy implement has to be flung to the distance of twenty or - thirty feet. But however prolonged and exhausting the chase, the - harpooneer is expected to pull his oar meanwhile to the uttermost; indeed, - he is expected to set an example of superhuman activity to the rest, not - only by incredible rowing, but by repeated loud and intrepid exclamations; - and what it is to keep shouting at the top of one's compass, while all the - other muscles are strained and half started—what that is none know - but those who have tried it. For one, I cannot bawl very heartily and work - very recklessly at one and the same time. In this straining, bawling - state, then, with his back to the fish, all at once the exhausted - harpooneer hears the exciting cry—"Stand up, and give it to him!" He - now has to drop and secure his oar, turn round on his centre half way, - seize his harpoon from the crotch, and with what little strength may - remain, he essays to pitch it somehow into the whale. No wonder, taking - the whole fleet of whalemen in a body, that out of fifty fair chances for - a dart, not five are successful; no wonder that so many hapless - harpooneers are madly cursed and disrated; no wonder that some of them - actually burst their blood-vessels in the boat; no wonder that some sperm - whalemen are absent four years with four barrels; no wonder that to many - ship owners, whaling is but a losing concern; for it is the harpooneer - that makes the voyage, and if you take the breath out of his body how can - you expect to find it there when most wanted! -

-

- Again, if the dart be successful, then at the second critical instant, - that is, when the whale starts to run, the boatheader and harpooneer - likewise start to running fore and aft, to the imminent jeopardy of - themselves and every one else. It is then they change places; and the - headsman, the chief officer of the little craft, takes his proper station - in the bows of the boat. -

-

- Now, I care not who maintains the contrary, but all this is both foolish - and unnecessary. The headsman should stay in the bows from first to last; - he should both dart the harpoon and the lance, and no rowing whatever - should be expected of him, except under circumstances obvious to any - fisherman. I know that this would sometimes involve a slight loss of speed - in the chase; but long experience in various whalemen of more than one - nation has convinced me that in the vast majority of failures in the - fishery, it has not by any means been so much the speed of the whale as - the before described exhaustion of the harpooneer that has caused them. -

-

- To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooneers of this - world must start to their feet from out of idleness, and not from out of - toil. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 63. The Crotch. -

-

- Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in - productive subjects, grow the chapters. -

-

- The crotch alluded to on a previous page deserves independent mention. It - is a notched stick of a peculiar form, some two feet in length, which is - perpendicularly inserted into the starboard gunwale near the bow, for the - purpose of furnishing a rest for the wooden extremity of the harpoon, - whose other naked, barbed end slopingly projects from the prow. Thereby - the weapon is instantly at hand to its hurler, who snatches it up as - readily from its rest as a backwoodsman swings his rifle from the wall. It - is customary to have two harpoons reposing in the crotch, respectively - called the first and second irons. -

-

- But these two harpoons, each by its own cord, are both connected with the - line; the object being this: to dart them both, if possible, one instantly - after the other into the same whale; so that if, in the coming drag, one - should draw out, the other may still retain a hold. It is a doubling of - the chances. But it very often happens that owing to the instantaneous, - violent, convulsive running of the whale upon receiving the first iron, it - becomes impossible for the harpooneer, however lightning-like in his - movements, to pitch the second iron into him. Nevertheless, as the second - iron is already connected with the line, and the line is running, hence - that weapon must, at all events, be anticipatingly tossed out of the boat, - somehow and somewhere; else the most terrible jeopardy would involve all - hands. Tumbled into the water, it accordingly is in such cases; the spare - coils of box line (mentioned in a preceding chapter) making this feat, in - most instances, prudently practicable. But this critical act is not always - unattended with the saddest and most fatal casualties. -

-

- Furthermore: you must know that when the second iron is thrown overboard, - it thenceforth becomes a dangling, sharp-edged terror, skittishly - curvetting about both boat and whale, entangling the lines, or cutting - them, and making a prodigious sensation in all directions. Nor, in - general, is it possible to secure it again until the whale is fairly - captured and a corpse. -

-

- Consider, now, how it must be in the case of four boats all engaging one - unusually strong, active, and knowing whale; when owing to these qualities - in him, as well as to the thousand concurring accidents of such an - audacious enterprise, eight or ten loose second irons may be - simultaneously dangling about him. For, of course, each boat is supplied - with several harpoons to bend on to the line should the first one be - ineffectually darted without recovery. All these particulars are - faithfully narrated here, as they will not fail to elucidate several most - important, however intricate passages, in scenes hereafter to be painted. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 64. Stubb's Supper. -

-

- Stubb's whale had been killed some distance from the ship. It was a calm; - so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of - towing the trophy to the Pequod. And now, as we eighteen men with our - thirty-six arms, and one hundred and eighty thumbs and fingers, slowly - toiled hour after hour upon that inert, sluggish corpse in the sea; and it - seemed hardly to budge at all, except at long intervals; good evidence was - hereby furnished of the enormousness of the mass we moved. For, upon the - great canal of Hang-Ho, or whatever they call it, in China, four or five - laborers on the foot-path will draw a bulky freighted junk at the rate of - a mile an hour; but this grand argosy we towed heavily forged along, as if - laden with pig-lead in bulk. -

-

- Darkness came on; but three lights up and down in the Pequod's - main-rigging dimly guided our way; till drawing nearer we saw Ahab - dropping one of several more lanterns over the bulwarks. Vacantly eyeing - the heaving whale for a moment, he issued the usual orders for securing it - for the night, and then handing his lantern to a seaman, went his way into - the cabin, and did not come forward again until morning. -

-

- Though, in overseeing the pursuit of this whale, Captain Ahab had evinced - his customary activity, to call it so; yet now that the creature was dead, - some vague dissatisfaction, or impatience, or despair, seemed working in - him; as if the sight of that dead body reminded him that Moby Dick was yet - to be slain; and though a thousand other whales were brought to his ship, - all that would not one jot advance his grand, monomaniac object. Very soon - you would have thought from the sound on the Pequod's decks, that all - hands were preparing to cast anchor in the deep; for heavy chains are - being dragged along the deck, and thrust rattling out of the port-holes. - But by those clanking links, the vast corpse itself, not the ship, is to - be moored. Tied by the head to the stern, and by the tail to the bows, the - whale now lies with its black hull close to the vessel's and seen through - the darkness of the night, which obscured the spars and rigging aloft, the - two—ship and whale, seemed yoked together like colossal bullocks, - whereof one reclines while the other remains standing.* -

-

- *A little item may as well be related here. The strongest and most - reliable hold which the ship has upon the whale when moored alongside, is - by the flukes or tail; and as from its greater density that part is - relatively heavier than any other (excepting the side-fins), its - flexibility even in death, causes it to sink low beneath the surface; so - that with the hand you cannot get at it from the boat, in order to put the - chain round it. But this difficulty is ingeniously overcome: a small, - strong line is prepared with a wooden float at its outer end, and a weight - in its middle, while the other end is secured to the ship. By adroit - management the wooden float is made to rise on the other side of the mass, - so that now having girdled the whale, the chain is readily made to follow - suit; and being slipped along the body, is at last locked fast round the - smallest part of the tail, at the point of junction with its broad flukes - or lobes. -

-

- If moody Ahab was now all quiescence, at least so far as could be known on - deck, Stubb, his second mate, flushed with conquest, betrayed an unusual - but still good-natured excitement. Such an unwonted bustle was he in that - the staid Starbuck, his official superior, quietly resigned to him for the - time the sole management of affairs. One small, helping cause of all this - liveliness in Stubb, was soon made strangely manifest. Stubb was a high - liver; he was somewhat intemperately fond of the whale as a flavorish - thing to his palate. -

-

- "A steak, a steak, ere I sleep! You, Daggoo! overboard you go, and cut me - one from his small!" -

-

- Here be it known, that though these wild fishermen do not, as a general - thing, and according to the great military maxim, make the enemy defray - the current expenses of the war (at least before realizing the proceeds of - the voyage), yet now and then you find some of these Nantucketers who have - a genuine relish for that particular part of the Sperm Whale designated by - Stubb; comprising the tapering extremity of the body. -

-

- About midnight that steak was cut and cooked; and lighted by two lanterns - of sperm oil, Stubb stoutly stood up to his spermaceti supper at the - capstan-head, as if that capstan were a sideboard. Nor was Stubb the only - banqueter on whale's flesh that night. Mingling their mumblings with his - own mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the - dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness. The few sleepers below - in their bunks were often startled by the sharp slapping of their tails - against the hull, within a few inches of the sleepers' hearts. Peering - over the side you could just see them (as before you heard them) wallowing - in the sullen, black waters, and turning over on their backs as they - scooped out huge globular pieces of the whale of the bigness of a human - head. This particular feat of the shark seems all but miraculous. How at - such an apparently unassailable surface, they contrive to gouge out such - symmetrical mouthfuls, remains a part of the universal problem of all - things. The mark they thus leave on the whale, may best be likened to the - hollow made by a carpenter in countersinking for a screw. -

-

- Though amid all the smoking horror and diabolism of a sea-fight, sharks - will be seen longingly gazing up to the ship's decks, like hungry dogs - round a table where red meat is being carved, ready to bolt down every - killed man that is tossed to them; and though, while the valiant butchers - over the deck-table are thus cannibally carving each other's live meat - with carving-knives all gilded and tasselled, the sharks, also, with their - jewel-hilted mouths, are quarrelsomely carving away under the table at the - dead meat; and though, were you to turn the whole affair upside down, it - would still be pretty much the same thing, that is to say, a shocking - sharkish business enough for all parties; and though sharks also are the - invariable outriders of all slave ships crossing the Atlantic, - systematically trotting alongside, to be handy in case a parcel is to be - carried anywhere, or a dead slave to be decently buried; and though one or - two other like instances might be set down, touching the set terms, - places, and occasions, when sharks do most socially congregate, and most - hilariously feast; yet is there no conceivable time or occasion when you - will find them in such countless numbers, and in gayer or more jovial - spirits, than around a dead sperm whale, moored by night to a whaleship at - sea. If you have never seen that sight, then suspend your decision about - the propriety of devil-worship, and the expediency of conciliating the - devil. -

-

- But, as yet, Stubb heeded not the mumblings of the banquet that was going - on so nigh him, no more than the sharks heeded the smacking of his own - epicurean lips. -

-

- "Cook, cook!—where's that old Fleece?" he cried at length, widening - his legs still further, as if to form a more secure base for his supper; - and, at the same time darting his fork into the dish, as if stabbing with - his lance; "cook, you cook!—sail this way, cook!" -

-

- The old black, not in any very high glee at having been previously roused - from his warm hammock at a most unseasonable hour, came shambling along - from his galley, for, like many old blacks, there was something the matter - with his knee-pans, which he did not keep well scoured like his other - pans; this old Fleece, as they called him, came shuffling and limping - along, assisting his step with his tongs, which, after a clumsy fashion, - were made of straightened iron hoops; this old Ebony floundered along, and - in obedience to the word of command, came to a dead stop on the opposite - side of Stubb's sideboard; when, with both hands folded before him, and - resting on his two-legged cane, he bowed his arched back still further - over, at the same time sideways inclining his head, so as to bring his - best ear into play. -

-

- "Cook," said Stubb, rapidly lifting a rather reddish morsel to his mouth, - "don't you think this steak is rather overdone? You've been beating this - steak too much, cook; it's too tender. Don't I always say that to be good, - a whale-steak must be tough? There are those sharks now over the side, - don't you see they prefer it tough and rare? What a shindy they are - kicking up! Cook, go and talk to 'em; tell 'em they are welcome to help - themselves civilly, and in moderation, but they must keep quiet. Blast me, - if I can hear my own voice. Away, cook, and deliver my message. Here, take - this lantern," snatching one from his sideboard; "now then, go and preach - to 'em!" -

-

- Sullenly taking the offered lantern, old Fleece limped across the deck to - the bulwarks; and then, with one hand dropping his light low over the sea, - so as to get a good view of his congregation, with the other hand he - solemnly flourished his tongs, and leaning far over the side in a mumbling - voice began addressing the sharks, while Stubb, softly crawling behind, - overheard all that was said. -

-

- "Fellow-critters: I'se ordered here to say dat you must stop dat dam noise - dare. You hear? Stop dat dam smackin' ob de lips! Massa Stubb say dat you - can fill your dam bellies up to de hatchings, but by Gor! you must stop - dat dam racket!" -

-

- "Cook," here interposed Stubb, accompanying the word with a sudden slap on - the shoulder,—"Cook! why, damn your eyes, you mustn't swear that way - when you're preaching. That's no way to convert sinners, cook!" -

-

- "Who dat? Den preach to him yourself," sullenly turning to go. -

-

- "No, cook; go on, go on." -

-

- "Well, den, Belubed fellow-critters:"— -

-

- "Right!" exclaimed Stubb, approvingly, "coax 'em to it; try that," and - Fleece continued. -

-

- "Do you is all sharks, and by natur wery woracious, yet I zay to you, - fellow-critters, dat dat woraciousness—'top dat dam slappin' ob de - tail! How you tink to hear, spose you keep up such a dam slappin' and - bitin' dare?" -

-

- "Cook," cried Stubb, collaring him, "I won't have that swearing. Talk to - 'em gentlemanly." -

-

- Once more the sermon proceeded. -

-

- "Your woraciousness, fellow-critters, I don't blame ye so much for; dat is - natur, and can't be helped; but to gobern dat wicked natur, dat is de - pint. You is sharks, sartin; but if you gobern de shark in you, why den - you be angel; for all angel is not'ing more dan de shark well goberned. - Now, look here, bred'ren, just try wonst to be cibil, a helping yourselbs - from dat whale. Don't be tearin' de blubber out your neighbour's mout, I - say. Is not one shark dood right as toder to dat whale? And, by Gor, none - on you has de right to dat whale; dat whale belong to some one else. I - know some o' you has berry brig mout, brigger dan oders; but den de brig - mouts sometimes has de small bellies; so dat de brigness of de mout is not - to swaller wid, but to bit off de blubber for de small fry ob sharks, dat - can't get into de scrouge to help demselves." -

-

- "Well done, old Fleece!" cried Stubb, "that's Christianity; go on." -

-

- "No use goin' on; de dam willains will keep a scougin' and slappin' each - oder, Massa Stubb; dey don't hear one word; no use a-preaching to such dam - g'uttons as you call 'em, till dare bellies is full, and dare bellies is - bottomless; and when dey do get 'em full, dey wont hear you den; for den - dey sink in the sea, go fast to sleep on de coral, and can't hear noting - at all, no more, for eber and eber." -

-

- "Upon my soul, I am about of the same opinion; so give the benediction, - Fleece, and I'll away to my supper." -

-

- Upon this, Fleece, holding both hands over the fishy mob, raised his - shrill voice, and cried— -

-

- "Cussed fellow-critters! Kick up de damndest row as ever you can; fill - your dam bellies 'till dey bust—and den die." -

-

- "Now, cook," said Stubb, resuming his supper at the capstan; "stand just - where you stood before, there, over against me, and pay particular - attention." -

-

- "All 'dention," said Fleece, again stooping over upon his tongs in the - desired position. -

-

- "Well," said Stubb, helping himself freely meanwhile; "I shall now go back - to the subject of this steak. In the first place, how old are you, cook?" -

-

- "What dat do wid de 'teak," said the old black, testily. -

-

- "Silence! How old are you, cook?" -

-

- "'Bout ninety, dey say," he gloomily muttered. -

-

- "And you have lived in this world hard upon one hundred years, cook, and - don't know yet how to cook a whale-steak?" rapidly bolting another - mouthful at the last word, so that morsel seemed a continuation of the - question. "Where were you born, cook?" -

-

- "'Hind de hatchway, in ferry-boat, goin' ober de Roanoke." -

-

- "Born in a ferry-boat! That's queer, too. But I want to know what country - you were born in, cook!" -

-

- "Didn't I say de Roanoke country?" he cried sharply. -

-

- "No, you didn't, cook; but I'll tell you what I'm coming to, cook. You - must go home and be born over again; you don't know how to cook a - whale-steak yet." -

-

- "Bress my soul, if I cook noder one," he growled, angrily, turning round - to depart. -

-

- "Come back here, cook;—here, hand me those tongs;—now take - that bit of steak there, and tell me if you think that steak cooked as it - should be? Take it, I say"—holding the tongs towards him—"take - it, and taste it." -

-

- Faintly smacking his withered lips over it for a moment, the old negro - muttered, "Best cooked 'teak I eber taste; joosy, berry joosy." -

-

- "Cook," said Stubb, squaring himself once more; "do you belong to the - church?" -

-

- "Passed one once in Cape-Down," said the old man sullenly. -

-

- "And you have once in your life passed a holy church in Cape-Town, where - you doubtless overheard a holy parson addressing his hearers as his - beloved fellow-creatures, have you, cook! And yet you come here, and tell - me such a dreadful lie as you did just now, eh?" said Stubb. "Where do you - expect to go to, cook?" -

-

- "Go to bed berry soon," he mumbled, half-turning as he spoke. -

-

- "Avast! heave to! I mean when you die, cook. It's an awful question. Now - what's your answer?" -

-

- "When dis old brack man dies," said the negro slowly, changing his whole - air and demeanor, "he hisself won't go nowhere; but some bressed angel - will come and fetch him." -

-

- "Fetch him? How? In a coach and four, as they fetched Elijah? And fetch - him where?" -

-

- "Up dere," said Fleece, holding his tongs straight over his head, and - keeping it there very solemnly. -

-

- "So, then, you expect to go up into our main-top, do you, cook, when you - are dead? But don't you know the higher you climb, the colder it gets? - Main-top, eh?" -

-

- "Didn't say dat t'all," said Fleece, again in the sulks. -

-

- "You said up there, didn't you? and now look yourself, and see where your - tongs are pointing. But, perhaps you expect to get into heaven by crawling - through the lubber's hole, cook; but, no, no, cook, you don't get there, - except you go the regular way, round by the rigging. It's a ticklish - business, but must be done, or else it's no go. But none of us are in - heaven yet. Drop your tongs, cook, and hear my orders. Do ye hear? Hold - your hat in one hand, and clap t'other a'top of your heart, when I'm - giving my orders, cook. What! that your heart, there?—that's your - gizzard! Aloft! aloft!—that's it—now you have it. Hold it - there now, and pay attention." -

-

- "All 'dention," said the old black, with both hands placed as desired, - vainly wriggling his grizzled head, as if to get both ears in front at one - and the same time. -

-

- "Well then, cook, you see this whale-steak of yours was so very bad, that - I have put it out of sight as soon as possible; you see that, don't you? - Well, for the future, when you cook another whale-steak for my private - table here, the capstan, I'll tell you what to do so as not to spoil it by - overdoing. Hold the steak in one hand, and show a live coal to it with the - other; that done, dish it; d'ye hear? And now to-morrow, cook, when we are - cutting in the fish, be sure you stand by to get the tips of his fins; - have them put in pickle. As for the ends of the flukes, have them soused, - cook. There, now ye may go." -

-

- But Fleece had hardly got three paces off, when he was recalled. -

-

- "Cook, give me cutlets for supper to-morrow night in the mid-watch. D'ye - hear? away you sail, then.—Halloa! stop! make a bow before you go.—Avast - heaving again! Whale-balls for breakfast—don't forget." -

-

- "Wish, by gor! whale eat him, 'stead of him eat whale. I'm bressed if he - ain't more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself," muttered the old man, - limping away; with which sage ejaculation he went to his hammock. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 65. The Whale as a Dish. -

-

- That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp, and, - like Stubb, eat him by his own light, as you may say; this seems so - outlandish a thing that one must needs go a little into the history and - philosophy of it. -

-

- It is upon record, that three centuries ago the tongue of the Right Whale - was esteemed a great delicacy in France, and commanded large prices there. - Also, that in Henry VIIIth's time, a certain cook of the court obtained a - handsome reward for inventing an admirable sauce to be eaten with - barbacued porpoises, which, you remember, are a species of whale. - Porpoises, indeed, are to this day considered fine eating. The meat is - made into balls about the size of billiard balls, and being well seasoned - and spiced might be taken for turtle-balls or veal balls. The old monks of - Dunfermline were very fond of them. They had a great porpoise grant from - the crown. -

-

- The fact is, that among his hunters at least, the whale would by all hands - be considered a noble dish, were there not so much of him; but when you - come to sit down before a meat-pie nearly one hundred feet long, it takes - away your appetite. Only the most unprejudiced of men like Stubb, nowadays - partake of cooked whales; but the Esquimaux are not so fastidious. We all - know how they live upon whales, and have rare old vintages of prime old - train oil. Zogranda, one of their most famous doctors, recommends strips - of blubber for infants, as being exceedingly juicy and nourishing. And - this reminds me that certain Englishmen, who long ago were accidentally - left in Greenland by a whaling vessel—that these men actually lived - for several months on the mouldy scraps of whales which had been left - ashore after trying out the blubber. Among the Dutch whalemen these scraps - are called "fritters"; which, indeed, they greatly resemble, being brown - and crisp, and smelling something like old Amsterdam housewives' - dough-nuts or oly-cooks, when fresh. They have such an eatable look that - the most self-denying stranger can hardly keep his hands off. -

-

- But what further depreciates the whale as a civilized dish, is his - exceeding richness. He is the great prize ox of the sea, too fat to be - delicately good. Look at his hump, which would be as fine eating as the - buffalo's (which is esteemed a rare dish), were it not such a solid - pyramid of fat. But the spermaceti itself, how bland and creamy that is; - like the transparent, half-jellied, white meat of a cocoanut in the third - month of its growth, yet far too rich to supply a substitute for butter. - Nevertheless, many whalemen have a method of absorbing it into some other - substance, and then partaking of it. In the long try watches of the night - it is a common thing for the seamen to dip their ship-biscuit into the - huge oil-pots and let them fry there awhile. Many a good supper have I - thus made. -

-

- In the case of a small Sperm Whale the brains are accounted a fine dish. - The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the two plump, - whitish lobes being withdrawn (precisely resembling two large puddings), - they are then mixed with flour, and cooked into a most delectable mess, in - flavor somewhat resembling calves' head, which is quite a dish among some - epicures; and every one knows that some young bucks among the epicures, by - continually dining upon calves' brains, by and by get to have a little - brains of their own, so as to be able to tell a calf's head from their own - heads; which, indeed, requires uncommon discrimination. And that is the - reason why a young buck with an intelligent looking calf's head before - him, is somehow one of the saddest sights you can see. The head looks a - sort of reproachfully at him, with an "Et tu Brute!" expression. -

-

- It is not, perhaps, entirely because the whale is so excessively unctuous - that landsmen seem to regard the eating of him with abhorrence; that - appears to result, in some way, from the consideration before mentioned: - i.e. that a man should eat a newly murdered thing of the sea, and eat it - too by its own light. But no doubt the first man that ever murdered an ox - was regarded as a murderer; perhaps he was hung; and if he had been put on - his trial by oxen, he certainly would have been; and he certainly deserved - it if any murderer does. Go to the meat-market of a Saturday night and see - the crowds of live bipeds staring up at the long rows of dead quadrupeds. - Does not that sight take a tooth out of the cannibal's jaw? Cannibals? who - is not a cannibal? I tell you it will be more tolerable for the Fejee that - salted down a lean missionary in his cellar against a coming famine; it - will be more tolerable for that provident Fejee, I say, in the day of - judgment, than for thee, civilized and enlightened gourmand, who nailest - geese to the ground and feastest on their bloated livers in thy - pate-de-foie-gras. -

-

- But Stubb, he eats the whale by its own light, does he? and that is adding - insult to injury, is it? Look at your knife-handle, there, my civilized - and enlightened gourmand dining off that roast beef, what is that handle - made of?—what but the bones of the brother of the very ox you are - eating? And what do you pick your teeth with, after devouring that fat - goose? With a feather of the same fowl. And with what quill did the - Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Cruelty to Ganders - formally indite his circulars? It is only within the last month or two - that that society passed a resolution to patronise nothing but steel pens. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 66. The Shark Massacre. -

-

- When in the Southern Fishery, a captured Sperm Whale, after long and weary - toil, is brought alongside late at night, it is not, as a general thing at - least, customary to proceed at once to the business of cutting him in. For - that business is an exceedingly laborious one; is not very soon completed; - and requires all hands to set about it. Therefore, the common usage is to - take in all sail; lash the helm a'lee; and then send every one below to - his hammock till daylight, with the reservation that, until that time, - anchor-watches shall be kept; that is, two and two for an hour, each - couple, the crew in rotation shall mount the deck to see that all goes - well. -

-

- But sometimes, especially upon the Line in the Pacific, this plan will not - answer at all; because such incalculable hosts of sharks gather round the - moored carcase, that were he left so for six hours, say, on a stretch, - little more than the skeleton would be visible by morning. In most other - parts of the ocean, however, where these fish do not so largely abound, - their wondrous voracity can be at times considerably diminished, by - vigorously stirring them up with sharp whaling-spades, a procedure - notwithstanding, which, in some instances, only seems to tickle them into - still greater activity. But it was not thus in the present case with the - Pequod's sharks; though, to be sure, any man unaccustomed to such sights, - to have looked over her side that night, would have almost thought the - whole round sea was one huge cheese, and those sharks the maggots in it. -

-

- Nevertheless, upon Stubb setting the anchor-watch after his supper was - concluded; and when, accordingly, Queequeg and a forecastle seaman came on - deck, no small excitement was created among the sharks; for immediately - suspending the cutting stages over the side, and lowering three lanterns, - so that they cast long gleams of light over the turbid sea, these two - mariners, darting their long whaling-spades, kept up an incessant - murdering of the sharks,* by striking the keen steel deep into their - skulls, seemingly their only vital part. But in the foamy confusion of - their mixed and struggling hosts, the marksmen could not always hit their - mark; and this brought about new revelations of the incredible ferocity of - the foe. They viciously snapped, not only at each other's disembowelments, - but like flexible bows, bent round, and bit their own; till those entrails - seemed swallowed over and over again by the same mouth, to be oppositely - voided by the gaping wound. Nor was this all. It was unsafe to meddle with - the corpses and ghosts of these creatures. A sort of generic or - Pantheistic vitality seemed to lurk in their very joints and bones, after - what might be called the individual life had departed. Killed and hoisted - on deck for the sake of his skin, one of these sharks almost took poor - Queequeg's hand off, when he tried to shut down the dead lid of his - murderous jaw. -

-

- *The whaling-spade used for cutting-in is made of the very best steel; is - about the bigness of a man's spread hand; and in general shape, - corresponds to the garden implement after which it is named; only its - sides are perfectly flat, and its upper end considerably narrower than the - lower. This weapon is always kept as sharp as possible; and when being - used is occasionally honed, just like a razor. In its socket, a stiff - pole, from twenty to thirty feet long, is inserted for a handle. -

-

- "Queequeg no care what god made him shark," said the savage, agonizingly - lifting his hand up and down; "wedder Fejee god or Nantucket god; but de - god wat made shark must be one dam Ingin." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 67. Cutting In. -

-

- It was a Saturday night, and such a Sabbath as followed! Ex officio - professors of Sabbath breaking are all whalemen. The ivory Pequod was - turned into what seemed a shamble; every sailor a butcher. You would have - thought we were offering up ten thousand red oxen to the sea gods. -

-

- In the first place, the enormous cutting tackles, among other ponderous - things comprising a cluster of blocks generally painted green, and which - no single man can possibly lift—this vast bunch of grapes was swayed - up to the main-top and firmly lashed to the lower mast-head, the strongest - point anywhere above a ship's deck. The end of the hawser-like rope - winding through these intricacies, was then conducted to the windlass, and - the huge lower block of the tackles was swung over the whale; to this - block the great blubber hook, weighing some one hundred pounds, was - attached. And now suspended in stages over the side, Starbuck and Stubb, - the mates, armed with their long spades, began cutting a hole in the body - for the insertion of the hook just above the nearest of the two side-fins. - This done, a broad, semicircular line is cut round the hole, the hook is - inserted, and the main body of the crew striking up a wild chorus, now - commence heaving in one dense crowd at the windlass. When instantly, the - entire ship careens over on her side; every bolt in her starts like the - nail-heads of an old house in frosty weather; she trembles, quivers, and - nods her frighted mast-heads to the sky. More and more she leans over to - the whale, while every gasping heave of the windlass is answered by a - helping heave from the billows; till at last, a swift, startling snap is - heard; with a great swash the ship rolls upwards and backwards from the - whale, and the triumphant tackle rises into sight dragging after it the - disengaged semicircular end of the first strip of blubber. Now as the - blubber envelopes the whale precisely as the rind does an orange, so is it - stripped off from the body precisely as an orange is sometimes stripped by - spiralizing it. For the strain constantly kept up by the windlass - continually keeps the whale rolling over and over in the water, and as the - blubber in one strip uniformly peels off along the line called the - "scarf," simultaneously cut by the spades of Starbuck and Stubb, the - mates; and just as fast as it is thus peeled off, and indeed by that very - act itself, it is all the time being hoisted higher and higher aloft till - its upper end grazes the main-top; the men at the windlass then cease - heaving, and for a moment or two the prodigious blood-dripping mass sways - to and fro as if let down from the sky, and every one present must take - good heed to dodge it when it swings, else it may box his ears and pitch - him headlong overboard. -

-

- One of the attending harpooneers now advances with a long, keen weapon - called a boarding-sword, and watching his chance he dexterously slices out - a considerable hole in the lower part of the swaying mass. Into this hole, - the end of the second alternating great tackle is then hooked so as to - retain a hold upon the blubber, in order to prepare for what follows. - Whereupon, this accomplished swordsman, warning all hands to stand off, - once more makes a scientific dash at the mass, and with a few sidelong, - desperate, lunging slicings, severs it completely in twain; so that while - the short lower part is still fast, the long upper strip, called a - blanket-piece, swings clear, and is all ready for lowering. The heavers - forward now resume their song, and while the one tackle is peeling and - hoisting a second strip from the whale, the other is slowly slackened - away, and down goes the first strip through the main hatchway right - beneath, into an unfurnished parlor called the blubber-room. Into this - twilight apartment sundry nimble hands keep coiling away the long - blanket-piece as if it were a great live mass of plaited serpents. And - thus the work proceeds; the two tackles hoisting and lowering - simultaneously; both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing, the - blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing, the ship straining, - and all hands swearing occasionally, by way of assuaging the general - friction. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 68. The Blanket. -

-

- I have given no small attention to that not unvexed subject, the skin of - the whale. I have had controversies about it with experienced whalemen - afloat, and learned naturalists ashore. My original opinion remains - unchanged; but it is only an opinion. -

-

- The question is, what and where is the skin of the whale? Already you know - what his blubber is. That blubber is something of the consistence of firm, - close-grained beef, but tougher, more elastic and compact, and ranges from - eight or ten to twelve and fifteen inches in thickness. -

-

- Now, however preposterous it may at first seem to talk of any creature's - skin as being of that sort of consistence and thickness, yet in point of - fact these are no arguments against such a presumption; because you cannot - raise any other dense enveloping layer from the whale's body but that same - blubber; and the outermost enveloping layer of any animal, if reasonably - dense, what can that be but the skin? True, from the unmarred dead body of - the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, - transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of - isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin; that is, - previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens, but - becomes rather hard and brittle. I have several such dried bits, which I - use for marks in my whale-books. It is transparent, as I said before; and - being laid upon the printed page, I have sometimes pleased myself with - fancying it exerted a magnifying influence. At any rate, it is pleasant to - read about whales through their own spectacles, as you may say. But what I - am driving at here is this. That same infinitely thin, isinglass - substance, which, I admit, invests the entire body of the whale, is not so - much to be regarded as the skin of the creature, as the skin of the skin, - so to speak; for it were simply ridiculous to say, that the proper skin of - the tremendous whale is thinner and more tender than the skin of a - new-born child. But no more of this. -

-

- Assuming the blubber to be the skin of the whale; then, when this skin, as - in the case of a very large Sperm Whale, will yield the bulk of one - hundred barrels of oil; and, when it is considered that, in quantity, or - rather weight, that oil, in its expressed state, is only three fourths, - and not the entire substance of the coat; some idea may hence be had of - the enormousness of that animated mass, a mere part of whose mere - integument yields such a lake of liquid as that. Reckoning ten barrels to - the ton, you have ten tons for the net weight of only three quarters of - the stuff of the whale's skin. -

-

- In life, the visible surface of the Sperm Whale is not the least among the - many marvels he presents. Almost invariably it is all over obliquely - crossed and re-crossed with numberless straight marks in thick array, - something like those in the finest Italian line engravings. But these - marks do not seem to be impressed upon the isinglass substance above - mentioned, but seem to be seen through it, as if they were engraved upon - the body itself. Nor is this all. In some instances, to the quick, - observant eye, those linear marks, as in a veritable engraving, but afford - the ground for far other delineations. These are hieroglyphical; that is, - if you call those mysterious cyphers on the walls of pyramids - hieroglyphics, then that is the proper word to use in the present - connexion. By my retentive memory of the hieroglyphics upon one Sperm - Whale in particular, I was much struck with a plate representing the old - Indian characters chiselled on the famous hieroglyphic palisades on the - banks of the Upper Mississippi. Like those mystic rocks, too, the - mystic-marked whale remains undecipherable. This allusion to the Indian - rocks reminds me of another thing. Besides all the other phenomena which - the exterior of the Sperm Whale presents, he not seldom displays the back, - and more especially his flanks, effaced in great part of the regular - linear appearance, by reason of numerous rude scratches, altogether of an - irregular, random aspect. I should say that those New England rocks on the - sea-coast, which Agassiz imagines to bear the marks of violent scraping - contact with vast floating icebergs—I should say, that those rocks - must not a little resemble the Sperm Whale in this particular. It also - seems to me that such scratches in the whale are probably made by hostile - contact with other whales; for I have most remarked them in the large, - full-grown bulls of the species. -

-

- A word or two more concerning this matter of the skin or blubber of the - whale. It has already been said, that it is stript from him in long - pieces, called blanket-pieces. Like most sea-terms, this one is very happy - and significant. For the whale is indeed wrapt up in his blubber as in a - real blanket or counterpane; or, still better, an Indian poncho slipt over - his head, and skirting his extremity. It is by reason of this cosy - blanketing of his body, that the whale is enabled to keep himself - comfortable in all weathers, in all seas, times, and tides. What would - become of a Greenland whale, say, in those shuddering, icy seas of the - North, if unsupplied with his cosy surtout? True, other fish are found - exceedingly brisk in those Hyperborean waters; but these, be it observed, - are your cold-blooded, lungless fish, whose very bellies are - refrigerators; creatures, that warm themselves under the lee of an - iceberg, as a traveller in winter would bask before an inn fire; whereas, - like man, the whale has lungs and warm blood. Freeze his blood, and he - dies. How wonderful is it then—except after explanation—that - this great monster, to whom corporeal warmth is as indispensable as it is - to man; how wonderful that he should be found at home, immersed to his - lips for life in those Arctic waters! where, when seamen fall overboard, - they are sometimes found, months afterwards, perpendicularly frozen into - the hearts of fields of ice, as a fly is found glued in amber. But more - surprising is it to know, as has been proved by experiment, that the blood - of a Polar whale is warmer than that of a Borneo negro in summer. -

-

- It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong - individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare - virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after - the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this - world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at - the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter's, and like the great whale, - retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own. -

-

- But how easy and how hopeless to teach these fine things! Of erections, - how few are domed like St. Peter's! of creatures, how few vast as the - whale! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 69. The Funeral. -

-

- Haul in the chains! Let the carcase go astern! -

-

- The vast tackles have now done their duty. The peeled white body of the - beheaded whale flashes like a marble sepulchre; though changed in hue, it - has not perceptibly lost anything in bulk. It is still colossal. Slowly it - floats more and more away, the water round it torn and splashed by the - insatiate sharks, and the air above vexed with rapacious flights of - screaming fowls, whose beaks are like so many insulting poniards in the - whale. The vast white headless phantom floats further and further from the - ship, and every rod that it so floats, what seem square roods of sharks - and cubic roods of fowls, augment the murderous din. For hours and hours - from the almost stationary ship that hideous sight is seen. Beneath the - unclouded and mild azure sky, upon the fair face of the pleasant sea, - wafted by the joyous breezes, that great mass of death floats on and on, - till lost in infinite perspectives. -

-

- There's a most doleful and most mocking funeral! The sea-vultures all in - pious mourning, the air-sharks all punctiliously in black or speckled. In - life but few of them would have helped the whale, I ween, if peradventure - he had needed it; but upon the banquet of his funeral they most piously do - pounce. Oh, horrible vultureism of earth! from which not the mightiest - whale is free. -

-

- Nor is this the end. Desecrated as the body is, a vengeful ghost survives - and hovers over it to scare. Espied by some timid man-of-war or blundering - discovery-vessel from afar, when the distance obscuring the swarming - fowls, nevertheless still shows the white mass floating in the sun, and - the white spray heaving high against it; straightway the whale's unharming - corpse, with trembling fingers is set down in the log—SHOALS, ROCKS, - AND BREAKERS HEREABOUTS: BEWARE! And for years afterwards, perhaps, ships - shun the place; leaping over it as silly sheep leap over a vacuum, because - their leader originally leaped there when a stick was held. There's your - law of precedents; there's your utility of traditions; there's the story - of your obstinate survival of old beliefs never bottomed on the earth, and - now not even hovering in the air! There's orthodoxy! -

-

- Thus, while in life the great whale's body may have been a real terror to - his foes, in his death his ghost becomes a powerless panic to a world. -

-

- Are you a believer in ghosts, my friend? There are other ghosts than the - Cock-Lane one, and far deeper men than Doctor Johnson who believe in them. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx. -

-

- It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the - body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. Now, the beheading of the Sperm - Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale - surgeons very much pride themselves: and not without reason. -

-

- Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck; on - the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in that very - place, is the thickest part of him. Remember, also, that the surgeon must - operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening between him and his - subject, and that subject almost hidden in a discoloured, rolling, and - oftentimes tumultuous and bursting sea. Bear in mind, too, that under - these untoward circumstances he has to cut many feet deep in the flesh; - and in that subterraneous manner, without so much as getting one single - peep into the ever-contracting gash thus made, he must skilfully steer - clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts, and exactly divide the spine at - a critical point hard by its insertion into the skull. Do you not marvel, - then, at Stubb's boast, that he demanded but ten minutes to behead a sperm - whale? -

-

- When first severed, the head is dropped astern and held there by a cable - till the body is stripped. That done, if it belong to a small whale it is - hoisted on deck to be deliberately disposed of. But, with a full grown - leviathan this is impossible; for the sperm whale's head embraces nearly - one third of his entire bulk, and completely to suspend such a burden as - that, even by the immense tackles of a whaler, this were as vain a thing - as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers' scales. -

-

- The Pequod's whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the head was - hoisted against the ship's side—about half way out of the sea, so - that it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element. And - there with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it, by reason of the - enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head, and every yard-arm on - that side projecting like a crane over the waves; there, that - blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod's waist like the giant Holofernes's - from the girdle of Judith. -

-

- When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went - below to their dinner. Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now - deserted deck. An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was - more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea. -

-

- A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from - his cabin. Taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, he paused to gaze over - the side, then slowly getting into the main-chains he took Stubb's long - spade—still remaining there after the whale's Decapitation—and - striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended mass, placed its - other end crutch-wise under one arm, and so stood leaning over with eyes - attentively fixed on this head. -

-

- It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so - intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx's in the desert. "Speak, thou vast - and venerable head," muttered Ahab, "which, though ungarnished with a - beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, - and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast - dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has - moved amid this world's foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies - rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this - frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, - in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been - where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor's side, where - sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw'st the - locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they - sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed - false to them. Thou saw'st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from - the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the - insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed—while - swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a - righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou hast seen - enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one - syllable is thine!" -

-

- "Sail ho!" cried a triumphant voice from the main-mast-head. -

-

- "Aye? Well, now, that's cheering," cried Ahab, suddenly erecting himself, - while whole thunder-clouds swept aside from his brow. "That lively cry - upon this deadly calm might almost convert a better man.—Where - away?" -

-

- "Three points on the starboard bow, sir, and bringing down her breeze to - us! -

-

- "Better and better, man. Would now St. Paul would come along that way, and - to my breezelessness bring his breeze! O Nature, and O soul of man! how - far beyond all utterance are your linked analogies! not the smallest atom - stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam's Story. -

-

- Hand in hand, ship and breeze blew on; but the breeze came faster than the - ship, and soon the Pequod began to rock. -

-

- By and by, through the glass the stranger's boats and manned mast-heads - proved her a whale-ship. But as she was so far to windward, and shooting - by, apparently making a passage to some other ground, the Pequod could not - hope to reach her. So the signal was set to see what response would be - made. -

-

- Here be it said, that like the vessels of military marines, the ships of - the American Whale Fleet have each a private signal; all which signals - being collected in a book with the names of the respective vessels - attached, every captain is provided with it. Thereby, the whale commanders - are enabled to recognise each other upon the ocean, even at considerable - distances and with no small facility. -

-

- The Pequod's signal was at last responded to by the stranger's setting her - own; which proved the ship to be the Jeroboam of Nantucket. Squaring her - yards, she bore down, ranged abeam under the Pequod's lee, and lowered a - boat; it soon drew nigh; but, as the side-ladder was being rigged by - Starbuck's order to accommodate the visiting captain, the stranger in - question waved his hand from his boat's stern in token of that proceeding - being entirely unnecessary. It turned out that the Jeroboam had a - malignant epidemic on board, and that Mayhew, her captain, was fearful of - infecting the Pequod's company. For, though himself and boat's crew - remained untainted, and though his ship was half a rifle-shot off, and an - incorruptible sea and air rolling and flowing between; yet conscientiously - adhering to the timid quarantine of the land, he peremptorily refused to - come into direct contact with the Pequod. -

-

- But this did by no means prevent all communications. Preserving an - interval of some few yards between itself and the ship, the Jeroboam's - boat by the occasional use of its oars contrived to keep parallel to the - Pequod, as she heavily forged through the sea (for by this time it blew - very fresh), with her main-topsail aback; though, indeed, at times by the - sudden onset of a large rolling wave, the boat would be pushed some way - ahead; but would be soon skilfully brought to her proper bearings again. - Subject to this, and other the like interruptions now and then, a - conversation was sustained between the two parties; but at intervals not - without still another interruption of a very different sort. -

-

- Pulling an oar in the Jeroboam's boat, was a man of a singular appearance, - even in that wild whaling life where individual notabilities make up all - totalities. He was a small, short, youngish man, sprinkled all over his - face with freckles, and wearing redundant yellow hair. A long-skirted, - cabalistically-cut coat of a faded walnut tinge enveloped him; the - overlapping sleeves of which were rolled up on his wrists. A deep, - settled, fanatic delirium was in his eyes. -

-

- So soon as this figure had been first descried, Stubb had exclaimed—"That's - he! that's he!—the long-togged scaramouch the Town-Ho's company told - us of!" Stubb here alluded to a strange story told of the Jeroboam, and a - certain man among her crew, some time previous when the Pequod spoke the - Town-Ho. According to this account and what was subsequently learned, it - seemed that the scaramouch in question had gained a wonderful ascendency - over almost everybody in the Jeroboam. His story was this: -

-

- He had been originally nurtured among the crazy society of Neskyeuna - Shakers, where he had been a great prophet; in their cracked, secret - meetings having several times descended from heaven by the way of a - trap-door, announcing the speedy opening of the seventh vial, which he - carried in his vest-pocket; but, which, instead of containing gunpowder, - was supposed to be charged with laudanum. A strange, apostolic whim having - seized him, he had left Neskyeuna for Nantucket, where, with that cunning - peculiar to craziness, he assumed a steady, common-sense exterior, and - offered himself as a green-hand candidate for the Jeroboam's whaling - voyage. They engaged him; but straightway upon the ship's getting out of - sight of land, his insanity broke out in a freshet. He announced himself - as the archangel Gabriel, and commanded the captain to jump overboard. He - published his manifesto, whereby he set himself forth as the deliverer of - the isles of the sea and vicar-general of all Oceanica. The unflinching - earnestness with which he declared these things;—the dark, daring - play of his sleepless, excited imagination, and all the preternatural - terrors of real delirium, united to invest this Gabriel in the minds of - the majority of the ignorant crew, with an atmosphere of sacredness. - Moreover, they were afraid of him. As such a man, however, was not of much - practical use in the ship, especially as he refused to work except when he - pleased, the incredulous captain would fain have been rid of him; but - apprised that that individual's intention was to land him in the first - convenient port, the archangel forthwith opened all his seals and vials—devoting - the ship and all hands to unconditional perdition, in case this intention - was carried out. So strongly did he work upon his disciples among the - crew, that at last in a body they went to the captain and told him if - Gabriel was sent from the ship, not a man of them would remain. He was - therefore forced to relinquish his plan. Nor would they permit Gabriel to - be any way maltreated, say or do what he would; so that it came to pass - that Gabriel had the complete freedom of the ship. The consequence of all - this was, that the archangel cared little or nothing for the captain and - mates; and since the epidemic had broken out, he carried a higher hand - than ever; declaring that the plague, as he called it, was at his sole - command; nor should it be stayed but according to his good pleasure. The - sailors, mostly poor devils, cringed, and some of them fawned before him; - in obedience to his instructions, sometimes rendering him personal homage, - as to a god. Such things may seem incredible; but, however wondrous, they - are true. Nor is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to - the measureless self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless - power of deceiving and bedevilling so many others. But it is time to - return to the Pequod. -

-

- "I fear not thy epidemic, man," said Ahab from the bulwarks, to Captain - Mayhew, who stood in the boat's stern; "come on board." -

-

- But now Gabriel started to his feet. -

-

- "Think, think of the fevers, yellow and bilious! Beware of the horrible - plague!" -

-

- "Gabriel! Gabriel!" cried Captain Mayhew; "thou must either—" But - that instant a headlong wave shot the boat far ahead, and its seethings - drowned all speech. -

-

- "Hast thou seen the White Whale?" demanded Ahab, when the boat drifted - back. -

-

- "Think, think of thy whale-boat, stoven and sunk! Beware of the horrible - tail!" -

-

- "I tell thee again, Gabriel, that—" But again the boat tore ahead as - if dragged by fiends. Nothing was said for some moments, while a - succession of riotous waves rolled by, which by one of those occasional - caprices of the seas were tumbling, not heaving it. Meantime, the hoisted - sperm whale's head jogged about very violently, and Gabriel was seen - eyeing it with rather more apprehensiveness than his archangel nature - seemed to warrant. -

-

- When this interlude was over, Captain Mayhew began a dark story concerning - Moby Dick; not, however, without frequent interruptions from Gabriel, - whenever his name was mentioned, and the crazy sea that seemed leagued - with him. -

-

- It seemed that the Jeroboam had not long left home, when upon speaking a - whale-ship, her people were reliably apprised of the existence of Moby - Dick, and the havoc he had made. Greedily sucking in this intelligence, - Gabriel solemnly warned the captain against attacking the White Whale, in - case the monster should be seen; in his gibbering insanity, pronouncing - the White Whale to be no less a being than the Shaker God incarnated; the - Shakers receiving the Bible. But when, some year or two afterwards, Moby - Dick was fairly sighted from the mast-heads, Macey, the chief mate, burned - with ardour to encounter him; and the captain himself being not unwilling - to let him have the opportunity, despite all the archangel's denunciations - and forewarnings, Macey succeeded in persuading five men to man his boat. - With them he pushed off; and, after much weary pulling, and many perilous, - unsuccessful onsets, he at last succeeded in getting one iron fast. - Meantime, Gabriel, ascending to the main-royal mast-head, was tossing one - arm in frantic gestures, and hurling forth prophecies of speedy doom to - the sacrilegious assailants of his divinity. Now, while Macey, the mate, - was standing up in his boat's bow, and with all the reckless energy of his - tribe was venting his wild exclamations upon the whale, and essaying to - get a fair chance for his poised lance, lo! a broad white shadow rose from - the sea; by its quick, fanning motion, temporarily taking the breath out - of the bodies of the oarsmen. Next instant, the luckless mate, so full of - furious life, was smitten bodily into the air, and making a long arc in - his descent, fell into the sea at the distance of about fifty yards. Not a - chip of the boat was harmed, nor a hair of any oarsman's head; but the - mate for ever sank. -

-

- It is well to parenthesize here, that of the fatal accidents in the - Sperm-Whale Fishery, this kind is perhaps almost as frequent as any. - Sometimes, nothing is injured but the man who is thus annihilated; oftener - the boat's bow is knocked off, or the thigh-board, in which the headsman - stands, is torn from its place and accompanies the body. But strangest of - all is the circumstance, that in more instances than one, when the body - has been recovered, not a single mark of violence is discernible; the man - being stark dead. -

-

- The whole calamity, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried - from the ship. Raising a piercing shriek—"The vial! the vial!" - Gabriel called off the terror-stricken crew from the further hunting of - the whale. This terrible event clothed the archangel with added influence; - because his credulous disciples believed that he had specifically - fore-announced it, instead of only making a general prophecy, which any - one might have done, and so have chanced to hit one of many marks in the - wide margin allowed. He became a nameless terror to the ship. -

-

- Mayhew having concluded his narration, Ahab put such questions to him, - that the stranger captain could not forbear inquiring whether he intended - to hunt the White Whale, if opportunity should offer. To which Ahab - answered—"Aye." Straightway, then, Gabriel once more started to his - feet, glaring upon the old man, and vehemently exclaimed, with downward - pointed finger—"Think, think of the blasphemer—dead, and down - there!—beware of the blasphemer's end!" -

-

- Ahab stolidly turned aside; then said to Mayhew, "Captain, I have just - bethought me of my letter-bag; there is a letter for one of thy officers, - if I mistake not. Starbuck, look over the bag." -

-

- Every whale-ship takes out a goodly number of letters for various ships, - whose delivery to the persons to whom they may be addressed, depends upon - the mere chance of encountering them in the four oceans. Thus, most - letters never reach their mark; and many are only received after attaining - an age of two or three years or more. -

-

- Soon Starbuck returned with a letter in his hand. It was sorely tumbled, - damp, and covered with a dull, spotted, green mould, in consequence of - being kept in a dark locker of the cabin. Of such a letter, Death himself - might well have been the post-boy. -

-

- "Can'st not read it?" cried Ahab. "Give it me, man. Aye, aye, it's but a - dim scrawl;—what's this?" As he was studying it out, Starbuck took a - long cutting-spade pole, and with his knife slightly split the end, to - insert the letter there, and in that way, hand it to the boat, without its - coming any closer to the ship. -

-

- Meantime, Ahab holding the letter, muttered, "Mr. Har—yes, Mr. Harry—(a - woman's pinny hand,—the man's wife, I'll wager)—Aye—Mr. - Harry Macey, Ship Jeroboam;—why it's Macey, and he's dead!" -

-

- "Poor fellow! poor fellow! and from his wife," sighed Mayhew; "but let me - have it." -

-

- "Nay, keep it thyself," cried Gabriel to Ahab; "thou art soon going that - way." -

-

- "Curses throttle thee!" yelled Ahab. "Captain Mayhew, stand by now to - receive it"; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck's hands, he caught - it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat. But as - he did so, the oarsmen expectantly desisted from rowing; the boat drifted - a little towards the ship's stern; so that, as if by magic, the letter - suddenly ranged along with Gabriel's eager hand. He clutched it in an - instant, seized the boat-knife, and impaling the letter on it, sent it - thus loaded back into the ship. It fell at Ahab's feet. Then Gabriel - shrieked out to his comrades to give way with their oars, and in that - manner the mutinous boat rapidly shot away from the Pequod. -

-

- As, after this interlude, the seamen resumed their work upon the jacket of - the whale, many strange things were hinted in reference to this wild - affair. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope. -

-

- In the tumultuous business of cutting-in and attending to a whale, there - is much running backwards and forwards among the crew. Now hands are - wanted here, and then again hands are wanted there. There is no staying in - any one place; for at one and the same time everything has to be done - everywhere. It is much the same with him who endeavors the description of - the scene. We must now retrace our way a little. It was mentioned that - upon first breaking ground in the whale's back, the blubber-hook was - inserted into the original hole there cut by the spades of the mates. But - how did so clumsy and weighty a mass as that same hook get fixed in that - hole? It was inserted there by my particular friend Queequeg, whose duty - it was, as harpooneer, to descend upon the monster's back for the special - purpose referred to. But in very many cases, circumstances require that - the harpooneer shall remain on the whale till the whole flensing or - stripping operation is concluded. The whale, be it observed, lies almost - entirely submerged, excepting the immediate parts operated upon. So down - there, some ten feet below the level of the deck, the poor harpooneer - flounders about, half on the whale and half in the water, as the vast mass - revolves like a tread-mill beneath him. On the occasion in question, - Queequeg figured in the Highland costume—a shirt and socks—in - which to my eyes, at least, he appeared to uncommon advantage; and no one - had a better chance to observe him, as will presently be seen. -

-

- Being the savage's bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in - his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend - upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale's - back. You have seen Italian organ-boys holding a dancing-ape by a long - cord. Just so, from the ship's steep side, did I hold Queequeg down there - in the sea, by what is technically called in the fishery a monkey-rope, - attached to a strong strip of canvas belted round his waist. -

-

- It was a humorously perilous business for both of us. For, before we - proceed further, it must be said that the monkey-rope was fast at both - ends; fast to Queequeg's broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather - one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; - and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, then both usage and honour - demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down in his - wake. So, then, an elongated Siamese ligature united us. Queequeg was my - own inseparable twin brother; nor could I any way get rid of the dangerous - liabilities which the hempen bond entailed. -

-

- So strongly and metaphysically did I conceive of my situation then, that - while earnestly watching his motions, I seemed distinctly to perceive that - my own individuality was now merged in a joint stock company of two; that - my free will had received a mortal wound; and that another's mistake or - misfortune might plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death. - Therefore, I saw that here was a sort of interregnum in Providence; for - its even-handed equity never could have so gross an injustice. And yet - still further pondering—while I jerked him now and then from between - the whale and ship, which would threaten to jam him—still further - pondering, I say, I saw that this situation of mine was the precise - situation of every mortal that breathes; only, in most cases, he, one way - or other, has this Siamese connexion with a plurality of other mortals. If - your banker breaks, you snap; if your apothecary by mistake sends you - poison in your pills, you die. True, you may say that, by exceeding - caution, you may possibly escape these and the multitudinous other evil - chances of life. But handle Queequeg's monkey-rope heedfully as I would, - sometimes he jerked it so, that I came very near sliding overboard. Nor - could I possibly forget that, do what I would, I only had the management - of one end of it.* -

-

- *The monkey-rope is found in all whalers; but it was only in the Pequod - that the monkey and his holder were ever tied together. This improvement - upon the original usage was introduced by no less a man than Stubb, in - order to afford the imperilled harpooneer the strongest possible guarantee - for the faithfulness and vigilance of his monkey-rope holder. -

-

- I have hinted that I would often jerk poor Queequeg from between the whale - and the ship—where he would occasionally fall, from the incessant - rolling and swaying of both. But this was not the only jamming jeopardy he - was exposed to. Unappalled by the massacre made upon them during the - night, the sharks now freshly and more keenly allured by the before pent - blood which began to flow from the carcass—the rabid creatures - swarmed round it like bees in a beehive. -

-

- And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed them aside - with his floundering feet. A thing altogether incredible were it not that - attracted by such prey as a dead whale, the otherwise miscellaneously - carnivorous shark will seldom touch a man. -

-

- Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have such a ravenous - finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise to look sharp to them. - Accordingly, besides the monkey-rope, with which I now and then jerked the - poor fellow from too close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a - peculiarly ferocious shark—he was provided with still another - protection. Suspended over the side in one of the stages, Tashtego and - Daggoo continually flourished over his head a couple of keen whale-spades, - wherewith they slaughtered as many sharks as they could reach. This - procedure of theirs, to be sure, was very disinterested and benevolent of - them. They meant Queequeg's best happiness, I admit; but in their hasty - zeal to befriend him, and from the circumstance that both he and the - sharks were at times half hidden by the blood-muddled water, those - indiscreet spades of theirs would come nearer amputating a leg than a - tail. But poor Queequeg, I suppose, straining and gasping there with that - great iron hook—poor Queequeg, I suppose, only prayed to his Yojo, - and gave up his life into the hands of his gods. -

-

- Well, well, my dear comrade and twin-brother, thought I, as I drew in and - then slacked off the rope to every swell of the sea—what matters it, - after all? Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in - this whaling world? That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those - sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and - spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad. -

-

- But courage! there is good cheer in store for you, Queequeg. For now, as - with blue lips and blood-shot eyes the exhausted savage at last climbs up - the chains and stands all dripping and involuntarily trembling over the - side; the steward advances, and with a benevolent, consolatory glance - hands him—what? Some hot Cognac? No! hands him, ye gods! hands him a - cup of tepid ginger and water! -

-

- "Ginger? Do I smell ginger?" suspiciously asked Stubb, coming near. "Yes, - this must be ginger," peering into the as yet untasted cup. Then standing - as if incredulous for a while, he calmly walked towards the astonished - steward slowly saying, "Ginger? ginger? and will you have the goodness to - tell me, Mr. Dough-Boy, where lies the virtue of ginger? Ginger! is ginger - the sort of fuel you use, Dough-boy, to kindle a fire in this shivering - cannibal? Ginger!—what the devil is ginger? Sea-coal? firewood?—lucifer - matches?—tinder?—gunpowder?—what the devil is ginger, I - say, that you offer this cup to our poor Queequeg here." -

-

- "There is some sneaking Temperance Society movement about this business," - he suddenly added, now approaching Starbuck, who had just come from - forward. "Will you look at that kannakin, sir; smell of it, if you - please." Then watching the mate's countenance, he added, "The steward, Mr. - Starbuck, had the face to offer that calomel and jalap to Queequeg, there, - this instant off the whale. Is the steward an apothecary, sir? and may I - ask whether this is the sort of bitters by which he blows back the life - into a half-drowned man?" -

-

- "I trust not," said Starbuck, "it is poor stuff enough." -

-

- "Aye, aye, steward," cried Stubb, "we'll teach you to drug a harpooneer; - none of your apothecary's medicine here; you want to poison us, do ye? You - have got out insurances on our lives and want to murder us all, and pocket - the proceeds, do ye?" -

-

- "It was not me," cried Dough-Boy, "it was Aunt Charity that brought the - ginger on board; and bade me never give the harpooneers any spirits, but - only this ginger-jub—so she called it." -

-

- "Ginger-jub! you gingerly rascal! take that! and run along with ye to the - lockers, and get something better. I hope I do no wrong, Mr. Starbuck. It - is the captain's orders—grog for the harpooneer on a whale." -

-

- "Enough," replied Starbuck, "only don't hit him again, but—" -

-

- "Oh, I never hurt when I hit, except when I hit a whale or something of - that sort; and this fellow's a weazel. What were you about saying, sir?" -

-

- "Only this: go down with him, and get what thou wantest thyself." -

-

- When Stubb reappeared, he came with a dark flask in one hand, and a sort - of tea-caddy in the other. The first contained strong spirits, and was - handed to Queequeg; the second was Aunt Charity's gift, and that was - freely given to the waves. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 73. Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk -

-

- Over Him. -

-

- It must be borne in mind that all this time we have a Sperm Whale's - prodigious head hanging to the Pequod's side. But we must let it continue - hanging there a while till we can get a chance to attend to it. For the - present other matters press, and the best we can do now for the head, is - to pray heaven the tackles may hold. -

-

- Now, during the past night and forenoon, the Pequod had gradually drifted - into a sea, which, by its occasional patches of yellow brit, gave unusual - tokens of the vicinity of Right Whales, a species of the Leviathan that - but few supposed to be at this particular time lurking anywhere near. And - though all hands commonly disdained the capture of those inferior - creatures; and though the Pequod was not commissioned to cruise for them - at all, and though she had passed numbers of them near the Crozetts - without lowering a boat; yet now that a Sperm Whale had been brought - alongside and beheaded, to the surprise of all, the announcement was made - that a Right Whale should be captured that day, if opportunity offered. -

-

- Nor was this long wanting. Tall spouts were seen to leeward; and two - boats, Stubb's and Flask's, were detached in pursuit. Pulling further and - further away, they at last became almost invisible to the men at the - mast-head. But suddenly in the distance, they saw a great heap of - tumultuous white water, and soon after news came from aloft that one or - both the boats must be fast. An interval passed and the boats were in - plain sight, in the act of being dragged right towards the ship by the - towing whale. So close did the monster come to the hull, that at first it - seemed as if he meant it malice; but suddenly going down in a maelstrom, - within three rods of the planks, he wholly disappeared from view, as if - diving under the keel. "Cut, cut!" was the cry from the ship to the boats, - which, for one instant, seemed on the point of being brought with a deadly - dash against the vessel's side. But having plenty of line yet in the tubs, - and the whale not sounding very rapidly, they paid out abundance of rope, - and at the same time pulled with all their might so as to get ahead of the - ship. For a few minutes the struggle was intensely critical; for while - they still slacked out the tightened line in one direction, and still - plied their oars in another, the contending strain threatened to take them - under. But it was only a few feet advance they sought to gain. And they - stuck to it till they did gain it; when instantly, a swift tremor was felt - running like lightning along the keel, as the strained line, scraping - beneath the ship, suddenly rose to view under her bows, snapping and - quivering; and so flinging off its drippings, that the drops fell like - bits of broken glass on the water, while the whale beyond also rose to - sight, and once more the boats were free to fly. But the fagged whale - abated his speed, and blindly altering his course, went round the stern of - the ship towing the two boats after him, so that they performed a complete - circuit. -

-

- Meantime, they hauled more and more upon their lines, till close flanking - him on both sides, Stubb answered Flask with lance for lance; and thus - round and round the Pequod the battle went, while the multitudes of sharks - that had before swum round the Sperm Whale's body, rushed to the fresh - blood that was spilled, thirstily drinking at every new gash, as the eager - Israelites did at the new bursting fountains that poured from the smitten - rock. -

-

- At last his spout grew thick, and with a frightful roll and vomit, he - turned upon his back a corpse. -

-

- While the two headsmen were engaged in making fast cords to his flukes, - and in other ways getting the mass in readiness for towing, some - conversation ensued between them. -

-

- "I wonder what the old man wants with this lump of foul lard," said Stubb, - not without some disgust at the thought of having to do with so ignoble a - leviathan. -

-

- "Wants with it?" said Flask, coiling some spare line in the boat's bow, - "did you never hear that the ship which but once has a Sperm Whale's head - hoisted on her starboard side, and at the same time a Right Whale's on the - larboard; did you never hear, Stubb, that that ship can never afterwards - capsize?" -

-

- "Why not? -

-

- "I don't know, but I heard that gamboge ghost of a Fedallah saying so, and - he seems to know all about ships' charms. But I sometimes think he'll - charm the ship to no good at last. I don't half like that chap, Stubb. Did - you ever notice how that tusk of his is a sort of carved into a snake's - head, Stubb?" -

-

- "Sink him! I never look at him at all; but if ever I get a chance of a - dark night, and he standing hard by the bulwarks, and no one by; look down - there, Flask"—pointing into the sea with a peculiar motion of both - hands—"Aye, will I! Flask, I take that Fedallah to be the devil in - disguise. Do you believe that cock and bull story about his having been - stowed away on board ship? He's the devil, I say. The reason why you don't - see his tail, is because he tucks it up out of sight; he carries it coiled - away in his pocket, I guess. Blast him! now that I think of it, he's - always wanting oakum to stuff into the toes of his boots." -

-

- "He sleeps in his boots, don't he? He hasn't got any hammock; but I've - seen him lay of nights in a coil of rigging." -

-

- "No doubt, and it's because of his cursed tail; he coils it down, do ye - see, in the eye of the rigging." -

-

- "What's the old man have so much to do with him for?" -

-

- "Striking up a swap or a bargain, I suppose." -

-

- "Bargain?—about what?" -

-

- "Why, do ye see, the old man is hard bent after that White Whale, and the - devil there is trying to come round him, and get him to swap away his - silver watch, or his soul, or something of that sort, and then he'll - surrender Moby Dick." -

-

- "Pooh! Stubb, you are skylarking; how can Fedallah do that?" -

-

- "I don't know, Flask, but the devil is a curious chap, and a wicked one, I - tell ye. Why, they say as how he went a sauntering into the old flag-ship - once, switching his tail about devilish easy and gentlemanlike, and - inquiring if the old governor was at home. Well, he was at home, and asked - the devil what he wanted. The devil, switching his hoofs, up and says, 'I - want John.' 'What for?' says the old governor. 'What business is that of - yours,' says the devil, getting mad,—'I want to use him.' 'Take - him,' says the governor—and by the Lord, Flask, if the devil didn't - give John the Asiatic cholera before he got through with him, I'll eat - this whale in one mouthful. But look sharp—ain't you all ready - there? Well, then, pull ahead, and let's get the whale alongside." -

-

- "I think I remember some such story as you were telling," said Flask, when - at last the two boats were slowly advancing with their burden towards the - ship, "but I can't remember where." -

-

- "Three Spaniards? Adventures of those three bloody-minded soladoes? Did ye - read it there, Flask? I guess ye did?" -

-

- "No: never saw such a book; heard of it, though. But now, tell me, Stubb, - do you suppose that that devil you was speaking of just now, was the same - you say is now on board the Pequod?" -

-

- "Am I the same man that helped kill this whale? Doesn't the devil live for - ever; who ever heard that the devil was dead? Did you ever see any parson - a wearing mourning for the devil? And if the devil has a latch-key to get - into the admiral's cabin, don't you suppose he can crawl into a porthole? - Tell me that, Mr. Flask?" -

-

- "How old do you suppose Fedallah is, Stubb?" -

-

- "Do you see that mainmast there?" pointing to the ship; "well, that's the - figure one; now take all the hoops in the Pequod's hold, and string along - in a row with that mast, for oughts, do you see; well, that wouldn't begin - to be Fedallah's age. Nor all the coopers in creation couldn't show hoops - enough to make oughts enough." -

-

- "But see here, Stubb, I thought you a little boasted just now, that you - meant to give Fedallah a sea-toss, if you got a good chance. Now, if he's - so old as all those hoops of yours come to, and if he is going to live for - ever, what good will it do to pitch him overboard—tell me that? -

-

- "Give him a good ducking, anyhow." -

-

- "But he'd crawl back." -

-

- "Duck him again; and keep ducking him." -

-

- "Suppose he should take it into his head to duck you, though—yes, - and drown you—what then?" -

-

- "I should like to see him try it; I'd give him such a pair of black eyes - that he wouldn't dare to show his face in the admiral's cabin again for a - long while, let alone down in the orlop there, where he lives, and - hereabouts on the upper decks where he sneaks so much. Damn the devil, - Flask; so you suppose I'm afraid of the devil? Who's afraid of him, except - the old governor who daresn't catch him and put him in double-darbies, as - he deserves, but lets him go about kidnapping people; aye, and signed a - bond with him, that all the people the devil kidnapped, he'd roast for - him? There's a governor!" -

-

- "Do you suppose Fedallah wants to kidnap Captain Ahab?" -

-

- "Do I suppose it? You'll know it before long, Flask. But I am going now to - keep a sharp look-out on him; and if I see anything very suspicious going - on, I'll just take him by the nape of his neck, and say—Look here, - Beelzebub, you don't do it; and if he makes any fuss, by the Lord I'll - make a grab into his pocket for his tail, take it to the capstan, and give - him such a wrenching and heaving, that his tail will come short off at the - stump—do you see; and then, I rather guess when he finds himself - docked in that queer fashion, he'll sneak off without the poor - satisfaction of feeling his tail between his legs." -

-

- "And what will you do with the tail, Stubb?" -

-

- "Do with it? Sell it for an ox whip when we get home;—what else?" -

-

- "Now, do you mean what you say, and have been saying all along, Stubb?" -

-

- "Mean or not mean, here we are at the ship." -

-

- The boats were here hailed, to tow the whale on the larboard side, where - fluke chains and other necessaries were already prepared for securing him. -

-

- "Didn't I tell you so?" said Flask; "yes, you'll soon see this right - whale's head hoisted up opposite that parmacetti's." -

-

- In good time, Flask's saying proved true. As before, the Pequod steeply - leaned over towards the sperm whale's head, now, by the counterpoise of - both heads, she regained her even keel; though sorely strained, you may - well believe. So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over - that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back - again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming - boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then - you will float light and right. -

-

- In disposing of the body of a right whale, when brought alongside the - ship, the same preliminary proceedings commonly take place as in the case - of a sperm whale; only, in the latter instance, the head is cut off whole, - but in the former the lips and tongue are separately removed and hoisted - on deck, with all the well known black bone attached to what is called the - crown-piece. But nothing like this, in the present case, had been done. - The carcases of both whales had dropped astern; and the head-laden ship - not a little resembled a mule carrying a pair of overburdening panniers. -

-

- Meantime, Fedallah was calmly eyeing the right whale's head, and ever and - anon glancing from the deep wrinkles there to the lines in his own hand. - And Ahab chanced so to stand, that the Parsee occupied his shadow; while, - if the Parsee's shadow was there at all it seemed only to blend with, and - lengthen Ahab's. As the crew toiled on, Laplandish speculations were - bandied among them, concerning all these passing things. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale's Head—Contrasted View. -

-

- Here, now, are two great whales, laying their heads together; let us join - them, and lay together our own. -

-

- Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right - Whale are by far the most noteworthy. They are the only whales regularly - hunted by man. To the Nantucketer, they present the two extremes of all - the known varieties of the whale. As the external difference between them - is mainly observable in their heads; and as a head of each is this moment - hanging from the Pequod's side; and as we may freely go from one to the - other, by merely stepping across the deck:—where, I should like to - know, will you obtain a better chance to study practical cetology than - here? -

-

- In the first place, you are struck by the general contrast between these - heads. Both are massive enough in all conscience; but there is a certain - mathematical symmetry in the Sperm Whale's which the Right Whale's sadly - lacks. There is more character in the Sperm Whale's head. As you behold - it, you involuntarily yield the immense superiority to him, in point of - pervading dignity. In the present instance, too, this dignity is - heightened by the pepper and salt colour of his head at the summit, giving - token of advanced age and large experience. In short, he is what the - fishermen technically call a "grey-headed whale." -

-

- Let us now note what is least dissimilar in these heads—namely, the - two most important organs, the eye and the ear. Far back on the side of - the head, and low down, near the angle of either whale's jaw, if you - narrowly search, you will at last see a lashless eye, which you would - fancy to be a young colt's eye; so out of all proportion is it to the - magnitude of the head. -

-

- Now, from this peculiar sideway position of the whale's eyes, it is plain - that he can never see an object which is exactly ahead, no more than he - can one exactly astern. In a word, the position of the whale's eyes - corresponds to that of a man's ears; and you may fancy, for yourself, how - it would fare with you, did you sideways survey objects through your ears. - You would find that you could only command some thirty degrees of vision - in advance of the straight side-line of sight; and about thirty more - behind it. If your bitterest foe were walking straight towards you, with - dagger uplifted in broad day, you would not be able to see him, any more - than if he were stealing upon you from behind. In a word, you would have - two backs, so to speak; but, at the same time, also, two fronts (side - fronts): for what is it that makes the front of a man—what, indeed, - but his eyes? -

-

- Moreover, while in most other animals that I can now think of, the eyes - are so planted as imperceptibly to blend their visual power, so as to - produce one picture and not two to the brain; the peculiar position of the - whale's eyes, effectually divided as they are by many cubic feet of solid - head, which towers between them like a great mountain separating two lakes - in valleys; this, of course, must wholly separate the impressions which - each independent organ imparts. The whale, therefore, must see one - distinct picture on this side, and another distinct picture on that side; - while all between must be profound darkness and nothingness to him. Man - may, in effect, be said to look out on the world from a sentry-box with - two joined sashes for his window. But with the whale, these two sashes are - separately inserted, making two distinct windows, but sadly impairing the - view. This peculiarity of the whale's eyes is a thing always to be borne - in mind in the fishery; and to be remembered by the reader in some - subsequent scenes. -

-

- A curious and most puzzling question might be started concerning this - visual matter as touching the Leviathan. But I must be content with a - hint. So long as a man's eyes are open in the light, the act of seeing is - involuntary; that is, he cannot then help mechanically seeing whatever - objects are before him. Nevertheless, any one's experience will teach him, - that though he can take in an undiscriminating sweep of things at one - glance, it is quite impossible for him, attentively, and completely, to - examine any two things—however large or however small—at one - and the same instant of time; never mind if they lie side by side and - touch each other. But if you now come to separate these two objects, and - surround each by a circle of profound darkness; then, in order to see one - of them, in such a manner as to bring your mind to bear on it, the other - will be utterly excluded from your contemporary consciousness. How is it, - then, with the whale? True, both his eyes, in themselves, must - simultaneously act; but is his brain so much more comprehensive, - combining, and subtle than man's, that he can at the same moment of time - attentively examine two distinct prospects, one on one side of him, and - the other in an exactly opposite direction? If he can, then is it as - marvellous a thing in him, as if a man were able simultaneously to go - through the demonstrations of two distinct problems in Euclid. Nor, - strictly investigated, is there any incongruity in this comparison. -

-

- It may be but an idle whim, but it has always seemed to me, that the - extraordinary vacillations of movement displayed by some whales when beset - by three or four boats; the timidity and liability to queer frights, so - common to such whales; I think that all this indirectly proceeds from the - helpless perplexity of volition, in which their divided and diametrically - opposite powers of vision must involve them. -

-

- But the ear of the whale is full as curious as the eye. If you are an - entire stranger to their race, you might hunt over these two heads for - hours, and never discover that organ. The ear has no external leaf - whatever; and into the hole itself you can hardly insert a quill, so - wondrously minute is it. It is lodged a little behind the eye. With - respect to their ears, this important difference is to be observed between - the sperm whale and the right. While the ear of the former has an external - opening, that of the latter is entirely and evenly covered over with a - membrane, so as to be quite imperceptible from without. -

-

- Is it not curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world - through so small an eye, and hear the thunder through an ear which is - smaller than a hare's? But if his eyes were broad as the lens of - Herschel's great telescope; and his ears capacious as the porches of - cathedrals; would that make him any longer of sight, or sharper of - hearing? Not at all.—Why then do you try to "enlarge" your mind? - Subtilize it. -

-

- Let us now with whatever levers and steam-engines we have at hand, cant - over the sperm whale's head, that it may lie bottom up; then, ascending by - a ladder to the summit, have a peep down the mouth; and were it not that - the body is now completely separated from it, with a lantern we might - descend into the great Kentucky Mammoth Cave of his stomach. But let us - hold on here by this tooth, and look about us where we are. What a really - beautiful and chaste-looking mouth! from floor to ceiling, lined, or - rather papered with a glistening white membrane, glossy as bridal satins. -

-

- But come out now, and look at this portentous lower jaw, which seems like - the long narrow lid of an immense snuff-box, with the hinge at one end, - instead of one side. If you pry it up, so as to get it overhead, and - expose its rows of teeth, it seems a terrific portcullis; and such, alas! - it proves to many a poor wight in the fishery, upon whom these spikes fall - with impaling force. But far more terrible is it to behold, when fathoms - down in the sea, you see some sulky whale, floating there suspended, with - his prodigious jaw, some fifteen feet long, hanging straight down at - right-angles with his body, for all the world like a ship's jib-boom. This - whale is not dead; he is only dispirited; out of sorts, perhaps; - hypochondriac; and so supine, that the hinges of his jaw have relaxed, - leaving him there in that ungainly sort of plight, a reproach to all his - tribe, who must, no doubt, imprecate lock-jaws upon him. -

-

- In most cases this lower jaw—being easily unhinged by a practised - artist—is disengaged and hoisted on deck for the purpose of - extracting the ivory teeth, and furnishing a supply of that hard white - whalebone with which the fishermen fashion all sorts of curious articles, - including canes, umbrella-stocks, and handles to riding-whips. -

-

- With a long, weary hoist the jaw is dragged on board, as if it were an - anchor; and when the proper time comes—some few days after the other - work—Queequeg, Daggoo, and Tashtego, being all accomplished - dentists, are set to drawing teeth. With a keen cutting-spade, Queequeg - lances the gums; then the jaw is lashed down to ringbolts, and a tackle - being rigged from aloft, they drag out these teeth, as Michigan oxen drag - stumps of old oaks out of wild wood lands. There are generally forty-two - teeth in all; in old whales, much worn down, but undecayed; nor filled - after our artificial fashion. The jaw is afterwards sawn into slabs, and - piled away like joists for building houses. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted View. -

-

- Crossing the deck, let us now have a good long look at the Right Whale's - head. -

-

- As in general shape the noble Sperm Whale's head may be compared to a - Roman war-chariot (especially in front, where it is so broadly rounded); - so, at a broad view, the Right Whale's head bears a rather inelegant - resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe. Two hundred years ago an old - Dutch voyager likened its shape to that of a shoemaker's last. And in this - same last or shoe, that old woman of the nursery tale, with the swarming - brood, might very comfortably be lodged, she and all her progeny. -

-

- But as you come nearer to this great head it begins to assume different - aspects, according to your point of view. If you stand on its summit and - look at these two F-shaped spoutholes, you would take the whole head for - an enormous bass-viol, and these spiracles, the apertures in its - sounding-board. Then, again, if you fix your eye upon this strange, - crested, comb-like incrustation on the top of the mass—this green, - barnacled thing, which the Greenlanders call the "crown," and the Southern - fishers the "bonnet" of the Right Whale; fixing your eyes solely on this, - you would take the head for the trunk of some huge oak, with a bird's nest - in its crotch. At any rate, when you watch those live crabs that nestle - here on this bonnet, such an idea will be almost sure to occur to you; - unless, indeed, your fancy has been fixed by the technical term "crown" - also bestowed upon it; in which case you will take great interest in - thinking how this mighty monster is actually a diademed king of the sea, - whose green crown has been put together for him in this marvellous manner. - But if this whale be a king, he is a very sulky looking fellow to grace a - diadem. Look at that hanging lower lip! what a huge sulk and pout is - there! a sulk and pout, by carpenter's measurement, about twenty feet long - and five feet deep; a sulk and pout that will yield you some 500 gallons - of oil and more. -

-

- A great pity, now, that this unfortunate whale should be hare-lipped. The - fissure is about a foot across. Probably the mother during an important - interval was sailing down the Peruvian coast, when earthquakes caused the - beach to gape. Over this lip, as over a slippery threshold, we now slide - into the mouth. Upon my word were I at Mackinaw, I should take this to be - the inside of an Indian wigwam. Good Lord! is this the road that Jonah - went? The roof is about twelve feet high, and runs to a pretty sharp - angle, as if there were a regular ridge-pole there; while these ribbed, - arched, hairy sides, present us with those wondrous, half vertical, - scimetar-shaped slats of whalebone, say three hundred on a side, which - depending from the upper part of the head or crown bone, form those - Venetian blinds which have elsewhere been cursorily mentioned. The edges - of these bones are fringed with hairy fibres, through which the Right - Whale strains the water, and in whose intricacies he retains the small - fish, when openmouthed he goes through the seas of brit in feeding time. - In the central blinds of bone, as they stand in their natural order, there - are certain curious marks, curves, hollows, and ridges, whereby some - whalemen calculate the creature's age, as the age of an oak by its - circular rings. Though the certainty of this criterion is far from - demonstrable, yet it has the savor of analogical probability. At any rate, - if we yield to it, we must grant a far greater age to the Right Whale than - at first glance will seem reasonable. -

-

- In old times, there seem to have prevailed the most curious fancies - concerning these blinds. One voyager in Purchas calls them the wondrous - "whiskers" inside of the whale's mouth;* another, "hogs' bristles"; a - third old gentleman in Hackluyt uses the following elegant language: - "There are about two hundred and fifty fins growing on each side of his - upper CHOP, which arch over his tongue on each side of his mouth." -

-

- *This reminds us that the Right Whale really has a sort of whisker, or - rather a moustache, consisting of a few scattered white hairs on the upper - part of the outer end of the lower jaw. Sometimes these tufts impart a - rather brigandish expression to his otherwise solemn countenance. -

-

- As every one knows, these same "hogs' bristles," "fins," "whiskers," - "blinds," or whatever you please, furnish to the ladies their busks and - other stiffening contrivances. But in this particular, the demand has long - been on the decline. It was in Queen Anne's time that the bone was in its - glory, the farthingale being then all the fashion. And as those ancient - dames moved about gaily, though in the jaws of the whale, as you may say; - even so, in a shower, with the like thoughtlessness, do we nowadays fly - under the same jaws for protection; the umbrella being a tent spread over - the same bone. -

-

- But now forget all about blinds and whiskers for a moment, and, standing - in the Right Whale's mouth, look around you afresh. Seeing all these - colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you - were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand - pipes? For a carpet to the organ we have a rug of the softest Turkey—the - tongue, which is glued, as it were, to the floor of the mouth. It is very - fat and tender, and apt to tear in pieces in hoisting it on deck. This - particular tongue now before us; at a passing glance I should say it was a - six-barreler; that is, it will yield you about that amount of oil. -

-

- Ere this, you must have plainly seen the truth of what I started with—that - the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale have almost entirely different heads. - To sum up, then: in the Right Whale's there is no great well of sperm; no - ivory teeth at all; no long, slender mandible of a lower jaw, like the - Sperm Whale's. Nor in the Sperm Whale are there any of those blinds of - bone; no huge lower lip; and scarcely anything of a tongue. Again, the - Right Whale has two external spout-holes, the Sperm Whale only one. -

-

- Look your last, now, on these venerable hooded heads, while they yet lie - together; for one will soon sink, unrecorded, in the sea; the other will - not be very long in following. -

-

- Can you catch the expression of the Sperm Whale's there? It is the same he - died with, only some of the longer wrinkles in the forehead seem now faded - away. I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born - of a speculative indifference as to death. But mark the other head's - expression. See that amazing lower lip, pressed by accident against the - vessel's side, so as firmly to embrace the jaw. Does not this whole head - seem to speak of an enormous practical resolution in facing death? This - Right Whale I take to have been a Stoic; the Sperm Whale, a Platonian, who - might have taken up Spinoza in his latter years. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 76. The Battering-Ram. -

-

- Ere quitting, for the nonce, the Sperm Whale's head, I would have you, as - a sensible physiologist, simply—particularly remark its front - aspect, in all its compacted collectedness. I would have you investigate - it now with the sole view of forming to yourself some unexaggerated, - intelligent estimate of whatever battering-ram power may be lodged there. - Here is a vital point; for you must either satisfactorily settle this - matter with yourself, or for ever remain an infidel as to one of the most - appalling, but not the less true events, perhaps anywhere to be found in - all recorded history. -

-

- You observe that in the ordinary swimming position of the Sperm Whale, the - front of his head presents an almost wholly vertical plane to the water; - you observe that the lower part of that front slopes considerably - backwards, so as to furnish more of a retreat for the long socket which - receives the boom-like lower jaw; you observe that the mouth is entirely - under the head, much in the same way, indeed, as though your own mouth - were entirely under your chin. Moreover you observe that the whale has no - external nose; and that what nose he has—his spout hole—is on - the top of his head; you observe that his eyes and ears are at the sides - of his head, nearly one third of his entire length from the front. - Wherefore, you must now have perceived that the front of the Sperm Whale's - head is a dead, blind wall, without a single organ or tender prominence of - any sort whatsoever. Furthermore, you are now to consider that only in the - extreme, lower, backward sloping part of the front of the head, is there - the slightest vestige of bone; and not till you get near twenty feet from - the forehead do you come to the full cranial development. So that this - whole enormous boneless mass is as one wad. Finally, though, as will soon - be revealed, its contents partly comprise the most delicate oil; yet, you - are now to be apprised of the nature of the substance which so impregnably - invests all that apparent effeminacy. In some previous place I have - described to you how the blubber wraps the body of the whale, as the rind - wraps an orange. Just so with the head; but with this difference: about - the head this envelope, though not so thick, is of a boneless toughness, - inestimable by any man who has not handled it. The severest pointed - harpoon, the sharpest lance darted by the strongest human arm, impotently - rebounds from it. It is as though the forehead of the Sperm Whale were - paved with horses' hoofs. I do not think that any sensation lurks in it. -

-

- Bethink yourself also of another thing. When two large, loaded Indiamen - chance to crowd and crush towards each other in the docks, what do the - sailors do? They do not suspend between them, at the point of coming - contact, any merely hard substance, like iron or wood. No, they hold there - a large, round wad of tow and cork, enveloped in the thickest and toughest - of ox-hide. That bravely and uninjured takes the jam which would have - snapped all their oaken handspikes and iron crow-bars. By itself this - sufficiently illustrates the obvious fact I drive at. But supplementary to - this, it has hypothetically occurred to me, that as ordinary fish possess - what is called a swimming bladder in them, capable, at will, of distension - or contraction; and as the Sperm Whale, as far as I know, has no such - provision in him; considering, too, the otherwise inexplicable manner in - which he now depresses his head altogether beneath the surface, and anon - swims with it high elevated out of the water; considering the unobstructed - elasticity of its envelope; considering the unique interior of his head; - it has hypothetically occurred to me, I say, that those mystical - lung-celled honeycombs there may possibly have some hitherto unknown and - unsuspected connexion with the outer air, so as to be susceptible to - atmospheric distension and contraction. If this be so, fancy the - irresistibleness of that might, to which the most impalpable and - destructive of all elements contributes. -

-

- Now, mark. Unerringly impelling this dead, impregnable, uninjurable wall, - and this most buoyant thing within; there swims behind it all a mass of - tremendous life, only to be adequately estimated as piled wood is—by - the cord; and all obedient to one volition, as the smallest insect. So - that when I shall hereafter detail to you all the specialities and - concentrations of potency everywhere lurking in this expansive monster; - when I shall show you some of his more inconsiderable braining feats; I - trust you will have renounced all ignorant incredulity, and be ready to - abide by this; that though the Sperm Whale stove a passage through the - Isthmus of Darien, and mixed the Atlantic with the Pacific, you would not - elevate one hair of your eye-brow. For unless you own the whale, you are - but a provincial and sentimentalist in Truth. But clear Truth is a thing - for salamander giants only to encounter; how small the chances for the - provincials then? What befell the weakling youth lifting the dread - goddess's veil at Lais? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun. -

-

- Now comes the Baling of the Case. But to comprehend it aright, you must - know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated - upon. -

-

- Regarding the Sperm Whale's head as a solid oblong, you may, on an - inclined plane, sideways divide it into two quoins,* whereof the lower is - the bony structure, forming the cranium and jaws, and the upper an - unctuous mass wholly free from bones; its broad forward end forming the - expanded vertical apparent forehead of the whale. At the middle of the - forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin, and then you have two - almost equal parts, which before were naturally divided by an internal - wall of a thick tendinous substance. -

-

- *Quoin is not a Euclidean term. It belongs to the pure nautical - mathematics. I know not that it has been defined before. A quoin is a - solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the - steep inclination of one side, instead of the mutual tapering of both - sides. -

-

- The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of - oil, formed by the crossing and recrossing, into ten thousand infiltrated - cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent. The - upper part, known as the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh - Tun of the Sperm Whale. And as that famous great tierce is mystically - carved in front, so the whale's vast plaited forehead forms innumerable - strange devices for the emblematical adornment of his wondrous tun. - Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most - excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale - contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the - highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous - state. Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part of - the creature. Though in life it remains perfectly fluid, yet, upon - exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending - forth beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is - just forming in water. A large whale's case generally yields about five - hundred gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, - considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise - irrevocably lost in the ticklish business of securing what you can. -

-

- I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was - coated within, but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly - have compared with the silken pearl-coloured membrane, like the lining of - a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale's case. -

-

- It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale - embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since—as - has been elsewhere set forth—the head embraces one third of the - whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet - for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth - of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's - side. -

-

- As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close - to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti - magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, - untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its - invaluable contents. It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which - is at last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the - enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make - quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter. -

-

- Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and—in - this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm - Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 78. Cistern and Buckets. -

-

- Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect - posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part - where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a - light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling - through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down - from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and - firmly held by a hand on deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, - the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit - of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the - company, to whom he vivaciously cries—he seems some Turkish Muezzin - calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A - short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for - the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he - proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, - sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this - cautious search is over, a stout iron-bound bucket, precisely like a - well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other - end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert - hands. These last now hoist the bucket within grasp of the Indian, to whom - another person has reached up a very long pole. Inserting this pole into - the bucket, Tashtego downward guides the bucket into the Tun, till it - entirely disappears; then giving the word to the seamen at the whip, up - comes the bucket again, all bubbling like a dairy-maid's pail of new milk. - Carefully lowered from its height, the full-freighted vessel is caught by - an appointed hand, and quickly emptied into a large tub. Then remounting - aloft, it again goes through the same round until the deep cistern will - yield no more. Towards the end, Tashtego has to ram his long pole harder - and harder, and deeper and deeper into the Tun, until some twenty feet of - the pole have gone down. -

-

- Now, the people of the Pequod had been baling some time in this way; - several tubs had been filled with the fragrant sperm; when all at once a - queer accident happened. Whether it was that Tashtego, that wild Indian, - was so heedless and reckless as to let go for a moment his one-handed hold - on the great cabled tackles suspending the head; or whether the place - where he stood was so treacherous and oozy; or whether the Evil One - himself would have it to fall out so, without stating his particular - reasons; how it was exactly, there is no telling now; but, on a sudden, as - the eightieth or ninetieth bucket came suckingly up—my God! poor - Tashtego—like the twin reciprocating bucket in a veritable well, - dropped head-foremost down into this great Tun of Heidelburgh, and with a - horrible oily gurgling, went clean out of sight! -

-

- "Man overboard!" cried Daggoo, who amid the general consternation first - came to his senses. "Swing the bucket this way!" and putting one foot into - it, so as the better to secure his slippery hand-hold on the whip itself, - the hoisters ran him high up to the top of the head, almost before - Tashtego could have reached its interior bottom. Meantime, there was a - terrible tumult. Looking over the side, they saw the before lifeless head - throbbing and heaving just below the surface of the sea, as if that moment - seized with some momentous idea; whereas it was only the poor Indian - unconsciously revealing by those struggles the perilous depth to which he - had sunk. -

-

- At this instant, while Daggoo, on the summit of the head, was clearing the - whip—which had somehow got foul of the great cutting tackles—a - sharp cracking noise was heard; and to the unspeakable horror of all, one - of the two enormous hooks suspending the head tore out, and with a vast - vibration the enormous mass sideways swung, till the drunk ship reeled and - shook as if smitten by an iceberg. The one remaining hook, upon which the - entire strain now depended, seemed every instant to be on the point of - giving way; an event still more likely from the violent motions of the - head. -

-

- "Come down, come down!" yelled the seamen to Daggoo, but with one hand - holding on to the heavy tackles, so that if the head should drop, he would - still remain suspended; the negro having cleared the foul line, rammed - down the bucket into the now collapsed well, meaning that the buried - harpooneer should grasp it, and so be hoisted out. -

-

- "In heaven's name, man," cried Stubb, "are you ramming home a cartridge - there?—Avast! How will that help him; jamming that iron-bound bucket - on top of his head? Avast, will ye!" -

-

- "Stand clear of the tackle!" cried a voice like the bursting of a rocket. -

-

- Almost in the same instant, with a thunder-boom, the enormous mass dropped - into the sea, like Niagara's Table-Rock into the whirlpool; the suddenly - relieved hull rolled away from it, to far down her glittering copper; and - all caught their breath, as half swinging—now over the sailors' - heads, and now over the water—Daggoo, through a thick mist of spray, - was dimly beheld clinging to the pendulous tackles, while poor, - buried-alive Tashtego was sinking utterly down to the bottom of the sea! - But hardly had the blinding vapour cleared away, when a naked figure with - a boarding-sword in his hand, was for one swift moment seen hovering over - the bulwarks. The next, a loud splash announced that my brave Queequeg had - dived to the rescue. One packed rush was made to the side, and every eye - counted every ripple, as moment followed moment, and no sign of either the - sinker or the diver could be seen. Some hands now jumped into a boat - alongside, and pushed a little off from the ship. -

-

- "Ha! ha!" cried Daggoo, all at once, from his now quiet, swinging perch - overhead; and looking further off from the side, we saw an arm thrust - upright from the blue waves; a sight strange to see, as an arm thrust - forth from the grass over a grave. -

-

- "Both! both!—it is both!"—cried Daggoo again with a joyful - shout; and soon after, Queequeg was seen boldly striking out with one - hand, and with the other clutching the long hair of the Indian. Drawn into - the waiting boat, they were quickly brought to the deck; but Tashtego was - long in coming to, and Queequeg did not look very brisk. -

-

- Now, how had this noble rescue been accomplished? Why, diving after the - slowly descending head, Queequeg with his keen sword had made side lunges - near its bottom, so as to scuttle a large hole there; then dropping his - sword, had thrust his long arm far inwards and upwards, and so hauled out - poor Tash by the head. He averred, that upon first thrusting in for him, a - leg was presented; but well knowing that that was not as it ought to be, - and might occasion great trouble;—he had thrust back the leg, and by - a dexterous heave and toss, had wrought a somerset upon the Indian; so - that with the next trial, he came forth in the good old way—head - foremost. As for the great head itself, that was doing as well as could be - expected. -

-

- And thus, through the courage and great skill in obstetrics of Queequeg, - the deliverance, or rather, delivery of Tashtego, was successfully - accomplished, in the teeth, too, of the most untoward and apparently - hopeless impediments; which is a lesson by no means to be forgotten. - Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, - riding and rowing. -

-

- I know that this queer adventure of the Gay-Header's will be sure to seem - incredible to some landsmen, though they themselves may have either seen - or heard of some one's falling into a cistern ashore; an accident which - not seldom happens, and with much less reason too than the Indian's, - considering the exceeding slipperiness of the curb of the Sperm Whale's - well. -

-

- But, peradventure, it may be sagaciously urged, how is this? We thought - the tissued, infiltrated head of the Sperm Whale, was the lightest and - most corky part about him; and yet thou makest it sink in an element of a - far greater specific gravity than itself. We have thee there. Not at all, - but I have ye; for at the time poor Tash fell in, the case had been nearly - emptied of its lighter contents, leaving little but the dense tendinous - wall of the well—a double welded, hammered substance, as I have - before said, much heavier than the sea water, and a lump of which sinks in - it like lead almost. But the tendency to rapid sinking in this substance - was in the present instance materially counteracted by the other parts of - the head remaining undetached from it, so that it sank very slowly and - deliberately indeed, affording Queequeg a fair chance for performing his - agile obstetrics on the run, as you may say. Yes, it was a running - delivery, so it was. -

-

- Now, had Tashtego perished in that head, it had been a very precious - perishing; smothered in the very whitest and daintiest of fragrant - spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and tombed in the secret inner chamber and - sanctum sanctorum of the whale. Only one sweeter end can readily be - recalled—the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who seeking - honey in the crotch of a hollow tree, found such exceeding store of it, - that leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed. How - many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato's honey head, and sweetly - perished there? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 79. The Prairie. -

-

- To scan the lines of his face, or feel the bumps on the head of this - Leviathan; this is a thing which no Physiognomist or Phrenologist has as - yet undertaken. Such an enterprise would seem almost as hopeful as for - Lavater to have scrutinized the wrinkles on the Rock of Gibraltar, or for - Gall to have mounted a ladder and manipulated the Dome of the Pantheon. - Still, in that famous work of his, Lavater not only treats of the various - faces of men, but also attentively studies the faces of horses, birds, - serpents, and fish; and dwells in detail upon the modifications of - expression discernible therein. Nor have Gall and his disciple Spurzheim - failed to throw out some hints touching the phrenological characteristics - of other beings than man. Therefore, though I am but ill qualified for a - pioneer, in the application of these two semi-sciences to the whale, I - will do my endeavor. I try all things; I achieve what I can. -

-

- Physiognomically regarded, the Sperm Whale is an anomalous creature. He - has no proper nose. And since the nose is the central and most conspicuous - of the features; and since it perhaps most modifies and finally controls - their combined expression; hence it would seem that its entire absence, as - an external appendage, must very largely affect the countenance of the - whale. For as in landscape gardening, a spire, cupola, monument, or tower - of some sort, is deemed almost indispensable to the completion of the - scene; so no face can be physiognomically in keeping without the elevated - open-work belfry of the nose. Dash the nose from Phidias's marble Jove, - and what a sorry remainder! Nevertheless, Leviathan is of so mighty a - magnitude, all his proportions are so stately, that the same deficiency - which in the sculptured Jove were hideous, in him is no blemish at all. - Nay, it is an added grandeur. A nose to the whale would have been - impertinent. As on your physiognomical voyage you sail round his vast head - in your jolly-boat, your noble conceptions of him are never insulted by - the reflection that he has a nose to be pulled. A pestilent conceit, which - so often will insist upon obtruding even when beholding the mightiest - royal beadle on his throne. -

-

- In some particulars, perhaps the most imposing physiognomical view to be - had of the Sperm Whale, is that of the full front of his head. This aspect - is sublime. -

-

- In thought, a fine human brow is like the East when troubled with the - morning. In the repose of the pasture, the curled brow of the bull has a - touch of the grand in it. Pushing heavy cannon up mountain defiles, the - elephant's brow is majestic. Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that - great golden seal affixed by the German Emperors to their decrees. It - signifies—"God: done this day by my hand." But in most creatures, - nay in man himself, very often the brow is but a mere strip of alpine land - lying along the snow line. Few are the foreheads which like Shakespeare's - or Melancthon's rise so high, and descend so low, that the eyes themselves - seem clear, eternal, tideless mountain lakes; and all above them in the - forehead's wrinkles, you seem to track the antlered thoughts descending - there to drink, as the Highland hunters track the snow prints of the deer. - But in the great Sperm Whale, this high and mighty god-like dignity - inherent in the brow is so immensely amplified, that gazing on it, in that - full front view, you feel the Deity and the dread powers more forcibly - than in beholding any other object in living nature. For you see no one - point precisely; not one distinct feature is revealed; no nose, eyes, - ears, or mouth; no face; he has none, proper; nothing but that one broad - firmament of a forehead, pleated with riddles; dumbly lowering with the - doom of boats, and ships, and men. Nor, in profile, does this wondrous - brow diminish; though that way viewed its grandeur does not domineer upon - you so. In profile, you plainly perceive that horizontal, semi-crescentic - depression in the forehead's middle, which, in man, is Lavater's mark of - genius. -

-

- But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale? Has the Sperm Whale ever written a - book, spoken a speech? No, his great genius is declared in his doing - nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical - silence. And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to - the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian - thoughts. They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is - tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so - exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. If hereafter any - highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the - merry May-day gods of old; and livingly enthrone them again in the now - egotistical sky; in the now unhaunted hill; then be sure, exalted to - Jove's high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it. -

-

- Champollion deciphered the wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. But there is no - Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man's and every being's face. - Physiognomy, like every other human science, is but a passing fable. If - then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the - simplest peasant's face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how - may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale's - brow? I but put that brow before you. Read it if you can. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 80. The Nut. -

-

- If the Sperm Whale be physiognomically a Sphinx, to the phrenologist his - brain seems that geometrical circle which it is impossible to square. -

-

- In the full-grown creature the skull will measure at least twenty feet in - length. Unhinge the lower jaw, and the side view of this skull is as the - side of a moderately inclined plane resting throughout on a level base. - But in life—as we have elsewhere seen—this inclined plane is - angularly filled up, and almost squared by the enormous superincumbent - mass of the junk and sperm. At the high end the skull forms a crater to - bed that part of the mass; while under the long floor of this crater—in - another cavity seldom exceeding ten inches in length and as many in depth—reposes - the mere handful of this monster's brain. The brain is at least twenty - feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast - outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications - of Quebec. So like a choice casket is it secreted in him, that I have - known some whalemen who peremptorily deny that the Sperm Whale has any - other brain than that palpable semblance of one formed by the cubic-yards - of his sperm magazine. Lying in strange folds, courses, and convolutions, - to their apprehensions, it seems more in keeping with the idea of his - general might to regard that mystic part of him as the seat of his - intelligence. -

-

- It is plain, then, that phrenologically the head of this Leviathan, in the - creature's living intact state, is an entire delusion. As for his true - brain, you can then see no indications of it, nor feel any. The whale, - like all things that are mighty, wears a false brow to the common world. -

-

- If you unload his skull of its spermy heaps and then take a rear view of - its rear end, which is the high end, you will be struck by its resemblance - to the human skull, beheld in the same situation, and from the same point - of view. Indeed, place this reversed skull (scaled down to the human - magnitude) among a plate of men's skulls, and you would involuntarily - confound it with them; and remarking the depressions on one part of its - summit, in phrenological phrase you would say—This man had no - self-esteem, and no veneration. And by those negations, considered along - with the affirmative fact of his prodigious bulk and power, you can best - form to yourself the truest, though not the most exhilarating conception - of what the most exalted potency is. -

-

- But if from the comparative dimensions of the whale's proper brain, you - deem it incapable of being adequately charted, then I have another idea - for you. If you attentively regard almost any quadruped's spine, you will - be struck with the resemblance of its vertebrae to a strung necklace of - dwarfed skulls, all bearing rudimental resemblance to the skull proper. It - is a German conceit, that the vertebrae are absolutely undeveloped skulls. - But the curious external resemblance, I take it the Germans were not the - first men to perceive. A foreign friend once pointed it out to me, in the - skeleton of a foe he had slain, and with the vertebrae of which he was - inlaying, in a sort of basso-relievo, the beaked prow of his canoe. Now, I - consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not - pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal. - For I believe that much of a man's character will be found betokened in - his backbone. I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you - are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I - rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I - fling half out to the world. -

-

- Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale. His cranial - cavity is continuous with the first neck-vertebra; and in that vertebra - the bottom of the spinal canal will measure ten inches across, being eight - in height, and of a triangular figure with the base downwards. As it - passes through the remaining vertebrae the canal tapers in size, but for a - considerable distance remains of large capacity. Now, of course, this - canal is filled with much the same strangely fibrous substance—the - spinal cord—as the brain; and directly communicates with the brain. - And what is still more, for many feet after emerging from the brain's - cavity, the spinal cord remains of an undecreasing girth, almost equal to - that of the brain. Under all these circumstances, would it be unreasonable - to survey and map out the whale's spine phrenologically? For, viewed in - this light, the wonderful comparative smallness of his brain proper is - more than compensated by the wonderful comparative magnitude of his spinal - cord. -

-

- But leaving this hint to operate as it may with the phrenologists, I would - merely assume the spinal theory for a moment, in reference to the Sperm - Whale's hump. This august hump, if I mistake not, rises over one of the - larger vertebrae, and is, therefore, in some sort, the outer convex mould - of it. From its relative situation then, I should call this high hump the - organ of firmness or indomitableness in the Sperm Whale. And that the - great monster is indomitable, you will yet have reason to know. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin. -

-

- The predestinated day arrived, and we duly met the ship Jungfrau, Derick - De Deer, master, of Bremen. -

-

- At one time the greatest whaling people in the world, the Dutch and - Germans are now among the least; but here and there at very wide intervals - of latitude and longitude, you still occasionally meet with their flag in - the Pacific. -

-

- For some reason, the Jungfrau seemed quite eager to pay her respects. - While yet some distance from the Pequod, she rounded to, and dropping a - boat, her captain was impelled towards us, impatiently standing in the - bows instead of the stern. -

-

- "What has he in his hand there?" cried Starbuck, pointing to something - wavingly held by the German. "Impossible!—a lamp-feeder!" -

-

- "Not that," said Stubb, "no, no, it's a coffee-pot, Mr. Starbuck; he's - coming off to make us our coffee, is the Yarman; don't you see that big - tin can there alongside of him?—that's his boiling water. Oh! he's - all right, is the Yarman." -

-

- "Go along with you," cried Flask, "it's a lamp-feeder and an oil-can. He's - out of oil, and has come a-begging." -

-

- However curious it may seem for an oil-ship to be borrowing oil on the - whale-ground, and however much it may invertedly contradict the old - proverb about carrying coals to Newcastle, yet sometimes such a thing - really happens; and in the present case Captain Derick De Deer did - indubitably conduct a lamp-feeder as Flask did declare. -

-

- As he mounted the deck, Ahab abruptly accosted him, without at all heeding - what he had in his hand; but in his broken lingo, the German soon evinced - his complete ignorance of the White Whale; immediately turning the - conversation to his lamp-feeder and oil can, with some remarks touching - his having to turn into his hammock at night in profound darkness—his - last drop of Bremen oil being gone, and not a single flying-fish yet - captured to supply the deficiency; concluding by hinting that his ship was - indeed what in the Fishery is technically called a CLEAN one (that is, an - empty one), well deserving the name of Jungfrau or the Virgin. -

-

- His necessities supplied, Derick departed; but he had not gained his - ship's side, when whales were almost simultaneously raised from the - mast-heads of both vessels; and so eager for the chase was Derick, that - without pausing to put his oil-can and lamp-feeder aboard, he slewed round - his boat and made after the leviathan lamp-feeders. -

-

- Now, the game having risen to leeward, he and the other three German boats - that soon followed him, had considerably the start of the Pequod's keels. - There were eight whales, an average pod. Aware of their danger, they were - going all abreast with great speed straight before the wind, rubbing their - flanks as closely as so many spans of horses in harness. They left a - great, wide wake, as though continually unrolling a great wide parchment - upon the sea. -

-

- Full in this rapid wake, and many fathoms in the rear, swam a huge, humped - old bull, which by his comparatively slow progress, as well as by the - unusual yellowish incrustations overgrowing him, seemed afflicted with the - jaundice, or some other infirmity. Whether this whale belonged to the pod - in advance, seemed questionable; for it is not customary for such - venerable leviathans to be at all social. Nevertheless, he stuck to their - wake, though indeed their back water must have retarded him, because the - white-bone or swell at his broad muzzle was a dashed one, like the swell - formed when two hostile currents meet. His spout was short, slow, and - laborious; coming forth with a choking sort of gush, and spending itself - in torn shreds, followed by strange subterranean commotions in him, which - seemed to have egress at his other buried extremity, causing the waters - behind him to upbubble. -

-

- "Who's got some paregoric?" said Stubb, "he has the stomach-ache, I'm - afraid. Lord, think of having half an acre of stomach-ache! Adverse winds - are holding mad Christmas in him, boys. It's the first foul wind I ever - knew to blow from astern; but look, did ever whale yaw so before? it must - be, he's lost his tiller." -

-

- As an overladen Indiaman bearing down the Hindostan coast with a deck load - of frightened horses, careens, buries, rolls, and wallows on her way; so - did this old whale heave his aged bulk, and now and then partly turning - over on his cumbrous rib-ends, expose the cause of his devious wake in the - unnatural stump of his starboard fin. Whether he had lost that fin in - battle, or had been born without it, it were hard to say. -

-

- "Only wait a bit, old chap, and I'll give ye a sling for that wounded - arm," cried cruel Flask, pointing to the whale-line near him. -

-

- "Mind he don't sling thee with it," cried Starbuck. "Give way, or the - German will have him." -

-

- With one intent all the combined rival boats were pointed for this one - fish, because not only was he the largest, and therefore the most valuable - whale, but he was nearest to them, and the other whales were going with - such great velocity, moreover, as almost to defy pursuit for the time. At - this juncture the Pequod's keels had shot by the three German boats last - lowered; but from the great start he had had, Derick's boat still led the - chase, though every moment neared by his foreign rivals. The only thing - they feared, was, that from being already so nigh to his mark, he would be - enabled to dart his iron before they could completely overtake and pass - him. As for Derick, he seemed quite confident that this would be the case, - and occasionally with a deriding gesture shook his lamp-feeder at the - other boats. -

-

- "The ungracious and ungrateful dog!" cried Starbuck; "he mocks and dares - me with the very poor-box I filled for him not five minutes ago!"—then - in his old intense whisper—"Give way, greyhounds! Dog to it!" -

-

- "I tell ye what it is, men"—cried Stubb to his crew—"it's - against my religion to get mad; but I'd like to eat that villainous Yarman—Pull—won't - ye? Are ye going to let that rascal beat ye? Do ye love brandy? A hogshead - of brandy, then, to the best man. Come, why don't some of ye burst a - blood-vessel? Who's that been dropping an anchor overboard—we don't - budge an inch—we're becalmed. Halloo, here's grass growing in the - boat's bottom—and by the Lord, the mast there's budding. This won't - do, boys. Look at that Yarman! The short and long of it is, men, will ye - spit fire or not?" -

-

- "Oh! see the suds he makes!" cried Flask, dancing up and down—"What - a hump—Oh, DO pile on the beef—lays like a log! Oh! my lads, - DO spring—slap-jacks and quahogs for supper, you know, my lads—baked - clams and muffins—oh, DO, DO, spring,—he's a hundred barreller—don't - lose him now—don't oh, DON'T!—see that Yarman—Oh, won't - ye pull for your duff, my lads—such a sog! such a sogger! Don't ye - love sperm? There goes three thousand dollars, men!—a bank!—a - whole bank! The bank of England!—Oh, DO, DO, DO!—What's that - Yarman about now?" -

-

- At this moment Derick was in the act of pitching his lamp-feeder at the - advancing boats, and also his oil-can; perhaps with the double view of - retarding his rivals' way, and at the same time economically accelerating - his own by the momentary impetus of the backward toss. -

-

- "The unmannerly Dutch dogger!" cried Stubb. "Pull now, men, like fifty - thousand line-of-battle-ship loads of red-haired devils. What d'ye say, - Tashtego; are you the man to snap your spine in two-and-twenty pieces for - the honour of old Gayhead? What d'ye say?" -

-

- "I say, pull like god-dam,"—cried the Indian. -

-

- Fiercely, but evenly incited by the taunts of the German, the Pequod's - three boats now began ranging almost abreast; and, so disposed, - momentarily neared him. In that fine, loose, chivalrous attitude of the - headsman when drawing near to his prey, the three mates stood up proudly, - occasionally backing the after oarsman with an exhilarating cry of, "There - she slides, now! Hurrah for the white-ash breeze! Down with the Yarman! - Sail over him!" -

-

- But so decided an original start had Derick had, that spite of all their - gallantry, he would have proved the victor in this race, had not a - righteous judgment descended upon him in a crab which caught the blade of - his midship oarsman. While this clumsy lubber was striving to free his - white-ash, and while, in consequence, Derick's boat was nigh to capsizing, - and he thundering away at his men in a mighty rage;—that was a good - time for Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask. With a shout, they took a mortal - start forwards, and slantingly ranged up on the German's quarter. An - instant more, and all four boats were diagonically in the whale's - immediate wake, while stretching from them, on both sides, was the foaming - swell that he made. -

-

- It was a terrific, most pitiable, and maddening sight. The whale was now - going head out, and sending his spout before him in a continual tormented - jet; while his one poor fin beat his side in an agony of fright. Now to - this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering flight, and still at - every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank in the sea, or sideways - rolled towards the sky his one beating fin. So have I seen a bird with - clipped wing making affrighted broken circles in the air, vainly striving - to escape the piratical hawks. But the bird has a voice, and with - plaintive cries will make known her fear; but the fear of this vast dumb - brute of the sea, was chained up and enchanted in him; he had no voice, - save that choking respiration through his spiracle, and this made the - sight of him unspeakably pitiable; while still, in his amazing bulk, - portcullis jaw, and omnipotent tail, there was enough to appal the - stoutest man who so pitied. -

-

- Seeing now that but a very few moments more would give the Pequod's boats - the advantage, and rather than be thus foiled of his game, Derick chose to - hazard what to him must have seemed a most unusually long dart, ere the - last chance would for ever escape. -

-

- But no sooner did his harpooneer stand up for the stroke, than all three - tigers—Queequeg, Tashtego, Daggoo—instinctively sprang to - their feet, and standing in a diagonal row, simultaneously pointed their - barbs; and darted over the head of the German harpooneer, their three - Nantucket irons entered the whale. Blinding vapours of foam and - white-fire! The three boats, in the first fury of the whale's headlong - rush, bumped the German's aside with such force, that both Derick and his - baffled harpooneer were spilled out, and sailed over by the three flying - keels. -

-

- "Don't be afraid, my butter-boxes," cried Stubb, casting a passing glance - upon them as he shot by; "ye'll be picked up presently—all right—I - saw some sharks astern—St. Bernard's dogs, you know—relieve - distressed travellers. Hurrah! this is the way to sail now. Every keel a - sunbeam! Hurrah!—Here we go like three tin kettles at the tail of a - mad cougar! This puts me in mind of fastening to an elephant in a tilbury - on a plain—makes the wheel-spokes fly, boys, when you fasten to him - that way; and there's danger of being pitched out too, when you strike a - hill. Hurrah! this is the way a fellow feels when he's going to Davy Jones—all - a rush down an endless inclined plane! Hurrah! this whale carries the - everlasting mail!" -

-

- But the monster's run was a brief one. Giving a sudden gasp, he - tumultuously sounded. With a grating rush, the three lines flew round the - loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them; while so - fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding would soon exhaust - the lines, that using all their dexterous might, they caught repeated - smoking turns with the rope to hold on; till at last—owing to the - perpendicular strain from the lead-lined chocks of the boats, whence the - three ropes went straight down into the blue—the gunwales of the - bows were almost even with the water, while the three sterns tilted high - in the air. And the whale soon ceasing to sound, for some time they - remained in that attitude, fearful of expending more line, though the - position was a little ticklish. But though boats have been taken down and - lost in this way, yet it is this "holding on," as it is called; this - hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live flesh from the back; this it is - that often torments the Leviathan into soon rising again to meet the sharp - lance of his foes. Yet not to speak of the peril of the thing, it is to be - doubted whether this course is always the best; for it is but reasonable - to presume, that the longer the stricken whale stays under water, the more - he is exhausted. Because, owing to the enormous surface of him—in a - full grown sperm whale something less than 2000 square feet—the - pressure of the water is immense. We all know what an astonishing - atmospheric weight we ourselves stand up under; even here, above-ground, - in the air; how vast, then, the burden of a whale, bearing on his back a - column of two hundred fathoms of ocean! It must at least equal the weight - of fifty atmospheres. One whaleman has estimated it at the weight of - twenty line-of-battle ships, with all their guns, and stores, and men on - board. -

-

- As the three boats lay there on that gently rolling sea, gazing down into - its eternal blue noon; and as not a single groan or cry of any sort, nay, - not so much as a ripple or a bubble came up from its depths; what landsman - would have thought, that beneath all that silence and placidity, the - utmost monster of the seas was writhing and wrenching in agony! Not eight - inches of perpendicular rope were visible at the bows. Seems it credible - that by three such thin threads the great Leviathan was suspended like the - big weight to an eight day clock. Suspended? and to what? To three bits of - board. Is this the creature of whom it was once so triumphantly said—"Canst - thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears? The - sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold, the spear, the dart, nor the - habergeon: he esteemeth iron as straw; the arrow cannot make him flee; - darts are counted as stubble; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear!" This - the creature? this he? Oh! that unfulfilments should follow the prophets. - For with the strength of a thousand thighs in his tail, Leviathan had run - his head under the mountains of the sea, to hide him from the Pequod's - fish-spears! -

-

- In that sloping afternoon sunlight, the shadows that the three boats sent - down beneath the surface, must have been long enough and broad enough to - shade half Xerxes' army. Who can tell how appalling to the wounded whale - must have been such huge phantoms flitting over his head! -

-

- "Stand by, men; he stirs," cried Starbuck, as the three lines suddenly - vibrated in the water, distinctly conducting upwards to them, as by - magnetic wires, the life and death throbs of the whale, so that every - oarsman felt them in his seat. The next moment, relieved in great part - from the downward strain at the bows, the boats gave a sudden bounce - upwards, as a small icefield will, when a dense herd of white bears are - scared from it into the sea. -

-

- "Haul in! Haul in!" cried Starbuck again; "he's rising." -

-

- The lines, of which, hardly an instant before, not one hand's breadth - could have been gained, were now in long quick coils flung back all - dripping into the boats, and soon the whale broke water within two ship's - lengths of the hunters. -

-

- His motions plainly denoted his extreme exhaustion. In most land animals - there are certain valves or flood-gates in many of their veins, whereby - when wounded, the blood is in some degree at least instantly shut off in - certain directions. Not so with the whale; one of whose peculiarities it - is to have an entire non-valvular structure of the blood-vessels, so that - when pierced even by so small a point as a harpoon, a deadly drain is at - once begun upon his whole arterial system; and when this is heightened by - the extraordinary pressure of water at a great distance below the surface, - his life may be said to pour from him in incessant streams. Yet so vast is - the quantity of blood in him, and so distant and numerous its interior - fountains, that he will keep thus bleeding and bleeding for a considerable - period; even as in a drought a river will flow, whose source is in the - well-springs of far-off and undiscernible hills. Even now, when the boats - pulled upon this whale, and perilously drew over his swaying flukes, and - the lances were darted into him, they were followed by steady jets from - the new made wound, which kept continually playing, while the natural - spout-hole in his head was only at intervals, however rapid, sending its - affrighted moisture into the air. From this last vent no blood yet came, - because no vital part of him had thus far been struck. His life, as they - significantly call it, was untouched. -

-

- As the boats now more closely surrounded him, the whole upper part of his - form, with much of it that is ordinarily submerged, was plainly revealed. - His eyes, or rather the places where his eyes had been, were beheld. As - strange misgrown masses gather in the knot-holes of the noblest oaks when - prostrate, so from the points which the whale's eyes had once occupied, - now protruded blind bulbs, horribly pitiable to see. But pity there was - none. For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must - die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other - merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that - preach unconditional inoffensiveness by all to all. Still rolling in his - blood, at last he partially disclosed a strangely discoloured bunch or - protuberance, the size of a bushel, low down on the flank. -

-

- "A nice spot," cried Flask; "just let me prick him there once." -

-

- "Avast!" cried Starbuck, "there's no need of that!" -

-

- But humane Starbuck was too late. At the instant of the dart an ulcerous - jet shot from this cruel wound, and goaded by it into more than sufferable - anguish, the whale now spouting thick blood, with swift fury blindly - darted at the craft, bespattering them and their glorying crews all over - with showers of gore, capsizing Flask's boat and marring the bows. It was - his death stroke. For, by this time, so spent was he by loss of blood, - that he helplessly rolled away from the wreck he had made; lay panting on - his side, impotently flapped with his stumped fin, then over and over - slowly revolved like a waning world; turned up the white secrets of his - belly; lay like a log, and died. It was most piteous, that last expiring - spout. As when by unseen hands the water is gradually drawn off from some - mighty fountain, and with half-stifled melancholy gurglings the - spray-column lowers and lowers to the ground—so the last long dying - spout of the whale. -

-

- Soon, while the crews were awaiting the arrival of the ship, the body - showed symptoms of sinking with all its treasures unrifled. Immediately, - by Starbuck's orders, lines were secured to it at different points, so - that ere long every boat was a buoy; the sunken whale being suspended a - few inches beneath them by the cords. By very heedful management, when the - ship drew nigh, the whale was transferred to her side, and was strongly - secured there by the stiffest fluke-chains, for it was plain that unless - artificially upheld, the body would at once sink to the bottom. -

-

- It so chanced that almost upon first cutting into him with the spade, the - entire length of a corroded harpoon was found imbedded in his flesh, on - the lower part of the bunch before described. But as the stumps of - harpoons are frequently found in the dead bodies of captured whales, with - the flesh perfectly healed around them, and no prominence of any kind to - denote their place; therefore, there must needs have been some other - unknown reason in the present case fully to account for the ulceration - alluded to. But still more curious was the fact of a lance-head of stone - being found in him, not far from the buried iron, the flesh perfectly firm - about it. Who had darted that stone lance? And when? It might have been - darted by some Nor' West Indian long before America was discovered. -

-

- What other marvels might have been rummaged out of this monstrous cabinet - there is no telling. But a sudden stop was put to further discoveries, by - the ship's being unprecedentedly dragged over sideways to the sea, owing - to the body's immensely increasing tendency to sink. However, Starbuck, - who had the ordering of affairs, hung on to it to the last; hung on to it - so resolutely, indeed, that when at length the ship would have been - capsized, if still persisting in locking arms with the body; then, when - the command was given to break clear from it, such was the immovable - strain upon the timber-heads to which the fluke-chains and cables were - fastened, that it was impossible to cast them off. Meantime everything in - the Pequod was aslant. To cross to the other side of the deck was like - walking up the steep gabled roof of a house. The ship groaned and gasped. - Many of the ivory inlayings of her bulwarks and cabins were started from - their places, by the unnatural dislocation. In vain handspikes and crows - were brought to bear upon the immovable fluke-chains, to pry them adrift - from the timberheads; and so low had the whale now settled that the - submerged ends could not be at all approached, while every moment whole - tons of ponderosity seemed added to the sinking bulk, and the ship seemed - on the point of going over. -

-

- "Hold on, hold on, won't ye?" cried Stubb to the body, "don't be in such a - devil of a hurry to sink! By thunder, men, we must do something or go for - it. No use prying there; avast, I say with your handspikes, and run one of - ye for a prayer book and a pen-knife, and cut the big chains." -

-

- "Knife? Aye, aye," cried Queequeg, and seizing the carpenter's heavy - hatchet, he leaned out of a porthole, and steel to iron, began slashing at - the largest fluke-chains. But a few strokes, full of sparks, were given, - when the exceeding strain effected the rest. With a terrific snap, every - fastening went adrift; the ship righted, the carcase sank. -

-

- Now, this occasional inevitable sinking of the recently killed Sperm Whale - is a very curious thing; nor has any fisherman yet adequately accounted - for it. Usually the dead Sperm Whale floats with great buoyancy, with its - side or belly considerably elevated above the surface. If the only whales - that thus sank were old, meagre, and broken-hearted creatures, their pads - of lard diminished and all their bones heavy and rheumatic; then you might - with some reason assert that this sinking is caused by an uncommon - specific gravity in the fish so sinking, consequent upon this absence of - buoyant matter in him. But it is not so. For young whales, in the highest - health, and swelling with noble aspirations, prematurely cut off in the - warm flush and May of life, with all their panting lard about them; even - these brawny, buoyant heroes do sometimes sink. -

-

- Be it said, however, that the Sperm Whale is far less liable to this - accident than any other species. Where one of that sort go down, twenty - Right Whales do. This difference in the species is no doubt imputable in - no small degree to the greater quantity of bone in the Right Whale; his - Venetian blinds alone sometimes weighing more than a ton; from this - incumbrance the Sperm Whale is wholly free. But there are instances where, - after the lapse of many hours or several days, the sunken whale again - rises, more buoyant than in life. But the reason of this is obvious. Gases - are generated in him; he swells to a prodigious magnitude; becomes a sort - of animal balloon. A line-of-battle ship could hardly keep him under then. - In the Shore Whaling, on soundings, among the Bays of New Zealand, when a - Right Whale gives token of sinking, they fasten buoys to him, with plenty - of rope; so that when the body has gone down, they know where to look for - it when it shall have ascended again. -

-

- It was not long after the sinking of the body that a cry was heard from - the Pequod's mast-heads, announcing that the Jungfrau was again lowering - her boats; though the only spout in sight was that of a Fin-Back, - belonging to the species of uncapturable whales, because of its incredible - power of swimming. Nevertheless, the Fin-Back's spout is so similar to the - Sperm Whale's, that by unskilful fishermen it is often mistaken for it. - And consequently Derick and all his host were now in valiant chase of this - unnearable brute. The Virgin crowding all sail, made after her four young - keels, and thus they all disappeared far to leeward, still in bold, - hopeful chase. -

-

- Oh! many are the Fin-Backs, and many are the Dericks, my friend. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 82. The Honour and Glory of Whaling. -

-

- There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true - method. -

-

- The more I dive into this matter of whaling, and push my researches up to - the very spring-head of it so much the more am I impressed with its great - honourableness and antiquity; and especially when I find so many great - demi-gods and heroes, prophets of all sorts, who one way or other have - shed distinction upon it, I am transported with the reflection that I - myself belong, though but subordinately, to so emblazoned a fraternity. -

-

- The gallant Perseus, a son of Jupiter, was the first whaleman; and to the - eternal honour of our calling be it said, that the first whale attacked by - our brotherhood was not killed with any sordid intent. Those were the - knightly days of our profession, when we only bore arms to succor the - distressed, and not to fill men's lamp-feeders. Every one knows the fine - story of Perseus and Andromeda; how the lovely Andromeda, the daughter of - a king, was tied to a rock on the sea-coast, and as Leviathan was in the - very act of carrying her off, Perseus, the prince of whalemen, intrepidly - advancing, harpooned the monster, and delivered and married the maid. It - was an admirable artistic exploit, rarely achieved by the best harpooneers - of the present day; inasmuch as this Leviathan was slain at the very first - dart. And let no man doubt this Arkite story; for in the ancient Joppa, - now Jaffa, on the Syrian coast, in one of the Pagan temples, there stood - for many ages the vast skeleton of a whale, which the city's legends and - all the inhabitants asserted to be the identical bones of the monster that - Perseus slew. When the Romans took Joppa, the same skeleton was carried to - Italy in triumph. What seems most singular and suggestively important in - this story, is this: it was from Joppa that Jonah set sail. -

-

- Akin to the adventure of Perseus and Andromeda—indeed, by some - supposed to be indirectly derived from it—is that famous story of - St. George and the Dragon; which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; - for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled - together, and often stand for each other. "Thou art as a lion of the - waters, and as a dragon of the sea," saith Ezekiel; hereby, plainly - meaning a whale; in truth, some versions of the Bible use that word - itself. Besides, it would much subtract from the glory of the exploit had - St. George but encountered a crawling reptile of the land, instead of - doing battle with the great monster of the deep. Any man may kill a snake, - but only a Perseus, a St. George, a Coffin, have the heart in them to - march boldly up to a whale. -

-

- Let not the modern paintings of this scene mislead us; for though the - creature encountered by that valiant whaleman of old is vaguely - represented of a griffin-like shape, and though the battle is depicted on - land and the saint on horseback, yet considering the great ignorance of - those times, when the true form of the whale was unknown to artists; and - considering that as in Perseus' case, St. George's whale might have - crawled up out of the sea on the beach; and considering that the animal - ridden by St. George might have been only a large seal, or sea-horse; - bearing all this in mind, it will not appear altogether incompatible with - the sacred legend and the ancientest draughts of the scene, to hold this - so-called dragon no other than the great Leviathan himself. In fact, - placed before the strict and piercing truth, this whole story will fare - like that fish, flesh, and fowl idol of the Philistines, Dagon by name; - who being planted before the ark of Israel, his horse's head and both the - palms of his hands fell off from him, and only the stump or fishy part of - him remained. Thus, then, one of our own noble stamp, even a whaleman, is - the tutelary guardian of England; and by good rights, we harpooneers of - Nantucket should be enrolled in the most noble order of St. George. And - therefore, let not the knights of that honourable company (none of whom, I - venture to say, have ever had to do with a whale like their great patron), - let them never eye a Nantucketer with disdain, since even in our woollen - frocks and tarred trowsers we are much better entitled to St. George's - decoration than they. -

-

- Whether to admit Hercules among us or not, concerning this I long remained - dubious: for though according to the Greek mythologies, that antique - Crockett and Kit Carson—that brawny doer of rejoicing good deeds, - was swallowed down and thrown up by a whale; still, whether that strictly - makes a whaleman of him, that might be mooted. It nowhere appears that he - ever actually harpooned his fish, unless, indeed, from the inside. - Nevertheless, he may be deemed a sort of involuntary whaleman; at any rate - the whale caught him, if he did not the whale. I claim him for one of our - clan. -

-

- But, by the best contradictory authorities, this Grecian story of Hercules - and the whale is considered to be derived from the still more ancient - Hebrew story of Jonah and the whale; and vice versa; certainly they are - very similar. If I claim the demigod then, why not the prophet? -

-

- Nor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole - roll of our order. Our grand master is still to be named; for like royal - kings of old times, we find the head waters of our fraternity in nothing - short of the great gods themselves. That wondrous oriental story is now to - be rehearsed from the Shaster, which gives us the dread Vishnoo, one of - the three persons in the godhead of the Hindoos; gives us this divine - Vishnoo himself for our Lord;—Vishnoo, who, by the first of his ten - earthly incarnations, has for ever set apart and sanctified the whale. - When Brahma, or the God of Gods, saith the Shaster, resolved to recreate - the world after one of its periodical dissolutions, he gave birth to - Vishnoo, to preside over the work; but the Vedas, or mystical books, whose - perusal would seem to have been indispensable to Vishnoo before beginning - the creation, and which therefore must have contained something in the - shape of practical hints to young architects, these Vedas were lying at - the bottom of the waters; so Vishnoo became incarnate in a whale, and - sounding down in him to the uttermost depths, rescued the sacred volumes. - Was not this Vishnoo a whaleman, then? even as a man who rides a horse is - called a horseman? -

-

- Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there's a member-roll - for you! What club but the whaleman's can head off like that? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded. -

-

- Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in the - preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather distrust this historical - story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were some sceptical Greeks - and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, - equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and the - dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those - traditions one whit the less facts, for all that. -

-

- One old Sag-Harbor whaleman's chief reason for questioning the Hebrew - story was this:—He had one of those quaint old-fashioned Bibles, - embellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which represented - Jonah's whale with two spouts in his head—a peculiarity only true - with respect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale, and the - varieties of that order), concerning which the fishermen have this saying, - "A penny roll would choke him"; his swallow is so very small. But, to - this, Bishop Jebb's anticipative answer is ready. It is not necessary, - hints the Bishop, that we consider Jonah as tombed in the whale's belly, - but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And this seems - reasonable enough in the good Bishop. For truly, the Right Whale's mouth - would accommodate a couple of whist-tables, and comfortably seat all the - players. Possibly, too, Jonah might have ensconced himself in a hollow - tooth; but, on second thoughts, the Right Whale is toothless. -

-

- Another reason which Sag-Harbor (he went by that name) urged for his want - of faith in this matter of the prophet, was something obscurely in - reference to his incarcerated body and the whale's gastric juices. But - this objection likewise falls to the ground, because a German exegetist - supposes that Jonah must have taken refuge in the floating body of a DEAD - whale—even as the French soldiers in the Russian campaign turned - their dead horses into tents, and crawled into them. Besides, it has been - divined by other continental commentators, that when Jonah was thrown - overboard from the Joppa ship, he straightway effected his escape to - another vessel near by, some vessel with a whale for a figure-head; and, I - would add, possibly called "The Whale," as some craft are nowadays - christened the "Shark," the "Gull," the "Eagle." Nor have there been - wanting learned exegetists who have opined that the whale mentioned in the - book of Jonah merely meant a life-preserver—an inflated bag of wind—which - the endangered prophet swam to, and so was saved from a watery doom. Poor - Sag-Harbor, therefore, seems worsted all round. But he had still another - reason for his want of faith. It was this, if I remember right: Jonah was - swallowed by the whale in the Mediterranean Sea, and after three days he - was vomited up somewhere within three days' journey of Nineveh, a city on - the Tigris, very much more than three days' journey across from the - nearest point of the Mediterranean coast. How is that? -

-

- But was there no other way for the whale to land the prophet within that - short distance of Nineveh? Yes. He might have carried him round by the way - of the Cape of Good Hope. But not to speak of the passage through the - whole length of the Mediterranean, and another passage up the Persian Gulf - and Red Sea, such a supposition would involve the complete - circumnavigation of all Africa in three days, not to speak of the Tigris - waters, near the site of Nineveh, being too shallow for any whale to swim - in. Besides, this idea of Jonah's weathering the Cape of Good Hope at so - early a day would wrest the honour of the discovery of that great headland - from Bartholomew Diaz, its reputed discoverer, and so make modern history - a liar. -

-

- But all these foolish arguments of old Sag-Harbor only evinced his foolish - pride of reason—a thing still more reprehensible in him, seeing that - he had but little learning except what he had picked up from the sun and - the sea. I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride, and abominable, - devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy. For by a Portuguese - Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah's going to Nineveh via the Cape - of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification of the general - miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day, the highly enlightened Turks - devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah. And some three - centuries ago, an English traveller in old Harris's Voyages, speaks of a - Turkish Mosque built in honour of Jonah, in which Mosque was a miraculous - lamp that burnt without any oil. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling. -

-

- To make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages are anointed; - and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform an analogous operation - upon their boat; they grease the bottom. Nor is it to be doubted that as - such a procedure can do no harm, it may possibly be of no contemptible - advantage; considering that oil and water are hostile; that oil is a - sliding thing, and that the object in view is to make the boat slide - bravely. Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat, and one morning - not long after the German ship Jungfrau disappeared, took more than - customary pains in that occupation; crawling under its bottom, where it - hung over the side, and rubbing in the unctuousness as though diligently - seeking to insure a crop of hair from the craft's bald keel. He seemed to - be working in obedience to some particular presentiment. Nor did it remain - unwarranted by the event. -

-

- Towards noon whales were raised; but so soon as the ship sailed down to - them, they turned and fled with swift precipitancy; a disordered flight, - as of Cleopatra's barges from Actium. -

-

- Nevertheless, the boats pursued, and Stubb's was foremost. By great - exertion, Tashtego at last succeeded in planting one iron; but the - stricken whale, without at all sounding, still continued his horizontal - flight, with added fleetness. Such unintermitted strainings upon the - planted iron must sooner or later inevitably extract it. It became - imperative to lance the flying whale, or be content to lose him. But to - haul the boat up to his flank was impossible, he swam so fast and furious. - What then remained? -

-

- Of all the wondrous devices and dexterities, the sleights of hand and - countless subtleties, to which the veteran whaleman is so often forced, - none exceed that fine manoeuvre with the lance called pitchpoling. Small - sword, or broad sword, in all its exercises boasts nothing like it. It is - only indispensable with an inveterate running whale; its grand fact and - feature is the wonderful distance to which the long lance is accurately - darted from a violently rocking, jerking boat, under extreme headway. - Steel and wood included, the entire spear is some ten or twelve feet in - length; the staff is much slighter than that of the harpoon, and also of a - lighter material—pine. It is furnished with a small rope called a - warp, of considerable length, by which it can be hauled back to the hand - after darting. -

-

- But before going further, it is important to mention here, that though the - harpoon may be pitchpoled in the same way with the lance, yet it is seldom - done; and when done, is still less frequently successful, on account of - the greater weight and inferior length of the harpoon as compared with the - lance, which in effect become serious drawbacks. As a general thing, - therefore, you must first get fast to a whale, before any pitchpoling - comes into play. -

-

- Look now at Stubb; a man who from his humorous, deliberate coolness and - equanimity in the direst emergencies, was specially qualified to excel in - pitchpoling. Look at him; he stands upright in the tossed bow of the - flying boat; wrapt in fleecy foam, the towing whale is forty feet ahead. - Handling the long lance lightly, glancing twice or thrice along its length - to see if it be exactly straight, Stubb whistlingly gathers up the coil of - the warp in one hand, so as to secure its free end in his grasp, leaving - the rest unobstructed. Then holding the lance full before his waistband's - middle, he levels it at the whale; when, covering him with it, he steadily - depresses the butt-end in his hand, thereby elevating the point till the - weapon stands fairly balanced upon his palm, fifteen feet in the air. He - minds you somewhat of a juggler, balancing a long staff on his chin. Next - moment with a rapid, nameless impulse, in a superb lofty arch the bright - steel spans the foaming distance, and quivers in the life spot of the - whale. Instead of sparkling water, he now spouts red blood. -

-

- "That drove the spigot out of him!" cried Stubb. "'Tis July's immortal - Fourth; all fountains must run wine today! Would now, it were old Orleans - whiskey, or old Ohio, or unspeakable old Monongahela! Then, Tashtego, lad, - I'd have ye hold a canakin to the jet, and we'd drink round it! Yea, - verily, hearts alive, we'd brew choice punch in the spread of his - spout-hole there, and from that live punch-bowl quaff the living stuff." -

-

- Again and again to such gamesome talk, the dexterous dart is repeated, the - spear returning to its master like a greyhound held in skilful leash. The - agonized whale goes into his flurry; the tow-line is slackened, and the - pitchpoler dropping astern, folds his hands, and mutely watches the - monster die. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 85. The Fountain. -

-

- That for six thousand years—and no one knows how many millions of - ages before—the great whales should have been spouting all over the - sea, and sprinkling and mistifying the gardens of the deep, as with so - many sprinkling or mistifying pots; and that for some centuries back, - thousands of hunters should have been close by the fountain of the whale, - watching these sprinklings and spoutings—that all this should be, - and yet, that down to this blessed minute (fifteen and a quarter minutes - past one o'clock P.M. of this sixteenth day of December, A.D. 1851), it - should still remain a problem, whether these spoutings are, after all, - really water, or nothing but vapour—this is surely a noteworthy - thing. -

-

- Let us, then, look at this matter, along with some interesting items - contingent. Every one knows that by the peculiar cunning of their gills, - the finny tribes in general breathe the air which at all times is combined - with the element in which they swim; hence, a herring or a cod might live - a century, and never once raise its head above the surface. But owing to - his marked internal structure which gives him regular lungs, like a human - being's, the whale can only live by inhaling the disengaged air in the - open atmosphere. Wherefore the necessity for his periodical visits to the - upper world. But he cannot in any degree breathe through his mouth, for, - in his ordinary attitude, the Sperm Whale's mouth is buried at least eight - feet beneath the surface; and what is still more, his windpipe has no - connexion with his mouth. No, he breathes through his spiracle alone; and - this is on the top of his head. -

-

- If I say, that in any creature breathing is only a function indispensable - to vitality, inasmuch as it withdraws from the air a certain element, - which being subsequently brought into contact with the blood imparts to - the blood its vivifying principle, I do not think I shall err; though I - may possibly use some superfluous scientific words. Assume it, and it - follows that if all the blood in a man could be aerated with one breath, - he might then seal up his nostrils and not fetch another for a - considerable time. That is to say, he would then live without breathing. - Anomalous as it may seem, this is precisely the case with the whale, who - systematically lives, by intervals, his full hour and more (when at the - bottom) without drawing a single breath, or so much as in any way inhaling - a particle of air; for, remember, he has no gills. How is this? Between - his ribs and on each side of his spine he is supplied with a remarkable - involved Cretan labyrinth of vermicelli-like vessels, which vessels, when - he quits the surface, are completely distended with oxygenated blood. So - that for an hour or more, a thousand fathoms in the sea, he carries a - surplus stock of vitality in him, just as the camel crossing the waterless - desert carries a surplus supply of drink for future use in its four - supplementary stomachs. The anatomical fact of this labyrinth is - indisputable; and that the supposition founded upon it is reasonable and - true, seems the more cogent to me, when I consider the otherwise - inexplicable obstinacy of that leviathan in HAVING HIS SPOUTINGS OUT, as - the fishermen phrase it. This is what I mean. If unmolested, upon rising - to the surface, the Sperm Whale will continue there for a period of time - exactly uniform with all his other unmolested risings. Say he stays eleven - minutes, and jets seventy times, that is, respires seventy breaths; then - whenever he rises again, he will be sure to have his seventy breaths over - again, to a minute. Now, if after he fetches a few breaths you alarm him, - so that he sounds, he will be always dodging up again to make good his - regular allowance of air. And not till those seventy breaths are told, - will he finally go down to stay out his full term below. Remark, however, - that in different individuals these rates are different; but in any one - they are alike. Now, why should the whale thus insist upon having his - spoutings out, unless it be to replenish his reservoir of air, ere - descending for good? How obvious is it, too, that this necessity for the - whale's rising exposes him to all the fatal hazards of the chase. For not - by hook or by net could this vast leviathan be caught, when sailing a - thousand fathoms beneath the sunlight. Not so much thy skill, then, O - hunter, as the great necessities that strike the victory to thee! -

-

- In man, breathing is incessantly going on—one breath only serving - for two or three pulsations; so that whatever other business he has to - attend to, waking or sleeping, breathe he must, or die he will. But the - Sperm Whale only breathes about one seventh or Sunday of his time. -

-

- It has been said that the whale only breathes through his spout-hole; if - it could truthfully be added that his spouts are mixed with water, then I - opine we should be furnished with the reason why his sense of smell seems - obliterated in him; for the only thing about him that at all answers to - his nose is that identical spout-hole; and being so clogged with two - elements, it could not be expected to have the power of smelling. But - owing to the mystery of the spout—whether it be water or whether it - be vapour—no absolute certainty can as yet be arrived at on this - head. Sure it is, nevertheless, that the Sperm Whale has no proper - olfactories. But what does he want of them? No roses, no violets, no - Cologne-water in the sea. -

-

- Furthermore, as his windpipe solely opens into the tube of his spouting - canal, and as that long canal—like the grand Erie Canal—is - furnished with a sort of locks (that open and shut) for the downward - retention of air or the upward exclusion of water, therefore the whale has - no voice; unless you insult him by saying, that when he so strangely - rumbles, he talks through his nose. But then again, what has the whale to - say? Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to - this world, unless forced to stammer out something by way of getting a - living. Oh! happy that the world is such an excellent listener! -

-

- Now, the spouting canal of the Sperm Whale, chiefly intended as it is for - the conveyance of air, and for several feet laid along, horizontally, just - beneath the upper surface of his head, and a little to one side; this - curious canal is very much like a gas-pipe laid down in a city on one side - of a street. But the question returns whether this gas-pipe is also a - water-pipe; in other words, whether the spout of the Sperm Whale is the - mere vapour of the exhaled breath, or whether that exhaled breath is mixed - with water taken in at the mouth, and discharged through the spiracle. It - is certain that the mouth indirectly communicates with the spouting canal; - but it cannot be proved that this is for the purpose of discharging water - through the spiracle. Because the greatest necessity for so doing would - seem to be, when in feeding he accidentally takes in water. But the Sperm - Whale's food is far beneath the surface, and there he cannot spout even if - he would. Besides, if you regard him very closely, and time him with your - watch, you will find that when unmolested, there is an undeviating rhyme - between the periods of his jets and the ordinary periods of respiration. -

-

- But why pester one with all this reasoning on the subject? Speak out! You - have seen him spout; then declare what the spout is; can you not tell - water from air? My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle - these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of - all. And as for this whale spout, you might almost stand in it, and yet be - undecided as to what it is precisely. -

-

- The central body of it is hidden in the snowy sparkling mist enveloping - it; and how can you certainly tell whether any water falls from it, when, - always, when you are close enough to a whale to get a close view of his - spout, he is in a prodigious commotion, the water cascading all around - him. And if at such times you should think that you really perceived drops - of moisture in the spout, how do you know that they are not merely - condensed from its vapour; or how do you know that they are not those - identical drops superficially lodged in the spout-hole fissure, which is - countersunk into the summit of the whale's head? For even when tranquilly - swimming through the mid-day sea in a calm, with his elevated hump - sun-dried as a dromedary's in the desert; even then, the whale always - carries a small basin of water on his head, as under a blazing sun you - will sometimes see a cavity in a rock filled up with rain. -

-

- Nor is it at all prudent for the hunter to be over curious touching the - precise nature of the whale spout. It will not do for him to be peering - into it, and putting his face in it. You cannot go with your pitcher to - this fountain and fill it, and bring it away. For even when coming into - slight contact with the outer, vapoury shreds of the jet, which will often - happen, your skin will feverishly smart, from the acridness of the thing - so touching it. And I know one, who coming into still closer contact with - the spout, whether with some scientific object in view, or otherwise, I - cannot say, the skin peeled off from his cheek and arm. Wherefore, among - whalemen, the spout is deemed poisonous; they try to evade it. Another - thing; I have heard it said, and I do not much doubt it, that if the jet - is fairly spouted into your eyes, it will blind you. The wisest thing the - investigator can do then, it seems to me, is to let this deadly spout - alone. -

-

- Still, we can hypothesize, even if we cannot prove and establish. My - hypothesis is this: that the spout is nothing but mist. And besides other - reasons, to this conclusion I am impelled, by considerations touching the - great inherent dignity and sublimity of the Sperm Whale; I account him no - common, shallow being, inasmuch as it is an undisputed fact that he is - never found on soundings, or near shores; all other whales sometimes are. - He is both ponderous and profound. And I am convinced that from the heads - of all ponderous profound beings, such as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, - Jupiter, Dante, and so on, there always goes up a certain semi-visible - steam, while in the act of thinking deep thoughts. While composing a - little treatise on Eternity, I had the curiosity to place a mirror before - me; and ere long saw reflected there, a curious involved worming and - undulation in the atmosphere over my head. The invariable moisture of my - hair, while plunged in deep thought, after six cups of hot tea in my thin - shingled attic, of an August noon; this seems an additional argument for - the above supposition. -

-

- And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to - behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; his vast, mild - head overhung by a canopy of vapour, engendered by his incommunicable - contemplations, and that vapour—as you will sometimes see it—glorified - by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts. For, - d'ye see, rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapour. - And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine - intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And - for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or - denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things - earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes - neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with - equal eye. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 86. The Tail. -

-

- Other poets have warbled the praises of the soft eye of the antelope, and - the lovely plumage of the bird that never alights; less celestial, I - celebrate a tail. -

-

- Reckoning the largest sized Sperm Whale's tail to begin at that point of - the trunk where it tapers to about the girth of a man, it comprises upon - its upper surface alone, an area of at least fifty square feet. The - compact round body of its root expands into two broad, firm, flat palms or - flukes, gradually shoaling away to less than an inch in thickness. At the - crotch or junction, these flukes slightly overlap, then sideways recede - from each other like wings, leaving a wide vacancy between. In no living - thing are the lines of beauty more exquisitely defined than in the - crescentic borders of these flukes. At its utmost expansion in the full - grown whale, the tail will considerably exceed twenty feet across. -

-

- The entire member seems a dense webbed bed of welded sinews; but cut into - it, and you find that three distinct strata compose it:—upper, - middle, and lower. The fibres in the upper and lower layers, are long and - horizontal; those of the middle one, very short, and running crosswise - between the outside layers. This triune structure, as much as anything - else, imparts power to the tail. To the student of old Roman walls, the - middle layer will furnish a curious parallel to the thin course of tiles - always alternating with the stone in those wonderful relics of the - antique, and which undoubtedly contribute so much to the great strength of - the masonry. -

-

- But as if this vast local power in the tendinous tail were not enough, the - whole bulk of the leviathan is knit over with a warp and woof of muscular - fibres and filaments, which passing on either side the loins and running - down into the flukes, insensibly blend with them, and largely contribute - to their might; so that in the tail the confluent measureless force of the - whole whale seems concentrated to a point. Could annihilation occur to - matter, this were the thing to do it. -

-

- Nor does this—its amazing strength, at all tend to cripple the - graceful flexion of its motions; where infantileness of ease undulates - through a Titanism of power. On the contrary, those motions derive their - most appalling beauty from it. Real strength never impairs beauty or - harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, - strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied tendons that - all over seem bursting from the marble in the carved Hercules, and its - charm would be gone. As devout Eckerman lifted the linen sheet from the - naked corpse of Goethe, he was overwhelmed with the massive chest of the - man, that seemed as a Roman triumphal arch. When Angelo paints even God - the Father in human form, mark what robustness is there. And whatever they - may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, curled, - hermaphroditical Italian pictures, in which his idea has been most - successfully embodied; these pictures, so destitute as they are of all - brawniness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere negative, feminine one - of submission and endurance, which on all hands it is conceded, form the - peculiar practical virtues of his teachings. -

-

- Such is the subtle elasticity of the organ I treat of, that whether - wielded in sport, or in earnest, or in anger, whatever be the mood it be - in, its flexions are invariably marked by exceeding grace. Therein no - fairy's arm can transcend it. -

-

- Five great motions are peculiar to it. First, when used as a fin for - progression; Second, when used as a mace in battle; Third, in sweeping; - Fourth, in lobtailing; Fifth, in peaking flukes. -

-

- First: Being horizontal in its position, the Leviathan's tail acts in a - different manner from the tails of all other sea creatures. It never - wriggles. In man or fish, wriggling is a sign of inferiority. To the - whale, his tail is the sole means of propulsion. Scroll-wise coiled - forwards beneath the body, and then rapidly sprung backwards, it is this - which gives that singular darting, leaping motion to the monster when - furiously swimming. His side-fins only serve to steer by. -

-

- Second: It is a little significant, that while one sperm whale only fights - another sperm whale with his head and jaw, nevertheless, in his conflicts - with man, he chiefly and contemptuously uses his tail. In striking at a - boat, he swiftly curves away his flukes from it, and the blow is only - inflicted by the recoil. If it be made in the unobstructed air, especially - if it descend to its mark, the stroke is then simply irresistible. No ribs - of man or boat can withstand it. Your only salvation lies in eluding it; - but if it comes sideways through the opposing water, then partly owing to - the light buoyancy of the whale boat, and the elasticity of its materials, - a cracked rib or a dashed plank or two, a sort of stitch in the side, is - generally the most serious result. These submerged side blows are so often - received in the fishery, that they are accounted mere child's play. Some - one strips off a frock, and the hole is stopped. -

-

- Third: I cannot demonstrate it, but it seems to me, that in the whale the - sense of touch is concentrated in the tail; for in this respect there is a - delicacy in it only equalled by the daintiness of the elephant's trunk. - This delicacy is chiefly evinced in the action of sweeping, when in - maidenly gentleness the whale with a certain soft slowness moves his - immense flukes from side to side upon the surface of the sea; and if he - feel but a sailor's whisker, woe to that sailor, whiskers and all. What - tenderness there is in that preliminary touch! Had this tail any - prehensile power, I should straightway bethink me of Darmonodes' elephant - that so frequented the flower-market, and with low salutations presented - nosegays to damsels, and then caressed their zones. On more accounts than - one, a pity it is that the whale does not possess this prehensile virtue - in his tail; for I have heard of yet another elephant, that when wounded - in the fight, curved round his trunk and extracted the dart. -

-

- Fourth: Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the - middle of solitary seas, you find him unbent from the vast corpulence of - his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a - hearth. But still you see his power in his play. The broad palms of his - tail are flirted high into the air; then smiting the surface, the - thunderous concussion resounds for miles. You would almost think a great - gun had been discharged; and if you noticed the light wreath of vapour - from the spiracle at his other extremity, you would think that that was - the smoke from the touch-hole. -

-

- Fifth: As in the ordinary floating posture of the leviathan the flukes lie - considerably below the level of his back, they are then completely out of - sight beneath the surface; but when he is about to plunge into the deeps, - his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are tossed erect - in the air, and so remain vibrating a moment, till they downwards shoot - out of view. Excepting the sublime BREACH—somewhere else to be - described—this peaking of the whale's flukes is perhaps the grandest - sight to be seen in all animated nature. Out of the bottomless - profundities the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the - highest heaven. So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting forth - his tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. But in gazing - at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; if in the Dantean, - the devils will occur to you; if in that of Isaiah, the archangels. - Standing at the mast-head of my ship during a sunrise that crimsoned sky - and sea, I once saw a large herd of whales in the east, all heading - towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with peaked flukes. - As it seemed to me at the time, such a grand embodiment of adoration of - the gods was never beheld, even in Persia, the home of the fire - worshippers. As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the African elephant, I - then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most devout of all - beings. For according to King Juba, the military elephants of antiquity - often hailed the morning with their trunks uplifted in the profoundest - silence. -

-

- The chance comparison in this chapter, between the whale and the elephant, - so far as some aspects of the tail of the one and the trunk of the other - are concerned, should not tend to place those two opposite organs on an - equality, much less the creatures to which they respectively belong. For - as the mightiest elephant is but a terrier to Leviathan, so, compared with - Leviathan's tail, his trunk is but the stalk of a lily. The most direful - blow from the elephant's trunk were as the playful tap of a fan, compared - with the measureless crush and crash of the sperm whale's ponderous - flukes, which in repeated instances have one after the other hurled entire - boats with all their oars and crews into the air, very much as an Indian - juggler tosses his balls.* -

-

- *Though all comparison in the way of general bulk between the whale and - the elephant is preposterous, inasmuch as in that particular the elephant - stands in much the same respect to the whale that a dog does to the - elephant; nevertheless, there are not wanting some points of curious - similitude; among these is the spout. It is well known that the elephant - will often draw up water or dust in his trunk, and then elevating it, jet - it forth in a stream. -

-

- The more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my inability - to express it. At times there are gestures in it, which, though they would - well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable. In an extensive - herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are these mystic gestures, that I have - heard hunters who have declared them akin to Free-Mason signs and symbols; - that the whale, indeed, by these methods intelligently conversed with the - world. Nor are there wanting other motions of the whale in his general - body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced - assailant. Dissect him how I may, then, I but go skin deep; I know him - not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale, how - understand his head? much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has - none? Thou shalt see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face - shall not be seen. But I cannot completely make out his back parts; and - hint what he will about his face, I say again he has no face. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada. -

-

- The long and narrow peninsula of Malacca, extending south-eastward from - the territories of Birmah, forms the most southerly point of all Asia. In - a continuous line from that peninsula stretch the long islands of Sumatra, - Java, Bally, and Timor; which, with many others, form a vast mole, or - rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and dividing the long - unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded oriental archipelagoes. - This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports for the convenience of - ships and whales; conspicuous among which are the straits of Sunda and - Malacca. By the straits of Sunda, chiefly, vessels bound to China from the - west, emerge into the China seas. -

-

- Those narrow straits of Sunda divide Sumatra from Java; and standing - midway in that vast rampart of islands, buttressed by that bold green - promontory, known to seamen as Java Head; they not a little correspond to - the central gateway opening into some vast walled empire: and considering - the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels, and gold, and - ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental sea are enriched, - it seems a significant provision of nature, that such treasures, by the - very formation of the land, should at least bear the appearance, however - ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping western world. The - shores of the Straits of Sunda are unsupplied with those domineering - fortresses which guard the entrances to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and - the Propontis. Unlike the Danes, these Orientals do not demand the - obsequious homage of lowered top-sails from the endless procession of - ships before the wind, which for centuries past, by night and by day, have - passed between the islands of Sumatra and Java, freighted with the - costliest cargoes of the east. But while they freely waive a ceremonial - like this, they do by no means renounce their claim to more solid tribute. -

-

- Time out of mind the piratical proas of the Malays, lurking among the low - shaded coves and islets of Sumatra, have sallied out upon the vessels - sailing through the straits, fiercely demanding tribute at the point of - their spears. Though by the repeated bloody chastisements they have - received at the hands of European cruisers, the audacity of these corsairs - has of late been somewhat repressed; yet, even at the present day, we - occasionally hear of English and American vessels, which, in those waters, - have been remorselessly boarded and pillaged. -

-

- With a fair, fresh wind, the Pequod was now drawing nigh to these straits; - Ahab purposing to pass through them into the Javan sea, and thence, - cruising northwards, over waters known to be frequented here and there by - the Sperm Whale, sweep inshore by the Philippine Islands, and gain the far - coast of Japan, in time for the great whaling season there. By these - means, the circumnavigating Pequod would sweep almost all the known Sperm - Whale cruising grounds of the world, previous to descending upon the Line - in the Pacific; where Ahab, though everywhere else foiled in his pursuit, - firmly counted upon giving battle to Moby Dick, in the sea he was most - known to frequent; and at a season when he might most reasonably be - presumed to be haunting it. -

-

- But how now? in this zoned quest, does Ahab touch no land? does his crew - drink air? Surely, he will stop for water. Nay. For a long time, now, the - circus-running sun has raced within his fiery ring, and needs no - sustenance but what's in himself. So Ahab. Mark this, too, in the whaler. - While other hulls are loaded down with alien stuff, to be transferred to - foreign wharves; the world-wandering whale-ship carries no cargo but - herself and crew, their weapons and their wants. She has a whole lake's - contents bottled in her ample hold. She is ballasted with utilities; not - altogether with unusable pig-lead and kentledge. She carries years' water - in her. Clear old prime Nantucket water; which, when three years afloat, - the Nantucketer, in the Pacific, prefers to drink before the brackish - fluid, but yesterday rafted off in casks, from the Peruvian or Indian - streams. Hence it is, that, while other ships may have gone to China from - New York, and back again, touching at a score of ports, the whale-ship, in - all that interval, may not have sighted one grain of soil; her crew having - seen no man but floating seamen like themselves. So that did you carry - them the news that another flood had come; they would only answer—"Well, - boys, here's the ark!" -

-

- Now, as many Sperm Whales had been captured off the western coast of Java, - in the near vicinity of the Straits of Sunda; indeed, as most of the - ground, roundabout, was generally recognised by the fishermen as an - excellent spot for cruising; therefore, as the Pequod gained more and more - upon Java Head, the look-outs were repeatedly hailed, and admonished to - keep wide awake. But though the green palmy cliffs of the land soon loomed - on the starboard bow, and with delighted nostrils the fresh cinnamon was - snuffed in the air, yet not a single jet was descried. Almost renouncing - all thought of falling in with any game hereabouts, the ship had well nigh - entered the straits, when the customary cheering cry was heard from aloft, - and ere long a spectacle of singular magnificence saluted us. -

-

- But here be it premised, that owing to the unwearied activity with which - of late they have been hunted over all four oceans, the Sperm Whales, - instead of almost invariably sailing in small detached companies, as in - former times, are now frequently met with in extensive herds, sometimes - embracing so great a multitude, that it would almost seem as if numerous - nations of them had sworn solemn league and covenant for mutual assistance - and protection. To this aggregation of the Sperm Whale into such immense - caravans, may be imputed the circumstance that even in the best cruising - grounds, you may now sometimes sail for weeks and months together, without - being greeted by a single spout; and then be suddenly saluted by what - sometimes seems thousands on thousands. -

-

- Broad on both bows, at the distance of some two or three miles, and - forming a great semicircle, embracing one half of the level horizon, a - continuous chain of whale-jets were up-playing and sparkling in the - noon-day air. Unlike the straight perpendicular twin-jets of the Right - Whale, which, dividing at top, fall over in two branches, like the cleft - drooping boughs of a willow, the single forward-slanting spout of the - Sperm Whale presents a thick curled bush of white mist, continually rising - and falling away to leeward. -

-

- Seen from the Pequod's deck, then, as she would rise on a high hill of the - sea, this host of vapoury spouts, individually curling up into the air, - and beheld through a blending atmosphere of bluish haze, showed like the - thousand cheerful chimneys of some dense metropolis, descried of a balmy - autumnal morning, by some horseman on a height. -

-

- As marching armies approaching an unfriendly defile in the mountains, - accelerate their march, all eagerness to place that perilous passage in - their rear, and once more expand in comparative security upon the plain; - even so did this vast fleet of whales now seem hurrying forward through - the straits; gradually contracting the wings of their semicircle, and - swimming on, in one solid, but still crescentic centre. -

-

- Crowding all sail the Pequod pressed after them; the harpooneers handling - their weapons, and loudly cheering from the heads of their yet suspended - boats. If the wind only held, little doubt had they, that chased through - these Straits of Sunda, the vast host would only deploy into the Oriental - seas to witness the capture of not a few of their number. And who could - tell whether, in that congregated caravan, Moby Dick himself might not - temporarily be swimming, like the worshipped white-elephant in the - coronation procession of the Siamese! So with stun-sail piled on - stun-sail, we sailed along, driving these leviathans before us; when, of a - sudden, the voice of Tashtego was heard, loudly directing attention to - something in our wake. -

-

- Corresponding to the crescent in our van, we beheld another in our rear. - It seemed formed of detached white vapours, rising and falling something - like the spouts of the whales; only they did not so completely come and - go; for they constantly hovered, without finally disappearing. Levelling - his glass at this sight, Ahab quickly revolved in his pivot-hole, crying, - "Aloft there, and rig whips and buckets to wet the sails;—Malays, - sir, and after us!" -

-

- As if too long lurking behind the headlands, till the Pequod should fairly - have entered the straits, these rascally Asiatics were now in hot pursuit, - to make up for their over-cautious delay. But when the swift Pequod, with - a fresh leading wind, was herself in hot chase; how very kind of these - tawny philanthropists to assist in speeding her on to her own chosen - pursuit,—mere riding-whips and rowels to her, that they were. As - with glass under arm, Ahab to-and-fro paced the deck; in his forward turn - beholding the monsters he chased, and in the after one the bloodthirsty - pirates chasing him; some such fancy as the above seemed his. And when he - glanced upon the green walls of the watery defile in which the ship was - then sailing, and bethought him that through that gate lay the route to - his vengeance, and beheld, how that through that same gate he was now both - chasing and being chased to his deadly end; and not only that, but a herd - of remorseless wild pirates and inhuman atheistical devils were infernally - cheering him on with their curses;—when all these conceits had - passed through his brain, Ahab's brow was left gaunt and ribbed, like the - black sand beach after some stormy tide has been gnawing it, without being - able to drag the firm thing from its place. -

-

- But thoughts like these troubled very few of the reckless crew; and when, - after steadily dropping and dropping the pirates astern, the Pequod at - last shot by the vivid green Cockatoo Point on the Sumatra side, emerging - at last upon the broad waters beyond; then, the harpooneers seemed more to - grieve that the swift whales had been gaining upon the ship, than to - rejoice that the ship had so victoriously gained upon the Malays. But - still driving on in the wake of the whales, at length they seemed abating - their speed; gradually the ship neared them; and the wind now dying away, - word was passed to spring to the boats. But no sooner did the herd, by - some presumed wonderful instinct of the Sperm Whale, become notified of - the three keels that were after them,—though as yet a mile in their - rear,—than they rallied again, and forming in close ranks and - battalions, so that their spouts all looked like flashing lines of stacked - bayonets, moved on with redoubled velocity. -

-

- Stripped to our shirts and drawers, we sprang to the white-ash, and after - several hours' pulling were almost disposed to renounce the chase, when a - general pausing commotion among the whales gave animating token that they - were now at last under the influence of that strange perplexity of inert - irresolution, which, when the fishermen perceive it in the whale, they say - he is gallied. The compact martial columns in which they had been hitherto - rapidly and steadily swimming, were now broken up in one measureless rout; - and like King Porus' elephants in the Indian battle with Alexander, they - seemed going mad with consternation. In all directions expanding in vast - irregular circles, and aimlessly swimming hither and thither, by their - short thick spoutings, they plainly betrayed their distraction of panic. - This was still more strangely evinced by those of their number, who, - completely paralysed as it were, helplessly floated like water-logged - dismantled ships on the sea. Had these Leviathans been but a flock of - simple sheep, pursued over the pasture by three fierce wolves, they could - not possibly have evinced such excessive dismay. But this occasional - timidity is characteristic of almost all herding creatures. Though banding - together in tens of thousands, the lion-maned buffaloes of the West have - fled before a solitary horseman. Witness, too, all human beings, how when - herded together in the sheepfold of a theatre's pit, they will, at the - slightest alarm of fire, rush helter-skelter for the outlets, crowding, - trampling, jamming, and remorselessly dashing each other to death. Best, - therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before - us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not - infinitely outdone by the madness of men. -

-

- Though many of the whales, as has been said, were in violent motion, yet - it is to be observed that as a whole the herd neither advanced nor - retreated, but collectively remained in one place. As is customary in - those cases, the boats at once separated, each making for some one lone - whale on the outskirts of the shoal. In about three minutes' time, - Queequeg's harpoon was flung; the stricken fish darted blinding spray in - our faces, and then running away with us like light, steered straight for - the heart of the herd. Though such a movement on the part of the whale - struck under such circumstances, is in no wise unprecedented; and indeed - is almost always more or less anticipated; yet does it present one of the - more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. For as the swift monster drags - you deeper and deeper into the frantic shoal, you bid adieu to circumspect - life and only exist in a delirious throb. -

-

- As, blind and deaf, the whale plunged forward, as if by sheer power of - speed to rid himself of the iron leech that had fastened to him; as we - thus tore a white gash in the sea, on all sides menaced as we flew, by the - crazed creatures to and fro rushing about us; our beset boat was like a - ship mobbed by ice-isles in a tempest, and striving to steer through their - complicated channels and straits, knowing not at what moment it may be - locked in and crushed. -

-

- But not a bit daunted, Queequeg steered us manfully; now sheering off from - this monster directly across our route in advance; now edging away from - that, whose colossal flukes were suspended overhead, while all the time, - Starbuck stood up in the bows, lance in hand, pricking out of our way - whatever whales he could reach by short darts, for there was no time to - make long ones. Nor were the oarsmen quite idle, though their wonted duty - was now altogether dispensed with. They chiefly attended to the shouting - part of the business. "Out of the way, Commodore!" cried one, to a great - dromedary that of a sudden rose bodily to the surface, and for an instant - threatened to swamp us. "Hard down with your tail, there!" cried a second - to another, which, close to our gunwale, seemed calmly cooling himself - with his own fan-like extremity. -

-

- All whaleboats carry certain curious contrivances, originally invented by - the Nantucket Indians, called druggs. Two thick squares of wood of equal - size are stoutly clenched together, so that they cross each other's grain - at right angles; a line of considerable length is then attached to the - middle of this block, and the other end of the line being looped, it can - in a moment be fastened to a harpoon. It is chiefly among gallied whales - that this drugg is used. For then, more whales are close round you than - you can possibly chase at one time. But sperm whales are not every day - encountered; while you may, then, you must kill all you can. And if you - cannot kill them all at once, you must wing them, so that they can be - afterwards killed at your leisure. Hence it is, that at times like these - the drugg, comes into requisition. Our boat was furnished with three of - them. The first and second were successfully darted, and we saw the whales - staggeringly running off, fettered by the enormous sidelong resistance of - the towing drugg. They were cramped like malefactors with the chain and - ball. But upon flinging the third, in the act of tossing overboard the - clumsy wooden block, it caught under one of the seats of the boat, and in - an instant tore it out and carried it away, dropping the oarsman in the - boat's bottom as the seat slid from under him. On both sides the sea came - in at the wounded planks, but we stuffed two or three drawers and shirts - in, and so stopped the leaks for the time. -

-

- It had been next to impossible to dart these drugged-harpoons, were it not - that as we advanced into the herd, our whale's way greatly diminished; - moreover, that as we went still further and further from the circumference - of commotion, the direful disorders seemed waning. So that when at last - the jerking harpoon drew out, and the towing whale sideways vanished; - then, with the tapering force of his parting momentum, we glided between - two whales into the innermost heart of the shoal, as if from some mountain - torrent we had slid into a serene valley lake. Here the storms in the - roaring glens between the outermost whales, were heard but not felt. In - this central expanse the sea presented that smooth satin-like surface, - called a sleek, produced by the subtle moisture thrown off by the whale in - his more quiet moods. Yes, we were now in that enchanted calm which they - say lurks at the heart of every commotion. 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. -

-

- 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. I mention this - circumstance, because, as if the cows and calves had been purposely locked - up in this innermost fold; and as if the wide extent of the herd had - hitherto prevented them from learning the precise cause of its stopping; - or, possibly, being so young, unsophisticated, and every way innocent and - inexperienced; however it may have been, these smaller whales—now - and then visiting our becalmed boat from the margin of the lake—evinced - a wondrous fearlessness and confidence, or else a still becharmed panic - which it was impossible not to marvel at. Like household dogs they came - snuffling round us, right up to our gunwales, and touching them; till it - almost seemed that some spell had suddenly domesticated them. Queequeg - patted their foreheads; Starbuck scratched their backs with his lance; but - fearful of the consequences, for the time refrained from darting it. -

-

- But far beneath this wondrous world upon the surface, another and still - stranger world met our eyes as we gazed over the side. For, suspended in - those watery vaults, floated the forms of the nursing mothers of the - whales, and those that by their enormous girth seemed shortly to become - mothers. The lake, as I have hinted, was to a considerable depth - exceedingly transparent; and as human infants while suckling will calmly - and fixedly gaze away from the breast, as if leading two different lives - at the time; and while yet drawing mortal nourishment, be still - spiritually feasting upon some unearthly reminiscence;—even so did - the young of these whales seem looking up towards us, but not at us, as if - we were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight. Floating on their - sides, the mothers also seemed quietly eyeing us. One of these little - infants, that from certain queer tokens seemed hardly a day old, might - have measured some fourteen feet in length, and some six feet in girth. He - was a little frisky; though as yet his body seemed scarce yet recovered - from that irksome position it had so lately occupied in the maternal - reticule; where, tail to head, and all ready for the final spring, the - unborn whale lies bent like a Tartar's bow. The delicate side-fins, and - the palms of his flukes, still freshly retained the plaited crumpled - appearance of a baby's ears newly arrived from foreign parts. -

-

- "Line! line!" cried Queequeg, looking over the gunwale; "him fast! him - fast!—Who line him! Who struck?—Two whale; one big, one - little!" -

-

- "What ails ye, man?" cried Starbuck. -

-

- "Look-e here," said Queequeg, pointing down. -

-

- As when the stricken whale, that from the tub has reeled out hundreds of - fathoms of rope; as, after deep sounding, he floats up again, and shows - the slackened curling line buoyantly rising and spiralling towards the - air; so now, Starbuck saw long coils of the umbilical cord of Madame - Leviathan, by which the young cub seemed still tethered to its dam. Not - seldom in the rapid vicissitudes of the chase, this natural line, with the - maternal end loose, becomes entangled with the hempen one, so that the cub - is thereby trapped. Some of the subtlest secrets of the seas seemed - divulged to us in this enchanted pond. We saw young Leviathan amours in - the deep.* -

-

- *The sperm whale, as with all other species of the Leviathan, but unlike - most other fish, breeds indifferently at all seasons; after a gestation - which may probably be set down at nine months, producing but one at a - time; though in some few known instances giving birth to an Esau and - Jacob:—a contingency provided for in suckling by two teats, - curiously situated, one on each side of the anus; but the breasts - themselves extend upwards from that. When by chance these precious parts - in a nursing whale are cut by the hunter's lance, the mother's pouring - milk and blood rivallingly discolour the sea for rods. The milk is very - sweet and rich; it has been tasted by man; it might do well with - strawberries. When overflowing with mutual esteem, the whales salute MORE - HOMINUM. -

-

- And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and - affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and - fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yea, serenely revelled in - dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my - being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm; and - while ponderous planets of unwaning woe revolve round me, deep down and - deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy. -

-

- Meanwhile, as we thus lay entranced, the occasional sudden frantic - spectacles in the distance evinced the activity of the other boats, still - engaged in drugging the whales on the frontier of the host; or possibly - carrying on the war within the first circle, where abundance of room and - some convenient retreats were afforded them. But the sight of the enraged - drugged whales now and then blindly darting to and fro across the circles, - was nothing to what at last met our eyes. It is sometimes the custom when - fast to a whale more than commonly powerful and alert, to seek to - hamstring him, as it were, by sundering or maiming his gigantic - tail-tendon. It is done by darting a short-handled cutting-spade, to which - is attached a rope for hauling it back again. A whale wounded (as we - afterwards learned) in this part, but not effectually, as it seemed, had - broken away from the boat, carrying along with him half of the harpoon - line; and in the extraordinary agony of the wound, he was now dashing - among the revolving circles like the lone mounted desperado Arnold, at the - battle of Saratoga, carrying dismay wherever he went. -

-

- But agonizing as was the wound of this whale, and an appalling spectacle - enough, any way; yet the peculiar horror with which he seemed to inspire - the rest of the herd, was owing to a cause which at first the intervening - distance obscured from us. But at length we perceived that by one of the - unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale had become entangled in - the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run away with the - cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope attached to that - weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the harpoon-line round his - tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose from his flesh. So that - tormented to madness, he was now churning through the water, violently - flailing with his flexible tail, and tossing the keen spade about him, - wounding and murdering his own comrades. -

-

- This terrific object seemed to recall the whole herd from their stationary - fright. First, the whales forming the margin of our lake began to crowd a - little, and tumble against each other, as if lifted by half spent billows - from afar; then the lake itself began faintly to heave and swell; the - submarine bridal-chambers and nurseries vanished; in more and more - contracting orbits the whales in the more central circles began to swim in - thickening clusters. Yes, the long calm was departing. A low advancing hum - was soon heard; and then like to the tumultuous masses of block-ice when - the great river Hudson breaks up in Spring, the entire host of whales came - tumbling upon their inner centre, as if to pile themselves up in one - common mountain. Instantly Starbuck and Queequeg changed places; Starbuck - taking the stern. -

-

- "Oars! Oars!" he intensely whispered, seizing the helm—"gripe your - oars, and clutch your souls, now! My God, men, stand by! Shove him off, - you Queequeg—the whale there!—prick him!—hit him! Stand - up—stand up, and stay so! Spring, men—pull, men; never mind - their backs—scrape them!—scrape away!" -

-

- The boat was now all but jammed between two vast black bulks, leaving a - narrow Dardanelles between their long lengths. But by desperate endeavor - we at last shot into a temporary opening; then giving way rapidly, and at - the same time earnestly watching for another outlet. After many similar - hair-breadth escapes, we at last swiftly glided into what had just been - one of the outer circles, but now crossed by random whales, all violently - making for one centre. This lucky salvation was cheaply purchased by the - loss of Queequeg's hat, who, while standing in the bows to prick the - fugitive whales, had his hat taken clean from his head by the air-eddy - made by the sudden tossing of a pair of broad flukes close by. -

-

- Riotous and disordered as the universal commotion now was, it soon - resolved itself into what seemed a systematic movement; for having clumped - together at last in one dense body, they then renewed their onward flight - with augmented fleetness. Further pursuit was useless; but the boats still - lingered in their wake to pick up what drugged whales might be dropped - astern, and likewise to secure one which Flask had killed and waifed. The - waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of which are carried by every boat; - and which, when additional game is at hand, are inserted upright into the - floating body of a dead whale, both to mark its place on the sea, and also - as token of prior possession, should the boats of any other ship draw - near. -

-

- The result of this lowering was somewhat illustrative of that sagacious - saying in the Fishery,—the more whales the less fish. Of all the - drugged whales only one was captured. The rest contrived to escape for the - time, but only to be taken, as will hereafter be seen, by some other craft - than the Pequod. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters. -

-

- The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm - Whales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those - vast aggregations. -

-

- Now, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must have - been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are occasionally - observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each. Such bands are - known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those composed almost - entirely of females, and those mustering none but young vigorous males, or - bulls, as they are familiarly designated. -

-

- In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a - male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces - his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his - ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about - over the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and - endearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his - concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest - leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more - than one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male. They are - comparatively delicate, indeed; I dare say, not to exceed half a dozen - yards round the waist. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that upon the - whole they are hereditarily entitled to EMBONPOINT. -

-

- It is very curious to watch this harem and its lord in their indolent - ramblings. Like fashionables, they are for ever on the move in leisurely - search of variety. You meet them on the Line in time for the full flower - of the Equatorial feeding season, having just returned, perhaps, from - spending the summer in the Northern seas, and so cheating summer of all - unpleasant weariness and warmth. By the time they have lounged up and down - the promenade of the Equator awhile, they start for the Oriental waters in - anticipation of the cool season there, and so evade the other excessive - temperature of the year. -

-

- When serenely advancing on one of these journeys, if any strange - suspicious sights are seen, my lord whale keeps a wary eye on his - interesting family. Should any unwarrantably pert young Leviathan coming - that way, presume to draw confidentially close to one of the ladies, with - what prodigious fury the Bashaw assails him, and chases him away! High - times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are to be permitted to - invade the sanctity of domestic bliss; though do what the Bashaw will, he - cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of his bed; for, alas! all - fish bed in common. As ashore, the ladies often cause the most terrible - duels among their rival admirers; just so with the whales, who sometimes - come to deadly battle, and all for love. They fence with their long lower - jaws, sometimes locking them together, and so striving for the supremacy - like elks that warringly interweave their antlers. Not a few are captured - having the deep scars of these encounters,—furrowed heads, broken - teeth, scolloped fins; and in some instances, wrenched and dislocated - mouths. -

-

- But supposing the invader of domestic bliss to betake himself away at the - first rush of the harem's lord, then is it very diverting to watch that - lord. Gently he insinuates his vast bulk among them again and revels there - awhile, still in tantalizing vicinity to young Lothario, like pious - Solomon devoutly worshipping among his thousand concubines. Granting other - whales to be in sight, the fishermen will seldom give chase to one of - these Grand Turks; for these Grand Turks are too lavish of their strength, - and hence their unctuousness is small. As for the sons and the daughters - they beget, why, those sons and daughters must take care of themselves; at - least, with only the maternal help. For like certain other omnivorous - roving lovers that might be named, my Lord Whale has no taste for the - nursery, however much for the bower; and so, being a great traveller, he - leaves his anonymous babies all over the world; every baby an exotic. In - good time, nevertheless, as the ardour of youth declines; as years and - dumps increase; as reflection lends her solemn pauses; in short, as a - general lassitude overtakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue - supplants the love for maidens; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, - repentant, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and - grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the - meridians and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young - Leviathan from his amorous errors. -

-

- Now, as the harem of whales is called by the fishermen a school, so is the - lord and master of that school technically known as the schoolmaster. It - is therefore not in strict character, however admirably satirical, that - after going to school himself, he should then go abroad inculcating not - what he learned there, but the folly of it. His title, schoolmaster, would - very naturally seem derived from the name bestowed upon the harem itself, - but some have surmised that the man who first thus entitled this sort of - Ottoman whale, must have read the memoirs of Vidocq, and informed himself - what sort of a country-schoolmaster that famous Frenchman was in his - younger days, and what was the nature of those occult lessons he - inculcated into some of his pupils. -

-

- The same secludedness and isolation to which the schoolmaster whale - betakes himself in his advancing years, is true of all aged Sperm Whales. - Almost universally, a lone whale—as a solitary Leviathan is called—proves - an ancient one. Like venerable moss-bearded Daniel Boone, he will have no - one near him but Nature herself; and her he takes to wife in the - wilderness of waters, and the best of wives she is, though she keeps so - many moody secrets. -

-

- The schools composing none but young and vigorous males, previously - mentioned, offer a strong contrast to the harem schools. For while those - female whales are characteristically timid, the young males, or - forty-barrel-bulls, as they call them, are by far the most pugnacious of - all Leviathans, and proverbially the most dangerous to encounter; - excepting those wondrous grey-headed, grizzled whales, sometimes met, and - these will fight you like grim fiends exasperated by a penal gout. -

-

- The Forty-barrel-bull schools are larger than the harem schools. Like a - mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, - tumbling round the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate, that no - prudent underwriter would insure them any more than he would a riotous lad - at Yale or Harvard. They soon relinquish this turbulence though, and when - about three-fourths grown, break up, and separately go about in quest of - settlements, that is, harems. -

-

- Another point of difference between the male and female schools is still - more characteristic of the sexes. Say you strike a Forty-barrel-bull—poor - devil! all his comrades quit him. But strike a member of the harem school, - and her companions swim around her with every token of concern, sometimes - lingering so near her and so long, as themselves to fall a prey. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish. -

-

- The allusion to the waif and waif-poles in the last chapter but one, - necessitates some account of the laws and regulations of the whale - fishery, of which the waif may be deemed the grand symbol and badge. -

-

- It frequently happens that when several ships are cruising in company, a - whale may be struck by one vessel, then escape, and be finally killed and - captured by another vessel; and herein are indirectly comprised many minor - contingencies, all partaking of this one grand feature. For example,—after - a weary and perilous chase and capture of a whale, the body may get loose - from the ship by reason of a violent storm; and drifting far away to - leeward, be retaken by a second whaler, who, in a calm, snugly tows it - alongside, without risk of life or line. Thus the most vexatious and - violent disputes would often arise between the fishermen, were there not - some written or unwritten, universal, undisputed law applicable to all - cases. -

-

- Perhaps the only formal whaling code authorized by legislative enactment, - was that of Holland. It was decreed by the States-General in A.D. 1695. - But though no other nation has ever had any written whaling law, yet the - American fishermen have been their own legislators and lawyers in this - matter. They have provided a system which for terse comprehensiveness - surpasses Justinian's Pandects and the By-laws of the Chinese Society for - the Suppression of Meddling with other People's Business. Yes; these laws - might be engraven on a Queen Anne's farthing, or the barb of a harpoon, - and worn round the neck, so small are they. -

-

- I. A Fast-Fish belongs to the party fast to it. -

-

- II. A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it. -

-

- But what plays the mischief with this masterly code is the admirable - brevity of it, which necessitates a vast volume of commentaries to expound - it. -

-

- First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast, when - it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all - controllable by the occupant or occupants,—a mast, an oar, a - nine-inch cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the - same. Likewise a fish is technically fast when it bears a waif, or any - other recognised symbol of possession; so long as the party waifing it - plainly evince their ability at any time to take it alongside, as well as - their intention so to do. -

-

- These are scientific commentaries; but the commentaries of the whalemen - themselves sometimes consist in hard words and harder knocks—the - Coke-upon-Littleton of the fist. True, among the more upright and - honourable whalemen allowances are always made for peculiar cases, where - it would be an outrageous moral injustice for one party to claim - possession of a whale previously chased or killed by another party. But - others are by no means so scrupulous. -

-

- Some fifty years ago there was a curious case of whale-trover litigated in - England, wherein the plaintiffs set forth that after a hard chase of a - whale in the Northern seas; and when indeed they (the plaintiffs) had - succeeded in harpooning the fish; they were at last, through peril of - their lives, obliged to forsake not only their lines, but their boat - itself. Ultimately the defendants (the crew of another ship) came up with - the whale, struck, killed, seized, and finally appropriated it before the - very eyes of the plaintiffs. And when those defendants were remonstrated - with, their captain snapped his fingers in the plaintiffs' teeth, and - assured them that by way of doxology to the deed he had done, he would now - retain their line, harpoons, and boat, which had remained attached to the - whale at the time of the seizure. Wherefore the plaintiffs now sued for - the recovery of the value of their whale, line, harpoons, and boat. -

-

- Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defendants; Lord Ellenborough was the - judge. In the course of the defence, the witty Erskine went on to - illustrate his position, by alluding to a recent crim. con. case, wherein - a gentleman, after in vain trying to bridle his wife's viciousness, had at - last abandoned her upon the seas of life; but in the course of years, - repenting of that step, he instituted an action to recover possession of - her. Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying, - that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once - had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging - viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that - she became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman - re-harpooned her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman's - property, along with whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in - her. -

-

- Now in the present case Erskine contended that the examples of the whale - and the lady were reciprocally illustrative of each other. -

-

- These pleadings, and the counter pleadings, being duly heard, the very - learned Judge in set terms decided, to wit,—That as for the boat, he - awarded it to the plaintiffs, because they had merely abandoned it to save - their lives; but that with regard to the controverted whale, harpoons, and - line, they belonged to the defendants; the whale, because it was a - Loose-Fish at the time of the final capture; and the harpoons and line - because when the fish made off with them, it (the fish) acquired a - property in those articles; and hence anybody who afterwards took the fish - had a right to them. Now the defendants afterwards took the fish; ergo, - the aforesaid articles were theirs. -

-

- A common man looking at this decision of the very learned Judge, might - possibly object to it. But ploughed up to the primary rock of the matter, - the two great principles laid down in the twin whaling laws previously - quoted, and applied and elucidated by Lord Ellenborough in the above cited - case; these two laws touching Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, I say, will, on - reflection, be found the fundamentals of all human jurisprudence; for - notwithstanding its complicated tracery of sculpture, the Temple of the - Law, like the Temple of the Philistines, has but two props to stand on. -

-

- Is it not a saying in every one's mouth, Possession is half of the law: - that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often - possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of - Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is - the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow's last - mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain's marble mansion - with a door-plate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish? What is the - ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from poor Woebegone, the - bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone's family from starvation; what is - that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the Archbishop of - Savesoul's income of L100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of - hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven - without any of Savesoul's help) what is that globular L100,000 but a - Fast-Fish? What are the Duke of Dunder's hereditary towns and hamlets but - Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, - but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas - but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of - the law? -

-

- But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the - kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is - internationally and universally applicable. -

-

- What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the - Spanish standard by way of waifing it for his royal master and mistress? - What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to - England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish. -

-

- What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? - What all men's minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the principle of - religious belief in them but a Loose-Fish? What to the ostentatious - smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish? What is - the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a - Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails. -

-

- "De balena vero sufficit, si rex habeat caput, et regina caudam." BRACTON, - L. 3, C. 3. -

-

- Latin from the books of the Laws of England, which taken along with the - context, means, that of all whales captured by anybody on the coast of - that land, the King, as Honourary Grand Harpooneer, must have the head, - and the Queen be respectfully presented with the tail. A division which, - in the whale, is much like halving an apple; there is no intermediate - remainder. Now as this law, under a modified form, is to this day in force - in England; and as it offers in various respects a strange anomaly - touching the general law of Fast and Loose-Fish, it is here treated of in - a separate chapter, on the same courteous principle that prompts the - English railways to be at the expense of a separate car, specially - reserved for the accommodation of royalty. In the first place, in curious - proof of the fact that the above-mentioned law is still in force, I - proceed to lay before you a circumstance that happened within the last two - years. -

-

- It seems that some honest mariners of Dover, or Sandwich, or some one of - the Cinque Ports, had after a hard chase succeeded in killing and beaching - a fine whale which they had originally descried afar off from the shore. - Now the Cinque Ports are partially or somehow under the jurisdiction of a - sort of policeman or beadle, called a Lord Warden. Holding the office - directly from the crown, I believe, all the royal emoluments incident to - the Cinque Port territories become by assignment his. By some writers this - office is called a sinecure. But not so. Because the Lord Warden is busily - employed at times in fobbing his perquisites; which are his chiefly by - virtue of that same fobbing of them. -

-

- Now when these poor sun-burnt mariners, bare-footed, and with their - trowsers rolled high up on their eely legs, had wearily hauled their fat - fish high and dry, promising themselves a good L150 from the precious oil - and bone; and in fantasy sipping rare tea with their wives, and good ale - with their cronies, upon the strength of their respective shares; up steps - a very learned and most Christian and charitable gentleman, with a copy of - Blackstone under his arm; and laying it upon the whale's head, he says—"Hands - off! this fish, my masters, is a Fast-Fish. I seize it as the Lord - Warden's." Upon this the poor mariners in their respectful consternation—so - truly English—knowing not what to say, fall to vigorously scratching - their heads all round; meanwhile ruefully glancing from the whale to the - stranger. But that did in nowise mend the matter, or at all soften the - hard heart of the learned gentleman with the copy of Blackstone. At length - one of them, after long scratching about for his ideas, made bold to - speak, -

-

- "Please, sir, who is the Lord Warden?" -

-

- "The Duke." -

-

- "But the duke had nothing to do with taking this fish?" -

-

- "It is his." -

-

- "We have been at great trouble, and peril, and some expense, and is all - that to go to the Duke's benefit; we getting nothing at all for our pains - but our blisters?" -

-

- "It is his." -

-

- "Is the Duke so very poor as to be forced to this desperate mode of - getting a livelihood?" -

-

- "It is his." -

-

- "I thought to relieve my old bed-ridden mother by part of my share of this - whale." -

-

- "It is his." -

-

- "Won't the Duke be content with a quarter or a half?" -

-

- "It is his." -

-

- In a word, the whale was seized and sold, and his Grace the Duke of - Wellington received the money. Thinking that viewed in some particular - lights, the case might by a bare possibility in some small degree be - deemed, under the circumstances, a rather hard one, an honest clergyman of - the town respectfully addressed a note to his Grace, begging him to take - the case of those unfortunate mariners into full consideration. To which - my Lord Duke in substance replied (both letters were published) that he - had already done so, and received the money, and would be obliged to the - reverend gentleman if for the future he (the reverend gentleman) would - decline meddling with other people's business. Is this the still militant - old man, standing at the corners of the three kingdoms, on all hands - coercing alms of beggars? -

-

- It will readily be seen that in this case the alleged right of the Duke to - the whale was a delegated one from the Sovereign. We must needs inquire - then on what principle the Sovereign is originally invested with that - right. The law itself has already been set forth. But Plowdon gives us the - reason for it. Says Plowdon, the whale so caught belongs to the King and - Queen, "because of its superior excellence." And by the soundest - commentators this has ever been held a cogent argument in such matters. -

-

- But why should the King have the head, and the Queen the tail? A reason - for that, ye lawyers! -

-

- In his treatise on "Queen-Gold," or Queen-pinmoney, an old King's Bench - author, one William Prynne, thus discourseth: "Ye tail is ye Queen's, that - ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone." Now this was - written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right - whale was largely used in ladies' bodices. But this same bone is not in - the tail; it is in the head, which is a sad mistake for a sagacious lawyer - like Prynne. But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail? An - allegorical meaning may lurk here. -

-

- There are two royal fish so styled by the English law writers—the - whale and the sturgeon; both royal property under certain limitations, and - nominally supplying the tenth branch of the crown's ordinary revenue. I - know not that any other author has hinted of the matter; but by inference - it seems to me that the sturgeon must be divided in the same way as the - whale, the King receiving the highly dense and elastic head peculiar to - that fish, which, symbolically regarded, may possibly be humorously - grounded upon some presumed congeniality. And thus there seems a reason in - all things, even in law. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud. -

-

- "In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan, - insufferable fetor denying not inquiry." SIR T. BROWNE, V.E. -

-

- It was a week or two after the last whaling scene recounted, and when we - were slowly sailing over a sleepy, vapoury, mid-day sea, that the many - noses on the Pequod's deck proved more vigilant discoverers than the three - pairs of eyes aloft. A peculiar and not very pleasant smell was smelt in - the sea. -

-

- "I will bet something now," said Stubb, "that somewhere hereabouts are - some of those drugged whales we tickled the other day. I thought they - would keel up before long." -

-

- Presently, the vapours in advance slid aside; and there in the distance - lay a ship, whose furled sails betokened that some sort of whale must be - alongside. As we glided nearer, the stranger showed French colours from - his peak; and by the eddying cloud of vulture sea-fowl that circled, and - hovered, and swooped around him, it was plain that the whale alongside - must be what the fishermen call a blasted whale, that is, a whale that has - died unmolested on the sea, and so floated an unappropriated corpse. It - may well be conceived, what an unsavory odor such a mass must exhale; - worse than an Assyrian city in the plague, when the living are incompetent - to bury the departed. So intolerable indeed is it regarded by some, that - no cupidity could persuade them to moor alongside of it. Yet are there - those who will still do it; notwithstanding the fact that the oil obtained - from such subjects is of a very inferior quality, and by no means of the - nature of attar-of-rose. -

-

- Coming still nearer with the expiring breeze, we saw that the Frenchman - had a second whale alongside; and this second whale seemed even more of a - nosegay than the first. In truth, it turned out to be one of those - problematical whales that seem to dry up and die with a sort of prodigious - dyspepsia, or indigestion; leaving their defunct bodies almost entirely - bankrupt of anything like oil. Nevertheless, in the proper place we shall - see that no knowing fisherman will ever turn up his nose at such a whale - as this, however much he may shun blasted whales in general. -

-

- The Pequod had now swept so nigh to the stranger, that Stubb vowed he - recognised his cutting spade-pole entangled in the lines that were knotted - round the tail of one of these whales. -

-

- "There's a pretty fellow, now," he banteringly laughed, standing in the - ship's bows, "there's a jackal for ye! I well know that these Crappoes of - Frenchmen are but poor devils in the fishery; sometimes lowering their - boats for breakers, mistaking them for Sperm Whale spouts; yes, and - sometimes sailing from their port with their hold full of boxes of tallow - candles, and cases of snuffers, foreseeing that all the oil they will get - won't be enough to dip the Captain's wick into; aye, we all know these - things; but look ye, here's a Crappo that is content with our leavings, - the drugged whale there, I mean; aye, and is content too with scraping the - dry bones of that other precious fish he has there. Poor devil! I say, - pass round a hat, some one, and let's make him a present of a little oil - for dear charity's sake. For what oil he'll get from that drugged whale - there, wouldn't be fit to burn in a jail; no, not in a condemned cell. And - as for the other whale, why, I'll agree to get more oil by chopping up and - trying out these three masts of ours, than he'll get from that bundle of - bones; though, now that I think of it, it may contain something worth a - good deal more than oil; yes, ambergris. I wonder now if our old man has - thought of that. It's worth trying. Yes, I'm for it;" and so saying he - started for the quarter-deck. -

-

- By this time the faint air had become a complete calm; so that whether or - no, the Pequod was now fairly entrapped in the smell, with no hope of - escaping except by its breezing up again. Issuing from the cabin, Stubb - now called his boat's crew, and pulled off for the stranger. Drawing - across her bow, he perceived that in accordance with the fanciful French - taste, the upper part of her stem-piece was carved in the likeness of a - huge drooping stalk, was painted green, and for thorns had copper spikes - projecting from it here and there; the whole terminating in a symmetrical - folded bulb of a bright red colour. Upon her head boards, in large gilt - letters, he read "Bouton de Rose,"—Rose-button, or Rose-bud; and - this was the romantic name of this aromatic ship. -

-

- Though Stubb did not understand the BOUTON part of the inscription, yet - the word ROSE, and the bulbous figure-head put together, sufficiently - explained the whole to him. -

-

- "A wooden rose-bud, eh?" he cried with his hand to his nose, "that will do - very well; but how like all creation it smells!" -

-

- Now in order to hold direct communication with the people on deck, he had - to pull round the bows to the starboard side, and thus come close to the - blasted whale; and so talk over it. -

-

- Arrived then at this spot, with one hand still to his nose, he bawled—"Bouton-de-Rose, - ahoy! are there any of you Bouton-de-Roses that speak English?" -

-

- "Yes," rejoined a Guernsey-man from the bulwarks, who turned out to be the - chief-mate. -

-

- "Well, then, my Bouton-de-Rose-bud, have you seen the White Whale?" -

-

- "WHAT whale?" -

-

- "The WHITE Whale—a Sperm Whale—Moby Dick, have ye seen him? -

-

- "Never heard of such a whale. Cachalot Blanche! White Whale—no." -

-

- "Very good, then; good bye now, and I'll call again in a minute." -

-

- Then rapidly pulling back towards the Pequod, and seeing Ahab leaning over - the quarter-deck rail awaiting his report, he moulded his two hands into a - trumpet and shouted—"No, Sir! No!" Upon which Ahab retired, and - Stubb returned to the Frenchman. -

-

- He now perceived that the Guernsey-man, who had just got into the chains, - and was using a cutting-spade, had slung his nose in a sort of bag. -

-

- "What's the matter with your nose, there?" said Stubb. "Broke it?" -

-

- "I wish it was broken, or that I didn't have any nose at all!" answered - the Guernsey-man, who did not seem to relish the job he was at very much. - "But what are you holding YOURS for?" -

-

- "Oh, nothing! It's a wax nose; I have to hold it on. Fine day, ain't it? - Air rather gardenny, I should say; throw us a bunch of posies, will ye, - Bouton-de-Rose?" -

-

- "What in the devil's name do you want here?" roared the Guernseyman, - flying into a sudden passion. -

-

- "Oh! keep cool—cool? yes, that's the word! why don't you pack those - whales in ice while you're working at 'em? But joking aside, though; do - you know, Rose-bud, that it's all nonsense trying to get any oil out of - such whales? As for that dried up one, there, he hasn't a gill in his - whole carcase." -

-

- "I know that well enough; but, d'ye see, the Captain here won't believe - it; this is his first voyage; he was a Cologne manufacturer before. But - come aboard, and mayhap he'll believe you, if he won't me; and so I'll get - out of this dirty scrape." -

-

- "Anything to oblige ye, my sweet and pleasant fellow," rejoined Stubb, and - with that he soon mounted to the deck. There a queer scene presented - itself. The sailors, in tasselled caps of red worsted, were getting the - heavy tackles in readiness for the whales. But they worked rather slow and - talked very fast, and seemed in anything but a good humor. All their noses - upwardly projected from their faces like so many jib-booms. Now and then - pairs of them would drop their work, and run up to the mast-head to get - some fresh air. Some thinking they would catch the plague, dipped oakum in - coal-tar, and at intervals held it to their nostrils. Others having broken - the stems of their pipes almost short off at the bowl, were vigorously - puffing tobacco-smoke, so that it constantly filled their olfactories. -

-

- Stubb was struck by a shower of outcries and anathemas proceeding from the - Captain's round-house abaft; and looking in that direction saw a fiery - face thrust from behind the door, which was held ajar from within. This - was the tormented surgeon, who, after in vain remonstrating against the - proceedings of the day, had betaken himself to the Captain's round-house - (CABINET he called it) to avoid the pest; but still, could not help - yelling out his entreaties and indignations at times. -

-

- Marking all this, Stubb argued well for his scheme, and turning to the - Guernsey-man had a little chat with him, during which the stranger mate - expressed his detestation of his Captain as a conceited ignoramus, who had - brought them all into so unsavory and unprofitable a pickle. Sounding him - carefully, Stubb further perceived that the Guernsey-man had not the - slightest suspicion concerning the ambergris. He therefore held his peace - on that head, but otherwise was quite frank and confidential with him, so - that the two quickly concocted a little plan for both circumventing and - satirizing the Captain, without his at all dreaming of distrusting their - sincerity. According to this little plan of theirs, the Guernsey-man, - under cover of an interpreter's office, was to tell the Captain what he - pleased, but as coming from Stubb; and as for Stubb, he was to utter any - nonsense that should come uppermost in him during the interview. -

-

- By this time their destined victim appeared from his cabin. He was a small - and dark, but rather delicate looking man for a sea-captain, with large - whiskers and moustache, however; and wore a red cotton velvet vest with - watch-seals at his side. To this gentleman, Stubb was now politely - introduced by the Guernsey-man, who at once ostentatiously put on the - aspect of interpreting between them. -

-

- "What shall I say to him first?" said he. -

-

- "Why," said Stubb, eyeing the velvet vest and the watch and seals, "you - may as well begin by telling him that he looks a sort of babyish to me, - though I don't pretend to be a judge." -

-

- "He says, Monsieur," said the Guernsey-man, in French, turning to his - captain, "that only yesterday his ship spoke a vessel, whose captain and - chief-mate, with six sailors, had all died of a fever caught from a - blasted whale they had brought alongside." -

-

- Upon this the captain started, and eagerly desired to know more. -

-

- "What now?" said the Guernsey-man to Stubb. -

-

- "Why, since he takes it so easy, tell him that now I have eyed him - carefully, I'm quite certain that he's no more fit to command a whale-ship - than a St. Jago monkey. In fact, tell him from me he's a baboon." -

-

- "He vows and declares, Monsieur, that the other whale, the dried one, is - far more deadly than the blasted one; in fine, Monsieur, he conjures us, - as we value our lives, to cut loose from these fish." -

-

- Instantly the captain ran forward, and in a loud voice commanded his crew - to desist from hoisting the cutting-tackles, and at once cast loose the - cables and chains confining the whales to the ship. -

-

- "What now?" said the Guernsey-man, when the Captain had returned to them. -

-

- "Why, let me see; yes, you may as well tell him now that—that—in - fact, tell him I've diddled him, and (aside to himself) perhaps somebody - else." -

-

- "He says, Monsieur, that he's very happy to have been of any service to - us." -

-

- Hearing this, the captain vowed that they were the grateful parties - (meaning himself and mate) and concluded by inviting Stubb down into his - cabin to drink a bottle of Bordeaux. -

-

- "He wants you to take a glass of wine with him," said the interpreter. -

-

- "Thank him heartily; but tell him it's against my principles to drink with - the man I've diddled. In fact, tell him I must go." -

-

- "He says, Monsieur, that his principles won't admit of his drinking; but - that if Monsieur wants to live another day to drink, then Monsieur had - best drop all four boats, and pull the ship away from these whales, for - it's so calm they won't drift." -

-

- By this time Stubb was over the side, and getting into his boat, hailed - the Guernsey-man to this effect,—that having a long tow-line in his - boat, he would do what he could to help them, by pulling out the lighter - whale of the two from the ship's side. While the Frenchman's boats, then, - were engaged in towing the ship one way, Stubb benevolently towed away at - his whale the other way, ostentatiously slacking out a most unusually long - tow-line. -

-

- Presently a breeze sprang up; Stubb feigned to cast off from the whale; - hoisting his boats, the Frenchman soon increased his distance, while the - Pequod slid in between him and Stubb's whale. Whereupon Stubb quickly - pulled to the floating body, and hailing the Pequod to give notice of his - intentions, at once proceeded to reap the fruit of his unrighteous - cunning. Seizing his sharp boat-spade, he commenced an excavation in the - body, a little behind the side fin. You would almost have thought he was - digging a cellar there in the sea; and when at length his spade struck - against the gaunt ribs, it was like turning up old Roman tiles and pottery - buried in fat English loam. His boat's crew were all in high excitement, - eagerly helping their chief, and looking as anxious as gold-hunters. -

-

- And all the time numberless fowls were diving, and ducking, and screaming, - and yelling, and fighting around them. Stubb was beginning to look - disappointed, especially as the horrible nosegay increased, when suddenly - from out the very heart of this plague, there stole a faint stream of - perfume, which flowed through the tide of bad smells without being - absorbed by it, as one river will flow into and then along with another, - without at all blending with it for a time. -

-

- "I have it, I have it," cried Stubb, with delight, striking something in - the subterranean regions, "a purse! a purse!" -

-

- Dropping his spade, he thrust both hands in, and drew out handfuls of - something that looked like ripe Windsor soap, or rich mottled old cheese; - very unctuous and savory withal. You might easily dent it with your thumb; - it is of a hue between yellow and ash colour. And this, good friends, is - ambergris, worth a gold guinea an ounce to any druggist. Some six handfuls - were obtained; but more was unavoidably lost in the sea, and still more, - perhaps, might have been secured were it not for impatient Ahab's loud - command to Stubb to desist, and come on board, else the ship would bid - them good bye. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 92. Ambergris. -

-

- Now this ambergris is a very curious substance, and so important as an - article of commerce, that in 1791 a certain Nantucket-born Captain Coffin - was examined at the bar of the English House of Commons on that subject. - For at that time, and indeed until a comparatively late day, the precise - origin of ambergris remained, like amber itself, a problem to the learned. - Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet - the two substances are quite distinct. For amber, though at times found on - the sea-coast, is also dug up in some far inland soils, whereas ambergris - is never found except upon the sea. Besides, amber is a hard, transparent, - brittle, odorless substance, used for mouth-pieces to pipes, for beads and - ornaments; but ambergris is soft, waxy, and so highly fragrant and spicy, - that it is largely used in perfumery, in pastiles, precious candles, - hair-powders, and pomatum. The Turks use it in cooking, and also carry it - to Mecca, for the same purpose that frankincense is carried to St. Peter's - in Rome. Some wine merchants drop a few grains into claret, to flavor it. -

-

- Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale - themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale! - Yet so it is. By some, ambergris is supposed to be the cause, and by - others the effect, of the dyspepsia in the whale. How to cure such a - dyspepsia it were hard to say, unless by administering three or four boat - loads of Brandreth's pills, and then running out of harm's way, as - laborers do in blasting rocks. -

-

- I have forgotten to say that there were found in this ambergris, certain - hard, round, bony plates, which at first Stubb thought might be sailors' - trowsers buttons; but it afterwards turned out that they were nothing more - than pieces of small squid bones embalmed in that manner. -

-

- Now that the incorruption of this most fragrant ambergris should be found - in the heart of such decay; is this nothing? Bethink thee of that saying - of St. Paul in Corinthians, about corruption and incorruption; how that we - are sown in dishonour, but raised in glory. And likewise call to mind that - saying of Paracelsus about what it is that maketh the best musk. Also - forget not the strange fact that of all things of ill-savor, - Cologne-water, in its rudimental manufacturing stages, is the worst. -

-

- I should like to conclude the chapter with the above appeal, but cannot, - owing to my anxiety to repel a charge often made against whalemen, and - which, in the estimation of some already biased minds, might be considered - as indirectly substantiated by what has been said of the Frenchman's two - whales. Elsewhere in this volume the slanderous aspersion has been - disproved, that the vocation of whaling is throughout a slatternly, untidy - business. But there is another thing to rebut. They hint that all whales - always smell bad. Now how did this odious stigma originate? -

-

- I opine, that it is plainly traceable to the first arrival of the - Greenland whaling ships in London, more than two centuries ago. Because - those whalemen did not then, and do not now, try out their oil at sea as - the Southern ships have always done; but cutting up the fresh blubber in - small bits, thrust it through the bung holes of large casks, and carry it - home in that manner; the shortness of the season in those Icy Seas, and - the sudden and violent storms to which they are exposed, forbidding any - other course. The consequence is, that upon breaking into the hold, and - unloading one of these whale cemeteries, in the Greenland dock, a savor is - given forth somewhat similar to that arising from excavating an old city - grave-yard, for the foundations of a Lying-in-Hospital. -

-

- I partly surmise also, that this wicked charge against whalers may be - likewise imputed to the existence on the coast of Greenland, in former - times, of a Dutch village called Schmerenburgh or Smeerenberg, which - latter name is the one used by the learned Fogo Von Slack, in his great - work on Smells, a text-book on that subject. As its name imports (smeer, - fat; berg, to put up), this village was founded in order to afford a place - for the blubber of the Dutch whale fleet to be tried out, without being - taken home to Holland for that purpose. It was a collection of furnaces, - fat-kettles, and oil sheds; and when the works were in full operation - certainly gave forth no very pleasant savor. But all this is quite - different with a South Sea Sperm Whaler; which in a voyage of four years - perhaps, after completely filling her hold with oil, does not, perhaps, - consume fifty days in the business of boiling out; and in the state that - it is casked, the oil is nearly scentless. The truth is, that living or - dead, if but decently treated, whales as a species are by no means - creatures of ill odor; nor can whalemen be recognised, as the people of - the middle ages affected to detect a Jew in the company, by the nose. Nor - indeed can the whale possibly be otherwise than fragrant, when, as a - general thing, he enjoys such high health; taking abundance of exercise; - always out of doors; though, it is true, seldom in the open air. I say, - that the motion of a Sperm Whale's flukes above water dispenses a perfume, - as when a musk-scented lady rustles her dress in a warm parlor. What then - shall I liken the Sperm Whale to for fragrance, considering his magnitude? - Must it not be to that famous elephant, with jewelled tusks, and redolent - with myrrh, which was led out of an Indian town to do honour to Alexander - the Great? -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 93. The Castaway. -

-

- It was but some few days after encountering the Frenchman, that a most - significant event befell the most insignificant of the Pequod's crew; an - event most lamentable; and which ended in providing the sometimes madly - merry and predestinated craft with a living and ever accompanying prophecy - of whatever shattered sequel might prove her own. -

-

- Now, in the whale ship, it is not every one that goes in the boats. Some - few hands are reserved called ship-keepers, whose province it is to work - the vessel while the boats are pursuing the whale. As a general thing, - these ship-keepers are as hardy fellows as the men comprising the boats' - crews. But if there happen to be an unduly slender, clumsy, or timorous - wight in the ship, that wight is certain to be made a ship-keeper. It was - so in the Pequod with the little negro Pippin by nick-name, Pip by - abbreviation. Poor Pip! ye have heard of him before; ye must remember his - tambourine on that dramatic midnight, so gloomy-jolly. -

-

- In outer aspect, Pip and Dough-Boy made a match, like a black pony and a - white one, of equal developments, though of dissimilar colour, driven in - one eccentric span. But while hapless Dough-Boy was by nature dull and - torpid in his intellects, Pip, though over tender-hearted, was at bottom - very bright, with that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his - tribe; a tribe, which ever enjoy all holidays and festivities with finer, - freer relish than any other race. For blacks, the year's calendar should - show naught but three hundred and sixty-five Fourth of Julys and New - Year's Days. Nor smile so, while I write that this little black was - brilliant, for even blackness has its brilliancy; behold yon lustrous - ebony, panelled in king's cabinets. But Pip loved life, and all life's - peaceable securities; so that the panic-striking business in which he had - somehow unaccountably become entrapped, had most sadly blurred his - brightness; though, as ere long will be seen, what was thus temporarily - subdued in him, in the end was destined to be luridly illumined by strange - wild fires, that fictitiously showed him off to ten times the natural - lustre with which in his native Tolland County in Connecticut, he had once - enlivened many a fiddler's frolic on the green; and at melodious - even-tide, with his gay ha-ha! had turned the round horizon into one - star-belled tambourine. So, though in the clear air of day, suspended - against a blue-veined neck, the pure-watered diamond drop will healthful - glow; yet, when the cunning jeweller would show you the diamond in its - most impressive lustre, he lays it against a gloomy ground, and then - lights it up, not by the sun, but by some unnatural gases. Then come out - those fiery effulgences, infernally superb; then the evil-blazing diamond, - once the divinest symbol of the crystal skies, looks like some crown-jewel - stolen from the King of Hell. But let us to the story. -

-

- It came to pass, that in the ambergris affair Stubb's after-oarsman - chanced so to sprain his hand, as for a time to become quite maimed; and, - temporarily, Pip was put into his place. -

-

- The first time Stubb lowered with him, Pip evinced much nervousness; but - happily, for that time, escaped close contact with the whale; and - therefore came off not altogether discreditably; though Stubb observing - him, took care, afterwards, to exhort him to cherish his courageousness to - the utmost, for he might often find it needful. -

-

- Now upon the second lowering, the boat paddled upon the whale; and as the - fish received the darted iron, it gave its customary rap, which happened, - in this instance, to be right under poor Pip's seat. The involuntary - consternation of the moment caused him to leap, paddle in hand, out of the - boat; and in such a way, that part of the slack whale line coming against - his chest, he breasted it overboard with him, so as to become entangled in - it, when at last plumping into the water. That instant the stricken whale - started on a fierce run, the line swiftly straightened; and presto! poor - Pip came all foaming up to the chocks of the boat, remorselessly dragged - there by the line, which had taken several turns around his chest and - neck. -

-

- Tashtego stood in the bows. He was full of the fire of the hunt. He hated - Pip for a poltroon. Snatching the boat-knife from its sheath, he suspended - its sharp edge over the line, and turning towards Stubb, exclaimed - interrogatively, "Cut?" Meantime Pip's blue, choked face plainly looked, - Do, for God's sake! All passed in a flash. In less than half a minute, - this entire thing happened. -

-

- "Damn him, cut!" roared Stubb; and so the whale was lost and Pip was - saved. -

-

- So soon as he recovered himself, the poor little negro was assailed by - yells and execrations from the crew. Tranquilly permitting these irregular - cursings to evaporate, Stubb then in a plain, business-like, but still - half humorous manner, cursed Pip officially; and that done, unofficially - gave him much wholesome advice. The substance was, Never jump from a boat, - Pip, except—but all the rest was indefinite, as the soundest advice - ever is. Now, in general, STICK TO THE BOAT, is your true motto in - whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when LEAP FROM THE BOAT, is still - better. Moreover, as if perceiving at last that if he should give - undiluted conscientious advice to Pip, he would be leaving him too wide a - margin to jump in for the future; Stubb suddenly dropped all advice, and - concluded with a peremptory command, "Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the - Lord, I won't pick you up if you jump; mind that. We can't afford to lose - whales by the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you - would, Pip, in Alabama. Bear that in mind, and don't jump any more." - Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted, that though man loved his fellow, - yet man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes - with his benevolence. -

-

- But we are all in the hands of the Gods; and Pip jumped again. It was - under very similar circumstances to the first performance; but this time - he did not breast out the line; and hence, when the whale started to run, - Pip was left behind on the sea, like a hurried traveller's trunk. Alas! - Stubb was but too true to his word. It was a beautiful, bounteous, blue - day; the spangled sea calm and cool, and flatly stretching away, all - round, to the horizon, like gold-beater's skin hammered out to the - extremest. Bobbing up and down in that sea, Pip's ebon head showed like a - head of cloves. No boat-knife was lifted when he fell so rapidly astern. - Stubb's inexorable back was turned upon him; and the whale was winged. In - three minutes, a whole mile of shoreless ocean was between Pip and Stubb. - Out from the centre of the sea, poor Pip turned his crisp, curling, black - head to the sun, another lonely castaway, though the loftiest and the - brightest. -

-

- Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the - practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore. But the awful - lonesomeness is intolerable. The intense concentration of self in the - middle of such a heartless immensity, my God! who can tell it? Mark, how - when sailors in a dead calm bathe in the open sea—mark how closely - they hug their ship and only coast along her sides. -

-

- But had Stubb really abandoned the poor little negro to his fate? No; he - did not mean to, at least. Because there were two boats in his wake, and - he supposed, no doubt, that they would of course come up to Pip very - quickly, and pick him up; though, indeed, such considerations towards - oarsmen jeopardized through their own timidity, is not always manifested - by the hunters in all similar instances; and such instances not - unfrequently occur; almost invariably in the fishery, a coward, so called, - is marked with the same ruthless detestation peculiar to military navies - and armies. -

-

- But it so happened, that those boats, without seeing Pip, suddenly spying - whales close to them on one side, turned, and gave chase; and Stubb's boat - was now so far away, and he and all his crew so intent upon his fish, that - Pip's ringed horizon began to expand around him miserably. By the merest - chance the ship itself at last rescued him; but from that hour the little - negro went about the deck an idiot; such, at least, they said he was. The - sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his - soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous - depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and - fro before his passive eyes; and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his - hoarded heaps; and among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, - Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the - firmament of waters heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God's foot upon the - treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him - mad. So man's insanity is heaven's sense; and wandering from all mortal - reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is - absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent - as his God. -

-

- For the rest, blame not Stubb too hardly. The thing is common in that - fishery; and in the sequel of the narrative, it will then be seen what - like abandonment befell myself. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 94. A Squeeze of the Hand. -

-

- That whale of Stubb's, so dearly purchased, was duly brought to the - Pequod's side, where all those cutting and hoisting operations previously - detailed, were regularly gone through, even to the baling of the - Heidelburgh Tun, or Case. -

-

- While some were occupied with this latter duty, others were employed in - dragging away the larger tubs, so soon as filled with the sperm; and when - the proper time arrived, this same sperm was carefully manipulated ere - going to the try-works, of which anon. -

-

- It had cooled and crystallized to such a degree, that when, with several - others, I sat down before a large Constantine's bath of it, I found it - strangely concreted into lumps, here and there rolling about in the liquid - part. It was our business to squeeze these lumps back into fluid. A sweet - and unctuous duty! No wonder that in old times this sperm was such a - favourite cosmetic. Such a clearer! such a sweetener! such a softener! - such a delicious molifier! After having my hands in it for only a few - minutes, my fingers felt like eels, and began, as it were, to serpentine - and spiralise. -

-

- As I sat there at my ease, cross-legged on the deck; after the bitter - exertion at the windlass; under a blue tranquil sky; the ship under - indolent sail, and gliding so serenely along; as I bathed my hands among - those soft, gentle globules of infiltrated tissues, woven almost within - the hour; as they richly broke to my fingers, and discharged all their - opulence, like fully ripe grapes their wine; as I snuffed up that - uncontaminated aroma,—literally and truly, like the smell of spring - violets; I declare to you, that for the time I lived as in a musky meadow; - I forgot all about our horrible oath; in that inexpressible sperm, I - washed my hands and my heart of it; I almost began to credit the old - Paracelsan superstition that sperm is of rare virtue in allaying the heat - of anger; while bathing in that bath, I felt divinely free from all - ill-will, or petulance, or malice, of any sort whatsoever. -

-

- Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm - till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange - sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my - co-laborers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. - Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this - avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and - looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,—Oh! my - dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or - know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all - round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze - ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness. -

-

- Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by - many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases - man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable - felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in - the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the - country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case - eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of - angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti. -

-

- Now, while discoursing of sperm, it behooves to speak of other things akin - to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works. -

-

- First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering - part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is - tough with congealed tendons—a wad of muscle—but still - contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is - first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer. They look much - like blocks of Berkshire marble. -

-

- Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of the - whale's flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber, and - often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness. It is a - most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold. As its name - imports, it is of an exceedingly rich, mottled tint, with a bestreaked - snowy and golden ground, dotted with spots of the deepest crimson and - purple. It is plums of rubies, in pictures of citron. Spite of reason, it - is hard to keep yourself from eating it. I confess, that once I stole - behind the foremast to try it. It tasted something as I should conceive a - royal cutlet from the thigh of Louis le Gros might have tasted, supposing - him to have been killed the first day after the venison season, and that - particular venison season contemporary with an unusually fine vintage of - the vineyards of Champagne. -

-

- There is another substance, and a very singular one, which turns up in the - course of this business, but which I feel it to be very puzzling - adequately to describe. It is called slobgollion; an appellation original - with the whalemen, and even so is the nature of the substance. It is an - ineffably oozy, stringy affair, most frequently found in the tubs of - sperm, after a prolonged squeezing, and subsequent decanting. I hold it to - be the wondrously thin, ruptured membranes of the case, coalescing. -

-

- Gurry, so called, is a term properly belonging to right whalemen, but - sometimes incidentally used by the sperm fishermen. It designates the - dark, glutinous substance which is scraped off the back of the Greenland - or right whale, and much of which covers the decks of those inferior souls - who hunt that ignoble Leviathan. -

-

- Nippers. Strictly this word is not indigenous to the whale's vocabulary. - But as applied by whalemen, it becomes so. A whaleman's nipper is a short - firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan's - tail: it averages an inch in thickness, and for the rest, is about the - size of the iron part of a hoe. Edgewise moved along the oily deck, it - operates like a leathern squilgee; and by nameless blandishments, as of - magic, allures along with it all impurities. -

-

- But to learn all about these recondite matters, your best way is at once - to descend into the blubber-room, and have a long talk with its inmates. - This place has previously been mentioned as the receptacle for the - blanket-pieces, when stript and hoisted from the whale. When the proper - time arrives for cutting up its contents, this apartment is a scene of - terror to all tyros, especially by night. On one side, lit by a dull - lantern, a space has been left clear for the workmen. They generally go in - pairs,—a pike-and-gaffman and a spade-man. The whaling-pike is - similar to a frigate's boarding-weapon of the same name. The gaff is - something like a boat-hook. With his gaff, the gaffman hooks on to a sheet - of blubber, and strives to hold it from slipping, as the ship pitches and - lurches about. Meanwhile, the spade-man stands on the sheet itself, - perpendicularly chopping it into the portable horse-pieces. This spade is - sharp as hone can make it; the spademan's feet are shoeless; the thing he - stands on will sometimes irresistibly slide away from him, like a sledge. - If he cuts off one of his own toes, or one of his assistants', would you - be very much astonished? Toes are scarce among veteran blubber-room men. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 95. The Cassock. -

-

- Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this - post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the - windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small - curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen - there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers. Not the wondrous - cistern in the whale's huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower - jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so - surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,—longer - than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and - jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg. And an idol, indeed, it is; - or, rather, in old times, its likeness was. Such an idol as that found in - the secret groves of Queen Maachah in Judea; and for worshipping which, - King Asa, her son, did depose her, and destroyed the idol, and burnt it - for an abomination at the brook Kedron, as darkly set forth in the 15th - chapter of the First Book of Kings. -

-

- Look at the sailor, called the mincer, who now comes along, and assisted - by two allies, heavily backs the grandissimus, as the mariners call it, - and with bowed shoulders, staggers off with it as if he were a grenadier - carrying a dead comrade from the field. Extending it upon the forecastle - deck, he now proceeds cylindrically to remove its dark pelt, as an African - hunter the pelt of a boa. This done he turns the pelt inside out, like a - pantaloon leg; gives it a good stretching, so as almost to double its - diameter; and at last hangs it, well spread, in the rigging, to dry. Ere - long, it is taken down; when removing some three feet of it, towards the - pointed extremity, and then cutting two slits for arm-holes at the other - end, he lengthwise slips himself bodily into it. The mincer now stands - before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling. Immemorial to - all his order, this investiture alone will adequately protect him, while - employed in the peculiar functions of his office. -

-

- That office consists in mincing the horse-pieces of blubber for the pots; - an operation which is conducted at a curious wooden horse, planted endwise - against the bulwarks, and with a capacious tub beneath it, into which the - minced pieces drop, fast as the sheets from a rapt orator's desk. Arrayed - in decent black; occupying a conspicuous pulpit; intent on bible leaves; - what a candidate for an archbishopric, what a lad for a Pope were this - mincer!* -

-

- *Bible leaves! Bible leaves! This is the invariable cry from the mates to - the mincer. It enjoins him to be careful, and cut his work into as thin - slices as possible, inasmuch as by so doing the business of boiling out - the oil is much accelerated, and its quantity considerably increased, - besides perhaps improving it in quality. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works. -

-

- Besides her hoisted boats, an American whaler is outwardly distinguished - by her try-works. She presents the curious anomaly of the most solid - masonry joining with oak and hemp in constituting the completed ship. It - is as if from the open field a brick-kiln were transported to her planks. -

-

- The try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, the most - roomy part of the deck. The timbers beneath are of a peculiar strength, - fitted to sustain the weight of an almost solid mass of brick and mortar, - some ten feet by eight square, and five in height. The foundation does not - penetrate the deck, but the masonry is firmly secured to the surface by - ponderous knees of iron bracing it on all sides, and screwing it down to - the timbers. On the flanks it is cased with wood, and at top completely - covered by a large, sloping, battened hatchway. Removing this hatch we - expose the great try-pots, two in number, and each of several barrels' - capacity. When not in use, they are kept remarkably clean. Sometimes they - are polished with soapstone and sand, till they shine within like silver - punch-bowls. During the night-watches some cynical old sailors will crawl - into them and coil themselves away there for a nap. While employed in - polishing them—one man in each pot, side by side—many - confidential communications are carried on, over the iron lips. It is a - place also for profound mathematical meditation. It was in the left hand - try-pot of the Pequod, with the soapstone diligently circling round me, - that I was first indirectly struck by the remarkable fact, that in - geometry all bodies gliding along the cycloid, my soapstone for example, - will descend from any point in precisely the same time. -

-

- Removing the fire-board from the front of the try-works, the bare masonry - of that side is exposed, penetrated by the two iron mouths of the - furnaces, directly underneath the pots. These mouths are fitted with heavy - doors of iron. The intense heat of the fire is prevented from - communicating itself to the deck, by means of a shallow reservoir - extending under the entire inclosed surface of the works. By a tunnel - inserted at the rear, this reservoir is kept replenished with water as - fast as it evaporates. There are no external chimneys; they open direct - from the rear wall. And here let us go back for a moment. -

-

- 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. -

-

- "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. Would - that he consumed his own smoke! for his smoke is horrible to inhale, and - inhale it you must, and not only that, but you must live in it for the - time. It has an unspeakable, wild, Hindoo odor about it, such as may lurk - in the vicinity of funereal pyres. It smells like the left wing of the day - of judgment; it is an argument for the pit. -

-

- By midnight the works were in full operation. We were clear from the - carcase; sail had been made; the wind was freshening; the wild ocean - darkness was intense. But that darkness was licked up by the fierce - flames, which at intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and - illuminated every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire. - The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned to some - vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs of the bold - Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors, with broad sheets - of flame for sails, bore down upon the Turkish frigates, and folded them - in conflagrations. -

-

- The hatch, removed from the top of the works, now afforded a wide hearth - in front of them. Standing on this were the Tartarean shapes of the pagan - harpooneers, always the whale-ship's stokers. With huge pronged poles they - pitched hissing masses of blubber into the scalding pots, or stirred up - the fires beneath, till the snaky flames darted, curling, out of the doors - to catch them by the feet. The smoke rolled away in sullen heaps. To every - pitch of the ship there was a pitch of the boiling oil, which seemed all - eagerness to leap into their faces. Opposite the mouth of the works, on - the further side of the wide wooden hearth, was the windlass. This served - for a sea-sofa. Here lounged the watch, when not otherwise employed, - looking into the red heat of the fire, till their eyes felt scorched in - their heads. Their tawny features, now all begrimed with smoke and sweat, - their matted beards, and the contrasting barbaric brilliancy of their - teeth, all these were strangely revealed in the capricious emblazonings of - the works. As they narrated to each other their unholy adventures, their - tales of terror told in words of mirth; as their uncivilized laughter - forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace; as to and - fro, in their front, the harpooneers wildly gesticulated with their huge - pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and - the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly shot her red hell further - and further into the blackness of the sea and the night, and scornfully - champed the white bone in her mouth, and viciously spat round her on all - sides; then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with - fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, - seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul. -

-

- So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long hours silently - guided the way of this fire-ship on the sea. Wrapped, for that interval, - in darkness myself, I but the better saw the redness, the madness, the - ghastliness of others. The continual sight of the fiend shapes before me, - capering half in smoke and half in fire, these at last begat kindred - visions in my soul, so soon as I began to yield to that unaccountable - drowsiness which ever would come over me at a midnight helm. -

-

- But that night, in particular, a strange (and ever since inexplicable) - thing occurred to me. Starting from a brief standing sleep, I was horribly - conscious of something fatally wrong. The jaw-bone tiller smote my side, - which leaned against it; in my ears was the low hum of sails, just - beginning to shake in the wind; I thought my eyes were open; I was half - conscious of putting my fingers to the lids and mechanically stretching - them still further apart. But, spite of all this, I could see no compass - before me to steer by; though it seemed but a minute since I had been - watching the card, by the steady binnacle lamp illuminating it. Nothing - seemed before me but a jet gloom, now and then made ghastly by flashes of - redness. Uppermost was the impression, that whatever swift, rushing thing - I stood on was not so much bound to any haven ahead as rushing from all - havens astern. A stark, bewildered feeling, as of death, came over me. - Convulsively my hands grasped the tiller, but with the crazy conceit that - the tiller was, somehow, in some enchanted way, inverted. My God! what is - the matter with me? thought I. Lo! in my brief sleep I had turned myself - about, and was fronting the ship's stern, with my back to her prow and the - compass. In an instant I faced back, just in time to prevent the vessel - from flying up into the wind, and very probably capsizing her. How glad - and how grateful the relief from this unnatural hallucination of the - night, and the fatal contingency of being brought by the lee! -

-

- Look not too long in the face of the fire, O man! Never dream with thy - hand on the helm! Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint - of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness - makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies - will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the - morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, - golden, glad sun, the only true lamp—all others but liars! -

-

- Nevertheless the sun hides not Virginia's Dismal Swamp, nor Rome's - accursed Campagna, nor wide Sahara, nor all the millions of miles of - deserts and of griefs beneath the moon. The sun hides not the ocean, which - is the dark side of this earth, and which is two thirds of this earth. So, - therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that - mortal man cannot be true—not true, or undeveloped. With books the - same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all - books is Solomon's, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe. - "All is vanity." ALL. This wilful world hath not got hold of unchristian - Solomon's wisdom yet. But he who dodges hospitals and jails, and walks - fast crossing graveyards, and would rather talk of operas than hell; calls - Cowper, Young, Pascal, Rousseau, poor devils all of sick men; and - throughout a care-free lifetime swears by Rabelais as passing wise, and - therefore jolly;—not that man is fitted to sit down on tomb-stones, - and break the green damp mould with unfathomably wondrous Solomon. -

-

- But even Solomon, he says, "the man that wandereth out of the way of - understanding shall remain" (I.E., even while living) "in the congregation - of the dead." Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, - deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but - there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some - souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of - them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for - ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even - in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds - upon the plain, even though they soar. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 97. The Lamp. -

-

- Had you descended from the Pequod's try-works to the Pequod's forecastle, - where the off duty watch were sleeping, for one single moment you would - have almost thought you were standing in some illuminated shrine of - canonized kings and counsellors. There they lay in their triangular oaken - vaults, each mariner a chiselled muteness; a score of lamps flashing upon - his hooded eyes. -

-

- In merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens. - To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in darkness to his - pallet, this is his usual lot. But the whaleman, as he seeks the food of - light, so he lives in light. He makes his berth an Aladdin's lamp, and - lays him down in it; so that in the pitchiest night the ship's black hull - still houses an illumination. -

-

- See with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of lamps—often - but old bottles and vials, though—to the copper cooler at the - try-works, and replenishes them there, as mugs of ale at a vat. He burns, - too, the purest of oil, in its unmanufactured, and, therefore, unvitiated - state; a fluid unknown to solar, lunar, or astral contrivances ashore. It - is sweet as early grass butter in April. He goes and hunts for his oil, so - as to be sure of its freshness and genuineness, even as the traveller on - the prairie hunts up his own supper of game. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up. -

-

- Already has it been related how the great leviathan is afar off descried - from the mast-head; how he is chased over the watery moors, and - slaughtered in the valleys of the deep; how he is then towed alongside and - beheaded; and how (on the principle which entitled the headsman of old to - the garments in which the beheaded was killed) his great padded surtout - becomes the property of his executioner; how, in due time, he is condemned - to the pots, and, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti, - oil, and bone pass unscathed through the fire;—but now it remains to - conclude the last chapter of this part of the description by rehearsing—singing, - if I may—the romantic proceeding of decanting off his oil into the - casks and striking them down into the hold, where once again leviathan - returns to his native profundities, sliding along beneath the surface as - before; but, alas! never more to rise and blow. -

-

- While still warm, the oil, like hot punch, is received into the six-barrel - casks; and while, perhaps, the ship is pitching and rolling this way and - that in the midnight sea, the enormous casks are slewed round and headed - over, end for end, and sometimes perilously scoot across the slippery - deck, like so many land slides, till at last man-handled and stayed in - their course; and all round the hoops, rap, rap, go as many hammers as can - play upon them, for now, EX OFFICIO, every sailor is a cooper. -

-

- At length, when the last pint is casked, and all is cool, then the great - hatchways are unsealed, the bowels of the ship are thrown open, and down - go the casks to their final rest in the sea. This done, the hatches are - replaced, and hermetically closed, like a closet walled up. -

-

- In the sperm fishery, this is perhaps one of the most remarkable incidents - in all the business of whaling. One day the planks stream with freshets of - blood and oil; on the sacred quarter-deck enormous masses of the whale's - head are profanely piled; great rusty casks lie about, as in a brewery - yard; the smoke from the try-works has besooted all the bulwarks; the - mariners go about suffused with unctuousness; the entire ship seems great - leviathan himself; while on all hands the din is deafening. -

-

- But a day or two after, you look about you, and prick your ears in this - self-same ship; and were it not for the tell-tale boats and try-works, you - would all but swear you trod some silent merchant vessel, with a most - scrupulously neat commander. The unmanufactured sperm oil possesses a - singularly cleansing virtue. This is the reason why the decks never look - so white as just after what they call an affair of oil. Besides, from the - ashes of the burned scraps of the whale, a potent lye is readily made; and - whenever any adhesiveness from the back of the whale remains clinging to - the side, that lye quickly exterminates it. Hands go diligently along the - bulwarks, and with buckets of water and rags restore them to their full - tidiness. The soot is brushed from the lower rigging. All the numerous - implements which have been in use are likewise faithfully cleansed and put - away. The great hatch is scrubbed and placed upon the try-works, - completely hiding the pots; every cask is out of sight; all tackles are - coiled in unseen nooks; and when by the combined and simultaneous industry - of almost the entire ship's company, the whole of this conscientious duty - is at last concluded, then the crew themselves proceed to their own - ablutions; shift themselves from top to toe; and finally issue to the - immaculate deck, fresh and all aglow, as bridegrooms new-leaped from out - the daintiest Holland. -

-

- Now, with elated step, they pace the planks in twos and threes, and - humorously discourse of parlors, sofas, carpets, and fine cambrics; - propose to mat the deck; think of having hanging to the top; object not to - taking tea by moonlight on the piazza of the forecastle. To hint to such - musked mariners of oil, and bone, and blubber, were little short of - audacity. They know not the thing you distantly allude to. Away, and bring - us napkins! -

-

- But mark: aloft there, at the three mast heads, stand three men intent on - spying out more whales, which, if caught, infallibly will again soil the - old oaken furniture, and drop at least one small grease-spot somewhere. - Yes; and many is the time, when, after the severest uninterrupted labors, - which know no night; continuing straight through for ninety-six hours; - when from the boat, where they have swelled their wrists with all day - rowing on the Line,—they only step to the deck to carry vast chains, - and heave the heavy windlass, and cut and slash, yea, and in their very - sweatings to be smoked and burned anew by the combined fires of the - equatorial sun and the equatorial try-works; when, on the heel of all - this, they have finally bestirred themselves to cleanse the ship, and make - a spotless dairy room of it; many is the time the poor fellows, just - buttoning the necks of their clean frocks, are startled by the cry of - "There she blows!" and away they fly to fight another whale, and go - through the whole weary thing again. Oh! my friends, but this is - man-killing! Yet this is life. For hardly have we mortals by long toilings - extracted from this world's vast bulk its small but valuable sperm; and - then, with weary patience, cleansed ourselves from its defilements, and - learned to live here in clean tabernacles of the soul; hardly is this - done, when—THERE SHE BLOWS!—the ghost is spouted up, and away - we sail to fight some other world, and go through young life's old routine - again. -

-

- Oh! the metempsychosis! Oh! Pythagoras, that in bright Greece, two - thousand years ago, did die, so good, so wise, so mild; I sailed with thee - along the Peruvian coast last voyage—and, foolish as I am, taught - thee, a green simple boy, how to splice a rope! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon. -

-

- Ere now it has been related how Ahab was wont to pace his quarter-deck, - taking regular turns at either limit, the binnacle and mainmast; but in - the multiplicity of other things requiring narration it has not been added - how that sometimes in these walks, when most plunged in his mood, he was - wont to pause in turn at each spot, and stand there strangely eyeing the - particular object before him. When he halted before the binnacle, with his - glance fastened on the pointed needle in the compass, that glance shot - like a javelin with the pointed intensity of his purpose; and when - resuming his walk he again paused before the mainmast, then, as the same - riveted glance fastened upon the riveted gold coin there, he still wore - the same aspect of nailed firmness, only dashed with a certain wild - longing, if not hopefulness. -

-

- But one morning, turning to pass the doubloon, he seemed to be newly - attracted by the strange figures and inscriptions stamped on it, as though - now for the first time beginning to interpret for himself in some - monomaniac way whatever significance might lurk in them. And some certain - significance lurks in all things, else all things are little worth, and - the round world itself but an empty cipher, except to sell by the - cartload, as they do hills about Boston, to fill up some morass in the - Milky Way. -

-

- Now this doubloon was of purest, virgin gold, raked somewhere out of the - heart of gorgeous hills, whence, east and west, over golden sands, the - head-waters of many a Pactolus flows. And though now nailed amidst all the - rustiness of iron bolts and the verdigris of copper spikes, yet, - untouchable and immaculate to any foulness, it still preserved its Quito - glow. Nor, though placed amongst a ruthless crew and every hour passed by - ruthless hands, and through the livelong nights shrouded with thick - darkness which might cover any pilfering approach, nevertheless every - sunrise found the doubloon where the sunset left it last. For it was set - apart and sanctified to one awe-striking end; and however wanton in their - sailor ways, one and all, the mariners revered it as the white whale's - talisman. Sometimes they talked it over in the weary watch by night, - wondering whose it was to be at last, and whether he would ever live to - spend it. -

-

- Now those noble golden coins of South America are as medals of the sun and - tropic token-pieces. Here palms, alpacas, and volcanoes; sun's disks and - stars; ecliptics, horns-of-plenty, and rich banners waving, are in - luxuriant profusion stamped; so that the precious gold seems almost to - derive an added preciousness and enhancing glories, by passing through - those fancy mints, so Spanishly poetic. -

-

- It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example - of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL - ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the - middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; - and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows - no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' - summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing - cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the - signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun - entering the equinoctial point at Libra. -

-

- Before this equatorial coin, Ahab, not unobserved by others, was now - pausing. -

-

- "There's something ever egotistical in mountain-tops and towers, and all - other grand and lofty things; look here,—three peaks as proud as - Lucifer. The firm tower, that is Ahab; the volcano, that is Ahab; the - courageous, the undaunted, and victorious fowl, that, too, is Ahab; all - are Ahab; and this round gold is but the image of the rounder globe, - which, like a magician's glass, to each and every man in turn but mirrors - back his own mysterious self. Great pains, small gains for those who ask - the world to solve them; it cannot solve itself. Methinks now this coined - sun wears a ruddy face; but see! aye, he enters the sign of storms, the - equinox! and but six months before he wheeled out of a former equinox at - Aries! From storm to storm! So be it, then. Born in throes, 't is fit that - man should live in pains and die in pangs! So be it, then! Here's stout - stuff for woe to work on. So be it, then." -

-

- "No fairy fingers can have pressed the gold, but devil's claws must have - left their mouldings there since yesterday," murmured Starbuck to himself, - leaning against the bulwarks. "The old man seems to read Belshazzar's - awful writing. I have never marked the coin inspectingly. He goes below; - let me read. A dark valley between three mighty, heaven-abiding peaks, - that almost seem the Trinity, in some faint earthly symbol. So in this - vale of Death, God girds us round; and over all our gloom, the sun of - Righteousness still shines a beacon and a hope. If we bend down our eyes, - the dark vale shows her mouldy soil; but if we lift them, the bright sun - meets our glance half way, to cheer. Yet, oh, the great sun is no fixture; - and if, at midnight, we would fain snatch some sweet solace from him, we - gaze for him in vain! This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still - sadly to me. I will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely." -

-

- "There now's the old Mogul," soliloquized Stubb by the try-works, "he's - been twigging it; and there goes Starbuck from the same, and both with - faces which I should say might be somewhere within nine fathoms long. And - all from looking at a piece of gold, which did I have it now on Negro Hill - or in Corlaer's Hook, I'd not look at it very long ere spending it. Humph! - in my poor, insignificant opinion, I regard this as queer. I have seen - doubloons before now in my voyagings; your doubloons of old Spain, your - doubloons of Peru, your doubloons of Chili, your doubloons of Bolivia, - your doubloons of Popayan; with plenty of gold moidores and pistoles, and - joes, and half joes, and quarter joes. What then should there be in this - doubloon of the Equator that is so killing wonderful? By Golconda! let me - read it once. Halloa! here's signs and wonders truly! That, now, is what - old Bowditch in his Epitome calls the zodiac, and what my almanac below - calls ditto. I'll get the almanac and as I have heard devils can be raised - with Daboll's arithmetic, I'll try my hand at raising a meaning out of - these queer curvicues here with the Massachusetts calendar. Here's the - book. Let's see now. Signs and wonders; and the sun, he's always among - 'em. Hem, hem, hem; here they are—here they go—all alive:—Aries, - or the Ram; Taurus, or the Bull and Jimimi! here's Gemini himself, or the - Twins. Well; the sun he wheels among 'em. Aye, here on the coin he's just - crossing the threshold between two of twelve sitting-rooms all in a ring. - Book! you lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll - do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the - thoughts. That's my small experience, so far as the Massachusetts - calendar, and Bowditch's navigator, and Daboll's arithmetic go. Signs and - wonders, eh? Pity if there is nothing wonderful in signs, and significant - in wonders! There's a clue somewhere; wait a bit; hist—hark! By - Jove, I have it! Look you, Doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man - in one round chapter; and now I'll read it off, straight out of the book. - Come, Almanack! To begin: there's Aries, or the Ram—lecherous dog, - he begets us; then, Taurus, or the Bull—he bumps us the first thing; - then Gemini, or the Twins—that is, Virtue and Vice; we try to reach - Virtue, when lo! comes Cancer the Crab, and drags us back; and here, going - from Virtue, Leo, a roaring Lion, lies in the path—he gives a few - fierce bites and surly dabs with his paw; we escape, and hail Virgo, the - Virgin! that's our first love; we marry and think to be happy for aye, - when pop comes Libra, or the Scales—happiness weighed and found - wanting; and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, - as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in the rear; we are curing the - wound, when whang come the arrows all round; Sagittarius, or the Archer, - is amusing himself. As we pluck out the shafts, stand aside! here's the - battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and - headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, pours out his - whole deluge and drowns us; and to wind up with Pisces, or the Fishes, we - sleep. There's a sermon now, writ in high heaven, and the sun goes through - it every year, and yet comes out of it all alive and hearty. Jollily he, - aloft there, wheels through toil and trouble; and so, alow here, does - jolly Stubb. Oh, jolly's the word for aye! Adieu, Doubloon! But stop; here - comes little King-Post; dodge round the try-works, now, and let's hear - what he'll have to say. There; he's before it; he'll out with something - presently. So, so; he's beginning." -

-

- "I see nothing here, but a round thing made of gold, and whoever raises a - certain whale, this round thing belongs to him. So, what's all this - staring been about? It is worth sixteen dollars, that's true; and at two - cents the cigar, that's nine hundred and sixty cigars. I won't smoke dirty - pipes like Stubb, but I like cigars, and here's nine hundred and sixty of - them; so here goes Flask aloft to spy 'em out." -

-

- "Shall I call that wise or foolish, now; if it be really wise it has a - foolish look to it; yet, if it be really foolish, then has it a sort of - wiseish look to it. But, avast; here comes our old Manxman—the old - hearse-driver, he must have been, that is, before he took to the sea. He - luffs up before the doubloon; halloa, and goes round on the other side of - the mast; why, there's a horse-shoe nailed on that side; and now he's back - again; what does that mean? Hark! he's muttering—voice like an old - worn-out coffee-mill. Prick ears, and listen!" -

-

- "If the White Whale be raised, it must be in a month and a day, when the - sun stands in some one of these signs. I've studied signs, and know their - marks; they were taught me two score years ago, by the old witch in - Copenhagen. Now, in what sign will the sun then be? The horse-shoe sign; - for there it is, right opposite the gold. And what's the horse-shoe sign? - The lion is the horse-shoe sign—the roaring and devouring lion. - Ship, old ship! my old head shakes to think of thee." -

-

- "There's another rendering now; but still one text. All sorts of men in - one kind of world, you see. Dodge again! here comes Queequeg—all - tattooing—looks like the signs of the Zodiac himself. What says the - Cannibal? As I live he's comparing notes; looking at his thigh bone; - thinks the sun is in the thigh, or in the calf, or in the bowels, I - suppose, as the old women talk Surgeon's Astronomy in the back country. - And by Jove, he's found something there in the vicinity of his thigh—I - guess it's Sagittarius, or the Archer. No: he don't know what to make of - the doubloon; he takes it for an old button off some king's trowsers. But, - aside again! here comes that ghost-devil, Fedallah; tail coiled out of - sight as usual, oakum in the toes of his pumps as usual. What does he say, - with that look of his? Ah, only makes a sign to the sign and bows himself; - there is a sun on the coin—fire worshipper, depend upon it. Ho! more - and more. This way comes Pip—poor boy! would he had died, or I; he's - half horrible to me. He too has been watching all of these interpreters—myself - included—and look now, he comes to read, with that unearthly idiot - face. Stand away again and hear him. Hark!" -

-

- "I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look." -

-

- "Upon my soul, he's been studying Murray's Grammar! Improving his mind, - poor fellow! But what's that he says now—hist!" -

-

- "I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look." -

-

- "Why, he's getting it by heart—hist! again." -

-

- "I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look." -

-

- "Well, that's funny." -

-

- "And I, you, and he; and we, ye, and they, are all bats; and I'm a crow, - especially when I stand a'top of this pine tree here. Caw! caw! caw! caw! - caw! caw! Ain't I a crow? And where's the scare-crow? There he stands; two - bones stuck into a pair of old trowsers, and two more poked into the - sleeves of an old jacket." -

-

- "Wonder if he means me?—complimentary!—poor lad!—I could - go hang myself. Any way, for the present, I'll quit Pip's vicinity. I can - stand the rest, for they have plain wits; but he's too crazy-witty for my - sanity. So, so, I leave him muttering." -

-

- "Here's the ship's navel, this doubloon here, and they are all on fire to - unscrew it. But, unscrew your navel, and what's the consequence? Then - again, if it stays here, that is ugly, too, for when aught's nailed to the - mast it's a sign that things grow desperate. Ha, ha! old Ahab! the White - Whale; he'll nail ye! This is a pine tree. My father, in old Tolland - county, cut down a pine tree once, and found a silver ring grown over in - it; some old darkey's wedding ring. How did it get there? And so they'll - say in the resurrection, when they come to fish up this old mast, and find - a doubloon lodged in it, with bedded oysters for the shaggy bark. Oh, the - gold! the precious, precious, gold! the green miser'll hoard ye soon! - Hish! hish! God goes 'mong the worlds blackberrying. Cook! ho, cook! and - cook us! Jenny! hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Jenny, Jenny! and get your - hoe-cake done!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 100. Leg and Arm. -

-

- The Pequod, of Nantucket, Meets the Samuel Enderby, of London. -

-

- "Ship, ahoy! Hast seen the White Whale?" -

-

- So cried Ahab, once more hailing a ship showing English colours, bearing - down under the stern. Trumpet to mouth, the old man was standing in his - hoisted quarter-boat, his ivory leg plainly revealed to the stranger - captain, who was carelessly reclining in his own boat's bow. He was a - darkly-tanned, burly, good-natured, fine-looking man, of sixty or - thereabouts, dressed in a spacious roundabout, that hung round him in - festoons of blue pilot-cloth; and one empty arm of this jacket streamed - behind him like the broidered arm of a hussar's surcoat. -

-

- "Hast seen the White Whale!" -

-

- "See you this?" and withdrawing it from the folds that had hidden it, he - held up a white arm of sperm whale bone, terminating in a wooden head like - a mallet. -

-

- "Man my boat!" cried Ahab, impetuously, and tossing about the oars near - him—"Stand by to lower!" -

-

- In less than a minute, without quitting his little craft, he and his crew - were dropped to the water, and were soon alongside of the stranger. But - here a curious difficulty presented itself. In the excitement of the - moment, Ahab had forgotten that since the loss of his leg he had never - once stepped on board of any vessel at sea but his own, and then it was - always by an ingenious and very handy mechanical contrivance peculiar to - the Pequod, and a thing not to be rigged and shipped in any other vessel - at a moment's warning. Now, it is no very easy matter for anybody—except - those who are almost hourly used to it, like whalemen—to clamber up - a ship's side from a boat on the open sea; for the great swells now lift - the boat high up towards the bulwarks, and then instantaneously drop it - half way down to the kelson. So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship - of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now - found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again; hopelessly - eyeing the uncertain changeful height he could hardly hope to attain. -

-

- It has before been hinted, perhaps, that every little untoward - circumstance that befell him, and which indirectly sprang from his - luckless mishap, almost invariably irritated or exasperated Ahab. And in - the present instance, all this was heightened by the sight of the two - officers of the strange ship, leaning over the side, by the perpendicular - ladder of nailed cleets there, and swinging towards him a pair of - tastefully-ornamented man-ropes; for at first they did not seem to bethink - them that a one-legged man must be too much of a cripple to use their sea - bannisters. But this awkwardness only lasted a minute, because the strange - captain, observing at a glance how affairs stood, cried out, "I see, I - see!—avast heaving there! Jump, boys, and swing over the - cutting-tackle." -

-

- As good luck would have it, they had had a whale alongside a day or two - previous, and the great tackles were still aloft, and the massive curved - blubber-hook, now clean and dry, was still attached to the end. This was - quickly lowered to Ahab, who at once comprehending it all, slid his - solitary thigh into the curve of the hook (it was like sitting in the - fluke of an anchor, or the crotch of an apple tree), and then giving the - word, held himself fast, and at the same time also helped to hoist his own - weight, by pulling hand-over-hand upon one of the running parts of the - tackle. Soon he was carefully swung inside the high bulwarks, and gently - landed upon the capstan head. With his ivory arm frankly thrust forth in - welcome, the other captain advanced, and Ahab, putting out his ivory leg, - and crossing the ivory arm (like two sword-fish blades) cried out in his - walrus way, "Aye, aye, hearty! let us shake bones together!—an arm - and a leg!—an arm that never can shrink, d'ye see; and a leg that - never can run. Where did'st thou see the White Whale?—how long ago?" -

-

- "The White Whale," said the Englishman, pointing his ivory arm towards the - East, and taking a rueful sight along it, as if it had been a telescope; - "there I saw him, on the Line, last season." -

-

- "And he took that arm off, did he?" asked Ahab, now sliding down from the - capstan, and resting on the Englishman's shoulder, as he did so. -

-

- "Aye, he was the cause of it, at least; and that leg, too?" -

-

- "Spin me the yarn," said Ahab; "how was it?" -

-

- "It was the first time in my life that I ever cruised on the Line," began - the Englishman. "I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time. Well, one - day we lowered for a pod of four or five whales, and my boat fastened to - one of them; a regular circus horse he was, too, that went milling and - milling round so, that my boat's crew could only trim dish, by sitting all - their sterns on the outer gunwale. Presently up breaches from the bottom - of the sea a bouncing great whale, with a milky-white head and hump, all - crows' feet and wrinkles." -

-

- "It was he, it was he!" cried Ahab, suddenly letting out his suspended - breath. -

-

- "And harpoons sticking in near his starboard fin." -

-

- "Aye, aye—they were mine—MY irons," cried Ahab, exultingly—"but - on!" -

-

- "Give me a chance, then," said the Englishman, good-humoredly. "Well, this - old great-grandfather, with the white head and hump, runs all afoam into - the pod, and goes to snapping furiously at my fast-line! -

-

- "Aye, I see!—wanted to part it; free the fast-fish—an old - trick—I know him." -

-

- "How it was exactly," continued the one-armed commander, "I do not know; - but in biting the line, it got foul of his teeth, caught there somehow; - but we didn't know it then; so that when we afterwards pulled on the line, - bounce we came plump on to his hump! instead of the other whale's; that - went off to windward, all fluking. Seeing how matters stood, and what a - noble great whale it was—the noblest and biggest I ever saw, sir, in - my life—I resolved to capture him, spite of the boiling rage he - seemed to be in. And thinking the hap-hazard line would get loose, or the - tooth it was tangled to might draw (for I have a devil of a boat's crew - for a pull on a whale-line); seeing all this, I say, I jumped into my - first mate's boat—Mr. Mounttop's here (by the way, Captain—Mounttop; - Mounttop—the captain);—as I was saying, I jumped into - Mounttop's boat, which, d'ye see, was gunwale and gunwale with mine, then; - and snatching the first harpoon, let this old great-grandfather have it. - But, Lord, look you, sir—hearts and souls alive, man—the next - instant, in a jiff, I was blind as a bat—both eyes out—all - befogged and bedeadened with black foam—the whale's tail looming - straight up out of it, perpendicular in the air, like a marble steeple. No - use sterning all, then; but as I was groping at midday, with a blinding - sun, all crown-jewels; as I was groping, I say, after the second iron, to - toss it overboard—down comes the tail like a Lima tower, cutting my - boat in two, leaving each half in splinters; and, flukes first, the white - hump backed through the wreck, as though it was all chips. We all struck - out. To escape his terrible flailings, I seized hold of my harpoon-pole - sticking in him, and for a moment clung to that like a sucking fish. But a - combing sea dashed me off, and at the same instant, the fish, taking one - good dart forwards, went down like a flash; and the barb of that cursed - second iron towing along near me caught me here" (clapping his hand just - below his shoulder); "yes, caught me just here, I say, and bore me down to - Hell's flames, I was thinking; when, when, all of a sudden, thank the good - God, the barb ript its way along the flesh—clear along the whole - length of my arm—came out nigh my wrist, and up I floated;—and - that gentleman there will tell you the rest (by the way, captain—Dr. - Bunger, ship's surgeon: Bunger, my lad,—the captain). Now, Bunger - boy, spin your part of the yarn." -

-

- The professional gentleman thus familiarly pointed out, had been all the - time standing near them, with nothing specific visible, to denote his - gentlemanly rank on board. His face was an exceedingly round but sober - one; he was dressed in a faded blue woollen frock or shirt, and patched - trowsers; and had thus far been dividing his attention between a - marlingspike he held in one hand, and a pill-box held in the other, - occasionally casting a critical glance at the ivory limbs of the two - crippled captains. But, at his superior's introduction of him to Ahab, he - politely bowed, and straightway went on to do his captain's bidding. -

-

- "It was a shocking bad wound," began the whale-surgeon; "and, taking my - advice, Captain Boomer here, stood our old Sammy—" -

-

- "Samuel Enderby is the name of my ship," interrupted the one-armed - captain, addressing Ahab; "go on, boy." -

-

- "Stood our old Sammy off to the northward, to get out of the blazing hot - weather there on the Line. But it was no use—I did all I could; sat - up with him nights; was very severe with him in the matter of diet—" -

-

- "Oh, very severe!" chimed in the patient himself; then suddenly altering - his voice, "Drinking hot rum toddies with me every night, till he couldn't - see to put on the bandages; and sending me to bed, half seas over, about - three o'clock in the morning. Oh, ye stars! he sat up with me indeed, and - was very severe in my diet. Oh! a great watcher, and very dietetically - severe, is Dr. Bunger. (Bunger, you dog, laugh out! why don't ye? You know - you're a precious jolly rascal.) But, heave ahead, boy, I'd rather be - killed by you than kept alive by any other man." -

-

- "My captain, you must have ere this perceived, respected sir"—said - the imperturbable godly-looking Bunger, slightly bowing to Ahab—"is - apt to be facetious at times; he spins us many clever things of that sort. - But I may as well say—en passant, as the French remark—that I - myself—that is to say, Jack Bunger, late of the reverend clergy—am - a strict total abstinence man; I never drink—" -

-

- "Water!" cried the captain; "he never drinks it; it's a sort of fits to - him; fresh water throws him into the hydrophobia; but go on—go on - with the arm story." -

-

- "Yes, I may as well," said the surgeon, coolly. "I was about observing, - sir, before Captain Boomer's facetious interruption, that spite of my best - and severest endeavors, the wound kept getting worse and worse; the truth - was, sir, it was as ugly gaping wound as surgeon ever saw; more than two - feet and several inches long. I measured it with the lead line. In short, - it grew black; I knew what was threatened, and off it came. But I had no - hand in shipping that ivory arm there; that thing is against all rule"—pointing - at it with the marlingspike—"that is the captain's work, not mine; - he ordered the carpenter to make it; he had that club-hammer there put to - the end, to knock some one's brains out with, I suppose, as he tried mine - once. He flies into diabolical passions sometimes. Do ye see this dent, - sir"—removing his hat, and brushing aside his hair, and exposing a - bowl-like cavity in his skull, but which bore not the slightest scarry - trace, or any token of ever having been a wound—"Well, the captain - there will tell you how that came here; he knows." -

-

- "No, I don't," said the captain, "but his mother did; he was born with it. - Oh, you solemn rogue, you—you Bunger! was there ever such another - Bunger in the watery world? Bunger, when you die, you ought to die in - pickle, you dog; you should be preserved to future ages, you rascal." -

-

- "What became of the White Whale?" now cried Ahab, who thus far had been - impatiently listening to this by-play between the two Englishmen. -

-

- "Oh!" cried the one-armed captain, "oh, yes! Well; after he sounded, we - didn't see him again for some time; in fact, as I before hinted, I didn't - then know what whale it was that had served me such a trick, till some - time afterwards, when coming back to the Line, we heard about Moby Dick—as - some call him—and then I knew it was he." -

-

- "Did'st thou cross his wake again?" -

-

- "Twice." -

-

- "But could not fasten?" -

-

- "Didn't want to try to: ain't one limb enough? What should I do without - this other arm? And I'm thinking Moby Dick doesn't bite so much as he - swallows." -

-

- "Well, then," interrupted Bunger, "give him your left arm for bait to get - the right. Do you know, gentlemen"—very gravely and mathematically - bowing to each Captain in succession—"Do you know, gentlemen, that - the digestive organs of the whale are so inscrutably constructed by Divine - Providence, that it is quite impossible for him to completely digest even - a man's arm? And he knows it too. So that what you take for the White - Whale's malice is only his awkwardness. For he never means to swallow a - single limb; he only thinks to terrify by feints. But sometimes he is like - the old juggling fellow, formerly a patient of mine in Ceylon, that making - believe swallow jack-knives, once upon a time let one drop into him in - good earnest, and there it stayed for a twelvemonth or more; when I gave - him an emetic, and he heaved it up in small tacks, d'ye see. No possible - way for him to digest that jack-knife, and fully incorporate it into his - general bodily system. Yes, Captain Boomer, if you are quick enough about - it, and have a mind to pawn one arm for the sake of the privilege of - giving decent burial to the other, why in that case the arm is yours; only - let the whale have another chance at you shortly, that's all." -

-

- "No, thank ye, Bunger," said the English Captain, "he's welcome to the arm - he has, since I can't help it, and didn't know him then; but not to - another one. No more White Whales for me; I've lowered for him once, and - that has satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I know - that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, - he's best let alone; don't you think so, Captain?"—glancing at the - ivory leg. -

-

- "He is. But he will still be hunted, for all that. What is best let alone, - that accursed thing is not always what least allures. He's all a magnet! - How long since thou saw'st him last? Which way heading?" -

-

- "Bless my soul, and curse the foul fiend's," cried Bunger, stoopingly - walking round Ahab, and like a dog, strangely snuffing; "this man's blood—bring - the thermometer!—it's at the boiling point!—his pulse makes - these planks beat!—sir!"—taking a lancet from his pocket, and - drawing near to Ahab's arm. -

-

- "Avast!" roared Ahab, dashing him against the bulwarks—"Man the - boat! Which way heading?" -

-

- "Good God!" cried the English Captain, to whom the question was put. - "What's the matter? He was heading east, I think.—Is your Captain - crazy?" whispering Fedallah. -

-

- But Fedallah, putting a finger on his lip, slid over the bulwarks to take - the boat's steering oar, and Ahab, swinging the cutting-tackle towards - him, commanded the ship's sailors to stand by to lower. -

-

- In a moment he was standing in the boat's stern, and the Manilla men were - springing to their oars. In vain the English Captain hailed him. With back - to the stranger ship, and face set like a flint to his own, Ahab stood - upright till alongside of the Pequod. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 101. The Decanter. -

-

- Ere the English ship fades from sight, be it set down here, that she - hailed from London, and was named after the late Samuel Enderby, merchant - of that city, the original of the famous whaling house of Enderby & - Sons; a house which in my poor whaleman's opinion, comes not far behind - the united royal houses of the Tudors and Bourbons, in point of real - historical interest. How long, prior to the year of our Lord 1775, this - great whaling house was in existence, my numerous fish-documents do not - make plain; but in that year (1775) it fitted out the first English ships - that ever regularly hunted the Sperm Whale; though for some score of years - previous (ever since 1726) our valiant Coffins and Maceys of Nantucket and - the Vineyard had in large fleets pursued that Leviathan, but only in the - North and South Atlantic: not elsewhere. Be it distinctly recorded here, - that the Nantucketers were the first among mankind to harpoon with - civilized steel the great Sperm Whale; and that for half a century they - were the only people of the whole globe who so harpooned him. -

-

- In 1778, a fine ship, the Amelia, fitted out for the express purpose, and - at the sole charge of the vigorous Enderbys, boldly rounded Cape Horn, and - was the first among the nations to lower a whale-boat of any sort in the - great South Sea. The voyage was a skilful and lucky one; and returning to - her berth with her hold full of the precious sperm, the Amelia's example - was soon followed by other ships, English and American, and thus the vast - Sperm Whale grounds of the Pacific were thrown open. But not content with - this good deed, the indefatigable house again bestirred itself: Samuel and - all his Sons—how many, their mother only knows—and under their - immediate auspices, and partly, I think, at their expense, the British - government was induced to send the sloop-of-war Rattler on a whaling - voyage of discovery into the South Sea. Commanded by a naval Post-Captain, - the Rattler made a rattling voyage of it, and did some service; how much - does not appear. But this is not all. In 1819, the same house fitted out a - discovery whale ship of their own, to go on a tasting cruise to the remote - waters of Japan. That ship—well called the "Syren"—made a - noble experimental cruise; and it was thus that the great Japanese Whaling - Ground first became generally known. The Syren in this famous voyage was - commanded by a Captain Coffin, a Nantucketer. -

-

- All honour to the Enderbies, therefore, whose house, I think, exists to - the present day; though doubtless the original Samuel must long ago have - slipped his cable for the great South Sea of the other world. -

-

- The ship named after him was worthy of the honour, being a very fast - sailer and a noble craft every way. I boarded her once at midnight - somewhere off the Patagonian coast, and drank good flip down in the - forecastle. It was a fine gam we had, and they were all trumps—every - soul on board. A short life to them, and a jolly death. And that fine gam - I had—long, very long after old Ahab touched her planks with his - ivory heel—it minds me of the noble, solid, Saxon hospitality of - that ship; and may my parson forget me, and the devil remember me, if I - ever lose sight of it. Flip? Did I say we had flip? Yes, and we flipped it - at the rate of ten gallons the hour; and when the squall came (for it's - squally off there by Patagonia), and all hands—visitors and all—were - called to reef topsails, we were so top-heavy that we had to swing each - other aloft in bowlines; and we ignorantly furled the skirts of our - jackets into the sails, so that we hung there, reefed fast in the howling - gale, a warning example to all drunken tars. However, the masts did not go - overboard; and by and by we scrambled down, so sober, that we had to pass - the flip again, though the savage salt spray bursting down the forecastle - scuttle, rather too much diluted and pickled it to my taste. -

-

- The beef was fine—tough, but with body in it. They said it was - bull-beef; others, that it was dromedary beef; but I do not know, for - certain, how that was. They had dumplings too; small, but substantial, - symmetrically globular, and indestructible dumplings. I fancied that you - could feel them, and roll them about in you after they were swallowed. If - you stooped over too far forward, you risked their pitching out of you - like billiard-balls. The bread—but that couldn't be helped; besides, - it was an anti-scorbutic; in short, the bread contained the only fresh - fare they had. But the forecastle was not very light, and it was very easy - to step over into a dark corner when you ate it. But all in all, taking - her from truck to helm, considering the dimensions of the cook's boilers, - including his own live parchment boilers; fore and aft, I say, the Samuel - Enderby was a jolly ship; of good fare and plenty; fine flip and strong; - crack fellows all, and capital from boot heels to hat-band. -

-

- But why was it, think ye, that the Samuel Enderby, and some other English - whalers I know of—not all though—were such famous, hospitable - ships; that passed round the beef, and the bread, and the can, and the - joke; and were not soon weary of eating, and drinking, and laughing? I - will tell you. The abounding good cheer of these English whalers is matter - for historical research. Nor have I been at all sparing of historical - whale research, when it has seemed needed. -

-

- The English were preceded in the whale fishery by the Hollanders, - Zealanders, and Danes; from whom they derived many terms still extant in - the fishery; and what is yet more, their fat old fashions, touching plenty - to eat and drink. For, as a general thing, the English merchant-ship - scrimps her crew; but not so the English whaler. Hence, in the English, - this thing of whaling good cheer is not normal and natural, but incidental - and particular; and, therefore, must have some special origin, which is - here pointed out, and will be still further elucidated. -

-

- During my researches in the Leviathanic histories, I stumbled upon an - ancient Dutch volume, which, by the musty whaling smell of it, I knew must - be about whalers. The title was, "Dan Coopman," wherefore I concluded that - this must be the invaluable memoirs of some Amsterdam cooper in the - fishery, as every whale ship must carry its cooper. I was reinforced in - this opinion by seeing that it was the production of one "Fitz - Swackhammer." But my friend Dr. Snodhead, a very learned man, professor of - Low Dutch and High German in the college of Santa Claus and St. Pott's, to - whom I handed the work for translation, giving him a box of sperm candles - for his trouble—this same Dr. Snodhead, so soon as he spied the - book, assured me that "Dan Coopman" did not mean "The Cooper," but "The - Merchant." In short, this ancient and learned Low Dutch book treated of - the commerce of Holland; and, among other subjects, contained a very - interesting account of its whale fishery. And in this chapter it was, - headed, "Smeer," or "Fat," that I found a long detailed list of the - outfits for the larders and cellars of 180 sail of Dutch whalemen; from - which list, as translated by Dr. Snodhead, I transcribe the following: -

-

- 400,000 lbs. of beef. 60,000 lbs. Friesland pork. 150,000 lbs. of stock - fish. 550,000 lbs. of biscuit. 72,000 lbs. of soft bread. 2,800 firkins of - butter. 20,000 lbs. Texel & Leyden cheese. 144,000 lbs. cheese - (probably an inferior article). 550 ankers of Geneva. 10,800 barrels of - beer. -

-

- Most statistical tables are parchingly dry in the reading; not so in the - present case, however, where the reader is flooded with whole pipes, - barrels, quarts, and gills of good gin and good cheer. -

-

- At the time, I devoted three days to the studious digesting of all this - beer, beef, and bread, during which many profound thoughts were - incidentally suggested to me, capable of a transcendental and Platonic - application; and, furthermore, I compiled supplementary tables of my own, - touching the probable quantity of stock-fish, etc., consumed by every Low - Dutch harpooneer in that ancient Greenland and Spitzbergen whale fishery. - In the first place, the amount of butter, and Texel and Leyden cheese - consumed, seems amazing. I impute it, though, to their naturally unctuous - natures, being rendered still more unctuous by the nature of their - vocation, and especially by their pursuing their game in those frigid - Polar Seas, on the very coasts of that Esquimaux country where the - convivial natives pledge each other in bumpers of train oil. -

-

- The quantity of beer, too, is very large, 10,800 barrels. Now, as those - polar fisheries could only be prosecuted in the short summer of that - climate, so that the whole cruise of one of these Dutch whalemen, - including the short voyage to and from the Spitzbergen sea, did not much - exceed three months, say, and reckoning 30 men to each of their fleet of - 180 sail, we have 5,400 Low Dutch seamen in all; therefore, I say, we have - precisely two barrels of beer per man, for a twelve weeks' allowance, - exclusive of his fair proportion of that 550 ankers of gin. Now, whether - these gin and beer harpooneers, so fuddled as one might fancy them to have - been, were the right sort of men to stand up in a boat's head, and take - good aim at flying whales; this would seem somewhat improbable. Yet they - did aim at them, and hit them too. But this was very far North, be it - remembered, where beer agrees well with the constitution; upon the - Equator, in our southern fishery, beer would be apt to make the harpooneer - sleepy at the mast-head and boozy in his boat; and grievous loss might - ensue to Nantucket and New Bedford. -

-

- But no more; enough has been said to show that the old Dutch whalers of - two or three centuries ago were high livers; and that the English whalers - have not neglected so excellent an example. For, say they, when cruising - in an empty ship, if you can get nothing better out of the world, get a - good dinner out of it, at least. And this empties the decanter. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides. -

-

- Hitherto, in descriptively treating of the Sperm Whale, I have chiefly - dwelt upon the marvels of his outer aspect; or separately and in detail - upon some few interior structural features. But to a large and thorough - sweeping comprehension of him, it behooves me now to unbutton him still - further, and untagging the points of his hose, unbuckling his garters, and - casting loose the hooks and the eyes of the joints of his innermost bones, - set him before you in his ultimatum; that is to say, in his unconditional - skeleton. -

-

- But how now, Ishmael? How is it, that you, a mere oarsman in the fishery, - pretend to know aught about the subterranean parts of the whale? Did - erudite Stubb, mounted upon your capstan, deliver lectures on the anatomy - of the Cetacea; and by help of the windlass, hold up a specimen rib for - exhibition? Explain thyself, Ishmael. Can you land a full-grown whale on - your deck for examination, as a cook dishes a roast-pig? Surely not. A - veritable witness have you hitherto been, Ishmael; but have a care how you - seize the privilege of Jonah alone; the privilege of discoursing upon the - joists and beams; the rafters, ridge-pole, sleepers, and under-pinnings, - making up the frame-work of leviathan; and belike of the tallow-vats, - dairy-rooms, butteries, and cheeseries in his bowels. -

-

- I confess, that since Jonah, few whalemen have penetrated very far beneath - the skin of the adult whale; nevertheless, I have been blessed with an - opportunity to dissect him in miniature. In a ship I belonged to, a small - cub Sperm Whale was once bodily hoisted to the deck for his poke or bag, - to make sheaths for the barbs of the harpoons, and for the heads of the - lances. Think you I let that chance go, without using my boat-hatchet and - jack-knife, and breaking the seal and reading all the contents of that - young cub? -

-

- And as for my exact knowledge of the bones of the leviathan in their - gigantic, full grown development, for that rare knowledge I am indebted to - my late royal friend Tranquo, king of Tranque, one of the Arsacides. For - being at Tranque, years ago, when attached to the trading-ship Dey of - Algiers, I was invited to spend part of the Arsacidean holidays with the - lord of Tranque, at his retired palm villa at Pupella; a sea-side glen not - very far distant from what our sailors called Bamboo-Town, his capital. -

-

- Among many other fine qualities, my royal friend Tranquo, being gifted - with a devout love for all matters of barbaric vertu, had brought together - in Pupella whatever rare things the more ingenious of his people could - invent; chiefly carved woods of wonderful devices, chiselled shells, - inlaid spears, costly paddles, aromatic canoes; and all these distributed - among whatever natural wonders, the wonder-freighted, tribute-rendering - waves had cast upon his shores. -

-

- Chief among these latter was a great Sperm Whale, which, after an - unusually long raging gale, had been found dead and stranded, with his - head against a cocoa-nut tree, whose plumage-like, tufted droopings seemed - his verdant jet. When the vast body had at last been stripped of its - fathom-deep enfoldings, and the bones become dust dry in the sun, then the - skeleton was carefully transported up the Pupella glen, where a grand - temple of lordly palms now sheltered it. -

-

- The ribs were hung with trophies; the vertebrae were carved with - Arsacidean annals, in strange hieroglyphics; in the skull, the priests - kept up an unextinguished aromatic flame, so that the mystic head again - sent forth its vapoury spout; while, suspended from a bough, the terrific - lower jaw vibrated over all the devotees, like the hair-hung sword that so - affrighted Damocles. -

-

- It was a wondrous sight. The wood was green as mosses of the Icy Glen; the - trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious - earth beneath was as a weaver's loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, - whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living - flowers the figures. All the trees, with all their laden branches; all the - shrubs, and ferns, and grasses; the message-carrying air; all these - unceasingly were active. Through the lacings of the leaves, the great sun - seemed a flying shuttle weaving the unwearied verdure. Oh, busy weaver! - unseen weaver!—pause!—one word!—whither flows the - fabric? what palace may it deck? wherefore all these ceaseless toilings? - Speak, weaver!—stay thy hand!—but one single word with thee! - Nay—the shuttle flies—the figures float from forth the loom; - the freshet-rushing carpet for ever slides away. The weaver-god, he - weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened, that he hears no mortal voice; - and by that humming, we, too, who look on the loom are deafened; and only - when we escape it shall we hear the thousand voices that speak through it. - For even so it is in all material factories. The spoken words that are - inaudible among the flying spindles; those same words are plainly heard - without the walls, bursting from the opened casements. Thereby have - villainies been detected. Ah, mortal! then, be heedful; for so, in all - this din of the great world's loom, thy subtlest thinkings may be - overheard afar. -

-

- Now, amid the green, life-restless loom of that Arsacidean wood, the - great, white, worshipped skeleton lay lounging—a gigantic idler! - Yet, as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around - him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over - with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure; but himself - a skeleton. Life folded Death; Death trellised Life; the grim god wived - with youthful Life, and begat him curly-headed glories. -

-

- Now, when with royal Tranquo I visited this wondrous whale, and saw the - skull an altar, and the artificial smoke ascending from where the real jet - had issued, I marvelled that the king should regard a chapel as an object - of vertu. He laughed. But more I marvelled that the priests should swear - that smoky jet of his was genuine. To and fro I paced before this skeleton—brushed - the vines aside—broke through the ribs—and with a ball of - Arsacidean twine, wandered, eddied long amid its many winding, shaded - colonnades and arbours. But soon my line was out; and following it back, I - emerged from the opening where I entered. I saw no living thing within; - naught was there but bones. -

-

- Cutting me a green measuring-rod, I once more dived within the skeleton. - From their arrow-slit in the skull, the priests perceived me taking the - altitude of the final rib, "How now!" they shouted; "Dar'st thou measure - this our god! That's for us." "Aye, priests—well, how long do ye - make him, then?" But hereupon a fierce contest rose among them, concerning - feet and inches; they cracked each other's sconces with their yard-sticks—the - great skull echoed—and seizing that lucky chance, I quickly - concluded my own admeasurements. -

-

- These admeasurements I now propose to set before you. But first, be it - recorded, that, in this matter, I am not free to utter any fancied - measurement I please. Because there are skeleton authorities you can refer - to, to test my accuracy. There is a Leviathanic Museum, they tell me, in - Hull, England, one of the whaling ports of that country, where they have - some fine specimens of fin-backs and other whales. Likewise, I have heard - that in the museum of Manchester, in New Hampshire, they have what the - proprietors call "the only perfect specimen of a Greenland or River Whale - in the United States." Moreover, at a place in Yorkshire, England, Burton - Constable by name, a certain Sir Clifford Constable has in his possession - the skeleton of a Sperm Whale, but of moderate size, by no means of the - full-grown magnitude of my friend King Tranquo's. -

-

- In both cases, the stranded whales to which these two skeletons belonged, - were originally claimed by their proprietors upon similar grounds. King - Tranquo seizing his because he wanted it; and Sir Clifford, because he was - lord of the seignories of those parts. Sir Clifford's whale has been - articulated throughout; so that, like a great chest of drawers, you can - open and shut him, in all his bony cavities—spread out his ribs like - a gigantic fan—and swing all day upon his lower jaw. Locks are to be - put upon some of his trap-doors and shutters; and a footman will show - round future visitors with a bunch of keys at his side. Sir Clifford - thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the - spinal column; threepence to hear the echo in the hollow of his - cerebellum; and sixpence for the unrivalled view from his forehead. -

-

- The skeleton dimensions I shall now proceed to set down are copied - verbatim from my right arm, where I had them tattooed; as in my wild - wanderings at that period, there was no other secure way of preserving - such valuable statistics. But as I was crowded for space, and wished the - other parts of my body to remain a blank page for a poem I was then - composing—at least, what untattooed parts might remain—I did - not trouble myself with the odd inches; nor, indeed, should inches at all - enter into a congenial admeasurement of the whale. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 103. Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton. -

-

- In the first place, I wish to lay before you a particular, plain - statement, touching the living bulk of this leviathan, whose skeleton we - are briefly to exhibit. Such a statement may prove useful here. -

-

- According to a careful calculation I have made, and which I partly base - upon Captain Scoresby's estimate, of seventy tons for the largest sized - Greenland whale of sixty feet in length; according to my careful - calculation, I say, a Sperm Whale of the largest magnitude, between - eighty-five and ninety feet in length, and something less than forty feet - in its fullest circumference, such a whale will weigh at least ninety - tons; so that, reckoning thirteen men to a ton, he would considerably - outweigh the combined population of a whole village of one thousand one - hundred inhabitants. -

-

- Think you not then that brains, like yoked cattle, should be put to this - leviathan, to make him at all budge to any landsman's imagination? -

-

- Having already in various ways put before you his skull, spout-hole, jaw, - teeth, tail, forehead, fins, and divers other parts, I shall now simply - point out what is most interesting in the general bulk of his unobstructed - bones. But as the colossal skull embraces so very large a proportion of - the entire extent of the skeleton; as it is by far the most complicated - part; and as nothing is to be repeated concerning it in this chapter, you - must not fail to carry it in your mind, or under your arm, as we proceed, - otherwise you will not gain a complete notion of the general structure we - are about to view. -

-

- In length, the Sperm Whale's skeleton at Tranque measured seventy-two - Feet; so that when fully invested and extended in life, he must have been - ninety feet long; for in the whale, the skeleton loses about one fifth in - length compared with the living body. Of this seventy-two feet, his skull - and jaw comprised some twenty feet, leaving some fifty feet of plain - back-bone. Attached to this back-bone, for something less than a third of - its length, was the mighty circular basket of ribs which once enclosed his - vitals. -

-

- To me this vast ivory-ribbed chest, with the long, unrelieved spine, - extending far away from it in a straight line, not a little resembled the - hull of a great ship new-laid upon the stocks, when only some twenty of - her naked bow-ribs are inserted, and the keel is otherwise, for the time, - but a long, disconnected timber. -

-

- The ribs were ten on a side. The first, to begin from the neck, was nearly - six feet long; the second, third, and fourth were each successively - longer, till you came to the climax of the fifth, or one of the middle - ribs, which measured eight feet and some inches. From that part, the - remaining ribs diminished, till the tenth and last only spanned five feet - and some inches. In general thickness, they all bore a seemly - correspondence to their length. The middle ribs were the most arched. In - some of the Arsacides they are used for beams whereon to lay footpath - bridges over small streams. -

-

- In considering these ribs, I could not but be struck anew with the - circumstance, so variously repeated in this book, that the skeleton of the - whale is by no means the mould of his invested form. The largest of the - Tranque ribs, one of the middle ones, occupied that part of the fish - which, in life, is greatest in depth. Now, the greatest depth of the - invested body of this particular whale must have been at least sixteen - feet; whereas, the corresponding rib measured but little more than eight - feet. So that this rib only conveyed half of the true notion of the living - magnitude of that part. Besides, for some way, where I now saw but a naked - spine, all that had been once wrapped round with tons of added bulk in - flesh, muscle, blood, and bowels. Still more, for the ample fins, I here - saw but a few disordered joints; and in place of the weighty and majestic, - but boneless flukes, an utter blank! -

-

- How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for timid untravelled man to try to - comprehend aright this wondrous whale, by merely poring over his dead - attenuated skeleton, stretched in this peaceful wood. No. Only in the - heart of quickest perils; only when within the eddyings of his angry - flukes; only on the profound unbounded sea, can the fully invested whale - be truly and livingly found out. -

-

- But the spine. For that, the best way we can consider it is, with a crane, - to pile its bones high up on end. No speedy enterprise. But now it's done, - it looks much like Pompey's Pillar. -

-

- There are forty and odd vertebrae in all, which in the skeleton are not - locked together. They mostly lie like the great knobbed blocks on a Gothic - spire, forming solid courses of heavy masonry. The largest, a middle one, - is in width something less than three feet, and in depth more than four. - The smallest, where the spine tapers away into the tail, is only two - inches in width, and looks something like a white billiard-ball. I was - told that there were still smaller ones, but they had been lost by some - little cannibal urchins, the priest's children, who had stolen them to - play marbles with. Thus we see how that the spine of even the hugest of - living things tapers off at last into simple child's play. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 104. The Fossil Whale. -

-

- From his mighty bulk the whale affords a most congenial theme whereon to - enlarge, amplify, and generally expatiate. Would you, you could not - compress him. By good rights he should only be treated of in imperial - folio. Not to tell over again his furlongs from spiracle to tail, and the - yards he measures about the waist; only think of the gigantic involutions - of his intestines, where they lie in him like great cables and hawsers - coiled away in the subterranean orlop-deck of a line-of-battle-ship. -

-

- Since I have undertaken to manhandle this Leviathan, it behooves me to - approve myself omnisciently exhaustive in the enterprise; not overlooking - the minutest seminal germs of his blood, and spinning him out to the - uttermost coil of his bowels. Having already described him in most of his - present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify - him in an archaeological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view. - Applied to any other creature than the Leviathan—to an ant or a flea—such - portly terms might justly be deemed unwarrantably grandiloquent. But when - Leviathan is the text, the case is altered. Fain am I to stagger to this - emprise under the weightiest words of the dictionary. And here be it said, - that whenever it has been convenient to consult one in the course of these - dissertations, I have invariably used a huge quarto edition of Johnson, - expressly purchased for that purpose; because that famous lexicographer's - uncommon personal bulk more fitted him to compile a lexicon to be used by - a whale author like me. -

-

- One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though - it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this - Leviathan? Unconsciously my chirography expands into placard capitals. - Give me a condor's quill! Give me Vesuvius' crater for an inkstand! - Friends, hold my arms! For in the mere act of penning my thoughts of this - Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with their outreaching - comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the - sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, - present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, - and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs. Such, and so - magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its - bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great - and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be - who have tried it. -

-

- Ere entering upon the subject of Fossil Whales, I present my credentials - as a geologist, by stating that in my miscellaneous time I have been a - stone-mason, and also a great digger of ditches, canals and wells, - wine-vaults, cellars, and cisterns of all sorts. Likewise, by way of - preliminary, I desire to remind the reader, that while in the earlier - geological strata there are found the fossils of monsters now almost - completely extinct; the subsequent relics discovered in what are called - the Tertiary formations seem the connecting, or at any rate intercepted - links, between the antichronical creatures, and those whose remote - posterity are said to have entered the Ark; all the Fossil Whales hitherto - discovered belong to the Tertiary period, which is the last preceding the - superficial formations. And though none of them precisely answer to any - known species of the present time, they are yet sufficiently akin to them - in general respects, to justify their taking rank as Cetacean fossils. -

-

- Detached broken fossils of pre-adamite whales, fragments of their bones - and skeletons, have within thirty years past, at various intervals, been - found at the base of the Alps, in Lombardy, in France, in England, in - Scotland, and in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Among - the more curious of such remains is part of a skull, which in the year - 1779 was disinterred in the Rue Dauphine in Paris, a short street opening - almost directly upon the palace of the Tuileries; and bones disinterred in - excavating the great docks of Antwerp, in Napoleon's time. Cuvier - pronounced these fragments to have belonged to some utterly unknown - Leviathanic species. -

-

- But by far the most wonderful of all Cetacean relics was the almost - complete vast skeleton of an extinct monster, found in the year 1842, on - the plantation of Judge Creagh, in Alabama. The awe-stricken credulous - slaves in the vicinity took it for the bones of one of the fallen angels. - The Alabama doctors declared it a huge reptile, and bestowed upon it the - name of Basilosaurus. But some specimen bones of it being taken across the - sea to Owen, the English Anatomist, it turned out that this alleged - reptile was a whale, though of a departed species. A significant - illustration of the fact, again and again repeated in this book, that the - skeleton of the whale furnishes but little clue to the shape of his fully - invested body. So Owen rechristened the monster Zeuglodon; and in his - paper read before the London Geological Society, pronounced it, in - substance, one of the most extraordinary creatures which the mutations of - the globe have blotted out of existence. -

-

- When I stand among these mighty Leviathan skeletons, skulls, tusks, jaws, - ribs, and vertebrae, all characterized by partial resemblances to the - existing breeds of sea-monsters; but at the same time bearing on the other - hand similar affinities to the annihilated antichronical Leviathans, their - incalculable seniors; I am, by a flood, borne back to that wondrous - period, ere time itself can be said to have begun; for time began with - man. Here Saturn's grey chaos rolls over me, and I obtain dim, shuddering - glimpses into those Polar eternities; when wedged bastions of ice pressed - hard upon what are now the Tropics; and in all the 25,000 miles of this - world's circumference, not an inhabitable hand's breadth of land was - visible. Then the whole world was the whale's; and, king of creation, he - left his wake along the present lines of the Andes and the Himmalehs. Who - can show a pedigree like Leviathan? Ahab's harpoon had shed older blood - than the Pharaoh's. Methuselah seems a school-boy. I look round to shake - hands with Shem. I am horror-struck at this antemosaic, unsourced - existence of the unspeakable terrors of the whale, which, having been - before all time, must needs exist after all humane ages are over. -

-

- But not alone has this Leviathan left his pre-adamite traces in the - stereotype plates of nature, and in limestone and marl bequeathed his - ancient bust; but upon Egyptian tablets, whose antiquity seems to claim - for them an almost fossiliferous character, we find the unmistakable print - of his fin. In an apartment of the great temple of Denderah, some fifty - years ago, there was discovered upon the granite ceiling a sculptured and - painted planisphere, abounding in centaurs, griffins, and dolphins, - similar to the grotesque figures on the celestial globe of the moderns. - Gliding among them, old Leviathan swam as of yore; was there swimming in - that planisphere, centuries before Solomon was cradled. -

-

- Nor must there be omitted another strange attestation of the antiquity of - the whale, in his own osseous post-diluvian reality, as set down by the - venerable John Leo, the old Barbary traveller. -

-

- "Not far from the Sea-side, they have a Temple, the Rafters and Beams of - which are made of Whale-Bones; for Whales of a monstrous size are - oftentimes cast up dead upon that shore. The Common People imagine, that - by a secret Power bestowed by God upon the temple, no Whale can pass it - without immediate death. But the truth of the Matter is, that on either - side of the Temple, there are Rocks that shoot two Miles into the Sea, and - wound the Whales when they light upon 'em. They keep a Whale's Rib of an - incredible length for a Miracle, which lying upon the Ground with its - convex part uppermost, makes an Arch, the Head of which cannot be reached - by a Man upon a Camel's Back. This Rib (says John Leo) is said to have - layn there a hundred Years before I saw it. Their Historians affirm, that - a Prophet who prophesy'd of Mahomet, came from this Temple, and some do - not stand to assert, that the Prophet Jonas was cast forth by the Whale at - the Base of the Temple." -

-

- In this Afric Temple of the Whale I leave you, reader, and if you be a - Nantucketer, and a whaleman, you will silently worship there. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 105. Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish?—Will He Perish? -

-

- Inasmuch, then, as this Leviathan comes floundering down upon us from the - head-waters of the Eternities, it may be fitly inquired, whether, in the - long course of his generations, he has not degenerated from the original - bulk of his sires. -

-

- But upon investigation we find, that not only are the whales of the - present day superior in magnitude to those whose fossil remains are found - in the Tertiary system (embracing a distinct geological period prior to - man), but of the whales found in that Tertiary system, those belonging to - its latter formations exceed in size those of its earlier ones. -

-

- Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed, by far the largest is the - Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy - feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the - tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized - modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen's authority, that Sperm Whales - have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture. -

-

- But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an - advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it - not be, that since Adam's time they have degenerated? -

-

- Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such - gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists generally. For Pliny tells - us of Whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others - which measured eight hundred feet in length—Rope Walks and Thames - Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke's - naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting - down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one - hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And - Lacepede, the French naturalist, in his elaborate history of whales, in - the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one - hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was - published so late as A.D. 1825. -

-

- But will any whaleman believe these stories? No. The whale of to-day is as - big as his ancestors in Pliny's time. And if ever I go where Pliny is, I, - a whaleman (more than he was), will make bold to tell him so. Because I - cannot understand how it is, that while the Egyptian mummies that were - buried thousands of years before even Pliny was born, do not measure so - much in their coffins as a modern Kentuckian in his socks; and while the - cattle and other animals sculptured on the oldest Egyptian and Nineveh - tablets, by the relative proportions in which they are drawn, just as - plainly prove that the high-bred, stall-fed, prize cattle of Smithfield, - not only equal, but far exceed in magnitude the fattest of Pharaoh's fat - kine; in the face of all this, I will not admit that of all animals the - whale alone should have degenerated. -

-

- But still another inquiry remains; one often agitated by the more - recondite Nantucketers. Whether owing to the almost omniscient look-outs - at the mast-heads of the whaleships, now penetrating even through - Behring's straits, and into the remotest secret drawers and lockers of the - world; and the thousand harpoons and lances darted along all continental - coasts; the moot point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a - chase, and so remorseless a havoc; whether he must not at last be - exterminated from the waters, and the last whale, like the last man, smoke - his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff. -

-

- Comparing the humped herds of whales with the humped herds of buffalo, - which, not forty years ago, overspread by tens of thousands the prairies - of Illinois and Missouri, and shook their iron manes and scowled with - their thunder-clotted brows upon the sites of populous river-capitals, - where now the polite broker sells you land at a dollar an inch; in such a - comparison an irresistible argument would seem furnished, to show that the - hunted whale cannot now escape speedy extinction. -

-

- But you must look at this matter in every light. Though so short a period - ago—not a good lifetime—the census of the buffalo in Illinois - exceeded the census of men now in London, and though at the present day - not one horn or hoof of them remains in all that region; and though the - cause of this wondrous extermination was the spear of man; yet the far - different nature of the whale-hunt peremptorily forbids so inglorious an - end to the Leviathan. Forty men in one ship hunting the Sperm Whales for - forty-eight months think they have done extremely well, and thank God, if - at last they carry home the oil of forty fish. Whereas, in the days of the - old Canadian and Indian hunters and trappers of the West, when the far - west (in whose sunset suns still rise) was a wilderness and a virgin, the - same number of moccasined men, for the same number of months, mounted on - horse instead of sailing in ships, would have slain not forty, but forty - thousand and more buffaloes; a fact that, if need were, could be - statistically stated. -

-

- Nor, considered aright, does it seem any argument in favour of the gradual - extinction of the Sperm Whale, for example, that in former years (the - latter part of the last century, say) these Leviathans, in small pods, - were encountered much oftener than at present, and, in consequence, the - voyages were not so prolonged, and were also much more remunerative. - Because, as has been elsewhere noticed, those whales, influenced by some - views to safety, now swim the seas in immense caravans, so that to a large - degree the scattered solitaries, yokes, and pods, and schools of other - days are now aggregated into vast but widely separated, unfrequent armies. - That is all. And equally fallacious seems the conceit, that because the - so-called whale-bone whales no longer haunt many grounds in former years - abounding with them, hence that species also is declining. For they are - only being driven from promontory to cape; and if one coast is no longer - enlivened with their jets, then, be sure, some other and remoter strand - has been very recently startled by the unfamiliar spectacle. -

-

- Furthermore: concerning these last mentioned Leviathans, they have two - firm fortresses, which, in all human probability, will for ever remain - impregnable. And as upon the invasion of their valleys, the frosty Swiss - have retreated to their mountains; so, hunted from the savannas and glades - of the middle seas, the whale-bone whales can at last resort to their - Polar citadels, and diving under the ultimate glassy barriers and walls - there, come up among icy fields and floes; and in a charmed circle of - everlasting December, bid defiance to all pursuit from man. -

-

- But as perhaps fifty of these whale-bone whales are harpooned for one - cachalot, some philosophers of the forecastle have concluded that this - positive havoc has already very seriously diminished their battalions. But - though for some time past a number of these whales, not less than 13,000, - have been annually slain on the nor'-west coast by the Americans alone; - yet there are considerations which render even this circumstance of little - or no account as an opposing argument in this matter. -

-

- Natural as it is to be somewhat incredulous concerning the populousness of - the more enormous creatures of the globe, yet what shall we say to Harto, - the historian of Goa, when he tells us that at one hunting the King of - Siam took 4,000 elephants; that in those regions elephants are numerous as - droves of cattle in the temperate climes. And there seems no reason to - doubt that if these elephants, which have now been hunted for thousands of - years, by Semiramis, by Porus, by Hannibal, and by all the successive - monarchs of the East—if they still survive there in great numbers, - much more may the great whale outlast all hunting, since he has a pasture - to expatiate in, which is precisely twice as large as all Asia, both - Americas, Europe and Africa, New Holland, and all the Isles of the sea - combined. -

-

- Moreover: we are to consider, that from the presumed great longevity of - whales, their probably attaining the age of a century and more, therefore - at any one period of time, several distinct adult generations must be - contemporary. And what that is, we may soon gain some idea of, by - imagining all the grave-yards, cemeteries, and family vaults of creation - yielding up the live bodies of all the men, women, and children who were - alive seventy-five years ago; and adding this countless host to the - present human population of the globe. -

-

- Wherefore, for all these things, we account the whale immortal in his - species, however perishable in his individuality. He swam the seas before - the continents broke water; he once swam over the site of the Tuileries, - and Windsor Castle, and the Kremlin. In Noah's flood he despised Noah's - Ark; and if ever the world is to be again flooded, like the Netherlands, - to kill off its rats, then the eternal whale will still survive, and - rearing upon the topmost crest of the equatorial flood, spout his frothed - defiance to the skies. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 106. Ahab's Leg. -

-

- The precipitating manner in which Captain Ahab had quitted the Samuel - Enderby of London, had not been unattended with some small violence to his - own person. He had lighted with such energy upon a thwart of his boat that - his ivory leg had received a half-splintering shock. And when after - gaining his own deck, and his own pivot-hole there, he so vehemently - wheeled round with an urgent command to the steersman (it was, as ever, - something about his not steering inflexibly enough); then, the already - shaken ivory received such an additional twist and wrench, that though it - still remained entire, and to all appearances lusty, yet Ahab did not deem - it entirely trustworthy. -

-

- And, indeed, it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his - pervading, mad recklessness, Ahab did at times give careful heed to the - condition of that dead bone upon which he partly stood. For it had not - been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had - been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some - unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb - having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and - all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the - agonizing wound was entirely cured. -

-

- Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind, that all the - anguish of that then present suffering was but the direct issue of a - former woe; and he too plainly seemed to see, that as the most poisonous - reptile of the marsh perpetuates his kind as inevitably as the sweetest - songster of the grove; so, equally with every felicity, all miserable - events do naturally beget their like. Yea, more than equally, thought - Ahab; since both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the - ancestry and posterity of Joy. For, not to hint of this: that it is an - inference from certain canonic teachings, that while some natural - enjoyments here shall have no children born to them for the other world, - but, on the contrary, shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all - hell's despair; whereas, some guilty mortal miseries shall still fertilely - beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny of griefs beyond the - grave; not at all to hint of this, there still seems an inequality in the - deeper analysis of the thing. For, thought Ahab, while even the highest - earthly felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking in - them, but, at bottom, all heartwoes, a mystic significance, and, in some - men, an archangelic grandeur; so do their diligent tracings-out not belie - the obvious deduction. To trail the genealogies of these high mortal - miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the - gods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and soft - cymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that the - gods themselves are not for ever glad. The ineffaceable, sad birth-mark in - the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the signers. -

-

- Unwittingly here a secret has been divulged, which perhaps might more - properly, in set way, have been disclosed before. With many other - particulars concerning Ahab, always had it remained a mystery to some, why - it was, that for a certain period, both before and after the sailing of - the Pequod, he had hidden himself away with such Grand-Lama-like - exclusiveness; and, for that one interval, sought speechless refuge, as it - were, among the marble senate of the dead. Captain Peleg's bruited reason - for this thing appeared by no means adequate; though, indeed, as touching - all Ahab's deeper part, every revelation partook more of significant - darkness than of explanatory light. But, in the end, it all came out; this - one matter did, at least. That direful mishap was at the bottom of his - temporary recluseness. And not only this, but to that ever-contracting, - dropping circle ashore, who, for any reason, possessed the privilege of a - less banned approach to him; to that timid circle the above hinted - casualty—remaining, as it did, moodily unaccounted for by Ahab—invested - itself with terrors, not entirely underived from the land of spirits and - of wails. So that, through their zeal for him, they had all conspired, so - far as in them lay, to muffle up the knowledge of this thing from others; - and hence it was, that not till a considerable interval had elapsed, did - it transpire upon the Pequod's decks. -

-

- But be all this as it may; let the unseen, ambiguous synod in the air, or - the vindictive princes and potentates of fire, have to do or not with - earthly Ahab, yet, in this present matter of his leg, he took plain - practical procedures;—he called the carpenter. -

-

- And when that functionary appeared before him, he bade him without delay - set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him supplied - with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which had thus - far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful selection of - the stoutest, clearest-grained stuff might be secured. This done, the - carpenter received orders to have the leg completed that night; and to - provide all the fittings for it, independent of those pertaining to the - distrusted one in use. Moreover, the ship's forge was ordered to be - hoisted out of its temporary idleness in the hold; and, to accelerate the - affair, the blacksmith was commanded to proceed at once to the forging of - whatever iron contrivances might be needed. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 107. The Carpenter. -

-

- Seat thyself sultanically among the moons of Saturn, and take high - abstracted man alone; and he seems a wonder, a grandeur, and a woe. But - from the same point, take mankind in mass, and for the most part, they - seem a mob of unnecessary duplicates, both contemporary and hereditary. - But most humble though he was, and far from furnishing an example of the - high, humane abstraction; the Pequod's carpenter was no duplicate; hence, - he now comes in person on this stage. -

-

- Like all sea-going ship carpenters, and more especially those belonging to - whaling vessels, he was, to a certain off-handed, practical extent, alike - experienced in numerous trades and callings collateral to his own; the - carpenter's pursuit being the ancient and outbranching trunk of all those - numerous handicrafts which more or less have to do with wood as an - auxiliary material. But, besides the application to him of the generic - remark above, this carpenter of the Pequod was singularly efficient in - those thousand nameless mechanical emergencies continually recurring in a - large ship, upon a three or four years' voyage, in uncivilized and - far-distant seas. For not to speak of his readiness in ordinary duties:—repairing - stove boats, sprung spars, reforming the shape of clumsy-bladed oars, - inserting bull's eyes in the deck, or new tree-nails in the side planks, - and other miscellaneous matters more directly pertaining to his special - business; he was moreover unhesitatingly expert in all manner of - conflicting aptitudes, both useful and capricious. -

-

- The one grand stage where he enacted all his various parts so manifold, - was his vice-bench; a long rude ponderous table furnished with several - vices, of different sizes, and both of iron and of wood. At all times - except when whales were alongside, this bench was securely lashed - athwartships against the rear of the Try-works. -

-

- A belaying pin is found too large to be easily inserted into its hole: the - carpenter claps it into one of his ever-ready vices, and straightway files - it smaller. A lost land-bird of strange plumage strays on board, and is - made a captive: out of clean shaved rods of right-whale bone, and - cross-beams of sperm whale ivory, the carpenter makes a pagoda-looking - cage for it. An oarsman sprains his wrist: the carpenter concocts a - soothing lotion. Stubb longed for vermillion stars to be painted upon the - blade of his every oar; screwing each oar in his big vice of wood, the - carpenter symmetrically supplies the constellation. A sailor takes a fancy - to wear shark-bone ear-rings: the carpenter drills his ears. Another has - the toothache: the carpenter out pincers, and clapping one hand upon his - bench bids him be seated there; but the poor fellow unmanageably winces - under the unconcluded operation; whirling round the handle of his wooden - vice, the carpenter signs him to clap his jaw in that, if he would have - him draw the tooth. -

-

- Thus, this carpenter was prepared at all points, and alike indifferent and - without respect in all. Teeth he accounted bits of ivory; heads he deemed - but top-blocks; men themselves he lightly held for capstans. But while now - upon so wide a field thus variously accomplished and with such liveliness - of expertness in him, too; all this would seem to argue some uncommon - vivacity of intelligence. But not precisely so. For nothing was this man - more remarkable, than for a certain impersonal stolidity as it were; - impersonal, I say; for it so shaded off into the surrounding infinite of - things, that it seemed one with the general stolidity discernible in the - whole visible world; which while pauselessly active in uncounted modes, - still eternally holds its peace, and ignores you, though you dig - foundations for cathedrals. Yet was this half-horrible stolidity in him, - involving, too, as it appeared, an all-ramifying heartlessness;—yet - was it oddly dashed at times, with an old, crutch-like, antediluvian, - wheezing humorousness, not unstreaked now and then with a certain grizzled - wittiness; such as might have served to pass the time during the midnight - watch on the bearded forecastle of Noah's ark. Was it that this old - carpenter had been a life-long wanderer, whose much rolling, to and fro, - not only had gathered no moss; but what is more, had rubbed off whatever - small outward clingings might have originally pertained to him? He was a - stript abstract; an unfractioned integral; uncompromised as a new-born - babe; living without premeditated reference to this world or the next. You - might almost say, that this strange uncompromisedness in him involved a - sort of unintelligence; for in his numerous trades, he did not seem to - work so much by reason or by instinct, or simply because he had been - tutored to it, or by any intermixture of all these, even or uneven; but - merely by a kind of deaf and dumb, spontaneous literal process. He was a - pure manipulator; his brain, if he had ever had one, must have early oozed - along into the muscles of his fingers. He was like one of those - unreasoning but still highly useful, MULTUM IN PARVO, Sheffield - contrivances, assuming the exterior—though a little swelled—of - a common pocket knife; but containing, not only blades of various sizes, - but also screw-drivers, cork-screws, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, - nail-filers, countersinkers. So, if his superiors wanted to use the - carpenter for a screw-driver, all they had to do was to open that part of - him, and the screw was fast: or if for tweezers, take him up by the legs, - and there they were. -

-

- Yet, as previously hinted, this omnitooled, open-and-shut carpenter, was, - after all, no mere machine of an automaton. If he did not have a common - soul in him, he had a subtle something that somehow anomalously did its - duty. What that was, whether essence of quicksilver, or a few drops of - hartshorn, there is no telling. But there it was; and there it had abided - for now some sixty years or more. And this it was, this same - unaccountable, cunning life-principle in him; this it was, that kept him a - great part of the time soliloquizing; but only like an unreasoning wheel, - which also hummingly soliloquizes; or rather, his body was a sentry-box - and this soliloquizer on guard there, and talking all the time to keep - himself awake. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter. -

-

- The Deck—First Night Watch. -

-

- (CARPENTER STANDING BEFORE HIS VICE-BENCH, AND BY THE LIGHT OF TWO - LANTERNS BUSILY FILING THE IVORY JOIST FOR THE LEG, WHICH JOIST IS FIRMLY - FIXED IN THE VICE. SLABS OF IVORY, LEATHER STRAPS, PADS, SCREWS, AND - VARIOUS TOOLS OF ALL SORTS LYING ABOUT THE BENCH. FORWARD, THE RED FLAME - OF THE FORGE IS SEEN, WHERE THE BLACKSMITH IS AT WORK.) -

-

- Drat the file, and drat the bone! That is hard which should be soft, and - that is soft which should be hard. So we go, who file old jaws and - shinbones. Let's try another. Aye, now, this works better (SNEEZES). - Halloa, this bone dust is (SNEEZES)—why it's (SNEEZES)—yes - it's (SNEEZES)—bless my soul, it won't let me speak! This is what an - old fellow gets now for working in dead lumber. Saw a live tree, and you - don't get this dust; amputate a live bone, and you don't get it (SNEEZES). - Come, come, you old Smut, there, bear a hand, and let's have that ferule - and buckle-screw; I'll be ready for them presently. Lucky now (SNEEZES) - there's no knee-joint to make; that might puzzle a little; but a mere - shinbone—why it's easy as making hop-poles; only I should like to - put a good finish on. Time, time; if I but only had the time, I could turn - him out as neat a leg now as ever (SNEEZES) scraped to a lady in a parlor. - Those buckskin legs and calves of legs I've seen in shop windows wouldn't - compare at all. They soak water, they do; and of course get rheumatic, and - have to be doctored (SNEEZES) with washes and lotions, just like live - legs. There; before I saw it off, now, I must call his old Mogulship, and - see whether the length will be all right; too short, if anything, I guess. - Ha! that's the heel; we are in luck; here he comes, or it's somebody else, - that's certain. -

-

- AHAB (ADVANCING) (DURING THE ENSUING SCENE, THE CARPENTER CONTINUES - SNEEZING AT TIMES) -

-

- Well, manmaker! -

-

- Just in time, sir. If the captain pleases, I will now mark the length. Let - me measure, sir. -

-

- Measured for a leg! good. Well, it's not the first time. About it! There; - keep thy finger on it. This is a cogent vice thou hast here, carpenter; - let me feel its grip once. So, so; it does pinch some. -

-

- Oh, sir, it will break bones—beware, beware! -

-

- No fear; I like a good grip; I like to feel something in this slippery - world that can hold, man. What's Prometheus about there?—the - blacksmith, I mean—what's he about? -

-

- He must be forging the buckle-screw, sir, now. -

-

- Right. It's a partnership; he supplies the muscle part. He makes a fierce - red flame there! -

-

- Aye, sir; he must have the white heat for this kind of fine work. -

-

- Um-m. So he must. I do deem it now a most meaning thing, that that old - Greek, Prometheus, who made men, they say, should have been a blacksmith, - and animated them with fire; for what's made in fire must properly belong - to fire; and so hell's probable. How the soot flies! This must be the - remainder the Greek made the Africans of. Carpenter, when he's through - with that buckle, tell him to forge a pair of steel shoulder-blades; - there's a pedlar aboard with a crushing pack. -

-

- Sir? -

-

- Hold; while Prometheus is about it, I'll order a complete man after a - desirable pattern. Imprimis, fifty feet high in his socks; then, chest - modelled after the Thames Tunnel; then, legs with roots to 'em, to stay in - one place; then, arms three feet through the wrist; no heart at all, brass - forehead, and about a quarter of an acre of fine brains; and let me see—shall - I order eyes to see outwards? No, but put a sky-light on top of his head - to illuminate inwards. There, take the order, and away. -

-

- Now, what's he speaking about, and who's he speaking to, I should like to - know? Shall I keep standing here? (ASIDE). -

-

- 'Tis but indifferent architecture to make a blind dome; here's one. No, - no, no; I must have a lantern. -

-

- Ho, ho! That's it, hey? Here are two, sir; one will serve my turn. -

-

- What art thou thrusting that thief-catcher into my face for, man? Thrusted - light is worse than presented pistols. -

-

- I thought, sir, that you spoke to carpenter. -

-

- Carpenter? why that's—but no;—a very tidy, and, I may say, an - extremely gentlemanlike sort of business thou art in here, carpenter;—or - would'st thou rather work in clay? -

-

- Sir?—Clay? clay, sir? That's mud; we leave clay to ditchers, sir. -

-

- The fellow's impious! What art thou sneezing about? -

-

- Bone is rather dusty, sir. -

-

- Take the hint, then; and when thou art dead, never bury thyself under - living people's noses. -

-

- Sir?—oh! ah!—I guess so;—yes—dear! -

-

- Look ye, carpenter, I dare say thou callest thyself a right good - workmanlike workman, eh? Well, then, will it speak thoroughly well for thy - work, if, when I come to mount this leg thou makest, I shall nevertheless - feel another leg in the same identical place with it; that is, carpenter, - my old lost leg; the flesh and blood one, I mean. Canst thou not drive - that old Adam away? -

-

- Truly, sir, I begin to understand somewhat now. Yes, I have heard - something curious on that score, sir; how that a dismasted man never - entirely loses the feeling of his old spar, but it will be still pricking - him at times. May I humbly ask if it be really so, sir? -

-

- It is, man. Look, put thy live leg here in the place where mine once was; - so, now, here is only one distinct leg to the eye, yet two to the soul. - Where thou feelest tingling life; there, exactly there, there to a hair, - do I. Is't a riddle? -

-

- I should humbly call it a poser, sir. -

-

- Hist, then. How dost thou know that some entire, living, thinking thing - may not be invisibly and uninterpenetratingly standing precisely where - thou now standest; aye, and standing there in thy spite? In thy most - solitary hours, then, dost thou not fear eavesdroppers? Hold, don't speak! - And if I still feel the smart of my crushed leg, though it be now so long - dissolved; then, why mayst not thou, carpenter, feel the fiery pains of - hell for ever, and without a body? Hah! -

-

- Good Lord! Truly, sir, if it comes to that, I must calculate over again; I - think I didn't carry a small figure, sir. -

-

- Look ye, pudding-heads should never grant premises.—How long before - the leg is done? -

-

- Perhaps an hour, sir. -

-

- Bungle away at it then, and bring it to me (TURNS TO GO). Oh, Life! Here I - am, proud as Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this blockhead for a - bone to stand on! Cursed be that mortal inter-indebtedness which will not - do away with ledgers. I would be free as air; and I'm down in the whole - world's books. I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the - wealthiest Praetorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the - world's); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with. By - heavens! I'll get a crucible, and into it, and dissolve myself down to one - small, compendious vertebra. So. -

-

- CARPENTER (RESUMING HIS WORK). -

-

- Well, well, well! Stubb knows him best of all, and Stubb always says he's - queer; says nothing but that one sufficient little word queer; he's queer, - says Stubb; he's queer—queer, queer; and keeps dinning it into Mr. - Starbuck all the time—queer—sir—queer, queer, very - queer. And here's his leg! Yes, now that I think of it, here's his - bedfellow! has a stick of whale's jaw-bone for a wife! And this is his - leg; he'll stand on this. What was that now about one leg standing in - three places, and all three places standing in one hell—how was - that? Oh! I don't wonder he looked so scornful at me! I'm a sort of - strange-thoughted sometimes, they say; but that's only haphazard-like. - Then, a short, little old body like me, should never undertake to wade out - into deep waters with tall, heron-built captains; the water chucks you - under the chin pretty quick, and there's a great cry for life-boats. And - here's the heron's leg! long and slim, sure enough! Now, for most folks - one pair of legs lasts a lifetime, and that must be because they use them - mercifully, as a tender-hearted old lady uses her roly-poly old - coach-horses. But Ahab; oh he's a hard driver. Look, driven one leg to - death, and spavined the other for life, and now wears out bone legs by the - cord. Halloa, there, you Smut! bear a hand there with those screws, and - let's finish it before the resurrection fellow comes a-calling with his - horn for all legs, true or false, as brewery-men go round collecting old - beer barrels, to fill 'em up again. What a leg this is! It looks like a - real live leg, filed down to nothing but the core; he'll be standing on - this to-morrow; he'll be taking altitudes on it. Halloa! I almost forgot - the little oval slate, smoothed ivory, where he figures up the latitude. - So, so; chisel, file, and sand-paper, now! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin. -

-

- According to usage they were pumping the ship next morning; and lo! no - inconsiderable oil came up with the water; the casks below must have - sprung a bad leak. Much concern was shown; and Starbuck went down into the - cabin to report this unfavourable affair.* -

-

- *In Sperm-whalemen with any considerable quantity of oil on board, it is a - regular semiweekly duty to conduct a hose into the hold, and drench the - casks with sea-water; which afterwards, at varying intervals, is removed - by the ship's pumps. Hereby the casks are sought to be kept damply tight; - while by the changed character of the withdrawn water, the mariners - readily detect any serious leakage in the precious cargo. -

-

- Now, from the South and West the Pequod was drawing nigh to Formosa and - the Bashee Isles, between which lies one of the tropical outlets from the - China waters into the Pacific. And so Starbuck found Ahab with a general - chart of the oriental archipelagoes spread before him; and another - separate one representing the long eastern coasts of the Japanese islands—Niphon, - Matsmai, and Sikoke. With his snow-white new ivory leg braced against the - screwed leg of his table, and with a long pruning-hook of a jack-knife in - his hand, the wondrous old man, with his back to the gangway door, was - wrinkling his brow, and tracing his old courses again. -

-

- "Who's there?" hearing the footstep at the door, but not turning round to - it. "On deck! Begone!" -

-

- "Captain Ahab mistakes; it is I. The oil in the hold is leaking, sir. We - must up Burtons and break out." -

-

- "Up Burtons and break out? Now that we are nearing Japan; heave-to here - for a week to tinker a parcel of old hoops?" -

-

- "Either do that, sir, or waste in one day more oil than we may make good - in a year. What we come twenty thousand miles to get is worth saving, - sir." -

-

- "So it is, so it is; if we get it." -

-

- "I was speaking of the oil in the hold, sir." -

-

- "And I was not speaking or thinking of that at all. Begone! Let it leak! - I'm all aleak myself. Aye! leaks in leaks! not only full of leaky casks, - but those leaky casks are in a leaky ship; and that's a far worse plight - than the Pequod's, man. Yet I don't stop to plug my leak; for who can find - it in the deep-loaded hull; or how hope to plug it, even if found, in this - life's howling gale? Starbuck! I'll not have the Burtons hoisted." -

-

- "What will the owners say, sir?" -

-

- "Let the owners stand on Nantucket beach and outyell the Typhoons. What - cares Ahab? Owners, owners? Thou art always prating to me, Starbuck, about - those miserly owners, as if the owners were my conscience. But look ye, - the only real owner of anything is its commander; and hark ye, my - conscience is in this ship's keel.—On deck!" -

-

- "Captain Ahab," said the reddening mate, moving further into the cabin, - with a daring so strangely respectful and cautious that it almost seemed - not only every way seeking to avoid the slightest outward manifestation of - itself, but within also seemed more than half distrustful of itself; "A - better man than I might well pass over in thee what he would quickly - enough resent in a younger man; aye, and in a happier, Captain Ahab." -

-

- "Devils! Dost thou then so much as dare to critically think of me?—On - deck!" -

-

- "Nay, sir, not yet; I do entreat. And I do dare, sir—to be - forbearing! Shall we not understand each other better than hitherto, - Captain Ahab?" -

-

- Ahab seized a loaded musket from the rack (forming part of most - South-Sea-men's cabin furniture), and pointing it towards Starbuck, - exclaimed: "There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain - that is lord over the Pequod.—On deck!" -

-

- For an instant in the flashing eyes of the mate, and his fiery cheeks, you - would have almost thought that he had really received the blaze of the - levelled tube. But, mastering his emotion, he half calmly rose, and as he - quitted the cabin, paused for an instant and said: "Thou hast outraged, - not insulted me, sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; - thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, - old man." -

-

- "He waxes brave, but nevertheless obeys; most careful bravery that!" - murmured Ahab, as Starbuck disappeared. "What's that he said—Ahab - beware of Ahab—there's something there!" Then unconsciously using - the musket for a staff, with an iron brow he paced to and fro in the - little cabin; but presently the thick plaits of his forehead relaxed, and - returning the gun to the rack, he went to the deck. -

-

- "Thou art but too good a fellow, Starbuck," he said lowly to the mate; - then raising his voice to the crew: "Furl the t'gallant-sails, and - close-reef the top-sails, fore and aft; back the main-yard; up Burton, and - break out in the main-hold." -

-

- It were perhaps vain to surmise exactly why it was, that as respecting - Starbuck, Ahab thus acted. It may have been a flash of honesty in him; or - mere prudential policy which, under the circumstance, imperiously forbade - the slightest symptom of open disaffection, however transient, in the - important chief officer of his ship. However it was, his orders were - executed; and the Burtons were hoisted. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 110. Queequeg in His Coffin. -

-

- Upon searching, it was found that the casks last struck into the hold were - perfectly sound, and that the leak must be further off. So, it being calm - weather, they broke out deeper and deeper, disturbing the slumbers of the - huge ground-tier butts; and from that black midnight sending those - gigantic moles into the daylight above. So deep did they go; and so - ancient, and corroded, and weedy the aspect of the lowermost puncheons, - that you almost looked next for some mouldy corner-stone cask containing - coins of Captain Noah, with copies of the posted placards, vainly warning - the infatuated old world from the flood. Tierce after tierce, too, of - water, and bread, and beef, and shooks of staves, and iron bundles of - hoops, were hoisted out, till at last the piled decks were hard to get - about; and the hollow hull echoed under foot, as if you were treading over - empty catacombs, and reeled and rolled in the sea like an air-freighted - demijohn. Top-heavy was the ship as a dinnerless student with all - Aristotle in his head. Well was it that the Typhoons did not visit them - then. -

-

- Now, at this time it was that my poor pagan companion, and fast - bosom-friend, Queequeg, was seized with a fever, which brought him nigh to - his endless end. -

-

- Be it said, that in this vocation of whaling, sinecures are unknown; - dignity and danger go hand in hand; till you get to be Captain, the higher - you rise the harder you toil. So with poor Queequeg, who, as harpooneer, - must not only face all the rage of the living whale, but—as we have - elsewhere seen—mount his dead back in a rolling sea; and finally - descend into the gloom of the hold, and bitterly sweating all day in that - subterraneous confinement, resolutely manhandle the clumsiest casks and - see to their stowage. To be short, among whalemen, the harpooneers are the - holders, so called. -

-

- Poor Queequeg! when the ship was about half disembowelled, you should have - stooped over the hatchway, and peered down upon him there; where, stripped - to his woollen drawers, the tattooed savage was crawling about amid that - dampness and slime, like a green spotted lizard at the bottom of a well. - And a well, or an ice-house, it somehow proved to him, poor pagan; where, - strange to say, for all the heat of his sweatings, he caught a terrible - chill which lapsed into a fever; and at last, after some days' suffering, - laid him in his hammock, close to the very sill of the door of death. How - he wasted and wasted away in those few long-lingering days, till there - seemed but little left of him but his frame and tattooing. But as all else - in him thinned, and his cheek-bones grew sharper, his eyes, nevertheless, - seemed growing fuller and fuller; they became of a strange softness of - lustre; and mildly but deeply looked out at you there from his sickness, a - wondrous testimony to that immortal health in him which could not die, or - be weakened. And like circles on the water, which, as they grow fainter, - expand; so his eyes seemed rounding and rounding, like the rings of - Eternity. An awe that cannot be named would steal over you as you sat by - the side of this waning savage, and saw as strange things in his face, as - any beheld who were bystanders when Zoroaster died. For whatever is truly - wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books. And - the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all - with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could - adequately tell. So that—let us say it again—no dying Chaldee - or Greek had higher and holier thoughts than those, whose mysterious - shades you saw creeping over the face of poor Queequeg, as he quietly lay - in his swaying hammock, and the rolling sea seemed gently rocking him to - his final rest, and the ocean's invisible flood-tide lifted him higher and - higher towards his destined heaven. -

-

- Not a man of the crew but gave him up; and, as for Queequeg himself, what - he thought of his case was forcibly shown by a curious favour he asked. He - called one to him in the grey morning watch, when the day was just - breaking, and taking his hand, said that while in Nantucket he had chanced - to see certain little canoes of dark wood, like the rich war-wood of his - native isle; and upon inquiry, he had learned that all whalemen who died - in Nantucket, were laid in those same dark canoes, and that the fancy of - being so laid had much pleased him; for it was not unlike the custom of - his own race, who, after embalming a dead warrior, stretched him out in - his canoe, and so left him to be floated away to the starry archipelagoes; - for not only do they believe that the stars are isles, but that far beyond - all visible horizons, their own mild, uncontinented seas, interflow with - the blue heavens; and so form the white breakers of the milky way. He - added, that he shuddered at the thought of being buried in his hammock, - according to the usual sea-custom, tossed like something vile to the - death-devouring sharks. No: he desired a canoe like those of Nantucket, - all the more congenial to him, being a whaleman, that like a whale-boat - these coffin-canoes were without a keel; though that involved but - uncertain steering, and much lee-way adown the dim ages. -

-

- Now, when this strange circumstance was made known aft, the carpenter was - at once commanded to do Queequeg's bidding, whatever it might include. - There was some heathenish, coffin-coloured old lumber aboard, which, upon - a long previous voyage, had been cut from the aboriginal groves of the - Lackaday islands, and from these dark planks the coffin was recommended to - be made. No sooner was the carpenter apprised of the order, than taking - his rule, he forthwith with all the indifferent promptitude of his - character, proceeded into the forecastle and took Queequeg's measure with - great accuracy, regularly chalking Queequeg's person as he shifted the - rule. -

-

- "Ah! poor fellow! he'll have to die now," ejaculated the Long Island - sailor. -

-

- Going to his vice-bench, the carpenter for convenience sake and general - reference, now transferringly measured on it the exact length the coffin - was to be, and then made the transfer permanent by cutting two notches at - its extremities. This done, he marshalled the planks and his tools, and to - work. -

-

- When the last nail was driven, and the lid duly planed and fitted, he - lightly shouldered the coffin and went forward with it, inquiring whether - they were ready for it yet in that direction. -

-

- Overhearing the indignant but half-humorous cries with which the people on - deck began to drive the coffin away, Queequeg, to every one's - consternation, commanded that the thing should be instantly brought to - him, nor was there any denying him; seeing that, of all mortals, some - dying men are the most tyrannical; and certainly, since they will shortly - trouble us so little for evermore, the poor fellows ought to be indulged. -

-

- Leaning over in his hammock, Queequeg long regarded the coffin with an - attentive eye. He then called for his harpoon, had the wooden stock drawn - from it, and then had the iron part placed in the coffin along with one of - the paddles of his boat. All by his own request, also, biscuits were then - ranged round the sides within: a flask of fresh water was placed at the - head, and a small bag of woody earth scraped up in the hold at the foot; - and a piece of sail-cloth being rolled up for a pillow, Queequeg now - entreated to be lifted into his final bed, that he might make trial of its - comforts, if any it had. He lay without moving a few minutes, then told - one to go to his bag and bring out his little god, Yojo. Then crossing his - arms on his breast with Yojo between, he called for the coffin lid (hatch - he called it) to be placed over him. The head part turned over with a - leather hinge, and there lay Queequeg in his coffin with little but his - composed countenance in view. "Rarmai" (it will do; it is easy), he - murmured at last, and signed to be replaced in his hammock. -

-

- But ere this was done, Pip, who had been slily hovering near by all this - while, drew nigh to him where he lay, and with soft sobbings, took him by - the hand; in the other, holding his tambourine. -

-

- "Poor rover! will ye never have done with all this weary roving? where go - ye now? But if the currents carry ye to those sweet Antilles where the - beaches are only beat with water-lilies, will ye do one little errand for - me? Seek out one Pip, who's now been missing long: I think he's in those - far Antilles. If ye find him, then comfort him; for he must be very sad; - for look! he's left his tambourine behind;—I found it. Rig-a-dig, - dig, dig! Now, Queequeg, die; and I'll beat ye your dying march." -

-

- "I have heard," murmured Starbuck, gazing down the scuttle, "that in - violent fevers, men, all ignorance, have talked in ancient tongues; and - that when the mystery is probed, it turns out always that in their wholly - forgotten childhood those ancient tongues had been really spoken in their - hearing by some lofty scholars. So, to my fond faith, poor Pip, in this - strange sweetness of his lunacy, brings heavenly vouchers of all our - heavenly homes. Where learned he that, but there?—Hark! he speaks - again: but more wildly now." -

-

- "Form two and two! Let's make a General of him! Ho, where's his harpoon? - Lay it across here.—Rig-a-dig, dig, dig! huzza! Oh for a game cock - now to sit upon his head and crow! Queequeg dies game!—mind ye that; - Queequeg dies game!—take ye good heed of that; Queequeg dies game! I - say; game, game, game! but base little Pip, he died a coward; died all - a'shiver;—out upon Pip! Hark ye; if ye find Pip, tell all the - Antilles he's a runaway; a coward, a coward, a coward! Tell them he jumped - from a whale-boat! I'd never beat my tambourine over base Pip, and hail - him General, if he were once more dying here. No, no! shame upon all - cowards—shame upon them! Let 'em go drown like Pip, that jumped from - a whale-boat. Shame! shame!" -

-

- During all this, Queequeg lay with closed eyes, as if in a dream. Pip was - led away, and the sick man was replaced in his hammock. -

-

- But now that he had apparently made every preparation for death; now that - his coffin was proved a good fit, Queequeg suddenly rallied; soon there - seemed no need of the carpenter's box: and thereupon, when some expressed - their delighted surprise, he, in substance, said, that the cause of his - sudden convalescence was this;—at a critical moment, he had just - recalled a little duty ashore, which he was leaving undone; and therefore - had changed his mind about dying: he could not die yet, he averred. They - asked him, then, whether to live or die was a matter of his own sovereign - will and pleasure. He answered, certainly. In a word, it was Queequeg's - conceit, that if a man made up his mind to live, mere sickness could not - kill him: nothing but a whale, or a gale, or some violent, ungovernable, - unintelligent destroyer of that sort. -

-

- Now, there is this noteworthy difference between savage and civilized; - that while a sick, civilized man may be six months convalescing, generally - speaking, a sick savage is almost half-well again in a day. So, in good - time my Queequeg gained strength; and at length after sitting on the - windlass for a few indolent days (but eating with a vigorous appetite) he - suddenly leaped to his feet, threw out his arms and legs, gave himself a - good stretching, yawned a little bit, and then springing into the head of - his hoisted boat, and poising a harpoon, pronounced himself fit for a - fight. -

-

- With a wild whimsiness, he now used his coffin for a sea-chest; and - emptying into it his canvas bag of clothes, set them in order there. Many - spare hours he spent, in carving the lid with all manner of grotesque - figures and drawings; and it seemed that hereby he was striving, in his - rude way, to copy parts of the twisted tattooing on his body. And this - tattooing had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, - who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete - theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of - attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to - unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even - himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these - mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the - living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the - last. And this thought it must have been which suggested to Ahab that wild - exclamation of his, when one morning turning away from surveying poor - Queequeg—"Oh, devilish tantalization of the gods!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 111. The Pacific. -

-

- When gliding by the Bashee isles we emerged at last upon the great South - Sea; were it not for other things, I could have greeted my dear Pacific - with uncounted thanks, for now the long supplication of my youth was - answered; that serene ocean rolled eastwards from me a thousand leagues of - blue. -

-

- There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently - awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath; like those - fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. - John. And meet it is, that over these sea-pastures, wide-rolling watery - prairies and Potters' Fields of all four continents, the waves should rise - and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades - and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call - lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in - their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness. -

-

- To any meditative Magian rover, this serene Pacific, once beheld, must - ever after be the sea of his adoption. It rolls the midmost waters of the - world, the Indian ocean and Atlantic being but its arms. The same waves - wash the moles of the new-built Californian towns, but yesterday planted - by the recentest race of men, and lave the faded but still gorgeous skirts - of Asiatic lands, older than Abraham; while all between float milky-ways - of coral isles, and low-lying, endless, unknown Archipelagoes, and - impenetrable Japans. Thus this mysterious, divine Pacific zones the - world's whole bulk about; makes all coasts one bay to it; seems the - tide-beating heart of earth. Lifted by those eternal swells, you needs - must own the seductive god, bowing your head to Pan. -

-

- But few thoughts of Pan stirred Ahab's brain, as standing like an iron - statue at his accustomed place beside the mizen rigging, with one nostril - he unthinkingly snuffed the sugary musk from the Bashee isles (in whose - sweet woods mild lovers must be walking), and with the other consciously - inhaled the salt breath of the new found sea; that sea in which the hated - White Whale must even then be swimming. Launched at length upon these - almost final waters, and gliding towards the Japanese cruising-ground, the - old man's purpose intensified itself. His firm lips met like the lips of a - vice; the Delta of his forehead's veins swelled like overladen brooks; in - his very sleep, his ringing cry ran through the vaulted hull, "Stern all! - the White Whale spouts thick blood!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 112. The Blacksmith. -

-

- Availing himself of the mild, summer-cool weather that now reigned in - these latitudes, and in preparation for the peculiarly active pursuits - shortly to be anticipated, Perth, the begrimed, blistered old blacksmith, - had not removed his portable forge to the hold again, after concluding his - contributory work for Ahab's leg, but still retained it on deck, fast - lashed to ringbolts by the foremast; being now almost incessantly invoked - by the headsmen, and harpooneers, and bowsmen to do some little job for - them; altering, or repairing, or new shaping their various weapons and - boat furniture. Often he would be surrounded by an eager circle, all - waiting to be served; holding boat-spades, pike-heads, harpoons, and - lances, and jealously watching his every sooty movement, as he toiled. - Nevertheless, this old man's was a patient hammer wielded by a patient - arm. No murmur, no impatience, no petulance did come from him. Silent, - slow, and solemn; bowing over still further his chronically broken back, - he toiled away, as if toil were life itself, and the heavy beating of his - hammer the heavy beating of his heart. And so it was.—Most - miserable! -

-

- A peculiar walk in this old man, a certain slight but painful appearing - yawing in his gait, had at an early period of the voyage excited the - curiosity of the mariners. And to the importunity of their persisted - questionings he had finally given in; and so it came to pass that every - one now knew the shameful story of his wretched fate. -

-

- Belated, and not innocently, one bitter winter's midnight, on the road - running between two country towns, the blacksmith half-stupidly felt the - deadly numbness stealing over him, and sought refuge in a leaning, - dilapidated barn. The issue was, the loss of the extremities of both feet. - Out of this revelation, part by part, at last came out the four acts of - the gladness, and the one long, and as yet uncatastrophied fifth act of - the grief of his life's drama. -

-

- He was an old man, who, at the age of nearly sixty, had postponedly - encountered that thing in sorrow's technicals called ruin. He had been an - artisan of famed excellence, and with plenty to do; owned a house and - garden; embraced a youthful, daughter-like, loving wife, and three blithe, - ruddy children; every Sunday went to a cheerful-looking church, planted in - a grove. But one night, under cover of darkness, and further concealed in - a most cunning disguisement, a desperate burglar slid into his happy home, - and robbed them all of everything. And darker yet to tell, the blacksmith - himself did ignorantly conduct this burglar into his family's heart. It - was the Bottle Conjuror! Upon the opening of that fatal cork, forth flew - the fiend, and shrivelled up his home. Now, for prudent, most wise, and - economic reasons, the blacksmith's shop was in the basement of his - dwelling, but with a separate entrance to it; so that always had the young - and loving healthy wife listened with no unhappy nervousness, but with - vigorous pleasure, to the stout ringing of her young-armed old husband's - hammer; whose reverberations, muffled by passing through the floors and - walls, came up to her, not unsweetly, in her nursery; and so, to stout - Labor's iron lullaby, the blacksmith's infants were rocked to slumber. -

-

- Oh, woe on woe! Oh, Death, why canst thou not sometimes be timely? Hadst - thou taken this old blacksmith to thyself ere his full ruin came upon him, - then had the young widow had a delicious grief, and her orphans a truly - venerable, legendary sire to dream of in their after years; and all of - them a care-killing competency. But Death plucked down some virtuous elder - brother, on whose whistling daily toil solely hung the responsibilities of - some other family, and left the worse than useless old man standing, till - the hideous rot of life should make him easier to harvest. -

-

- Why tell the whole? The blows of the basement hammer every day grew more - and more between; and each blow every day grew fainter than the last; the - wife sat frozen at the window, with tearless eyes, glitteringly gazing - into the weeping faces of her children; the bellows fell; the forge choked - up with cinders; the house was sold; the mother dived down into the long - church-yard grass; her children twice followed her thither; and the - houseless, familyless old man staggered off a vagabond in crape; his every - woe unreverenced; his grey head a scorn to flaxen curls! -

-

- Death seems the only desirable sequel for a career like this; but Death is - only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the - first salutation to the possibilities of the immense Remote, the Wild, the - Watery, the Unshored; therefore, to the death-longing eyes of such men, - who still have left in them some interior compunctions against suicide, - does the all-contributed and all-receptive ocean alluringly spread forth - his whole plain of unimaginable, taking terrors, and wonderful, new-life - adventures; and from the hearts of infinite Pacifics, the thousand - mermaids sing to them—"Come hither, broken-hearted; here is another - life without the guilt of intermediate death; here are wonders - supernatural, without dying for them. Come hither! bury thyself in a life - which, to your now equally abhorred and abhorring, landed world, is more - oblivious than death. Come hither! put up THY gravestone, too, within the - churchyard, and come hither, till we marry thee!" -

-

- Hearkening to these voices, East and West, by early sunrise, and by fall - of eve, the blacksmith's soul responded, Aye, I come! And so Perth went - a-whaling. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 113. The Forge. -

-

- With matted beard, and swathed in a bristling shark-skin apron, about - mid-day, Perth was standing between his forge and anvil, the latter placed - upon an iron-wood log, with one hand holding a pike-head in the coals, and - with the other at his forge's lungs, when Captain Ahab came along, - carrying in his hand a small rusty-looking leathern bag. While yet a - little distance from the forge, moody Ahab paused; till at last, Perth, - withdrawing his iron from the fire, began hammering it upon the anvil—the - red mass sending off the sparks in thick hovering flights, some of which - flew close to Ahab. -

-

- "Are these thy Mother Carey's chickens, Perth? they are always flying in - thy wake; birds of good omen, too, but not to all;—look here, they - burn; but thou—thou liv'st among them without a scorch." -

-

- "Because I am scorched all over, Captain Ahab," answered Perth, resting - for a moment on his hammer; "I am past scorching; not easily can'st thou - scorch a scar." -

-

- "Well, well; no more. Thy shrunk voice sounds too calmly, sanely woeful to - me. In no Paradise myself, I am impatient of all misery in others that is - not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? - How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, - that thou can'st not go mad?—What wert thou making there?" -

-

- "Welding an old pike-head, sir; there were seams and dents in it." -

-

- "And can'st thou make it all smooth again, blacksmith, after such hard - usage as it had?" -

-

- "I think so, sir." -

-

- "And I suppose thou can'st smoothe almost any seams and dents; never mind - how hard the metal, blacksmith?" -

-

- "Aye, sir, I think I can; all seams and dents but one." -

-

- "Look ye here, then," cried Ahab, passionately advancing, and leaning with - both hands on Perth's shoulders; "look ye here—HERE—can ye - smoothe out a seam like this, blacksmith," sweeping one hand across his - ribbed brow; "if thou could'st, blacksmith, glad enough would I lay my - head upon thy anvil, and feel thy heaviest hammer between my eyes. Answer! - Can'st thou smoothe this seam?" -

-

- "Oh! that is the one, sir! Said I not all seams and dents but one?" -

-

- "Aye, blacksmith, it is the one; aye, man, it is unsmoothable; for though - thou only see'st it here in my flesh, it has worked down into the bone of - my skull—THAT is all wrinkles! But, away with child's play; no more - gaffs and pikes to-day. Look ye here!" jingling the leathern bag, as if it - were full of gold coins. "I, too, want a harpoon made; one that a thousand - yoke of fiends could not part, Perth; something that will stick in a whale - like his own fin-bone. There's the stuff," flinging the pouch upon the - anvil. "Look ye, blacksmith, these are the gathered nail-stubbs of the - steel shoes of racing horses." -

-

- "Horse-shoe stubbs, sir? Why, Captain Ahab, thou hast here, then, the best - and stubbornest stuff we blacksmiths ever work." -

-

- "I know it, old man; these stubbs will weld together like glue from the - melted bones of murderers. Quick! forge me the harpoon. And forge me - first, twelve rods for its shank; then wind, and twist, and hammer these - twelve together like the yarns and strands of a tow-line. Quick! I'll blow - the fire." -

-

- When at last the twelve rods were made, Ahab tried them, one by one, by - spiralling them, with his own hand, round a long, heavy iron bolt. "A - flaw!" rejecting the last one. "Work that over again, Perth." -

-

- This done, Perth was about to begin welding the twelve into one, when Ahab - stayed his hand, and said he would weld his own iron. As, then, with - regular, gasping hems, he hammered on the anvil, Perth passing to him the - glowing rods, one after the other, and the hard pressed forge shooting up - its intense straight flame, the Parsee passed silently, and bowing over - his head towards the fire, seemed invoking some curse or some blessing on - the toil. But, as Ahab looked up, he slid aside. -

-

- "What's that bunch of lucifers dodging about there for?" muttered Stubb, - looking on from the forecastle. "That Parsee smells fire like a fusee; and - smells of it himself, like a hot musket's powder-pan." -

-

- At last the shank, in one complete rod, received its final heat; and as - Perth, to temper it, plunged it all hissing into the cask of water near - by, the scalding steam shot up into Ahab's bent face. -

-

- "Would'st thou brand me, Perth?" wincing for a moment with the pain; "have - I been but forging my own branding-iron, then?" -

-

- "Pray God, not that; yet I fear something, Captain Ahab. Is not this - harpoon for the White Whale?" -

-

- "For the white fiend! But now for the barbs; thou must make them thyself, - man. Here are my razors—the best of steel; here, and make the barbs - sharp as the needle-sleet of the Icy Sea." -

-

- For a moment, the old blacksmith eyed the razors as though he would fain - not use them. -

-

- "Take them, man, I have no need for them; for I now neither shave, sup, - nor pray till—but here—to work!" -

-

- Fashioned at last into an arrowy shape, and welded by Perth to the shank, - the steel soon pointed the end of the iron; and as the blacksmith was - about giving the barbs their final heat, prior to tempering them, he cried - to Ahab to place the water-cask near. -

-

- "No, no—no water for that; I want it of the true death-temper. Ahoy, - there! Tashtego, Queequeg, Daggoo! What say ye, pagans! Will ye give me as - much blood as will cover this barb?" holding it high up. A cluster of dark - nods replied, Yes. Three punctures were made in the heathen flesh, and the - White Whale's barbs were then tempered. -

-

- "Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!" deliriously - howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal - blood. -

-

- Now, mustering the spare poles from below, and selecting one of hickory, - with the bark still investing it, Ahab fitted the end to the socket of the - iron. A coil of new tow-line was then unwound, and some fathoms of it - taken to the windlass, and stretched to a great tension. Pressing his foot - upon it, till the rope hummed like a harp-string, then eagerly bending - over it, and seeing no strandings, Ahab exclaimed, "Good! and now for the - seizings." -

-

- At one extremity the rope was unstranded, and the separate spread yarns - were all braided and woven round the socket of the harpoon; the pole was - then driven hard up into the socket; from the lower end the rope was - traced half-way along the pole's length, and firmly secured so, with - intertwistings of twine. This done, pole, iron, and rope—like the - Three Fates—remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with - the weapon; the sound of his ivory leg, and the sound of the hickory pole, - both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered his cabin, - light, unnatural, half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was heard. Oh, - Pip! thy wretched laugh, thy idle but unresting eye; all thy strange - mummeries not unmeaningly blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy - ship, and mocked it! -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 114. The Gilder. -

-

- Penetrating further and further into the heart of the Japanese cruising - ground, the Pequod was soon all astir in the fishery. Often, in mild, - pleasant weather, for twelve, fifteen, eighteen, and twenty hours on the - stretch, they were engaged in the boats, steadily pulling, or sailing, or - paddling after the whales, or for an interlude of sixty or seventy minutes - calmly awaiting their uprising; though with but small success for their - pains. -

-

- At such times, under an abated sun; afloat all day upon smooth, slow - heaving swells; seated in his boat, light as a birch canoe; and so - sociably mixing with the soft waves themselves, that like hearth-stone - cats they purr against the gunwale; these are the times of dreamy - quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's - skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not - willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang. -

-

- These are the times, when in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a - certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he - regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only - the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not through high rolling - waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the - western emigrants' horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden - bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure. -

-

- The long-drawn virgin vales; the mild blue hill-sides; as over these there - steals the hush, the hum; you almost swear that play-wearied children lie - sleeping in these solitudes, in some glad May-time, when the flowers of - the woods are plucked. And all this mixes with your most mystic mood; so - that fact and fancy, half-way meeting, interpenetrate, and form one - seamless whole. -

-

- Nor did such soothing scenes, however temporary, fail of at least as - temporary an effect on Ahab. But if these secret golden keys did seem to - open in him his own secret golden treasuries, yet did his breath upon them - prove but tarnishing. -

-

- Oh, grassy glades! oh, ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye,—though - long parched by the dead drought of the earthy life,—in ye, men yet - may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few - fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them. Would to - God these blessed calms would last. But the mingled, mingling threads of - life are woven by warp and woof: calms crossed by storms, a storm for - every calm. There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do - not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:—through - infancy's unconscious spell, boyhood's thoughtless faith, adolescence' - doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last - in manhood's pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the - round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies - the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the - world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling's - father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die - in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we - must there to learn it. -

-

- And that same day, too, gazing far down from his boat's side into that - same golden sea, Starbuck lowly murmured:— -

-

- "Loveliness unfathomable, as ever lover saw in his young bride's eye!—Tell - me not of thy teeth-tiered sharks, and thy kidnapping cannibal ways. Let - faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down and do believe." -

-

- And Stubb, fish-like, with sparkling scales, leaped up in that same golden - light:— -

-

- "I am Stubb, and Stubb has his history; but here Stubb takes oaths that he - has always been jolly!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. -

-

- And jolly enough were the sights and the sounds that came bearing down - before the wind, some few weeks after Ahab's harpoon had been welded. -

-

- It was a Nantucket ship, the Bachelor, which had just wedged in her last - cask of oil, and bolted down her bursting hatches; and now, in glad - holiday apparel, was joyously, though somewhat vain-gloriously, sailing - round among the widely-separated ships on the ground, previous to pointing - her prow for home. -

-

- The three men at her mast-head wore long streamers of narrow red bunting - at their hats; from the stern, a whale-boat was suspended, bottom down; - and hanging captive from the bowsprit was seen the long lower jaw of the - last whale they had slain. Signals, ensigns, and jacks of all colours were - flying from her rigging, on every side. Sideways lashed in each of her - three basketed tops were two barrels of sperm; above which, in her - top-mast cross-trees, you saw slender breakers of the same precious fluid; - and nailed to her main truck was a brazen lamp. -

-

- As was afterwards learned, the Bachelor had met with the most surprising - success; all the more wonderful, for that while cruising in the same seas - numerous other vessels had gone entire months without securing a single - fish. Not only had barrels of beef and bread been given away to make room - for the far more valuable sperm, but additional supplemental casks had - been bartered for, from the ships she had met; and these were stowed along - the deck, and in the captain's and officers' state-rooms. Even the cabin - table itself had been knocked into kindling-wood; and the cabin mess dined - off the broad head of an oil-butt, lashed down to the floor for a - centrepiece. In the forecastle, the sailors had actually caulked and - pitched their chests, and filled them; it was humorously added, that the - cook had clapped a head on his largest boiler, and filled it; that the - steward had plugged his spare coffee-pot and filled it; that the - harpooneers had headed the sockets of their irons and filled them; that - indeed everything was filled with sperm, except the captain's pantaloons - pockets, and those he reserved to thrust his hands into, in - self-complacent testimony of his entire satisfaction. -

-

- As this glad ship of good luck bore down upon the moody Pequod, the - barbarian sound of enormous drums came from her forecastle; and drawing - still nearer, a crowd of her men were seen standing round her huge - try-pots, which, covered with the parchment-like POKE or stomach skin of - the black fish, gave forth a loud roar to every stroke of the clenched - hands of the crew. On the quarter-deck, the mates and harpooneers were - dancing with the olive-hued girls who had eloped with them from the - Polynesian Isles; while suspended in an ornamented boat, firmly secured - aloft between the foremast and mainmast, three Long Island negroes, with - glittering fiddle-bows of whale ivory, were presiding over the hilarious - jig. Meanwhile, others of the ship's company were tumultuously busy at the - masonry of the try-works, from which the huge pots had been removed. You - would have almost thought they were pulling down the cursed Bastille, such - wild cries they raised, as the now useless brick and mortar were being - hurled into the sea. -

-

- Lord and master over all this scene, the captain stood erect on the ship's - elevated quarter-deck, so that the whole rejoicing drama was full before - him, and seemed merely contrived for his own individual diversion. -

-

- And Ahab, he too was standing on his quarter-deck, shaggy and black, with - a stubborn gloom; and as the two ships crossed each other's wakes—one - all jubilations for things passed, the other all forebodings as to things - to come—their two captains in themselves impersonated the whole - striking contrast of the scene. -

-

- "Come aboard, come aboard!" cried the gay Bachelor's commander, lifting a - glass and a bottle in the air. -

-

- "Hast seen the White Whale?" gritted Ahab in reply. -

-

- "No; only heard of him; but don't believe in him at all," said the other - good-humoredly. "Come aboard!" -

-

- "Thou art too damned jolly. Sail on. Hast lost any men?" -

-

- "Not enough to speak of—two islanders, that's all;—but come - aboard, old hearty, come along. I'll soon take that black from your brow. - Come along, will ye (merry's the play); a full ship and homeward-bound." -

-

- "How wondrous familiar is a fool!" muttered Ahab; then aloud, "Thou art a - full ship and homeward bound, thou sayst; well, then, call me an empty - ship, and outward-bound. So go thy ways, and I will mine. Forward there! - Set all sail, and keep her to the wind!" -

-

- And thus, while the one ship went cheerily before the breeze, the other - stubbornly fought against it; and so the two vessels parted; the crew of - the Pequod looking with grave, lingering glances towards the receding - Bachelor; but the Bachelor's men never heeding their gaze for the lively - revelry they were in. And as Ahab, leaning over the taffrail, eyed the - homewardbound craft, he took from his pocket a small vial of sand, and - then looking from the ship to the vial, seemed thereby bringing two remote - associations together, for that vial was filled with Nantucket soundings. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale. -

-

- Not seldom in this life, when, on the right side, fortune's favourites - sail close by us, we, though all adroop before, catch somewhat of the - rushing breeze, and joyfully feel our bagging sails fill out. So seemed it - with the Pequod. For next day after encountering the gay Bachelor, whales - were seen and four were slain; and one of them by Ahab. -

-

- It was far down the afternoon; and when all the spearings of the crimson - fight were done: and floating in the lovely sunset sea and sky, sun and - whale both stilly died together; then, such a sweetness and such - plaintiveness, such inwreathing orisons curled up in that rosy air, that - it almost seemed as if far over from the deep green convent valleys of the - Manilla isles, the Spanish land-breeze, wantonly turned sailor, had gone - to sea, freighted with these vesper hymns. -

-

- Soothed again, but only soothed to deeper gloom, Ahab, who had sterned off - from the whale, sat intently watching his final wanings from the now - tranquil boat. For that strange spectacle observable in all sperm whales - dying—the turning sunwards of the head, and so expiring—that - strange spectacle, beheld of such a placid evening, somehow to Ahab - conveyed a wondrousness unknown before. -

-

- "He turns and turns him to it,—how slowly, but how steadfastly, his - homage-rendering and invoking brow, with his last dying motions. He too - worships fire; most faithful, broad, baronial vassal of the sun!—Oh - that these too-favouring eyes should see these too-favouring sights. Look! - here, far water-locked; beyond all hum of human weal or woe; in these most - candid and impartial seas; where to traditions no rocks furnish tablets; - where for long Chinese ages, the billows have still rolled on speechless - and unspoken to, as stars that shine upon the Niger's unknown source; - here, too, life dies sunwards full of faith; but see! no sooner dead, than - death whirls round the corpse, and it heads some other way. -

-

- "Oh, thou dark Hindoo half of nature, who of drowned bones hast builded - thy separate throne somewhere in the heart of these unverdured seas; thou - art an infidel, thou queen, and too truly speakest to me in the - wide-slaughtering Typhoon, and the hushed burial of its after calm. Nor - has this thy whale sunwards turned his dying head, and then gone round - again, without a lesson to me. -

-

- "Oh, trebly hooped and welded hip of power! Oh, high aspiring, rainbowed - jet!—that one strivest, this one jettest all in vain! In vain, oh - whale, dost thou seek intercedings with yon all-quickening sun, that only - calls forth life, but gives it not again. Yet dost thou, darker half, rock - me with a prouder, if a darker faith. All thy unnamable imminglings float - beneath me here; I am buoyed by breaths of once living things, exhaled as - air, but water now. -

-

- "Then hail, for ever hail, O sea, in whose eternal tossings the wild fowl - finds his only rest. Born of earth, yet suckled by the sea; though hill - and valley mothered me, ye billows are my foster-brothers!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch. -

-

- The four whales slain that evening had died wide apart; one, far to - windward; one, less distant, to leeward; one ahead; one astern. These last - three were brought alongside ere nightfall; but the windward one could not - be reached till morning; and the boat that had killed it lay by its side - all night; and that boat was Ahab's. -

-

- The waif-pole was thrust upright into the dead whale's spout-hole; and the - lantern hanging from its top, cast a troubled flickering glare upon the - black, glossy back, and far out upon the midnight waves, which gently - chafed the whale's broad flank, like soft surf upon a beach. -

-

- Ahab and all his boat's crew seemed asleep but the Parsee; who crouching - in the bow, sat watching the sharks, that spectrally played round the - whale, and tapped the light cedar planks with their tails. A sound like - the moaning in squadrons over Asphaltites of unforgiven ghosts of - Gomorrah, ran shuddering through the air. -

-

- Started from his slumbers, Ahab, face to face, saw the Parsee; and hooped - round by the gloom of the night they seemed the last men in a flooded - world. "I have dreamed it again," said he. -

-

- "Of the hearses? Have I not said, old man, that neither hearse nor coffin - can be thine?" -

-

- "And who are hearsed that die on the sea?" -

-

- "But I said, old man, that ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two - hearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by - mortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in - America." -

-

- "Aye, aye! a strange sight that, Parsee:—a hearse and its plumes - floating over the ocean with the waves for the pall-bearers. Ha! Such a - sight we shall not soon see." -

-

- "Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man." -

-

- "And what was that saying about thyself?" -

-

- "Though it come to the last, I shall still go before thee thy pilot." -

-

- "And when thou art so gone before—if that ever befall—then ere - I can follow, thou must still appear to me, to pilot me still?—Was - it not so? Well, then, did I believe all ye say, oh my pilot! I have here - two pledges that I shall yet slay Moby Dick and survive it." -

-

- "Take another pledge, old man," said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up - like fire-flies in the gloom—"Hemp only can kill thee." -

-

- "The gallows, ye mean.—I am immortal then, on land and on sea," - cried Ahab, with a laugh of derision;—"Immortal on land and on sea!" -

-

- Both were silent again, as one man. The grey dawn came on, and the - slumbering crew arose from the boat's bottom, and ere noon the dead whale - was brought to the ship. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant. -

-

- The season for the Line at length drew near; and every day when Ahab, - coming from his cabin, cast his eyes aloft, the vigilant helmsman would - ostentatiously handle his spokes, and the eager mariners quickly run to - the braces, and would stand there with all their eyes centrally fixed on - the nailed doubloon; impatient for the order to point the ship's prow for - the equator. In good time the order came. It was hard upon high noon; and - Ahab, seated in the bows of his high-hoisted boat, was about taking his - wonted daily observation of the sun to determine his latitude. -

-

- Now, in that Japanese sea, the days in summer are as freshets of - effulgences. That unblinkingly vivid Japanese sun seems the blazing focus - of the glassy ocean's immeasurable burning-glass. The sky looks lacquered; - clouds there are none; the horizon floats; and this nakedness of - unrelieved radiance is as the insufferable splendors of God's throne. Well - that Ahab's quadrant was furnished with coloured glasses, through which to - take sight of that solar fire. So, swinging his seated form to the roll of - the ship, and with his astrological-looking instrument placed to his eye, - he remained in that posture for some moments to catch the precise instant - when the sun should gain its precise meridian. Meantime while his whole - attention was absorbed, the Parsee was kneeling beneath him on the ship's - deck, and with face thrown up like Ahab's, was eyeing the same sun with - him; only the lids of his eyes half hooded their orbs, and his wild face - was subdued to an earthly passionlessness. At length the desired - observation was taken; and with his pencil upon his ivory leg, Ahab soon - calculated what his latitude must be at that precise instant. Then falling - into a moment's revery, he again looked up towards the sun and murmured to - himself: "Thou sea-mark! thou high and mighty Pilot! thou tellest me truly - where I AM—but canst thou cast the least hint where I SHALL be? Or - canst thou tell where some other thing besides me is this moment living? - Where is Moby Dick? This instant thou must be eyeing him. These eyes of - mine look into the very eye that is even now beholding him; aye, and into - the eye that is even now equally beholding the objects on the unknown, - thither side of thee, thou sun!" -

-

- Then gazing at his quadrant, and handling, one after the other, its - numerous cabalistical contrivances, he pondered again, and muttered: - "Foolish toy! babies' plaything of haughty Admirals, and Commodores, and - Captains; the world brags of thee, of thy cunning and might; but what - after all canst thou do, but tell the poor, pitiful point, where thou - thyself happenest to be on this wide planet, and the hand that holds thee: - no! not one jot more! Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one - grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou - insultest the sun! Science! Curse thee, thou vain toy; and cursed be all - the things that cast man's eyes aloft to that heaven, whose live vividness - but scorches him, as these old eyes are even now scorched with thy light, - O sun! Level by nature to this earth's horizon are the glances of man's - eyes; not shot from the crown of his head, as if God had meant him to gaze - on his firmament. Curse thee, thou quadrant!" dashing it to the deck, "no - longer will I guide my earthly way by thee; the level ship's compass, and - the level deadreckoning, by log and by line; THESE shall conduct me, and - show me my place on the sea. Aye," lighting from the boat to the deck, - "thus I trample on thee, thou paltry thing that feebly pointest on high; - thus I split and destroy thee!" -

-

- As the frantic old man thus spoke and thus trampled with his live and dead - feet, a sneering triumph that seemed meant for Ahab, and a fatalistic - despair that seemed meant for himself—these passed over the mute, - motionless Parsee's face. Unobserved he rose and glided away; while, - awestruck by the aspect of their commander, the seamen clustered together - on the forecastle, till Ahab, troubledly pacing the deck, shouted out—"To - the braces! Up helm!—square in!" -

-

- In an instant the yards swung round; and as the ship half-wheeled upon her - heel, her three firm-seated graceful masts erectly poised upon her long, - ribbed hull, seemed as the three Horatii pirouetting on one sufficient - steed. -

-

- Standing between the knight-heads, Starbuck watched the Pequod's - tumultuous way, and Ahab's also, as he went lurching along the deck. -

-

- "I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of - its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, - to dumbest dust. Old man of oceans! of all this fiery life of thine, what - will at length remain but one little heap of ashes!" -

-

- "Aye," cried Stubb, "but sea-coal ashes—mind ye that, Mr. Starbuck—sea-coal, - not your common charcoal. Well, well; I heard Ahab mutter, 'Here some one - thrusts these cards into these old hands of mine; swears that I must play - them, and no others.' And damn me, Ahab, but thou actest right; live in - the game, and die in it!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 119. The Candles. -

-

- Warmest climes but nurse the cruellest fangs: the tiger of Bengal crouches - in spiced groves of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent but basket - the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept - tame northern lands. So, too, it is, that in these resplendent Japanese - seas the mariner encounters the direst of all storms, the Typhoon. It will - sometimes burst from out that cloudless sky, like an exploding bomb upon a - dazed and sleepy town. -

-

- Towards evening of that day, the Pequod was torn of her canvas, and - bare-poled was left to fight a Typhoon which had struck her directly - ahead. When darkness came on, sky and sea roared and split with the - thunder, and blazed with the lightning, that showed the disabled masts - fluttering here and there with the rags which the first fury of the - tempest had left for its after sport. -

-

- Holding by a shroud, Starbuck was standing on the quarter-deck; at every - flash of the lightning glancing aloft, to see what additional disaster - might have befallen the intricate hamper there; while Stubb and Flask were - directing the men in the higher hoisting and firmer lashing of the boats. - But all their pains seemed naught. Though lifted to the very top of the - cranes, the windward quarter boat (Ahab's) did not escape. A great rolling - sea, dashing high up against the reeling ship's high teetering side, stove - in the boat's bottom at the stern, and left it again, all dripping through - like a sieve. -

-

- "Bad work, bad work! Mr. Starbuck," said Stubb, regarding the wreck, "but - the sea will have its way. Stubb, for one, can't fight it. You see, Mr. - Starbuck, a wave has such a great long start before it leaps, all round - the world it runs, and then comes the spring! But as for me, all the start - I have to meet it, is just across the deck here. But never mind; it's all - in fun: so the old song says;"—(SINGS.) -

-
-  Oh! jolly is the gale,
-  And a joker is the whale,
-  A' flourishin' his tail,—
-  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
-
-  The scud all a flyin',
-  That's his flip only foamin';
-  When he stirs in the spicin',—
-  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
-
-  Thunder splits the ships,
-  But he only smacks his lips,
-  A tastin' of this flip,—
-  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
-
-

- "Avast Stubb," cried Starbuck, "let the Typhoon sing, and strike his harp - here in our rigging; but if thou art a brave man thou wilt hold thy - peace." -

-

- "But I am not a brave man; never said I was a brave man; I am a coward; - and I sing to keep up my spirits. And I tell you what it is, Mr. Starbuck, - there's no way to stop my singing in this world but to cut my throat. And - when that's done, ten to one I sing ye the doxology for a wind-up." -

-

- "Madman! look through my eyes if thou hast none of thine own." -

-

- "What! how can you see better of a dark night than anybody else, never - mind how foolish?" -

-

- "Here!" cried Starbuck, seizing Stubb by the shoulder, and pointing his - hand towards the weather bow, "markest thou not that the gale comes from - the eastward, the very course Ahab is to run for Moby Dick? the very - course he swung to this day noon? now mark his boat there; where is that - stove? In the stern-sheets, man; where he is wont to stand—his - stand-point is stove, man! Now jump overboard, and sing away, if thou - must! -

-

- "I don't half understand ye: what's in the wind?" -

-

- "Yes, yes, round the Cape of Good Hope is the shortest way to Nantucket," - soliloquized Starbuck suddenly, heedless of Stubb's question. "The gale - that now hammers at us to stave us, we can turn it into a fair wind that - will drive us towards home. Yonder, to windward, all is blackness of doom; - but to leeward, homeward—I see it lightens up there; but not with - the lightning." -

-

- At that moment in one of the intervals of profound darkness, following the - flashes, a voice was heard at his side; and almost at the same instant a - volley of thunder peals rolled overhead. -

-

- "Who's there?" -

-

- "Old Thunder!" said Ahab, groping his way along the bulwarks to his - pivot-hole; but suddenly finding his path made plain to him by elbowed - lances of fire. -

-

- Now, as the lightning rod to a spire on shore is intended to carry off the - perilous fluid into the soil; so the kindred rod which at sea some ships - carry to each mast, is intended to conduct it into the water. But as this - conductor must descend to considerable depth, that its end may avoid all - contact with the hull; and as moreover, if kept constantly towing there, - it would be liable to many mishaps, besides interfering not a little with - some of the rigging, and more or less impeding the vessel's way in the - water; because of all this, the lower parts of a ship's lightning-rods are - not always overboard; but are generally made in long slender links, so as - to be the more readily hauled up into the chains outside, or thrown down - into the sea, as occasion may require. -

-

- "The rods! the rods!" cried Starbuck to the crew, suddenly admonished to - vigilance by the vivid lightning that had just been darting flambeaux, to - light Ahab to his post. "Are they overboard? drop them over, fore and aft. - Quick!" -

-

- "Avast!" cried Ahab; "let's have fair play here, though we be the weaker - side. Yet I'll contribute to raise rods on the Himmalehs and Andes, that - all the world may be secured; but out on privileges! Let them be, sir." -

-

- "Look aloft!" cried Starbuck. "The corpusants! the corpusants!" -

-

- All the yard-arms were tipped with a pallid fire; and touched at each - tri-pointed lightning-rod-end with three tapering white flames, each of - the three tall masts was silently burning in that sulphurous air, like - three gigantic wax tapers before an altar. -

-

- "Blast the boat! let it go!" cried Stubb at this instant, as a swashing - sea heaved up under his own little craft, so that its gunwale violently - jammed his hand, as he was passing a lashing. "Blast it!"—but - slipping backward on the deck, his uplifted eyes caught the flames; and - immediately shifting his tone he cried—"The corpusants have mercy on - us all!" -

-

- To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear in the trance of - the calm, and in the teeth of the tempest; they will imprecate curses from - the topsail-yard-arms, when most they teeter over to a seething sea; but - in all my voyagings, seldom have I heard a common oath when God's burning - finger has been laid on the ship; when His "Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin" - has been woven into the shrouds and the cordage. -

-

- While this pallidness was burning aloft, few words were heard from the - enchanted crew; who in one thick cluster stood on the forecastle, all - their eyes gleaming in that pale phosphorescence, like a far away - constellation of stars. Relieved against the ghostly light, the gigantic - jet negro, Daggoo, loomed up to thrice his real stature, and seemed the - black cloud from which the thunder had come. The parted mouth of Tashtego - revealed his shark-white teeth, which strangely gleamed as if they too had - been tipped by corpusants; while lit up by the preternatural light, - Queequeg's tattooing burned like Satanic blue flames on his body. -

-

- The tableau all waned at last with the pallidness aloft; and once more the - Pequod and every soul on her decks were wrapped in a pall. A moment or two - passed, when Starbuck, going forward, pushed against some one. It was - Stubb. "What thinkest thou now, man; I heard thy cry; it was not the same - in the song." -

-

- "No, no, it wasn't; I said the corpusants have mercy on us all; and I hope - they will, still. But do they only have mercy on long faces?—have - they no bowels for a laugh? And look ye, Mr. Starbuck—but it's too - dark to look. Hear me, then: I take that mast-head flame we saw for a sign - of good luck; for those masts are rooted in a hold that is going to be - chock a' block with sperm-oil, d'ye see; and so, all that sperm will work - up into the masts, like sap in a tree. Yes, our three masts will yet be as - three spermaceti candles—that's the good promise we saw." -

-

- At that moment Starbuck caught sight of Stubb's face slowly beginning to - glimmer into sight. Glancing upwards, he cried: "See! see!" and once more - the high tapering flames were beheld with what seemed redoubled - supernaturalness in their pallor. -

-

- "The corpusants have mercy on us all," cried Stubb, again. -

-

- At the base of the mainmast, full beneath the doubloon and the flame, the - Parsee was kneeling in Ahab's front, but with his head bowed away from - him; while near by, from the arched and overhanging rigging, where they - had just been engaged securing a spar, a number of the seamen, arrested by - the glare, now cohered together, and hung pendulous, like a knot of numbed - wasps from a drooping, orchard twig. In various enchanted attitudes, like - the standing, or stepping, or running skeletons in Herculaneum, others - remained rooted to the deck; but all their eyes upcast. -

-

- "Aye, aye, men!" cried Ahab. "Look up at it; mark it well; the white flame - but lights the way to the White Whale! Hand me those mainmast links there; - I would fain feel this pulse, and let mine beat against it; blood against - fire! So." -

-

- Then turning—the last link held fast in his left hand, he put his - foot upon the Parsee; and with fixed upward eye, and high-flung right arm, - he stood erect before the lofty tri-pointed trinity of flames. -

-

- "Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once - did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this - hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know - that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt - thou be kind; and e'en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. - No fearless fool now fronts thee. I own thy speechless, placeless power; - but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, - unintegral mastery in me. In the midst of the personified impersonal, a - personality stands here. Though but a point at best; whencesoe'er I came; - wheresoe'er I go; yet while I earthly live, the queenly personality lives - in me, and feels her royal rights. But war is pain, and hate is woe. Come - in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy - highest, come as mere supernal power; and though thou launchest navies of - full-freighted worlds, there's that in here that still remains - indifferent. Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a - true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee." -

-

- [SUDDEN, REPEATED FLASHES OF LIGHTNING; THE NINE FLAMES LEAP LENGTHWISE TO - THRICE THEIR PREVIOUS HEIGHT; AHAB, WITH THE REST, CLOSES HIS EYES, HIS - RIGHT HAND PRESSED HARD UPON THEM.] -

-

- "I own thy speechless, placeless power; said I not so? Nor was it wrung - from me; nor do I now drop these links. Thou canst blind; but I can then - grope. Thou canst consume; but I can then be ashes. Take the homage of - these poor eyes, and shutter-hands. I would not take it. The lightning - flashes through my skull; mine eye-balls ache and ache; my whole beaten - brain seems as beheaded, and rolling on some stunning ground. Oh, oh! Yet - blindfold, yet will I talk to thee. Light though thou be, thou leapest out - of darkness; but I am darkness leaping out of light, leaping out of thee! - The javelins cease; open eyes; see, or not? There burn the flames! Oh, - thou magnanimous! now I do glory in my genealogy. But thou art but my - fiery father; my sweet mother, I know not. Oh, cruel! what hast thou done - with her? There lies my puzzle; but thine is greater. Thou knowest not how - came ye, hence callest thyself unbegotten; certainly knowest not thy - beginning, hence callest thyself unbegun. I know that of me, which thou - knowest not of thyself, oh, thou omnipotent. There is some unsuffusing - thing beyond thee, thou clear spirit, to whom all thy eternity is but - time, all thy creativeness mechanical. Through thee, thy flaming self, my - scorched eyes do dimly see it. Oh, thou foundling fire, thou hermit - immemorial, thou too hast thy incommunicable riddle, thy unparticipated - grief. Here again with haughty agony, I read my sire. Leap! leap up, and - lick the sky! I leap with thee; I burn with thee; would fain be welded - with thee; defyingly I worship thee!" -

-

- "The boat! the boat!" cried Starbuck, "look at thy boat, old man!" -

-

- Ahab's harpoon, the one forged at Perth's fire, remained firmly lashed in - its conspicuous crotch, so that it projected beyond his whale-boat's bow; - but the sea that had stove its bottom had caused the loose leather sheath - to drop off; and from the keen steel barb there now came a levelled flame - of pale, forked fire. As the silent harpoon burned there like a serpent's - tongue, Starbuck grasped Ahab by the arm—"God, God is against thee, - old man; forbear! 'tis an ill voyage! ill begun, ill continued; let me - square the yards, while we may, old man, and make a fair wind of it - homewards, to go on a better voyage than this." -

-

- Overhearing Starbuck, the panic-stricken crew instantly ran to the braces—though - not a sail was left aloft. For the moment all the aghast mate's thoughts - seemed theirs; they raised a half mutinous cry. But dashing the rattling - lightning links to the deck, and snatching the burning harpoon, Ahab waved - it like a torch among them; swearing to transfix with it the first sailor - that but cast loose a rope's end. Petrified by his aspect, and still more - shrinking from the fiery dart that he held, the men fell back in dismay, - and Ahab again spoke:— -

-

- "All your oaths to hunt the White Whale are as binding as mine; and heart, - soul, and body, lungs and life, old Ahab is bound. And that ye may know to - what tune this heart beats; look ye here; thus I blow out the last fear!" - And with one blast of his breath he extinguished the flame. -

-

- As in the hurricane that sweeps the plain, men fly the neighborhood of - some lone, gigantic elm, whose very height and strength but render it so - much the more unsafe, because so much the more a mark for thunderbolts; so - at those last words of Ahab's many of the mariners did run from him in a - terror of dismay. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch. -

-

- AHAB STANDING BY THE HELM. STARBUCK APPROACHING HIM. -

-

- "We must send down the main-top-sail yard, sir. The band is working loose - and the lee lift is half-stranded. Shall I strike it, sir?" -

-

- "Strike nothing; lash it. If I had sky-sail poles, I'd sway them up now." -

-

- "Sir!—in God's name!—sir?" -

-

- "Well." -

-

- "The anchors are working, sir. Shall I get them inboard?" -

-

- "Strike nothing, and stir nothing, but lash everything. The wind rises, - but it has not got up to my table-lands yet. Quick, and see to it.—By - masts and keels! he takes me for the hunch-backed skipper of some coasting - smack. Send down my main-top-sail yard! Ho, gluepots! Loftiest trucks were - made for wildest winds, and this brain-truck of mine now sails amid the - cloud-scud. Shall I strike that? Oh, none but cowards send down their - brain-trucks in tempest time. What a hooroosh aloft there! I would e'en - take it for sublime, did I not know that the colic is a noisy malady. Oh, - take medicine, take medicine!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle Bulwarks. -

-

- STUBB AND FLASK MOUNTED ON THEM, AND PASSING ADDITIONAL LASHINGS OVER THE - ANCHORS THERE HANGING. -

-

- "No, Stubb; you may pound that knot there as much as you please, but you - will never pound into me what you were just now saying. And how long ago - is it since you said the very contrary? Didn't you once say that whatever - ship Ahab sails in, that ship should pay something extra on its insurance - policy, just as though it were loaded with powder barrels aft and boxes of - lucifers forward? Stop, now; didn't you say so?" -

-

- "Well, suppose I did? What then? I've part changed my flesh since that - time, why not my mind? Besides, supposing we ARE loaded with powder - barrels aft and lucifers forward; how the devil could the lucifers get - afire in this drenching spray here? Why, my little man, you have pretty - red hair, but you couldn't get afire now. Shake yourself; you're Aquarius, - or the water-bearer, Flask; might fill pitchers at your coat collar. Don't - you see, then, that for these extra risks the Marine Insurance companies - have extra guarantees? Here are hydrants, Flask. But hark, again, and I'll - answer ye the other thing. First take your leg off from the crown of the - anchor here, though, so I can pass the rope; now listen. What's the mighty - difference between holding a mast's lightning-rod in the storm, and - standing close by a mast that hasn't got any lightning-rod at all in a - storm? Don't you see, you timber-head, that no harm can come to the holder - of the rod, unless the mast is first struck? What are you talking about, - then? Not one ship in a hundred carries rods, and Ahab,—aye, man, - and all of us,—were in no more danger then, in my poor opinion, than - all the crews in ten thousand ships now sailing the seas. Why, you - King-Post, you, I suppose you would have every man in the world go about - with a small lightning-rod running up the corner of his hat, like a - militia officer's skewered feather, and trailing behind like his sash. Why - don't ye be sensible, Flask? it's easy to be sensible; why don't ye, then? - any man with half an eye can be sensible." -

-

- "I don't know that, Stubb. You sometimes find it rather hard." -

-

- "Yes, when a fellow's soaked through, it's hard to be sensible, that's a - fact. And I am about drenched with this spray. Never mind; catch the turn - there, and pass it. Seems to me we are lashing down these anchors now as - if they were never going to be used again. Tying these two anchors here, - Flask, seems like tying a man's hands behind him. And what big generous - hands they are, to be sure. These are your iron fists, hey? What a hold - they have, too! I wonder, Flask, whether the world is anchored anywhere; - if she is, she swings with an uncommon long cable, though. There, hammer - that knot down, and we've done. So; next to touching land, lighting on - deck is the most satisfactory. I say, just wring out my jacket skirts, - will ye? Thank ye. They laugh at long-togs so, Flask; but seems to me, a - Long tailed coat ought always to be worn in all storms afloat. The tails - tapering down that way, serve to carry off the water, d'ye see. Same with - cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end eave-troughs, Flask. No more - monkey-jackets and tarpaulins for me; I must mount a swallow-tail, and - drive down a beaver; so. Halloa! whew! there goes my tarpaulin overboard; - Lord, Lord, that the winds that come from heaven should be so unmannerly! - This is a nasty night, lad." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and Lightning. -

-

- THE MAIN-TOP-SAIL YARD.—TASHTEGO PASSING NEW LASHINGS AROUND IT. -

-

- "Um, um, um. Stop that thunder! Plenty too much thunder up here. What's - the use of thunder? Um, um, um. We don't want thunder; we want rum; give - us a glass of rum. Um, um, um!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 123. The Musket. -

-

- During the most violent shocks of the Typhoon, the man at the Pequod's - jaw-bone tiller had several times been reelingly hurled to the deck by its - spasmodic motions, even though preventer tackles had been attached to it—for - they were slack—because some play to the tiller was indispensable. -

-

- In a severe gale like this, while the ship is but a tossed shuttlecock to - the blast, it is by no means uncommon to see the needles in the compasses, - at intervals, go round and round. It was thus with the Pequod's; at almost - every shock the helmsman had not failed to notice the whirling velocity - with which they revolved upon the cards; it is a sight that hardly anyone - can behold without some sort of unwonted emotion. -

-

- Some hours after midnight, the Typhoon abated so much, that through the - strenuous exertions of Starbuck and Stubb—one engaged forward and - the other aft—the shivered remnants of the jib and fore and - main-top-sails were cut adrift from the spars, and went eddying away to - leeward, like the feathers of an albatross, which sometimes are cast to - the winds when that storm-tossed bird is on the wing. -

-

- The three corresponding new sails were now bent and reefed, and a - storm-trysail was set further aft; so that the ship soon went through the - water with some precision again; and the course—for the present, - East-south-east—which he was to steer, if practicable, was once more - given to the helmsman. For during the violence of the gale, he had only - steered according to its vicissitudes. But as he was now bringing the ship - as near her course as possible, watching the compass meanwhile, lo! a good - sign! the wind seemed coming round astern; aye, the foul breeze became - fair! -

-

- Instantly the yards were squared, to the lively song of "HO! THE FAIR - WIND! OH-YE-HO, CHEERLY MEN!" the crew singing for joy, that so promising - an event should so soon have falsified the evil portents preceding it. -

-

- In compliance with the standing order of his commander—to report - immediately, and at any one of the twenty-four hours, any decided change - in the affairs of the deck,—Starbuck had no sooner trimmed the yards - to the breeze—however reluctantly and gloomily,—than he - mechanically went below to apprise Captain Ahab of the circumstance. -

-

- Ere knocking at his state-room, he involuntarily paused before it a - moment. The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that—was - burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man's bolted - door,—a thin one, with fixed blinds inserted, in place of upper - panels. The isolated subterraneousness of the cabin made a certain humming - silence to reign there, though it was hooped round by all the roar of the - elements. The loaded muskets in the rack were shiningly revealed, as they - stood upright against the forward bulkhead. Starbuck was an honest, - upright man; but out of Starbuck's heart, at that instant when he saw the - muskets, there strangely evolved an evil thought; but so blent with its - neutral or good accompaniments that for the instant he hardly knew it for - itself. -

-

- "He would have shot me once," he murmured, "yes, there's the very musket - that he pointed at me;—that one with the studded stock; let me touch - it—lift it. Strange, that I, who have handled so many deadly lances, - strange, that I should shake so now. Loaded? I must see. Aye, aye; and - powder in the pan;—that's not good. Best spill it?—wait. I'll - cure myself of this. I'll hold the musket boldly while I think.—I - come to report a fair wind to him. But how fair? Fair for death and doom,—THAT'S - fair for Moby Dick. It's a fair wind that's only fair for that accursed - fish.—The very tube he pointed at me!—the very one; THIS one—I - hold it here; he would have killed me with the very thing I handle now.—Aye - and he would fain kill all his crew. Does he not say he will not strike - his spars to any gale? Has he not dashed his heavenly quadrant? and in - these same perilous seas, gropes he not his way by mere dead reckoning of - the error-abounding log? and in this very Typhoon, did he not swear that - he would have no lightning-rods? But shall this crazed old man be tamely - suffered to drag a whole ship's company down to doom with him?—Yes, - it would make him the wilful murderer of thirty men and more, if this ship - come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship - will, if Ahab have his way. If, then, he were this instant—put - aside, that crime would not be his. Ha! is he muttering in his sleep? Yes, - just there,—in there, he's sleeping. Sleeping? aye, but still alive, - and soon awake again. I can't withstand thee, then, old man. Not - reasoning; not remonstrance; not entreaty wilt thou hearken to; all this - thou scornest. Flat obedience to thy own flat commands, this is all thou - breathest. Aye, and say'st the men have vow'd thy vow; say'st all of us - are Ahabs. Great God forbid!—But is there no other way? no lawful - way?—Make him a prisoner to be taken home? What! hope to wrest this - old man's living power from his own living hands? Only a fool would try - it. Say he were pinioned even; knotted all over with ropes and hawsers; - chained down to ring-bolts on this cabin floor; he would be more hideous - than a caged tiger, then. I could not endure the sight; could not possibly - fly his howlings; all comfort, sleep itself, inestimable reason would - leave me on the long intolerable voyage. What, then, remains? The land is - hundreds of leagues away, and locked Japan the nearest. I stand alone here - upon an open sea, with two oceans and a whole continent between me and - law.—Aye, aye, 'tis so.—Is heaven a murderer when its - lightning strikes a would-be murderer in his bed, tindering sheets and - skin together?—And would I be a murderer, then, if"—and - slowly, stealthily, and half sideways looking, he placed the loaded - musket's end against the door. -

-

- "On this level, Ahab's hammock swings within; his head this way. A touch, - and Starbuck may survive to hug his wife and child again.—Oh Mary! - Mary!—boy! boy! boy!—But if I wake thee not to death, old man, - who can tell to what unsounded deeps Starbuck's body this day week may - sink, with all the crew! Great God, where art Thou? Shall I? shall I?—The - wind has gone down and shifted, sir; the fore and main topsails are reefed - and set; she heads her course." -

-

- "Stern all! Oh Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last!" -

-

- Such were the sounds that now came hurtling from out the old man's - tormented sleep, as if Starbuck's voice had caused the long dumb dream to - speak. -

-

- The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard's arm against the panel; - Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he - placed the death-tube in its rack, and left the place. -

-

- "He's too sound asleep, Mr. Stubb; go thou down, and wake him, and tell - him. I must see to the deck here. Thou know'st what to say." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 124. The Needle. -

-

- Next morning the not-yet-subsided sea rolled in long slow billows of - mighty bulk, and striving in the Pequod's gurgling track, pushed her on - like giants' palms outspread. The strong, unstaggering breeze abounded so, - that sky and air seemed vast outbellying sails; the whole world boomed - before the wind. Muffled in the full morning light, the invisible sun was - only known by the spread intensity of his place; where his bayonet rays - moved on in stacks. Emblazonings, as of crowned Babylonian kings and - queens, reigned over everything. The sea was as a crucible of molten gold, - that bubblingly leaps with light and heat. -

-

- Long maintaining an enchanted silence, Ahab stood apart; and every time - the tetering ship loweringly pitched down her bowsprit, he turned to eye - the bright sun's rays produced ahead; and when she profoundly settled by - the stern, he turned behind, and saw the sun's rearward place, and how the - same yellow rays were blending with his undeviating wake. -

-

- "Ha, ha, my ship! thou mightest well be taken now for the sea-chariot of - the sun. Ho, ho! all ye nations before my prow, I bring the sun to ye! - Yoke on the further billows; hallo! a tandem, I drive the sea!" -

-

- But suddenly reined back by some counter thought, he hurried towards the - helm, huskily demanding how the ship was heading. -

-

- "East-sou-east, sir," said the frightened steersman. -

-

- "Thou liest!" smiting him with his clenched fist. "Heading East at this - hour in the morning, and the sun astern?" -

-

- Upon this every soul was confounded; for the phenomenon just then observed - by Ahab had unaccountably escaped every one else; but its very blinding - palpableness must have been the cause. -

-

- Thrusting his head half way into the binnacle, Ahab caught one glimpse of - the compasses; his uplifted arm slowly fell; for a moment he almost seemed - to stagger. Standing behind him Starbuck looked, and lo! the two compasses - pointed East, and the Pequod was as infallibly going West. -

-

- But ere the first wild alarm could get out abroad among the crew, the old - man with a rigid laugh exclaimed, "I have it! It has happened before. Mr. - Starbuck, last night's thunder turned our compasses—that's all. Thou - hast before now heard of such a thing, I take it." -

-

- "Aye; but never before has it happened to me, sir," said the pale mate, - gloomily. -

-

- Here, it must needs be said, that accidents like this have in more than - one case occurred to ships in violent storms. The magnetic energy, as - developed in the mariner's needle, is, as all know, essentially one with - the electricity beheld in heaven; hence it is not to be much marvelled at, - that such things should be. Instances where the lightning has actually - struck the vessel, so as to smite down some of the spars and rigging, the - effect upon the needle has at times been still more fatal; all its - loadstone virtue being annihilated, so that the before magnetic steel was - of no more use than an old wife's knitting needle. But in either case, the - needle never again, of itself, recovers the original virtue thus marred or - lost; and if the binnacle compasses be affected, the same fate reaches all - the others that may be in the ship; even were the lowermost one inserted - into the kelson. -

-

- Deliberately standing before the binnacle, and eyeing the transpointed - compasses, the old man, with the sharp of his extended hand, now took the - precise bearing of the sun, and satisfied that the needles were exactly - inverted, shouted out his orders for the ship's course to be changed - accordingly. The yards were hard up; and once more the Pequod thrust her - undaunted bows into the opposing wind, for the supposed fair one had only - been juggling her. -

-

- Meanwhile, whatever were his own secret thoughts, Starbuck said nothing, - but quietly he issued all requisite orders; while Stubb and Flask—who - in some small degree seemed then to be sharing his feelings—likewise - unmurmuringly acquiesced. As for the men, though some of them lowly - rumbled, their fear of Ahab was greater than their fear of Fate. But as - ever before, the pagan harpooneers remained almost wholly unimpressed; or - if impressed, it was only with a certain magnetism shot into their - congenial hearts from inflexible Ahab's. -

-

- For a space the old man walked the deck in rolling reveries. But chancing - to slip with his ivory heel, he saw the crushed copper sight-tubes of the - quadrant he had the day before dashed to the deck. -

-

- "Thou poor, proud heaven-gazer and sun's pilot! yesterday I wrecked thee, - and to-day the compasses would fain have wrecked me. So, so. But Ahab is - lord over the level loadstone yet. Mr. Starbuck—a lance without a - pole; a top-maul, and the smallest of the sail-maker's needles. Quick!" -

-

- Accessory, perhaps, to the impulse dictating the thing he was now about to - do, were certain prudential motives, whose object might have been to - revive the spirits of his crew by a stroke of his subtile skill, in a - matter so wondrous as that of the inverted compasses. Besides, the old man - well knew that to steer by transpointed needles, though clumsily - practicable, was not a thing to be passed over by superstitious sailors, - without some shudderings and evil portents. -

-

- "Men," said he, steadily turning upon the crew, as the mate handed him the - things he had demanded, "my men, the thunder turned old Ahab's needles; - but out of this bit of steel Ahab can make one of his own, that will point - as true as any." -

-

- Abashed glances of servile wonder were exchanged by the sailors, as this - was said; and with fascinated eyes they awaited whatever magic might - follow. But Starbuck looked away. -

-

- With a blow from the top-maul Ahab knocked off the steel head of the - lance, and then handing to the mate the long iron rod remaining, bade him - hold it upright, without its touching the deck. Then, with the maul, after - repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod, he placed the blunted - needle endwise on the top of it, and less strongly hammered that, several - times, the mate still holding the rod as before. Then going through some - small strange motions with it—whether indispensable to the - magnetizing of the steel, or merely intended to augment the awe of the - crew, is uncertain—he called for linen thread; and moving to the - binnacle, slipped out the two reversed needles there, and horizontally - suspended the sail-needle by its middle, over one of the compass-cards. At - first, the steel went round and round, quivering and vibrating at either - end; but at last it settled to its place, when Ahab, who had been intently - watching for this result, stepped frankly back from the binnacle, and - pointing his stretched arm towards it, exclaimed,—"Look ye, for - yourselves, if Ahab be not lord of the level loadstone! The sun is East, - and that compass swears it!" -

-

- One after another they peered in, for nothing but their own eyes could - persuade such ignorance as theirs, and one after another they slunk away. -

-

- In his fiery eyes of scorn and triumph, you then saw Ahab in all his fatal - pride. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line. -

-

- While now the fated Pequod had been so long afloat this voyage, the log - and line had but very seldom been in use. Owing to a confident reliance - upon other means of determining the vessel's place, some merchantmen, and - many whalemen, especially when cruising, wholly neglect to heave the log; - though at the same time, and frequently more for form's sake than anything - else, regularly putting down upon the customary slate the course steered - by the ship, as well as the presumed average rate of progression every - hour. It had been thus with the Pequod. The wooden reel and angular log - attached hung, long untouched, just beneath the railing of the after - bulwarks. Rains and spray had damped it; sun and wind had warped it; all - the elements had combined to rot a thing that hung so idly. But heedless - of all this, his mood seized Ahab, as he happened to glance upon the reel, - not many hours after the magnet scene, and he remembered how his quadrant - was no more, and recalled his frantic oath about the level log and line. - The ship was sailing plungingly; astern the billows rolled in riots. -

-

- "Forward, there! Heave the log!" -

-

- Two seamen came. The golden-hued Tahitian and the grizzly Manxman. "Take - the reel, one of ye, I'll heave." -

-

- They went towards the extreme stern, on the ship's lee side, where the - deck, with the oblique energy of the wind, was now almost dipping into the - creamy, sidelong-rushing sea. -

-

- The Manxman took the reel, and holding it high up, by the projecting - handle-ends of the spindle, round which the spool of line revolved, so - stood with the angular log hanging downwards, till Ahab advanced to him. -

-

- Ahab stood before him, and was lightly unwinding some thirty or forty - turns to form a preliminary hand-coil to toss overboard, when the old - Manxman, who was intently eyeing both him and the line, made bold to - speak. -

-

- "Sir, I mistrust it; this line looks far gone, long heat and wet have - spoiled it." -

-

- "'Twill hold, old gentleman. Long heat and wet, have they spoiled thee? - Thou seem'st to hold. Or, truer perhaps, life holds thee; not thou it." -

-

- "I hold the spool, sir. But just as my captain says. With these grey hairs - of mine 'tis not worth while disputing, 'specially with a superior, who'll - ne'er confess." -

-

- "What's that? There now's a patched professor in Queen Nature's - granite-founded College; but methinks he's too subservient. Where wert - thou born?" -

-

- "In the little rocky Isle of Man, sir." -

-

- "Excellent! Thou'st hit the world by that." -

-

- "I know not, sir, but I was born there." -

-

- "In the Isle of Man, hey? Well, the other way, it's good. Here's a man - from Man; a man born in once independent Man, and now unmanned of Man; - which is sucked in—by what? Up with the reel! The dead, blind wall - butts all inquiring heads at last. Up with it! So." -

-

- The log was heaved. The loose coils rapidly straightened out in a long - dragging line astern, and then, instantly, the reel began to whirl. In - turn, jerkingly raised and lowered by the rolling billows, the towing - resistance of the log caused the old reelman to stagger strangely. -

-

- "Hold hard!" -

-

- Snap! the overstrained line sagged down in one long festoon; the tugging - log was gone. -

-

- "I crush the quadrant, the thunder turns the needles, and now the mad sea - parts the log-line. But Ahab can mend all. Haul in here, Tahitian; reel - up, Manxman. And look ye, let the carpenter make another log, and mend - thou the line. See to it." -

-

- "There he goes now; to him nothing's happened; but to me, the skewer seems - loosening out of the middle of the world. Haul in, haul in, Tahitian! - These lines run whole, and whirling out: come in broken, and dragging - slow. Ha, Pip? come to help; eh, Pip?" -

-

- "Pip? whom call ye Pip? Pip jumped from the whale-boat. Pip's missing. - Let's see now if ye haven't fished him up here, fisherman. It drags hard; - I guess he's holding on. Jerk him, Tahiti! Jerk him off; we haul in no - cowards here. Ho! there's his arm just breaking water. A hatchet! a - hatchet! cut it off—we haul in no cowards here. Captain Ahab! sir, - sir! here's Pip, trying to get on board again." -

-

- "Peace, thou crazy loon," cried the Manxman, seizing him by the arm. "Away - from the quarter-deck!" -

-

- "The greater idiot ever scolds the lesser," muttered Ahab, advancing. - "Hands off from that holiness! Where sayest thou Pip was, boy? -

-

- "Astern there, sir, astern! Lo! lo!" -

-

- "And who art thou, boy? I see not my reflection in the vacant pupils of - thy eyes. Oh God! that man should be a thing for immortal souls to sieve - through! Who art thou, boy?" -

-

- "Bell-boy, sir; ship's-crier; ding, dong, ding! Pip! Pip! Pip! One hundred - pounds of clay reward for Pip; five feet high—looks cowardly—quickest - known by that! Ding, dong, ding! Who's seen Pip the coward?" -

-

- "There can be no hearts above the snow-line. Oh, ye frozen heavens! look - down here. Ye did beget this luckless child, and have abandoned him, ye - creative libertines. Here, boy; Ahab's cabin shall be Pip's home - henceforth, while Ahab lives. Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou - art tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings. Come, let's down." -

-

- "What's this? here's velvet shark-skin," intently gazing at Ahab's hand, - and feeling it. "Ah, now, had poor Pip but felt so kind a thing as this, - perhaps he had ne'er been lost! This seems to me, sir, as a man-rope; - something that weak souls may hold by. Oh, sir, let old Perth now come and - rivet these two hands together; the black one with the white, for I will - not let this go." -

-

- "Oh, boy, nor will I thee, unless I should thereby drag thee to worse - horrors than are here. Come, then, to my cabin. Lo! ye believers in gods - all goodness, and in man all ill, lo you! see the omniscient gods - oblivious of suffering man; and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what - he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude. Come! I feel - prouder leading thee by thy black hand, than though I grasped an - Emperor's!" -

-

- "There go two daft ones now," muttered the old Manxman. "One daft with - strength, the other daft with weakness. But here's the end of the rotten - line—all dripping, too. Mend it, eh? I think we had best have a new - line altogether. I'll see Mr. Stubb about it." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy. -

-

- Steering now south-eastward by Ahab's levelled steel, and her progress - solely determined by Ahab's level log and line; the Pequod held on her - path towards the Equator. Making so long a passage through such - unfrequented waters, descrying no ships, and ere long, sideways impelled - by unvarying trade winds, over waves monotonously mild; all these seemed - the strange calm things preluding some riotous and desperate scene. -

-

- At last, when the ship drew near to the outskirts, as it were, of the - Equatorial fishing-ground, and in the deep darkness that goes before the - dawn, was sailing by a cluster of rocky islets; the watch—then - headed by Flask—was startled by a cry so plaintively wild and - unearthly—like half-articulated wailings of the ghosts of all - Herod's murdered Innocents—that one and all, they started from their - reveries, and for the space of some moments stood, or sat, or leaned all - transfixedly listening, like the carved Roman slave, while that wild cry - remained within hearing. The Christian or civilized part of the crew said - it was mermaids, and shuddered; but the pagan harpooneers remained - unappalled. Yet the grey Manxman—the oldest mariner of all—declared - that the wild thrilling sounds that were heard, were the voices of newly - drowned men in the sea. -

-

- Below in his hammock, Ahab did not hear of this till grey dawn, when he - came to the deck; it was then recounted to him by Flask, not unaccompanied - with hinted dark meanings. He hollowly laughed, and thus explained the - wonder. -

-

- Those rocky islands the ship had passed were the resort of great numbers - of seals, and some young seals that had lost their dams, or some dams that - had lost their cubs, must have risen nigh the ship and kept company with - her, crying and sobbing with their human sort of wail. But this only the - more affected some of them, because most mariners cherish a very - superstitious feeling about seals, arising not only from their peculiar - tones when in distress, but also from the human look of their round heads - and semi-intelligent faces, seen peeringly uprising from the water - alongside. In the sea, under certain circumstances, seals have more than - once been mistaken for men. -

-

- But the bodings of the crew were destined to receive a most plausible - confirmation in the fate of one of their number that morning. At sun-rise - this man went from his hammock to his mast-head at the fore; and whether - it was that he was not yet half waked from his sleep (for sailors - sometimes go aloft in a transition state), whether it was thus with the - man, there is now no telling; but, be that as it may, he had not been long - at his perch, when a cry was heard—a cry and a rushing—and - looking up, they saw a falling phantom in the air; and looking down, a - little tossed heap of white bubbles in the blue of the sea. -

-

- The life-buoy—a long slender cask—was dropped from the stern, - where it always hung obedient to a cunning spring; but no hand rose to - seize it, and the sun having long beat upon this cask it had shrunken, so - that it slowly filled, and that parched wood also filled at its every - pore; and the studded iron-bound cask followed the sailor to the bottom, - as if to yield him his pillow, though in sooth but a hard one. -

-

- And thus the first man of the Pequod that mounted the mast to look out for - the White Whale, on the White Whale's own peculiar ground; that man was - swallowed up in the deep. But few, perhaps, thought of that at the time. - Indeed, in some sort, they were not grieved at this event, at least as a - portent; for they regarded it, not as a foreshadowing of evil in the - future, but as the fulfilment of an evil already presaged. They declared - that now they knew the reason of those wild shrieks they had heard the - night before. But again the old Manxman said nay. -

-

- The lost life-buoy was now to be replaced; Starbuck was directed to see to - it; but as no cask of sufficient lightness could be found, and as in the - feverish eagerness of what seemed the approaching crisis of the voyage, - all hands were impatient of any toil but what was directly connected with - its final end, whatever that might prove to be; therefore, they were going - to leave the ship's stern unprovided with a buoy, when by certain strange - signs and inuendoes Queequeg hinted a hint concerning his coffin. -

-

- "A life-buoy of a coffin!" cried Starbuck, starting. -

-

- "Rather queer, that, I should say," said Stubb. -

-

- "It will make a good enough one," said Flask, "the carpenter here can - arrange it easily." -

-

- "Bring it up; there's nothing else for it," said Starbuck, after a - melancholy pause. "Rig it, carpenter; do not look at me so—the - coffin, I mean. Dost thou hear me? Rig it." -

-

- "And shall I nail down the lid, sir?" moving his hand as with a hammer. -

-

- "Aye." -

-

- "And shall I caulk the seams, sir?" moving his hand as with a - caulking-iron. -

-

- "Aye." -

-

- "And shall I then pay over the same with pitch, sir?" moving his hand as - with a pitch-pot. -

-

- "Away! what possesses thee to this? Make a life-buoy of the coffin, and no - more.—Mr. Stubb, Mr. Flask, come forward with me." -

-

- "He goes off in a huff. The whole he can endure; at the parts he baulks. - Now I don't like this. I make a leg for Captain Ahab, and he wears it like - a gentleman; but I make a bandbox for Queequeg, and he won't put his head - into it. Are all my pains to go for nothing with that coffin? And now I'm - ordered to make a life-buoy of it. It's like turning an old coat; going to - bring the flesh on the other side now. I don't like this cobbling sort of - business—I don't like it at all; it's undignified; it's not my - place. Let tinkers' brats do tinkerings; we are their betters. I like to - take in hand none but clean, virgin, fair-and-square mathematical jobs, - something that regularly begins at the beginning, and is at the middle - when midway, and comes to an end at the conclusion; not a cobbler's job, - that's at an end in the middle, and at the beginning at the end. It's the - old woman's tricks to be giving cobbling jobs. Lord! what an affection all - old women have for tinkers. I know an old woman of sixty-five who ran away - with a bald-headed young tinker once. And that's the reason I never would - work for lonely widow old women ashore, when I kept my job-shop in the - Vineyard; they might have taken it into their lonely old heads to run off - with me. But heigh-ho! there are no caps at sea but snow-caps. Let me see. - Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten - them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship's stern. - Were ever such things done before with a coffin? Some superstitious old - carpenters, now, would be tied up in the rigging, ere they would do the - job. But I'm made of knotty Aroostook hemlock; I don't budge. Cruppered - with a coffin! Sailing about with a grave-yard tray! But never mind. We - workers in woods make bridal-bedsteads and card-tables, as well as coffins - and hearses. We work by the month, or by the job, or by the profit; not - for us to ask the why and wherefore of our work, unless it be too - confounded cobbling, and then we stash it if we can. Hem! I'll do the job, - now, tenderly. I'll have me—let's see—how many in the ship's - company, all told? But I've forgotten. Any way, I'll have me thirty - separate, Turk's-headed life-lines, each three feet long hanging all round - to the coffin. Then, if the hull go down, there'll be thirty lively - fellows all fighting for one coffin, a sight not seen very often beneath - the sun! Come hammer, caulking-iron, pitch-pot, and marling-spike! Let's - to it." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 127. The Deck. -

-

- THE COFFIN LAID UPON TWO LINE-TUBS, BETWEEN THE VICE-BENCH AND THE OPEN - HATCHWAY; THE CARPENTER CAULKING ITS SEAMS; THE STRING OF TWISTED OAKUM - SLOWLY UNWINDING FROM A LARGE ROLL OF IT PLACED IN THE BOSOM OF HIS FROCK.—AHAB - COMES SLOWLY FROM THE CABIN-GANGWAY, AND HEARS PIP FOLLOWING HIM. -

-

- "Back, lad; I will be with ye again presently. He goes! Not this hand - complies with my humor more genially than that boy.—Middle aisle of - a church! What's here?" -

-

- "Life-buoy, sir. Mr. Starbuck's orders. Oh, look, sir! Beware the - hatchway!" -

-

- "Thank ye, man. Thy coffin lies handy to the vault." -

-

- "Sir? The hatchway? oh! So it does, sir, so it does." -

-

- "Art not thou the leg-maker? Look, did not this stump come from thy shop?" -

-

- "I believe it did, sir; does the ferrule stand, sir?" -

-

- "Well enough. But art thou not also the undertaker?" -

-

- "Aye, sir; I patched up this thing here as a coffin for Queequeg; but - they've set me now to turning it into something else." -

-

- "Then tell me; art thou not an arrant, all-grasping, intermeddling, - monopolising, heathenish old scamp, to be one day making legs, and the - next day coffins to clap them in, and yet again life-buoys out of those - same coffins? Thou art as unprincipled as the gods, and as much of a - jack-of-all-trades." -

-

- "But I do not mean anything, sir. I do as I do." -

-

- "The gods again. Hark ye, dost thou not ever sing working about a coffin? - The Titans, they say, hummed snatches when chipping out the craters for - volcanoes; and the grave-digger in the play sings, spade in hand. Dost - thou never?" -

-

- "Sing, sir? Do I sing? Oh, I'm indifferent enough, sir, for that; but the - reason why the grave-digger made music must have been because there was - none in his spade, sir. But the caulking mallet is full of it. Hark to - it." -

-

- "Aye, and that's because the lid there's a sounding-board; and what in all - things makes the sounding-board is this—there's naught beneath. And - yet, a coffin with a body in it rings pretty much the same, Carpenter. - Hast thou ever helped carry a bier, and heard the coffin knock against the - churchyard gate, going in? -

-

- "Faith, sir, I've—" -

-

- "Faith? What's that?" -

-

- "Why, faith, sir, it's only a sort of exclamation-like—that's all, - sir." -

-

- "Um, um; go on." -

-

- "I was about to say, sir, that—" -

-

- "Art thou a silk-worm? Dost thou spin thy own shroud out of thyself? Look - at thy bosom! Despatch! and get these traps out of sight." -

-

- "He goes aft. That was sudden, now; but squalls come sudden in hot - latitudes. I've heard that the Isle of Albemarle, one of the Gallipagos, - is cut by the Equator right in the middle. Seems to me some sort of - Equator cuts yon old man, too, right in his middle. He's always under the - Line—fiery hot, I tell ye! He's looking this way—come, oakum; - quick. Here we go again. This wooden mallet is the cork, and I'm the - professor of musical glasses—tap, tap!" -

-

- (AHAB TO HIMSELF.) -

-

- "There's a sight! There's a sound! The grey-headed woodpecker tapping the - hollow tree! Blind and dumb might well be envied now. See! that thing - rests on two line-tubs, full of tow-lines. A most malicious wag, that - fellow. Rat-tat! So man's seconds tick! Oh! how immaterial are all - materials! What things real are there, but imponderable thoughts? Here - now's the very dreaded symbol of grim death, by a mere hap, made the - expressive sign of the help and hope of most endangered life. A life-buoy - of a coffin! Does it go further? Can it be that in some spiritual sense - the coffin is, after all, but an immortality-preserver! I'll think of - that. But no. So far gone am I in the dark side of earth, that its other - side, the theoretic bright one, seems but uncertain twilight to me. Will - ye never have done, Carpenter, with that accursed sound? I go below; let - me not see that thing here when I return again. Now, then, Pip, we'll talk - this over; I do suck most wondrous philosophies from thee! Some unknown - conduits from the unknown worlds must empty into thee!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel. -

-

- Next day, a large ship, the Rachel, was descried, bearing directly down - upon the Pequod, all her spars thickly clustering with men. At the time - the Pequod was making good speed through the water; but as the - broad-winged windward stranger shot nigh to her, the boastful sails all - fell together as blank bladders that are burst, and all life fled from the - smitten hull. -

-

- "Bad news; she brings bad news," muttered the old Manxman. But ere her - commander, who, with trumpet to mouth, stood up in his boat; ere he could - hopefully hail, Ahab's voice was heard. -

-

- "Hast seen the White Whale?" -

-

- "Aye, yesterday. Have ye seen a whale-boat adrift?" -

-

- Throttling his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question; and - would then have fain boarded the stranger, when the stranger captain - himself, having stopped his vessel's way, was seen descending her side. A - few keen pulls, and his boat-hook soon clinched the Pequod's main-chains, - and he sprang to the deck. Immediately he was recognised by Ahab for a - Nantucketer he knew. But no formal salutation was exchanged. -

-

- "Where was he?—not killed!—not killed!" cried Ahab, closely - advancing. "How was it?" -

-

- It seemed that somewhat late on the afternoon of the day previous, while - three of the stranger's boats were engaged with a shoal of whales, which - had led them some four or five miles from the ship; and while they were - yet in swift chase to windward, the white hump and head of Moby Dick had - suddenly loomed up out of the water, not very far to leeward; whereupon, - the fourth rigged boat—a reserved one—had been instantly - lowered in chase. After a keen sail before the wind, this fourth boat—the - swiftest keeled of all—seemed to have succeeded in fastening—at - least, as well as the man at the mast-head could tell anything about it. - In the distance he saw the diminished dotted boat; and then a swift gleam - of bubbling white water; and after that nothing more; whence it was - concluded that the stricken whale must have indefinitely run away with his - pursuers, as often happens. There was some apprehension, but no positive - alarm, as yet. The recall signals were placed in the rigging; darkness - came on; and forced to pick up her three far to windward boats—ere - going in quest of the fourth one in the precisely opposite direction—the - ship had not only been necessitated to leave that boat to its fate till - near midnight, but, for the time, to increase her distance from it. But - the rest of her crew being at last safe aboard, she crowded all sail—stunsail - on stunsail—after the missing boat; kindling a fire in her try-pots - for a beacon; and every other man aloft on the look-out. But though when - she had thus sailed a sufficient distance to gain the presumed place of - the absent ones when last seen; though she then paused to lower her spare - boats to pull all around her; and not finding anything, had again dashed - on; again paused, and lowered her boats; and though she had thus continued - doing till daylight; yet not the least glimpse of the missing keel had - been seen. -

-

- The story told, the stranger Captain immediately went on to reveal his - object in boarding the Pequod. He desired that ship to unite with his own - in the search; by sailing over the sea some four or five miles apart, on - parallel lines, and so sweeping a double horizon, as it were. -

-

- "I will wager something now," whispered Stubb to Flask, "that some one in - that missing boat wore off that Captain's best coat; mayhap, his watch—he's - so cursed anxious to get it back. Who ever heard of two pious whale-ships - cruising after one missing whale-boat in the height of the whaling season? - See, Flask, only see how pale he looks—pale in the very buttons of - his eyes—look—it wasn't the coat—it must have been the—" -

-

- "My boy, my own boy is among them. For God's sake—I beg, I conjure"—here - exclaimed the stranger Captain to Ahab, who thus far had but icily - received his petition. "For eight-and-forty hours let me charter your ship—I - will gladly pay for it, and roundly pay for it—if there be no other - way—for eight-and-forty hours only—only that—you must, - oh, you must, and you SHALL do this thing." -

-

- "His son!" cried Stubb, "oh, it's his son he's lost! I take back the coat - and watch—what says Ahab? We must save that boy." -

-

- "He's drowned with the rest on 'em, last night," said the old Manx sailor - standing behind them; "I heard; all of ye heard their spirits." -

-

- Now, as it shortly turned out, what made this incident of the Rachel's the - more melancholy, was the circumstance, that not only was one of the - Captain's sons among the number of the missing boat's crew; but among the - number of the other boat's crews, at the same time, but on the other hand, - separated from the ship during the dark vicissitudes of the chase, there - had been still another son; as that for a time, the wretched father was - plunged to the bottom of the cruellest perplexity; which was only solved - for him by his chief mate's instinctively adopting the ordinary procedure - of a whale-ship in such emergencies, that is, when placed between - jeopardized but divided boats, always to pick up the majority first. But - the captain, for some unknown constitutional reason, had refrained from - mentioning all this, and not till forced to it by Ahab's iciness did he - allude to his one yet missing boy; a little lad, but twelve years old, - whose father with the earnest but unmisgiving hardihood of a Nantucketer's - paternal love, had thus early sought to initiate him in the perils and - wonders of a vocation almost immemorially the destiny of all his race. Nor - does it unfrequently occur, that Nantucket captains will send a son of - such tender age away from them, for a protracted three or four years' - voyage in some other ship than their own; so that their first knowledge of - a whaleman's career shall be unenervated by any chance display of a - father's natural but untimely partiality, or undue apprehensiveness and - concern. -

-

- Meantime, now the stranger was still beseeching his poor boon of Ahab; and - Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the - least quivering of his own. -

-

- "I will not go," said the stranger, "till you say aye to me. Do to me as - you would have me do to you in the like case. For YOU too have a boy, - Captain Ahab—though but a child, and nestling safely at home now—a - child of your old age too—Yes, yes, you relent; I see it—run, - run, men, now, and stand by to square in the yards." -

-

- "Avast," cried Ahab—"touch not a rope-yarn"; then in a voice that - prolongingly moulded every word—"Captain Gardiner, I will not do it. - Even now I lose time. Good-bye, good-bye. God bless ye, man, and may I - forgive myself, but I must go. Mr. Starbuck, look at the binnacle watch, - and in three minutes from this present instant warn off all strangers: - then brace forward again, and let the ship sail as before." -

-

- Hurriedly turning, with averted face, he descended into his cabin, leaving - the strange captain transfixed at this unconditional and utter rejection - of his so earnest suit. But starting from his enchantment, Gardiner - silently hurried to the side; more fell than stepped into his boat, and - returned to his ship. -

-

- Soon the two ships diverged their wakes; and long as the strange vessel - was in view, she was seen to yaw hither and thither at every dark spot, - however small, on the sea. This way and that her yards were swung round; - starboard and larboard, she continued to tack; now she beat against a head - sea; and again it pushed her before it; while all the while, her masts and - yards were thickly clustered with men, as three tall cherry trees, when - the boys are cherrying among the boughs. -

-

- But by her still halting course and winding, woeful way, you plainly saw - that this ship that so wept with spray, still remained without comfort. - She was Rachel, weeping for her children, because they were not. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 129. The Cabin. -

-

- (AHAB MOVING TO GO ON DECK; PIP CATCHES HIM BY THE HAND TO FOLLOW.) -

-

- "Lad, lad, I tell thee thou must not follow Ahab now. The hour is coming - when Ahab would not scare thee from him, yet would not have thee by him. - There is that in thee, poor lad, which I feel too curing to my malady. - Like cures like; and for this hunt, my malady becomes my most desired - health. Do thou abide below here, where they shall serve thee, as if thou - wert the captain. Aye, lad, thou shalt sit here in my own screwed chair; - another screw to it, thou must be." -

-

- "No, no, no! ye have not a whole body, sir; do ye but use poor me for your - one lost leg; only tread upon me, sir; I ask no more, so I remain a part - of ye." -

-

- "Oh! spite of million villains, this makes me a bigot in the fadeless - fidelity of man!—and a black! and crazy!—but methinks - like-cures-like applies to him too; he grows so sane again." -

-

- "They tell me, sir, that Stubb did once desert poor little Pip, whose - drowned bones now show white, for all the blackness of his living skin. - But I will never desert ye, sir, as Stubb did him. Sir, I must go with - ye." -

-

- "If thou speakest thus to me much more, Ahab's purpose keels up in him. I - tell thee no; it cannot be." -

-

- "Oh good master, master, master! -

-

- "Weep so, and I will murder thee! have a care, for Ahab too is mad. - Listen, and thou wilt often hear my ivory foot upon the deck, and still - know that I am there. And now I quit thee. Thy hand!—Met! True art - thou, lad, as the circumference to its centre. So: God for ever bless - thee; and if it come to that,—God for ever save thee, let what will - befall." -

-

- (AHAB GOES; PIP STEPS ONE STEP FORWARD.) -

-

- "Here he this instant stood; I stand in his air,—but I'm alone. Now - were even poor Pip here I could endure it, but he's missing. Pip! Pip! - Ding, dong, ding! Who's seen Pip? He must be up here; let's try the door. - What? neither lock, nor bolt, nor bar; and yet there's no opening it. It - must be the spell; he told me to stay here: Aye, and told me this screwed - chair was mine. Here, then, I'll seat me, against the transom, in the - ship's full middle, all her keel and her three masts before me. Here, our - old sailors say, in their black seventy-fours great admirals sometimes sit - at table, and lord it over rows of captains and lieutenants. Ha! what's - this? epaulets! epaulets! the epaulets all come crowding! Pass round the - decanters; glad to see ye; fill up, monsieurs! What an odd feeling, now, - when a black boy's host to white men with gold lace upon their coats!—Monsieurs, - have ye seen one Pip?—a little negro lad, five feet high, hang-dog - look, and cowardly! Jumped from a whale-boat once;—seen him? No! - Well then, fill up again, captains, and let's drink shame upon all - cowards! I name no names. Shame upon them! Put one foot upon the table. - Shame upon all cowards.—Hist! above there, I hear ivory—Oh, - master! master! I am indeed down-hearted when you walk over me. But here - I'll stay, though this stern strikes rocks; and they bulge through; and - oysters come to join me." -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 130. The Hat. -

-

- And now that at the proper time and place, after so long and wide a - preliminary cruise, Ahab,—all other whaling waters swept—seemed - to have chased his foe into an ocean-fold, to slay him the more securely - there; now, that he found himself hard by the very latitude and longitude - where his tormenting wound had been inflicted; now that a vessel had been - spoken which on the very day preceding had actually encountered Moby Dick;—and - now that all his successive meetings with various ships contrastingly - concurred to show the demoniac indifference with which the white whale - tore his hunters, whether sinning or sinned against; now it was that there - lurked a something in the old man's eyes, which it was hardly sufferable - for feeble souls to see. As the unsetting polar star, which through the - livelong, arctic, six months' night sustains its piercing, steady, central - gaze; so Ahab's purpose now fixedly gleamed down upon the constant - midnight of the gloomy crew. It domineered above them so, that all their - bodings, doubts, misgivings, fears, were fain to hide beneath their souls, - and not sprout forth a single spear or leaf. -

-

- In this foreshadowing interval too, all humor, forced or natural, - vanished. Stubb no more strove to raise a smile; Starbuck no more strove - to check one. Alike, joy and sorrow, hope and fear, seemed ground to - finest dust, and powdered, for the time, in the clamped mortar of Ahab's - iron soul. Like machines, they dumbly moved about the deck, ever conscious - that the old man's despot eye was on them. -

-

- But did you deeply scan him in his more secret confidential hours; when he - thought no glance but one was on him; then you would have seen that even - as Ahab's eyes so awed the crew's, the inscrutable Parsee's glance awed - his; or somehow, at least, in some wild way, at times affected it. Such an - added, gliding strangeness began to invest the thin Fedallah now; such - ceaseless shudderings shook him; that the men looked dubious at him; half - uncertain, as it seemed, whether indeed he were a mortal substance, or - else a tremulous shadow cast upon the deck by some unseen being's body. - And that shadow was always hovering there. For not by night, even, had - Fedallah ever certainly been known to slumber, or go below. He would stand - still for hours: but never sat or leaned; his wan but wondrous eyes did - plainly say—We two watchmen never rest. -

-

- Nor, at any time, by night or day could the mariners now step upon the - deck, unless Ahab was before them; either standing in his pivot-hole, or - exactly pacing the planks between two undeviating limits,—the - main-mast and the mizen; or else they saw him standing in the - cabin-scuttle,—his living foot advanced upon the deck, as if to - step; his hat slouched heavily over his eyes; so that however motionless - he stood, however the days and nights were added on, that he had not swung - in his hammock; yet hidden beneath that slouching hat, they could never - tell unerringly whether, for all this, his eyes were really closed at - times; or whether he was still intently scanning them; no matter, though - he stood so in the scuttle for a whole hour on the stretch, and the - unheeded night-damp gathered in beads of dew upon that stone-carved coat - and hat. The clothes that the night had wet, the next day's sunshine dried - upon him; and so, day after day, and night after night; he went no more - beneath the planks; whatever he wanted from the cabin that thing he sent - for. -

-

- He ate in the same open air; that is, his two only meals,—breakfast - and dinner: supper he never touched; nor reaped his beard; which darkly - grew all gnarled, as unearthed roots of trees blown over, which still grow - idly on at naked base, though perished in the upper verdure. But though - his whole life was now become one watch on deck; and though the Parsee's - mystic watch was without intermission as his own; yet these two never - seemed to speak—one man to the other—unless at long intervals - some passing unmomentous matter made it necessary. Though such a potent - spell seemed secretly to join the twain; openly, and to the awe-struck - crew, they seemed pole-like asunder. If by day they chanced to speak one - word; by night, dumb men were both, so far as concerned the slightest - verbal interchange. At times, for longest hours, without a single hail, - they stood far parted in the starlight; Ahab in his scuttle, the Parsee by - the mainmast; but still fixedly gazing upon each other; as if in the - Parsee Ahab saw his forethrown shadow, in Ahab the Parsee his abandoned - substance. -

-

- And yet, somehow, did Ahab—in his own proper self, as daily, hourly, - and every instant, commandingly revealed to his subordinates,—Ahab - seemed an independent lord; the Parsee but his slave. Still again both - seemed yoked together, and an unseen tyrant driving them; the lean shade - siding the solid rib. For be this Parsee what he may, all rib and keel was - solid Ahab. -

-

- At the first faintest glimmering of the dawn, his iron voice was heard - from aft,—"Man the mast-heads!"—and all through the day, till - after sunset and after twilight, the same voice every hour, at the - striking of the helmsman's bell, was heard—"What d'ye see?—sharp! - sharp!" -

-

- But when three or four days had slided by, after meeting the - children-seeking Rachel; and no spout had yet been seen; the monomaniac - old man seemed distrustful of his crew's fidelity; at least, of nearly all - except the Pagan harpooneers; he seemed to doubt, even, whether Stubb and - Flask might not willingly overlook the sight he sought. But if these - suspicions were really his, he sagaciously refrained from verbally - expressing them, however his actions might seem to hint them. -

-

- "I will have the first sight of the whale myself,"—he said. "Aye! - Ahab must have the doubloon! and with his own hands he rigged a nest of - basketed bowlines; and sending a hand aloft, with a single sheaved block, - to secure to the main-mast head, he received the two ends of the - downward-reeved rope; and attaching one to his basket prepared a pin for - the other end, in order to fasten it at the rail. This done, with that end - yet in his hand and standing beside the pin, he looked round upon his - crew, sweeping from one to the other; pausing his glance long upon Daggoo, - Queequeg, Tashtego; but shunning Fedallah; and then settling his firm - relying eye upon the chief mate, said,—"Take the rope, sir—I - give it into thy hands, Starbuck." Then arranging his person in the - basket, he gave the word for them to hoist him to his perch, Starbuck - being the one who secured the rope at last; and afterwards stood near it. - And thus, with one hand clinging round the royal mast, Ahab gazed abroad - upon the sea for miles and miles,—ahead, astern, this side, and - that,—within the wide expanded circle commanded at so great a - height. -

-

- When in working with his hands at some lofty almost isolated place in the - rigging, which chances to afford no foothold, the sailor at sea is hoisted - up to that spot, and sustained there by the rope; under these - circumstances, its fastened end on deck is always given in strict charge - to some one man who has the special watch of it. Because in such a - wilderness of running rigging, whose various different relations aloft - cannot always be infallibly discerned by what is seen of them at the deck; - and when the deck-ends of these ropes are being every few minutes cast - down from the fastenings, it would be but a natural fatality, if, - unprovided with a constant watchman, the hoisted sailor should by some - carelessness of the crew be cast adrift and fall all swooping to the sea. - So Ahab's proceedings in this matter were not unusual; the only strange - thing about them seemed to be, that Starbuck, almost the one only man who - had ever ventured to oppose him with anything in the slightest degree - approaching to decision—one of those too, whose faithfulness on the - look-out he had seemed to doubt somewhat;—it was strange, that this - was the very man he should select for his watchman; freely giving his - whole life into such an otherwise distrusted person's hands. -

-

- Now, the first time Ahab was perched aloft; ere he had been there ten - minutes; one of those red-billed savage sea-hawks which so often fly - incommodiously close round the manned mast-heads of whalemen in these - latitudes; one of these birds came wheeling and screaming round his head - in a maze of untrackably swift circlings. Then it darted a thousand feet - straight up into the air; then spiralized downwards, and went eddying - again round his head. -

-

- But with his gaze fixed upon the dim and distant horizon, Ahab seemed not - to mark this wild bird; nor, indeed, would any one else have marked it - much, it being no uncommon circumstance; only now almost the least heedful - eye seemed to see some sort of cunning meaning in almost every sight. -

-

- "Your hat, your hat, sir!" suddenly cried the Sicilian seaman, who being - posted at the mizen-mast-head, stood directly behind Ahab, though somewhat - lower than his level, and with a deep gulf of air dividing them. -

-

- But already the sable wing was before the old man's eyes; the long hooked - bill at his head: with a scream, the black hawk darted away with his - prize. -

-

- An eagle flew thrice round Tarquin's head, removing his cap to replace it, - and thereupon Tanaquil, his wife, declared that Tarquin would be king of - Rome. But only by the replacing of the cap was that omen accounted good. - Ahab's hat was never restored; the wild hawk flew on and on with it; far - in advance of the prow: and at last disappeared; while from the point of - that disappearance, a minute black spot was dimly discerned, falling from - that vast height into the sea. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 131. The Pequod Meets The Delight. -

-

- The intense Pequod sailed on; the rolling waves and days went by; the - life-buoy-coffin still lightly swung; and another ship, most miserably - misnamed the Delight, was descried. As she drew nigh, all eyes were fixed - upon her broad beams, called shears, which, in some whaling-ships, cross - the quarter-deck at the height of eight or nine feet; serving to carry the - spare, unrigged, or disabled boats. -

-

- Upon the stranger's shears were beheld the shattered, white ribs, and some - few splintered planks, of what had once been a whale-boat; but you now saw - through this wreck, as plainly as you see through the peeled, - half-unhinged, and bleaching skeleton of a horse. -

-

- "Hast seen the White Whale?" -

-

- "Look!" replied the hollow-cheeked captain from his taffrail; and with his - trumpet he pointed to the wreck. -

-

- "Hast killed him?" -

-

- "The harpoon is not yet forged that ever will do that," answered the - other, sadly glancing upon a rounded hammock on the deck, whose gathered - sides some noiseless sailors were busy in sewing together. -

-

- "Not forged!" and snatching Perth's levelled iron from the crotch, Ahab - held it out, exclaiming—"Look ye, Nantucketer; here in this hand I - hold his death! Tempered in blood, and tempered by lightning are these - barbs; and I swear to temper them triply in that hot place behind the fin, - where the White Whale most feels his accursed life!" -

-

- "Then God keep thee, old man—see'st thou that"—pointing to the - hammock—"I bury but one of five stout men, who were alive only - yesterday; but were dead ere night. Only THAT one I bury; the rest were - buried before they died; you sail upon their tomb." Then turning to his - crew—"Are ye ready there? place the plank then on the rail, and lift - the body; so, then—Oh! God"—advancing towards the hammock with - uplifted hands—"may the resurrection and the life—" -

-

- "Brace forward! Up helm!" cried Ahab like lightning to his men. -

-

- But the suddenly started Pequod was not quick enough to escape the sound - of the splash that the corpse soon made as it struck the sea; not so - quick, indeed, but that some of the flying bubbles might have sprinkled - her hull with their ghostly baptism. -

-

- As Ahab now glided from the dejected Delight, the strange life-buoy - hanging at the Pequod's stern came into conspicuous relief. -

-

- "Ha! yonder! look yonder, men!" cried a foreboding voice in her wake. "In - vain, oh, ye strangers, ye fly our sad burial; ye but turn us your - taffrail to show us your coffin!" -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 132. The Symphony. -

-

- It was a clear steel-blue day. The firmaments of air and sea were hardly - separable in that all-pervading azure; only, the pensive air was - transparently pure and soft, with a woman's look, and the robust and - man-like sea heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson's chest - in his sleep. -

-

- Hither, and thither, on high, glided the snow-white wings of small, - unspeckled birds; these were the gentle thoughts of the feminine air; but - to and fro in the deeps, far down in the bottomless blue, rushed mighty - leviathans, sword-fish, and sharks; and these were the strong, troubled, - murderous thinkings of the masculine sea. -

-

- But though thus contrasting within, the contrast was only in shades and - shadows without; those two seemed one; it was only the sex, as it were, - that distinguished them. -

-

- Aloft, like a royal czar and king, the sun seemed giving this gentle air - to this bold and rolling sea; even as bride to groom. And at the girdling - line of the horizon, a soft and tremulous motion—most seen here at - the Equator—denoted the fond, throbbing trust, the loving alarms, - with which the poor bride gave her bosom away. -

-

- Tied up and twisted; gnarled and knotted with wrinkles; haggardly firm and - unyielding; his eyes glowing like coals, that still glow in the ashes of - ruin; untottering Ahab stood forth in the clearness of the morn; lifting - his splintered helmet of a brow to the fair girl's forehead of heaven. -

-

- Oh, immortal infancy, and innocency of the azure! Invisible winged - creatures that frolic all round us! Sweet childhood of air and sky! how - oblivious were ye of old Ahab's close-coiled woe! But so have I seen - little Miriam and Martha, laughing-eyed elves, heedlessly gambol around - their old sire; sporting with the circle of singed locks which grew on the - marge of that burnt-out crater of his brain. -

-

- Slowly crossing the deck from the scuttle, Ahab leaned over the side and - watched how his shadow in the water sank and sank to his gaze, the more - and the more that he strove to pierce the profundity. But the lovely - aromas in that enchanted air did at last seem to dispel, for a moment, the - cankerous thing in his soul. That glad, happy air, that winsome sky, did - at last stroke and caress him; the step-mother world, so long cruel—forbidding—now - threw affectionate arms round his stubborn neck, and did seem to joyously - sob over him, as if over one, that however wilful and erring, she could - yet find it in her heart to save and to bless. From beneath his slouched - hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such - wealth as that one wee drop. -

-

- Starbuck saw the old man; saw him, how he heavily leaned over the side; - and he seemed to hear in his own true heart the measureless sobbing that - stole out of the centre of the serenity around. Careful not to touch him, - or be noticed by him, he yet drew near to him, and stood there. -

-

- Ahab turned. -

-

- "Starbuck!" -

-

- "Sir." -

-

- "Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a - day—very much such a sweetness as this—I struck my first whale—a - boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty—forty—forty years ago!—ago! - Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and - storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! for forty years has Ahab - forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of - the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent - three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of - solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's - exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the - green country without—oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery - of solitary command!—when I think of all this; only half-suspected, - not so keenly known to me before—and how for forty years I have fed - upon dry salted fare—fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soil!—when - the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the - world's fresh bread to my mouldy crusts—away, whole oceans away, - from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn - the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow—wife? wife?—rather - a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I - married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling - blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab - has furiously, foamingly chased his prey—more a demon than a man!—aye, - aye! what a forty years' fool—fool—old fool, has old Ahab - been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the - oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? - Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, - one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old - hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never - grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, - Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, - staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God!—crack - my heart!—stave my brain!—mockery! mockery! bitter, biting - mockery of grey hairs, have I lived enough joy to wear ye; and seem and - feel thus intolerably old? Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look - into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than - to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is - the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; - stay on board, on board!—lower not when I do; when branded Ahab - gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with - the far away home I see in that eye!" -

-

- "Oh, my Captain! my Captain! noble soul! grand old heart, after all! why - should any one give chase to that hated fish! Away with me! let us fly - these deadly waters! let us home! Wife and child, too, are Starbuck's—wife - and child of his brotherly, sisterly, play-fellow youth; even as thine, - sir, are the wife and child of thy loving, longing, paternal old age! - Away! let us away!—this instant let me alter the course! How - cheerily, how hilariously, O my Captain, would we bowl on our way to see - old Nantucket again! I think, sir, they have some such mild blue days, - even as this, in Nantucket." -

-

- "They have, they have. I have seen them—some summer days in the - morning. About this time—yes, it is his noon nap now—the boy - vivaciously wakes; sits up in bed; and his mother tells him of me, of - cannibal old me; how I am abroad upon the deep, but will yet come back to - dance him again." -

-

- "'Tis my Mary, my Mary herself! She promised that my boy, every morning, - should be carried to the hill to catch the first glimpse of his father's - sail! Yes, yes! no more! it is done! we head for Nantucket! Come, my - Captain, study out the course, and let us away! See, see! the boy's face - from the window! the boy's hand on the hill!" -

-

- But Ahab's glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and - cast his last, cindered apple to the soil. -

-

- "What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what - cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands - me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and - crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready - to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? - Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great - sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single - star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small - heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that - beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, - we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and - Fate is the handspike. And all the time, lo! that smiling sky, and this - unsounded sea! Look! see yon Albicore! who put it into him to chase and - fang that flying-fish? Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the - judge himself is dragged to the bar? But it is a mild, mild wind, and a - mild looking sky; and the air smells now, as if it blew from a far-away - meadow; they have been making hay somewhere under the slopes of the Andes, - Starbuck, and the mowers are sleeping among the new-mown hay. Sleeping? - Aye, toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, - and rust amid greenness; as last year's scythes flung down, and left in - the half-cut swaths—Starbuck!" -

-

- But blanched to a corpse's hue with despair, the Mate had stolen away. -

-

- Ahab crossed the deck to gaze over on the other side; but started at two - reflected, fixed eyes in the water there. Fedallah was motionlessly - leaning over the same rail. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day. -

-

- That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man—as his wont at - intervals—stepped forth from the scuttle in which he leaned, and - went to his pivot-hole, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffing - up the sea air as a sagacious ship's dog will, in drawing nigh to some - barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon that peculiar - odor, sometimes to a great distance given forth by the living sperm whale, - was palpable to all the watch; nor was any mariner surprised when, after - inspecting the compass, and then the dog-vane, and then ascertaining the - precise bearing of the odor as nearly as possible, Ahab rapidly ordered - the ship's course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened. -

-

- The acute policy dictating these movements was sufficiently vindicated at - daybreak, by the sight of a long sleek on the sea directly and lengthwise - ahead, smooth as oil, and resembling in the pleated watery wrinkles - bordering it, the polished metallic-like marks of some swift tide-rip, at - the mouth of a deep, rapid stream. -

-

- "Man the mast-heads! Call all hands!" -

-

- Thundering with the butts of three clubbed handspikes on the forecastle - deck, Daggoo roused the sleepers with such judgment claps that they seemed - to exhale from the scuttle, so instantaneously did they appear with their - clothes in their hands. -

-

- "What d'ye see?" cried Ahab, flattening his face to the sky. -

-

- "Nothing, nothing sir!" was the sound hailing down in reply. -

-

- "T'gallant sails!—stunsails! alow and aloft, and on both sides!" -

-

- All sail being set, he now cast loose the life-line, reserved for swaying - him to the main royal-mast head; and in a few moments they were hoisting - him thither, when, while but two thirds of the way aloft, and while - peering ahead through the horizontal vacancy between the main-top-sail and - top-gallant-sail, he raised a gull-like cry in the air. "There she blows!—there - she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!" -

-

- Fired by the cry which seemed simultaneously taken up by the three - look-outs, the men on deck rushed to the rigging to behold the famous - whale they had so long been pursuing. Ahab had now gained his final perch, - some feet above the other look-outs, Tashtego standing just beneath him on - the cap of the top-gallant-mast, so that the Indian's head was almost on a - level with Ahab's heel. From this height the whale was now seen some mile - or so ahead, at every roll of the sea revealing his high sparkling hump, - and regularly jetting his silent spout into the air. To the credulous - mariners it seemed the same silent spout they had so long ago beheld in - the moonlit Atlantic and Indian Oceans. -

-

- "And did none of ye see it before?" cried Ahab, hailing the perched men - all around him. -

-

- "I saw him almost that same instant, sir, that Captain Ahab did, and I - cried out," said Tashtego. -

-

- "Not the same instant; not the same—no, the doubloon is mine, Fate - reserved the doubloon for me. I only; none of ye could have raised the - White Whale first. There she blows!—there she blows!—there she - blows! There again!—there again!" he cried, in long-drawn, - lingering, methodic tones, attuned to the gradual prolongings of the - whale's visible jets. "He's going to sound! In stunsails! Down - top-gallant-sails! Stand by three boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay on - board, and keep the ship. Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So; steady, man, - steady! There go flukes! No, no; only black water! All ready the boats - there? Stand by, stand by! Lower me, Mr. Starbuck; lower, lower,—quick, - quicker!" and he slid through the air to the deck. -

-

- "He is heading straight to leeward, sir," cried Stubb, "right away from - us; cannot have seen the ship yet." -

-

- "Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm!—brace up! - Shiver her!—shiver her!—So; well that! Boats, boats!" -

-

- Soon all the boats but Starbuck's were dropped; all the boat-sails set—all - the paddles plying; with rippling swiftness, shooting to leeward; and Ahab - heading the onset. A pale, death-glimmer lit up Fedallah's sunken eyes; a - hideous motion gnawed his mouth. -

-

- Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea; - but only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the ocean grew - still more smooth; seemed drawing a carpet over its waves; seemed a - noon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the breathless hunter came - so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzling hump was - distinctly visible, sliding along the sea as if an isolated thing, and - continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy, greenish foam. He - saw the vast, involved wrinkles of the slightly projecting head beyond. - Before it, far out on the soft Turkish-rugged waters, went the glistening - white shadow from his broad, milky forehead, a musical rippling playfully - accompanying the shade; and behind, the blue waters interchangeably flowed - over into the moving valley of his steady wake; and on either hand bright - bubbles arose and danced by his side. But these were broken again by the - light toes of hundreds of gay fowl softly feathering the sea, alternate - with their fitful flight; and like to some flag-staff rising from the - painted hull of an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance - projected from the white whale's back; and at intervals one of the cloud - of soft-toed fowls hovering, and to and fro skimming like a canopy over - the fish, silently perched and rocked on this pole, the long tail feathers - streaming like pennons. -

-

- A gentle joyousness—a mighty mildness of repose in swiftness, - invested the gliding whale. Not the white bull Jupiter swimming away with - ravished Europa clinging to his graceful horns; his lovely, leering eyes - sideways intent upon the maid; with smooth bewitching fleetness, rippling - straight for the nuptial bower in Crete; not Jove, not that great majesty - Supreme! did surpass the glorified White Whale as he so divinely swam. -

-

- On each soft side—coincident with the parted swell, that but once - leaving him, then flowed so wide away—on each bright side, the whale - shed off enticings. No wonder there had been some among the hunters who - namelessly transported and allured by all this serenity, had ventured to - assail it; but had fatally found that quietude but the vesture of - tornadoes. Yet calm, enticing calm, oh, whale! thou glidest on, to all who - for the first time eye thee, no matter how many in that same way thou - may'st have bejuggled and destroyed before. -

-

- And thus, through the serene tranquillities of the tropical sea, among - waves whose hand-clappings were suspended by exceeding rapture, Moby Dick - moved on, still withholding from sight the full terrors of his submerged - trunk, entirely hiding the wrenched hideousness of his jaw. But soon the - fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole - marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia's Natural Bridge, and - warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed - himself, sounded, and went out of sight. Hoveringly halting, and dipping - on the wing, the white sea-fowls longingly lingered over the agitated pool - that he left. -

-

- With oars apeak, and paddles down, the sheets of their sails adrift, the - three boats now stilly floated, awaiting Moby Dick's reappearance. -

-

- "An hour," said Ahab, standing rooted in his boat's stern; and he gazed - beyond the whale's place, towards the dim blue spaces and wide wooing - vacancies to leeward. It was only an instant; for again his eyes seemed - whirling round in his head as he swept the watery circle. The breeze now - freshened; the sea began to swell. -

-

- "The birds!—the birds!" cried Tashtego. -

-

- In long Indian file, as when herons take wing, the white birds were now - all flying towards Ahab's boat; and when within a few yards began - fluttering over the water there, wheeling round and round, with joyous, - expectant cries. Their vision was keener than man's; Ahab could discover - no sign in the sea. But suddenly as he peered down and down into its - depths, he profoundly saw a white living spot no bigger than a white - weasel, with wonderful celerity uprising, and magnifying as it rose, till - it turned, and then there were plainly revealed two long crooked rows of - white, glistening teeth, floating up from the undiscoverable bottom. It - was Moby Dick's open mouth and scrolled jaw; his vast, shadowed bulk still - half blending with the blue of the sea. The glittering mouth yawned - beneath the boat like an open-doored marble tomb; and giving one sidelong - sweep with his steering oar, Ahab whirled the craft aside from this - tremendous apparition. Then, calling upon Fedallah to change places with - him, went forward to the bows, and seizing Perth's harpoon, commanded his - crew to grasp their oars and stand by to stern. -

-

- Now, by reason of this timely spinning round the boat upon its axis, its - bow, by anticipation, was made to face the whale's head while yet under - water. But as if perceiving this stratagem, Moby Dick, with that malicious - intelligence ascribed to him, sidelingly transplanted himself, as it were, - in an instant, shooting his pleated head lengthwise beneath the boat. -

-

- Through and through; through every plank and each rib, it thrilled for an - instant, the whale obliquely lying on his back, in the manner of a biting - shark, slowly and feelingly taking its bows full within his mouth, so that - the long, narrow, scrolled lower jaw curled high up into the open air, and - one of the teeth caught in a row-lock. The bluish pearl-white of the - inside of the jaw was within six inches of Ahab's head, and reached higher - than that. In this attitude the White Whale now shook the slight cedar as - a mildly cruel cat her mouse. With unastonished eyes Fedallah gazed, and - crossed his arms; but the tiger-yellow crew were tumbling over each - other's heads to gain the uttermost stern. -

-

- And now, while both elastic gunwales were springing in and out, as the - whale dallied with the doomed craft in this devilish way; and from his - body being submerged beneath the boat, he could not be darted at from the - bows, for the bows were almost inside of him, as it were; and while the - other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisis impossible to - withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing - vicinity of his foe, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very - jaws he hated; frenzied with all this, he seized the long bone with his - naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench it from its gripe. As now he thus - vainly strove, the jaw slipped from him; the frail gunwales bent in, - collapsed, and snapped, as both jaws, like an enormous shears, sliding - further aft, bit the craft completely in twain, and locked themselves fast - again in the sea, midway between the two floating wrecks. These floated - aside, the broken ends drooping, the crew at the stern-wreck clinging to - the gunwales, and striving to hold fast to the oars to lash them across. -

-

- At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the first to - perceive the whale's intent, by the crafty upraising of his head, a - movement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand had - made one final effort to push the boat out of the bite. But only slipping - further into the whale's mouth, and tilting over sideways as it slipped, - the boat had shaken off his hold on the jaw; spilled him out of it, as he - leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon the sea. -

-

- Ripplingly withdrawing from his prey, Moby Dick now lay at a little - distance, vertically thrusting his oblong white head up and down in the - billows; and at the same time slowly revolving his whole spindled body; so - that when his vast wrinkled forehead rose—some twenty or more feet - out of the water—the now rising swells, with all their confluent - waves, dazzlingly broke against it; vindictively tossing their shivered - spray still higher into the air.* So, in a gale, the but half baffled - Channel billows only recoil from the base of the Eddystone, triumphantly - to overleap its summit with their scud. -

-

- *This motion is peculiar to the sperm whale. It receives its designation - (pitchpoling) from its being likened to that preliminary up-and-down poise - of the whale-lance, in the exercise called pitchpoling, previously - described. By this motion the whale must best and most comprehensively - view whatever objects may be encircling him. -

-

- But soon resuming his horizontal attitude, Moby Dick swam swiftly round - and round the wrecked crew; sideways churning the water in his vengeful - wake, as if lashing himself up to still another and more deadly assault. - The sight of the splintered boat seemed to madden him, as the blood of - grapes and mulberries cast before Antiochus's elephants in the book of - Maccabees. Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of the whale's - insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim,—though he could - still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that; helpless - Ahab's head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock - might burst. From the boat's fragmentary stern, Fedallah incuriously and - mildly eyed him; the clinging crew, at the other drifting end, could not - succor him; more than enough was it for them to look to themselves. For so - revolvingly appalling was the White Whale's aspect, and so planetarily - swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that he seemed horizontally - swooping upon them. And though the other boats, unharmed, still hovered - hard by; still they dared not pull into the eddy to strike, lest that - should be the signal for the instant destruction of the jeopardized - castaways, Ahab and all; nor in that case could they themselves hope to - escape. With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the - direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head. -

-

- Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship's - mast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and - was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her!—"Sail on the"—but - that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him - for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a - towering crest, he shouted,—"Sail on the whale!—Drive him - off!" -

-

- The Pequod's prows were pointed; and breaking up the charmed circle, she - effectually parted the white whale from his victim. As he sullenly swam - off, the boats flew to the rescue. -

-

- Dragged into Stubb's boat with blood-shot, blinded eyes, the white brine - caking in his wrinkles; the long tension of Ahab's bodily strength did - crack, and helplessly he yielded to his body's doom: for a time, lying all - crushed in the bottom of Stubb's boat, like one trodden under foot of - herds of elephants. Far inland, nameless wails came from him, as desolate - sounds from out ravines. -

-

- But this intensity of his physical prostration did but so much the more - abbreviate it. In an instant's compass, great hearts sometimes condense to - one deep pang, the sum total of those shallow pains kindly diffused - through feebler men's whole lives. And so, such hearts, though summary in - each one suffering; still, if the gods decree it, in their life-time - aggregate a whole age of woe, wholly made up of instantaneous intensities; - for even in their pointless centres, those noble natures contain the - entire circumferences of inferior souls. -

-

- "The harpoon," said Ahab, half way rising, and draggingly leaning on one - bended arm—"is it safe?" -

-

- "Aye, sir, for it was not darted; this is it," said Stubb, showing it. -

-

- "Lay it before me;—any missing men?" -

-

- "One, two, three, four, five;—there were five oars, sir, and here - are five men." -

-

- "That's good.—Help me, man; I wish to stand. So, so, I see him! - there! there! going to leeward still; what a leaping spout!—Hands - off from me! The eternal sap runs up in Ahab's bones again! Set the sail; - out oars; the helm!" -

-

- It is often the case that when a boat is stove, its crew, being picked up - by another boat, help to work that second boat; and the chase is thus - continued with what is called double-banked oars. It was thus now. But the - added power of the boat did not equal the added power of the whale, for he - seemed to have treble-banked his every fin; swimming with a velocity which - plainly showed, that if now, under these circumstances, pushed on, the - chase would prove an indefinitely prolonged, if not a hopeless one; nor - could any crew endure for so long a period, such an unintermitted, intense - straining at the oar; a thing barely tolerable only in some one brief - vicissitude. The ship itself, then, as it sometimes happens, offered the - most promising intermediate means of overtaking the chase. Accordingly, - the boats now made for her, and were soon swayed up to their cranes—the - two parts of the wrecked boat having been previously secured by her—and - then hoisting everything to her side, and stacking her canvas high up, and - sideways outstretching it with stun-sails, like the double-jointed wings - of an albatross; the Pequod bore down in the leeward wake of Moby-Dick. At - the well known, methodic intervals, the whale's glittering spout was - regularly announced from the manned mast-heads; and when he would be - reported as just gone down, Ahab would take the time, and then pacing the - deck, binnacle-watch in hand, so soon as the last second of the allotted - hour expired, his voice was heard.—"Whose is the doubloon now? D'ye - see him?" and if the reply was, No, sir! straightway he commanded them to - lift him to his perch. In this way the day wore on; Ahab, now aloft and - motionless; anon, unrestingly pacing the planks. -

-

- As he was thus walking, uttering no sound, except to hail the men aloft, - or to bid them hoist a sail still higher, or to spread one to a still - greater breadth—thus to and fro pacing, beneath his slouched hat, at - every turn he passed his own wrecked boat, which had been dropped upon the - quarter-deck, and lay there reversed; broken bow to shattered stern. At - last he paused before it; and as in an already over-clouded sky fresh - troops of clouds will sometimes sail across, so over the old man's face - there now stole some such added gloom as this. -

-

- Stubb saw him pause; and perhaps intending, not vainly, though, to evince - his own unabated fortitude, and thus keep up a valiant place in his - Captain's mind, he advanced, and eyeing the wreck exclaimed—"The - thistle the ass refused; it pricked his mouth too keenly, sir; ha! ha!" -

-

- "What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck? Man, man! did I - not know thee brave as fearless fire (and as mechanical) I could swear - thou wert a poltroon. Groan nor laugh should be heard before a wreck." -

-

- "Aye, sir," said Starbuck drawing near, "'tis a solemn sight; an omen, and - an ill one." -

-

- "Omen? omen?—the dictionary! If the gods think to speak outright to - man, they will honourably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give - an old wives' darkling hint.—Begone! Ye two are the opposite poles - of one thing; Starbuck is Stubb reversed, and Stubb is Starbuck; and ye - two are all mankind; and Ahab stands alone among the millions of the - peopled earth, nor gods nor men his neighbors! Cold, cold—I shiver!—How - now? Aloft there! D'ye see him? Sing out for every spout, though he spout - ten times a second!" -

-

- The day was nearly done; only the hem of his golden robe was rustling. - Soon, it was almost dark, but the look-out men still remained unset. -

-

- "Can't see the spout now, sir;—too dark"—cried a voice from - the air. -

-

- "How heading when last seen?" -

-

- "As before, sir,—straight to leeward." -

-

- "Good! he will travel slower now 'tis night. Down royals and top-gallant - stun-sails, Mr. Starbuck. We must not run over him before morning; he's - making a passage now, and may heave-to a while. Helm there! keep her full - before the wind!—Aloft! come down!—Mr. Stubb, send a fresh - hand to the fore-mast head, and see it manned till morning."—Then - advancing towards the doubloon in the main-mast—"Men, this gold is - mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale - is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall - be killed, this gold is that man's; and if on that day I shall again raise - him, then, ten times its sum shall be divided among all of ye! Away now!—the - deck is thine, sir!" -

-

- And so saying, he placed himself half way within the scuttle, and - slouching his hat, stood there till dawn, except when at intervals rousing - himself to see how the night wore on. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 134. The Chase—Second Day. -

-

- At day-break, the three mast-heads were punctually manned afresh. -

-

- "D'ye see him?" cried Ahab after allowing a little space for the light to - spread. -

-

- "See nothing, sir." -

-

- "Turn up all hands and make sail! he travels faster than I thought for;—the - top-gallant sails!—aye, they should have been kept on her all night. - But no matter—'tis but resting for the rush." -

-

- Here be it said, that this pertinacious pursuit of one particular whale, - continued through day into night, and through night into day, is a thing - by no means unprecedented in the South sea fishery. For such is the - wonderful skill, prescience of experience, and invincible confidence - acquired by some great natural geniuses among the Nantucket commanders; - that from the simple observation of a whale when last descried, they will, - under certain given circumstances, pretty accurately foretell both the - direction in which he will continue to swim for a time, while out of - sight, as well as his probable rate of progression during that period. - And, in these cases, somewhat as a pilot, when about losing sight of a - coast, whose general trending he well knows, and which he desires shortly - to return to again, but at some further point; like as this pilot stands - by his compass, and takes the precise bearing of the cape at present - visible, in order the more certainly to hit aright the remote, unseen - headland, eventually to be visited: so does the fisherman, at his compass, - with the whale; for after being chased, and diligently marked, through - several hours of daylight, then, when night obscures the fish, the - creature's future wake through the darkness is almost as established to - the sagacious mind of the hunter, as the pilot's coast is to him. So that - to this hunter's wondrous skill, the proverbial evanescence of a thing - writ in water, a wake, is to all desired purposes well nigh as reliable as - the steadfast land. And as the mighty iron Leviathan of the modern railway - is so familiarly known in its every pace, that, with watches in their - hands, men time his rate as doctors that of a baby's pulse; and lightly - say of it, the up train or the down train will reach such or such a spot, - at such or such an hour; even so, almost, there are occasions when these - Nantucketers time that other Leviathan of the deep, according to the - observed humor of his speed; and say to themselves, so many hours hence - this whale will have gone two hundred miles, will have about reached this - or that degree of latitude or longitude. But to render this acuteness at - all successful in the end, the wind and the sea must be the whaleman's - allies; for of what present avail to the becalmed or windbound mariner is - the skill that assures him he is exactly ninety-three leagues and a - quarter from his port? Inferable from these statements, are many - collateral subtile matters touching the chase of whales. -

-

- The ship tore on; leaving such a furrow in the sea as when a cannon-ball, - missent, becomes a plough-share and turns up the level field. -

-

- "By salt and hemp!" cried Stubb, "but this swift motion of the deck creeps - up one's legs and tingles at the heart. This ship and I are two brave - fellows!—Ha, ha! Some one take me up, and launch me, spine-wise, on - the sea,—for by live-oaks! my spine's a keel. Ha, ha! we go the gait - that leaves no dust behind!" -

-

- "There she blows—she blows!—she blows!—right ahead!" was - now the mast-head cry. -

-

- "Aye, aye!" cried Stubb, "I knew it—ye can't escape—blow on - and split your spout, O whale! the mad fiend himself is after ye! blow - your trump—blister your lungs!—Ahab will dam off your blood, - as a miller shuts his watergate upon the stream!" -

-

- And Stubb did but speak out for well nigh all that crew. The frenzies of - the chase had by this time worked them bubblingly up, like old wine worked - anew. Whatever pale fears and forebodings some of them might have felt - before; these were not only now kept out of sight through the growing awe - of Ahab, but they were broken up, and on all sides routed, as timid - prairie hares that scatter before the bounding bison. The hand of Fate had - snatched all their souls; and by the stirring perils of the previous day; - the rack of the past night's suspense; the fixed, unfearing, blind, - reckless way in which their wild craft went plunging towards its flying - mark; by all these things, their hearts were bowled along. The wind that - made great bellies of their sails, and rushed the vessel on by arms - invisible as irresistible; this seemed the symbol of that unseen agency - which so enslaved them to the race. -

-

- They were one man, not thirty. For as the one ship that held them all; - though it was put together of all contrasting things—oak, and maple, - and pine wood; iron, and pitch, and hemp—yet all these ran into each - other in the one concrete hull, which shot on its way, both balanced and - directed by the long central keel; even so, all the individualities of the - crew, this man's valor, that man's fear; guilt and guiltiness, all - varieties were welded into oneness, and were all directed to that fatal - goal which Ahab their one lord and keel did point to. -

-

- The rigging lived. The mast-heads, like the tops of tall palms, were - outspreadingly tufted with arms and legs. Clinging to a spar with one - hand, some reached forth the other with impatient wavings; others, shading - their eyes from the vivid sunlight, sat far out on the rocking yards; all - the spars in full bearing of mortals, ready and ripe for their fate. Ah! - how they still strove through that infinite blueness to seek out the thing - that might destroy them! -

-

- "Why sing ye not out for him, if ye see him?" cried Ahab, when, after the - lapse of some minutes since the first cry, no more had been heard. "Sway - me up, men; ye have been deceived; not Moby Dick casts one odd jet that - way, and then disappears." -

-

- It was even so; in their headlong eagerness, the men had mistaken some - other thing for the whale-spout, as the event itself soon proved; for - hardly had Ahab reached his perch; hardly was the rope belayed to its pin - on deck, when he struck the key-note to an orchestra, that made the air - vibrate as with the combined discharges of rifles. The triumphant halloo - of thirty buckskin lungs was heard, as—much nearer to the ship than - the place of the imaginary jet, less than a mile ahead—Moby Dick - bodily burst into view! For not by any calm and indolent spoutings; not by - the peaceable gush of that mystic fountain in his head, did the White - Whale now reveal his vicinity; but by the far more wondrous phenomenon of - breaching. Rising with his utmost velocity from the furthest depths, the - Sperm Whale thus booms his entire bulk into the pure element of air, and - piling up a mountain of dazzling foam, shows his place to the distance of - seven miles and more. In those moments, the torn, enraged waves he shakes - off, seem his mane; in some cases, this breaching is his act of defiance. -

-

- "There she breaches! there she breaches!" was the cry, as in his - immeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tossed himself salmon-like to - Heaven. So suddenly seen in the blue plain of the sea, and relieved - against the still bluer margin of the sky, the spray that he raised, for - the moment, intolerably glittered and glared like a glacier; and stood - there gradually fading and fading away from its first sparkling intensity, - to the dim mistiness of an advancing shower in a vale. -

-

- "Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!" cried Ahab, "thy hour and - thy harpoon are at hand!—Down! down all of ye, but one man at the - fore. The boats!—stand by!" -

-

- Unmindful of the tedious rope-ladders of the shrouds, the men, like - shooting stars, slid to the deck, by the isolated backstays and halyards; - while Ahab, less dartingly, but still rapidly was dropped from his perch. -

-

- "Lower away," he cried, so soon as he had reached his boat—a spare - one, rigged the afternoon previous. "Mr. Starbuck, the ship is thine—keep - away from the boats, but keep near them. Lower, all!" -

-

- As if to strike a quick terror into them, by this time being the first - assailant himself, Moby Dick had turned, and was now coming for the three - crews. Ahab's boat was central; and cheering his men, he told them he - would take the whale head-and-head,—that is, pull straight up to his - forehead,—a not uncommon thing; for when within a certain limit, - such a course excludes the coming onset from the whale's sidelong vision. - But ere that close limit was gained, and while yet all three boats were - plain as the ship's three masts to his eye; the White Whale churning - himself into furious speed, almost in an instant as it were, rushing among - the boats with open jaws, and a lashing tail, offered appalling battle on - every side; and heedless of the irons darted at him from every boat, - seemed only intent on annihilating each separate plank of which those - boats were made. But skilfully manoeuvred, incessantly wheeling like - trained chargers in the field; the boats for a while eluded him; though, - at times, but by a plank's breadth; while all the time, Ahab's unearthly - slogan tore every other cry but his to shreds. -

-

- But at last in his untraceable evolutions, the White Whale so crossed and - recrossed, and in a thousand ways entangled the slack of the three lines - now fast to him, that they foreshortened, and, of themselves, warped the - devoted boats towards the planted irons in him; though now for a moment - the whale drew aside a little, as if to rally for a more tremendous - charge. Seizing that opportunity, Ahab first paid out more line: and then - was rapidly hauling and jerking in upon it again—hoping that way to - disencumber it of some snarls—when lo!—a sight more savage - than the embattled teeth of sharks! -

-

- Caught and twisted—corkscrewed in the mazes of the line, loose - harpoons and lances, with all their bristling barbs and points, came - flashing and dripping up to the chocks in the bows of Ahab's boat. Only - one thing could be done. Seizing the boat-knife, he critically reached - within—through—and then, without—the rays of steel; - dragged in the line beyond, passed it, inboard, to the bowsman, and then, - twice sundering the rope near the chocks—dropped the intercepted - fagot of steel into the sea; and was all fast again. That instant, the - White Whale made a sudden rush among the remaining tangles of the other - lines; by so doing, irresistibly dragged the more involved boats of Stubb - and Flask towards his flukes; dashed them together like two rolling husks - on a surf-beaten beach, and then, diving down into the sea, disappeared in - a boiling maelstrom, in which, for a space, the odorous cedar chips of the - wrecks danced round and round, like the grated nutmeg in a swiftly stirred - bowl of punch. -

-

- While the two crews were yet circling in the waters, reaching out after - the revolving line-tubs, oars, and other floating furniture, while aslope - little Flask bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitching his legs - upwards to escape the dreaded jaws of sharks; and Stubb was lustily - singing out for some one to ladle him up; and while the old man's line—now - parting—admitted of his pulling into the creamy pool to rescue whom - he could;—in that wild simultaneousness of a thousand concreted - perils,—Ahab's yet unstricken boat seemed drawn up towards Heaven by - invisible wires,—as, arrow-like, shooting perpendicularly from the - sea, the White Whale dashed his broad forehead against its bottom, and - sent it, turning over and over, into the air; till it fell again—gunwale - downwards—and Ahab and his men struggled out from under it, like - seals from a sea-side cave. -

-

- The first uprising momentum of the whale—modifying its direction as - he struck the surface—involuntarily launched him along it, to a - little distance from the centre of the destruction he had made; and with - his back to it, he now lay for a moment slowly feeling with his flukes - from side to side; and whenever a stray oar, bit of plank, the least chip - or crumb of the boats touched his skin, his tail swiftly drew back, and - came sideways smiting the sea. But soon, as if satisfied that his work for - that time was done, he pushed his pleated forehead through the ocean, and - trailing after him the intertangled lines, continued his leeward way at a - traveller's methodic pace. -

-

- As before, the attentive ship having descried the whole fight, again came - bearing down to the rescue, and dropping a boat, picked up the floating - mariners, tubs, oars, and whatever else could be caught at, and safely - landed them on her decks. Some sprained shoulders, wrists, and ankles; - livid contusions; wrenched harpoons and lances; inextricable intricacies - of rope; shattered oars and planks; all these were there; but no fatal or - even serious ill seemed to have befallen any one. As with Fedallah the day - before, so Ahab was now found grimly clinging to his boat's broken half, - which afforded a comparatively easy float; nor did it so exhaust him as - the previous day's mishap. -

-

- But when he was helped to the deck, all eyes were fastened upon him; as - instead of standing by himself he still half-hung upon the shoulder of - Starbuck, who had thus far been the foremost to assist him. His ivory leg - had been snapped off, leaving but one short sharp splinter. -

-

- "Aye, aye, Starbuck, 'tis sweet to lean sometimes, be the leaner who he - will; and would old Ahab had leaned oftener than he has." -

-

- "The ferrule has not stood, sir," said the carpenter, now coming up; "I - put good work into that leg." -

-

- "But no bones broken, sir, I hope," said Stubb with true concern. -

-

- "Aye! and all splintered to pieces, Stubb!—d'ye see it.—But - even with a broken bone, old Ahab is untouched; and I account no living - bone of mine one jot more me, than this dead one that's lost. Nor white - whale, nor man, nor fiend, can so much as graze old Ahab in his own proper - and inaccessible being. Can any lead touch yonder floor, any mast scrape - yonder roof?—Aloft there! which way?" -

-

- "Dead to leeward, sir." -

-

- "Up helm, then; pile on the sail again, ship keepers! down the rest of the - spare boats and rig them—Mr. Starbuck away, and muster the boat's - crews." -

-

- "Let me first help thee towards the bulwarks, sir." -

-

- "Oh, oh, oh! how this splinter gores me now! Accursed fate! that the - unconquerable captain in the soul should have such a craven mate!" -

-

- "Sir?" -

-

- "My body, man, not thee. Give me something for a cane—there, that - shivered lance will do. Muster the men. Surely I have not seen him yet. By - heaven it cannot be!—missing?—quick! call them all." -

-

- The old man's hinted thought was true. Upon mustering the company, the - Parsee was not there. -

-

- "The Parsee!" cried Stubb—"he must have been caught in—" -

-

- "The black vomit wrench thee!—run all of ye above, alow, cabin, - forecastle—find him—not gone—not gone!" -

-

- But quickly they returned to him with the tidings that the Parsee was - nowhere to be found. -

-

- "Aye, sir," said Stubb—"caught among the tangles of your line—I - thought I saw him dragging under." -

-

- "MY line! MY line? Gone?—gone? What means that little word?—What - death-knell rings in it, that old Ahab shakes as if he were the belfry. - The harpoon, too!—toss over the litter there,—d'ye see it?—the - forged iron, men, the white whale's—no, no, no,—blistered - fool! this hand did dart it!—'tis in the fish!—Aloft there! - Keep him nailed—Quick!—all hands to the rigging of the boats—collect - the oars—harpooneers! the irons, the irons!—hoist the royals - higher—a pull on all the sheets!—helm there! steady, steady - for your life! I'll ten times girdle the unmeasured globe; yea and dive - straight through it, but I'll slay him yet! -

-

- "Great God! but for one single instant show thyself," cried Starbuck; - "never, never wilt thou capture him, old man—In Jesus' name no more - of this, that's worse than devil's madness. Two days chased; twice stove - to splinters; thy very leg once more snatched from under thee; thy evil - shadow gone—all good angels mobbing thee with warnings:— -

-

- "What more wouldst thou have?—Shall we keep chasing this murderous - fish till he swamps the last man? Shall we be dragged by him to the bottom - of the sea? Shall we be towed by him to the infernal world? Oh, oh,—Impiety - and blasphemy to hunt him more!" -

-

- "Starbuck, of late I've felt strangely moved to thee; ever since that hour - we both saw—thou know'st what, in one another's eyes. But in this - matter of the whale, be the front of thy face to me as the palm of this - hand—a lipless, unfeatured blank. Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This - whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion - years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant; I act - under orders. Look thou, underling! that thou obeyest mine.—Stand - round me, men. Ye see an old man cut down to the stump; leaning on a - shivered lance; propped up on a lonely foot. 'Tis Ahab—his body's - part; but Ahab's soul's a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs. I - feel strained, half stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates in a - gale; and I may look so. But ere I break, ye'll hear me crack; and till ye - hear THAT, know that Ahab's hawser tows his purpose yet. Believe ye, men, - in the things called omens? Then laugh aloud, and cry encore! For ere they - drown, drowning things will twice rise to the surface; then rise again, to - sink for evermore. So with Moby Dick—two days he's floated—tomorrow - will be the third. Aye, men, he'll rise once more,—but only to spout - his last! D'ye feel brave men, brave?" -

-

- "As fearless fire," cried Stubb. -

-

- "And as mechanical," muttered Ahab. Then as the men went forward, he - muttered on: "The things called omens! And yesterday I talked the same to - Starbuck there, concerning my broken boat. Oh! how valiantly I seek to - drive out of others' hearts what's clinched so fast in mine!—The - Parsee—the Parsee!—gone, gone? and he was to go before:—but - still was to be seen again ere I could perish—How's that?—There's - a riddle now might baffle all the lawyers backed by the ghosts of the - whole line of judges:—like a hawk's beak it pecks my brain. I'LL, - I'LL solve it, though!" -

-

- When dusk descended, the whale was still in sight to leeward. -

-

- So once more the sail was shortened, and everything passed nearly as on - the previous night; only, the sound of hammers, and the hum of the - grindstone was heard till nearly daylight, as the men toiled by lanterns - in the complete and careful rigging of the spare boats and sharpening - their fresh weapons for the morrow. Meantime, of the broken keel of Ahab's - wrecked craft the carpenter made him another leg; while still as on the - night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, - heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due - eastward for the earliest sun. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day. -

-

- The morning of the third day dawned fair and fresh, and once more the - solitary night-man at the fore-mast-head was relieved by crowds of the - daylight look-outs, who dotted every mast and almost every spar. -

-

- "D'ye see him?" cried Ahab; but the whale was not yet in sight. -

-

- "In his infallible wake, though; but follow that wake, that's all. Helm - there; steady, as thou goest, and hast been going. What a lovely day - again! were it a new-made world, and made for a summer-house to the - angels, and this morning the first of its throwing open to them, a fairer - day could not dawn upon that world. Here's food for thought, had Ahab time - to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels; THAT'S - tingling enough for mortal man! to think's audacity. God only has that - right and privilege. Thinking is, or ought to be, a coolness and a - calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brains beat too much for - that. And yet, I've sometimes thought my brain was very calm—frozen - calm, this old skull cracks so, like a glass in which the contents turned - to ice, and shiver it. And still this hair is growing now; this moment - growing, and heat must breed it; but no, it's like that sort of common - grass that will grow anywhere, between the earthy clefts of Greenland ice - or in Vesuvius lava. How the wild winds blow it; they whip it about me as - the torn shreds of split sails lash the tossed ship they cling to. A vile - wind that has no doubt blown ere this through prison corridors and cells, - and wards of hospitals, and ventilated them, and now comes blowing hither - as innocent as fleeces. Out upon it!—it's tainted. Were I the wind, - I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world. I'd crawl somewhere to - a cave, and slink there. And yet, 'tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! - who ever conquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow. - Run tilting at it, and you but run through it. Ha! a coward wind that - strikes stark naked men, but will not stand to receive a single blow. Even - Ahab is a braver thing—a nobler thing than THAT. Would now the wind - but had a body; but all the things that most exasperate and outrage mortal - man, all these things are bodiless, but only bodiless as objects, not as - agents. There's a most special, a most cunning, oh, a most malicious - difference! And yet, I say again, and swear it now, that there's something - all glorious and gracious in the wind. These warm Trade Winds, at least, - that in the clear heavens blow straight on, in strong and steadfast, - vigorous mildness; and veer not from their mark, however the baser - currents of the sea may turn and tack, and mightiest Mississippies of the - land swift and swerve about, uncertain where to go at last. And by the - eternal Poles! these same Trades that so directly blow my good ship on; - these Trades, or something like them—something so unchangeable, and - full as strong, blow my keeled soul along! To it! Aloft there! What d'ye - see?" -

-

- "Nothing, sir." -

-

- "Nothing! and noon at hand! The doubloon goes a-begging! See the sun! Aye, - aye, it must be so. I've oversailed him. How, got the start? Aye, he's - chasing ME now; not I, HIM—that's bad; I might have known it, too. - Fool! the lines—the harpoons he's towing. Aye, aye, I have run him - by last night. About! about! Come down, all of ye, but the regular look - outs! Man the braces!" -

-

- Steering as she had done, the wind had been somewhat on the Pequod's - quarter, so that now being pointed in the reverse direction, the braced - ship sailed hard upon the breeze as she rechurned the cream in her own - white wake. -

-

- "Against the wind he now steers for the open jaw," murmured Starbuck to - himself, as he coiled the new-hauled main-brace upon the rail. "God keep - us, but already my bones feel damp within me, and from the inside wet my - flesh. I misdoubt me that I disobey my God in obeying him!" -

-

- "Stand by to sway me up!" cried Ahab, advancing to the hempen basket. "We - should meet him soon." -

-

- "Aye, aye, sir," and straightway Starbuck did Ahab's bidding, and once - more Ahab swung on high. -

-

- A whole hour now passed; gold-beaten out to ages. Time itself now held - long breaths with keen suspense. But at last, some three points off the - weather bow, Ahab descried the spout again, and instantly from the three - mast-heads three shrieks went up as if the tongues of fire had voiced it. -

-

- "Forehead to forehead I meet thee, this third time, Moby Dick! On deck - there!—brace sharper up; crowd her into the wind's eye. He's too far - off to lower yet, Mr. Starbuck. The sails shake! Stand over that helmsman - with a top-maul! So, so; he travels fast, and I must down. But let me have - one more good round look aloft here at the sea; there's time for that. An - old, old sight, and yet somehow so young; aye, and not changed a wink - since I first saw it, a boy, from the sand-hills of Nantucket! The same!—the - same!—the same to Noah as to me. There's a soft shower to leeward. - Such lovely leewardings! They must lead somewhere—to something else - than common land, more palmy than the palms. Leeward! the white whale goes - that way; look to windward, then; the better if the bitterer quarter. But - good bye, good bye, old mast-head! What's this?—green? aye, tiny - mosses in these warped cracks. No such green weather stains on Ahab's - head! There's the difference now between man's old age and matter's. But - aye, old mast, we both grow old together; sound in our hulls, though, are - we not, my ship? Aye, minus a leg, that's all. By heaven this dead wood - has the better of my live flesh every way. I can't compare with it; and - I've known some ships made of dead trees outlast the lives of men made of - the most vital stuff of vital fathers. What's that he said? he should - still go before me, my pilot; and yet to be seen again? But where? Will I - have eyes at the bottom of the sea, supposing I descend those endless - stairs? and all night I've been sailing from him, wherever he did sink to. - Aye, aye, like many more thou told'st direful truth as touching thyself, O - Parsee; but, Ahab, there thy shot fell short. Good-bye, mast-head—keep - a good eye upon the whale, the while I'm gone. We'll talk to-morrow, nay, - to-night, when the white whale lies down there, tied by head and tail." -

-

- He gave the word; and still gazing round him, was steadily lowered through - the cloven blue air to the deck. -

-

- In due time the boats were lowered; but as standing in his shallop's - stern, Ahab just hovered upon the point of the descent, he waved to the - mate,—who held one of the tackle-ropes on deck—and bade him - pause. -

-

- "Starbuck!" -

-

- "Sir?" -

-

- "For the third time my soul's ship starts upon this voyage, Starbuck." -

-

- "Aye, sir, thou wilt have it so." -

-

- "Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, - Starbuck!" -

-

- "Truth, sir: saddest truth." -

-

- "Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of the - flood;—and I feel now like a billow that's all one crested comb, - Starbuck. I am old;—shake hands with me, man." -

-

- Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck's tears the glue. -

-

- "Oh, my captain, my captain!—noble heart—go not—go not!—see, - it's a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!" -

-

- "Lower away!"—cried Ahab, tossing the mate's arm from him. "Stand by - the crew!" -

-

- In an instant the boat was pulling round close under the stern. -

-

- "The sharks! the sharks!" cried a voice from the low cabin-window there; - "O master, my master, come back!" -

-

- But Ahab heard nothing; for his own voice was high-lifted then; and the - boat leaped on. -

-

- Yet the voice spake true; for scarce had he pushed from the ship, when - numbers of sharks, seemingly rising from out the dark waters beneath the - hull, maliciously snapped at the blades of the oars, every time they - dipped in the water; and in this way accompanied the boat with their - bites. It is a thing not uncommonly happening to the whale-boats in those - swarming seas; the sharks at times apparently following them in the same - prescient way that vultures hover over the banners of marching regiments - in the east. But these were the first sharks that had been observed by the - Pequod since the White Whale had been first descried; and whether it was - that Ahab's crew were all such tiger-yellow barbarians, and therefore - their flesh more musky to the senses of the sharks—a matter - sometimes well known to affect them,—however it was, they seemed to - follow that one boat without molesting the others. -

-

- "Heart of wrought steel!" murmured Starbuck gazing over the side, and - following with his eyes the receding boat—"canst thou yet ring - boldly to that sight?—lowering thy keel among ravening sharks, and - followed by them, open-mouthed to the chase; and this the critical third - day?—For when three days flow together in one continuous intense - pursuit; be sure the first is the morning, the second the noon, and the - third the evening and the end of that thing—be that end what it may. - Oh! my God! what is this that shoots through me, and leaves me so deadly - calm, yet expectant,—fixed at the top of a shudder! Future things - swim before me, as in empty outlines and skeletons; all the past is - somehow grown dim. Mary, girl! thou fadest in pale glories behind me; boy! - I seem to see but thy eyes grown wondrous blue. Strangest problems of life - seem clearing; but clouds sweep between—Is my journey's end coming? - My legs feel faint; like his who has footed it all day. Feel thy heart,—beats - it yet? Stir thyself, Starbuck!—stave it off—move, move! speak - aloud!—Mast-head there! See ye my boy's hand on the hill?—Crazed;—aloft - there!—keep thy keenest eye upon the boats:— -

-

- "Mark well the whale!—Ho! again!—drive off that hawk! see! he - pecks—he tears the vane"—pointing to the red flag flying at - the main-truck—"Ha! he soars away with it!—Where's the old man - now? see'st thou that sight, oh Ahab!—shudder, shudder!" -

-

- The boats had not gone very far, when by a signal from the mast-heads—a - downward pointed arm, Ahab knew that the whale had sounded; but intending - to be near him at the next rising, he held on his way a little sideways - from the vessel; the becharmed crew maintaining the profoundest silence, - as the head-beat waves hammered and hammered against the opposing bow. -

-

- "Drive, drive in your nails, oh ye waves! to their uttermost heads drive - them in! ye but strike a thing without a lid; and no coffin and no hearse - can be mine:—and hemp only can kill me! Ha! ha!" -

-

- Suddenly the waters around them slowly swelled in broad circles; then - quickly upheaved, as if sideways sliding from a submerged berg of ice, - swiftly rising to the surface. A low rumbling sound was heard; a - subterraneous hum; and then all held their breaths; as bedraggled with - trailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise, but - obliquely from the sea. Shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it - hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swamping back - into the deep. Crushed thirty feet upwards, the waters flashed for an - instant like heaps of fountains, then brokenly sank in a shower of flakes, - leaving the circling surface creamed like new milk round the marble trunk - of the whale. -

-

- "Give way!" cried Ahab to the oarsmen, and the boats darted forward to the - attack; but maddened by yesterday's fresh irons that corroded in him, Moby - Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. - The wide tiers of welded tendons overspreading his broad white forehead, - beneath the transparent skin, looked knitted together; as head on, he came - churning his tail among the boats; and once more flailed them apart; - spilling out the irons and lances from the two mates' boats, and dashing - in one side of the upper part of their bows, but leaving Ahab's almost - without a scar. -

-

- While Daggoo and Queequeg were stopping the strained planks; and as the - whale swimming out from them, turned, and showed one entire flank as he - shot by them again; at that moment a quick cry went up. Lashed round and - round to the fish's back; pinioned in the turns upon turns in which, - during the past night, the whale had reeled the involutions of the lines - around him, the half torn body of the Parsee was seen; his sable raiment - frayed to shreds; his distended eyes turned full upon old Ahab. -

-

- The harpoon dropped from his hand. -

-

- "Befooled, befooled!"—drawing in a long lean breath—"Aye, - Parsee! I see thee again.—Aye, and thou goest before; and this, THIS - then is the hearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last - letter of thy word. Where is the second hearse? Away, mates, to the ship! - those boats are useless now; repair them if ye can in time, and return to - me; if not, Ahab is enough to die—Down, men! the first thing that - but offers to jump from this boat I stand in, that thing I harpoon. Ye are - not other men, but my arms and my legs; and so obey me.—Where's the - whale? gone down again?" -

-

- But he looked too nigh the boat; for as if bent upon escaping with the - corpse he bore, and as if the particular place of the last encounter had - been but a stage in his leeward voyage, Moby Dick was now again steadily - swimming forward; and had almost passed the ship,—which thus far had - been sailing in the contrary direction to him, though for the present her - headway had been stopped. He seemed swimming with his utmost velocity, and - now only intent upon pursuing his own straight path in the sea. -

-

- "Oh! Ahab," cried Starbuck, "not too late is it, even now, the third day, - to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly - seekest him!" -

-

- Setting sail to the rising wind, the lonely boat was swiftly impelled to - leeward, by both oars and canvas. And at last when Ahab was sliding by the - vessel, so near as plainly to distinguish Starbuck's face as he leaned - over the rail, he hailed him to turn the vessel about, and follow him, not - too swiftly, at a judicious interval. Glancing upwards, he saw Tashtego, - Queequeg, and Daggoo, eagerly mounting to the three mast-heads; while the - oarsmen were rocking in the two staved boats which had but just been - hoisted to the side, and were busily at work in repairing them. One after - the other, through the port-holes, as he sped, he also caught flying - glimpses of Stubb and Flask, busying themselves on deck among bundles of - new irons and lances. As he saw all this; as he heard the hammers in the - broken boats; far other hammers seemed driving a nail into his heart. But - he rallied. And now marking that the vane or flag was gone from the - main-mast-head, he shouted to Tashtego, who had just gained that perch, to - descend again for another flag, and a hammer and nails, and so nail it to - the mast. -

-

- Whether fagged by the three days' running chase, and the resistance to his - swimming in the knotted hamper he bore; or whether it was some latent - deceitfulness and malice in him: whichever was true, the White Whale's way - now began to abate, as it seemed, from the boat so rapidly nearing him - once more; though indeed the whale's last start had not been so long a one - as before. And still as Ahab glided over the waves the unpitying sharks - accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck to the boat; and so - continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged and - crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, at almost every dip. -

-

- "Heed them not! those teeth but give new rowlocks to your oars. Pull on! - 'tis the better rest, the shark's jaw than the yielding water." -

-

- "But at every bite, sir, the thin blades grow smaller and smaller!" -

-

- "They will last long enough! pull on!—But who can tell"—he - muttered—"whether these sharks swim to feast on the whale or on - Ahab?—But pull on! Aye, all alive, now—we near him. The helm! - take the helm! let me pass,"—and so saying two of the oarsmen helped - him forward to the bows of the still flying boat. -

-

- At length as the craft was cast to one side, and ran ranging along with - the White Whale's flank, he seemed strangely oblivious of its advance—as - the whale sometimes will—and Ahab was fairly within the smoky - mountain mist, which, thrown off from the whale's spout, curled round his - great, Monadnock hump; he was even thus close to him; when, with body - arched back, and both arms lengthwise high-lifted to the poise, he darted - his fierce iron, and his far fiercer curse into the hated whale. As both - steel and curse sank to the socket, as if sucked into a morass, Moby Dick - sideways writhed; spasmodically rolled his nigh flank against the bow, - and, without staving a hole in it, so suddenly canted the boat over, that - had it not been for the elevated part of the gunwale to which he then - clung, Ahab would once more have been tossed into the sea. As it was, - three of the oarsmen—who foreknew not the precise instant of the - dart, and were therefore unprepared for its effects—these were flung - out; but so fell, that, in an instant two of them clutched the gunwale - again, and rising to its level on a combing wave, hurled themselves bodily - inboard again; the third man helplessly dropping astern, but still afloat - and swimming. -

-

- Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, - instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea. - But when Ahab cried out to the steersman to take new turns with the line, - and hold it so; and commanded the crew to turn round on their seats, and - tow the boat up to the mark; the moment the treacherous line felt that - double strain and tug, it snapped in the empty air! -

-

- "What breaks in me? Some sinew cracks!—'tis whole again; oars! oars! - Burst in upon him!" -

-

- Hearing the tremendous rush of the sea-crashing boat, the whale wheeled - round to present his blank forehead at bay; but in that evolution, - catching sight of the nearing black hull of the ship; seemingly seeing in - it the source of all his persecutions; bethinking it—it may be—a - larger and nobler foe; of a sudden, he bore down upon its advancing prow, - smiting his jaws amid fiery showers of foam. -

-

- Ahab staggered; his hand smote his forehead. "I grow blind; hands! stretch - out before me that I may yet grope my way. Is't night?" -

-

- "The whale! The ship!" cried the cringing oarsmen. -

-

- "Oars! oars! Slope downwards to thy depths, O sea, that ere it be for ever - too late, Ahab may slide this last, last time upon his mark! I see: the - ship! the ship! Dash on, my men! Will ye not save my ship?" -

-

- But as the oarsmen violently forced their boat through the - sledge-hammering seas, the before whale-smitten bow-ends of two planks - burst through, and in an instant almost, the temporarily disabled boat lay - nearly level with the waves; its half-wading, splashing crew, trying hard - to stop the gap and bale out the pouring water. -

-

- Meantime, for that one beholding instant, Tashtego's mast-head hammer - remained suspended in his hand; and the red flag, half-wrapping him as - with a plaid, then streamed itself straight out from him, as his own - forward-flowing heart; while Starbuck and Stubb, standing upon the - bowsprit beneath, caught sight of the down-coming monster just as soon as - he. -

-

- "The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, - now hug me close! Let not Starbuck die, if die he must, in a woman's - fainting fit. Up helm, I say—ye fools, the jaw! the jaw! Is this the - end of all my bursting prayers? all my life-long fidelities? Oh, Ahab, - Ahab, lo, thy work. Steady! helmsman, steady. Nay, nay! Up helm again! He - turns to meet us! Oh, his unappeasable brow drives on towards one, whose - duty tells him he cannot depart. My God, stand by me now!" -

-

- "Stand not by me, but stand under me, whoever you are that will now help - Stubb; for Stubb, too, sticks here. I grin at thee, thou grinning whale! - Who ever helped Stubb, or kept Stubb awake, but Stubb's own unwinking eye? - And now poor Stubb goes to bed upon a mattrass that is all too soft; would - it were stuffed with brushwood! I grin at thee, thou grinning whale! Look - ye, sun, moon, and stars! I call ye assassins of as good a fellow as ever - spouted up his ghost. For all that, I would yet ring glasses with ye, - would ye but hand the cup! Oh, oh! oh, oh! thou grinning whale, but - there'll be plenty of gulping soon! Why fly ye not, O Ahab! For me, off - shoes and jacket to it; let Stubb die in his drawers! A most mouldy and - over salted death, though;—cherries! cherries! cherries! Oh, Flask, - for one red cherry ere we die!" -

-

- "Cherries? I only wish that we were where they grow. Oh, Stubb, I hope my - poor mother's drawn my part-pay ere this; if not, few coppers will now - come to her, for the voyage is up." -

-

- From the ship's bows, nearly all the seamen now hung inactive; hammers, - bits of plank, lances, and harpoons, mechanically retained in their hands, - just as they had darted from their various employments; all their - enchanted eyes intent upon the whale, which from side to side strangely - vibrating his predestinating head, sent a broad band of overspreading - semicircular foam before him as he rushed. Retribution, swift vengeance, - eternal malice were in his whole aspect, and spite of all that mortal man - could do, the solid white buttress of his forehead smote the ship's - starboard bow, till men and timbers reeled. Some fell flat upon their - faces. Like dislodged trucks, the heads of the harpooneers aloft shook on - their bull-like necks. Through the breach, they heard the waters pour, as - mountain torrents down a flume. -

-

- "The ship! The hearse!—the second hearse!" cried Ahab from the boat; - "its wood could only be American!" -

-

- Diving beneath the settling ship, the whale ran quivering along its keel; - but turning under water, swiftly shot to the surface again, far off the - other bow, but within a few yards of Ahab's boat, where, for a time, he - lay quiescent. -

-

- "I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! let me hear thy hammer. - Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel; and only - god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and Pole-pointed prow,—death-glorious - ship! must ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond - pride of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! - Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from - all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole - foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I - roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple - with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my - last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! - and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still - chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! THUS, I give up the - spear!" -

-

- The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward; with igniting - velocity the line ran through the grooves;—ran foul. Ahab stooped to - clear it; he did clear it; but the flying turn caught him round the neck, - and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim, he was shot out - of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone. Next instant, the heavy - eye-splice in the rope's final end flew out of the stark-empty tub, - knocked down an oarsman, and smiting the sea, disappeared in its depths. -

-

- For an instant, the tranced boat's crew stood still; then turned. "The - ship? Great God, where is the ship?" Soon they through dim, bewildering - mediums saw her sidelong fading phantom, as in the gaseous Fata Morgana; - only the uppermost masts out of water; while fixed by infatuation, or - fidelity, or fate, to their once lofty perches, the pagan harpooneers - still maintained their sinking lookouts on the sea. And now, concentric - circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and each floating - oar, and every lance-pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round - and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of - sight. -

-

- But as the last whelmings intermixingly poured themselves over the sunken - head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of the erect spar - yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag, which calmly - undulated, with ironical coincidings, over the destroying billows they - almost touched;—at that instant, a red arm and a hammer hovered - backwardly uplifted in the open air, in the act of nailing the flag faster - and yet faster to the subsiding spar. A sky-hawk that tauntingly had - followed the main-truck downwards from its natural home among the stars, - pecking at the flag, and incommoding Tashtego there; this bird now chanced - to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood; - and simultaneously feeling that etherial thrill, the submerged savage - beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird - of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, - and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his - ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a - living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it. -

-

- Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white - surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great - shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago. -

-

- - -

-
-



-
-

- Epilogue -

-

- "AND I ONLY AM ESCAPED ALONE TO TELL THEE" Job. -

-

- The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth?—Because one - did survive the wreck. -

-

- It so chanced, that after the Parsee's disappearance, I was he whom the - Fates ordained to take the place of Ahab's bowsman, when that bowsman - assumed the vacant post; the same, who, when on the last day the three men - were tossed from out of the rocking boat, was dropped astern. So, floating - on the margin of the ensuing scene, and in full sight of it, when the - halfspent suction of the sunk ship reached me, I was then, but slowly, - drawn towards the closing vortex. When I reached it, it had subsided to a - creamy pool. Round and round, then, and ever contracting towards the - button-like black bubble at the axis of that slowly wheeling circle, like - another Ixion I did revolve. Till, gaining that vital centre, the black - bubble upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, - and, owing to its great buoyancy, rising with great force, the coffin - life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. - Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on - a soft and dirgelike main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with - padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. - On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It - was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her - missing children, only found another orphan. -

-

-



-

-
-
-
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-
- - + + + + + + + + Moby Dick; Or the Whale, by Herman Melville + + + + +
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Moby Dick; or The Whale, by Herman Melville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Moby Dick; or The Whale
+
+Author: Herman Melville
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2008 [EBook #2701]
+Last Updated: December 3, 2017
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Daniel Lazarus, Jonesey, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+

+

+

+

+ MOBY-DICK;

or, THE WHALE. +

+

+
+

+

+ By Herman Melville +

+

+

+

+
+

+

+

+
+

+ CONTENTS +

+

+
+

+

+ ETYMOLOGY. +

+

+ EXTRACTS (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian). + +

+

+
+

+

+ CHAPTER 1. Loomings. +

+

+ CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag. +

+

+ CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn. +

+

+ CHAPTER 4. The Counterpane. +

+

+ CHAPTER 5. Breakfast. +

+

+ CHAPTER 6. The Street. +

+

+ CHAPTER 7. The Chapel. +

+

+ CHAPTER 8. The Pulpit. +

+

+ CHAPTER 9. The Sermon. +

+

+ CHAPTER 10. A Bosom Friend. +

+

+ CHAPTER 11. Nightgown. +

+

+ CHAPTER 12. Biographical. +

+

+ CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow. +

+

+ CHAPTER 14. Nantucket. +

+

+ CHAPTER 15. Chowder. +

+

+ CHAPTER 16. The Ship. +

+

+ CHAPTER 17. The Ramadan. +

+

+ CHAPTER 18. His Mark. +

+

+ CHAPTER 19. The Prophet. +

+

+ CHAPTER 20. All Astir. +

+

+ CHAPTER 21. Going Aboard. +

+

+ CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas. +

+

+ CHAPTER 23. The Lee Shore. +

+

+ CHAPTER 24. The Advocate. +

+

+ CHAPTER 25. Postscript. +

+

+ CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires. +

+

+ CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires. +

+

+ CHAPTER 28. Ahab. +

+

+ CHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb. +

+

+ CHAPTER 30. The Pipe. +

+

+ CHAPTER 31. Queen Mab. +

+

+ CHAPTER 32. Cetology. +

+

+ CHAPTER 33. The Specksnyder. +

+

+ CHAPTER 34. The Cabin-Table. +

+

+ CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head. +

+

+ CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck. +

+

+ CHAPTER 37. Sunset. +

+

+ CHAPTER 38. Dusk. +

+

+ CHAPTER 39. First Night-Watch. +

+

+ CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle. +

+

+ CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick. +

+

+ CHAPTER 42. The Whiteness of the Whale. +

+

+ CHAPTER 43. Hark! +

+

+ CHAPTER 44. The Chart. +

+

+ CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit. +

+

+ CHAPTER 46. Surmises. +

+

+ CHAPTER 47. The Mat-Maker. +

+

+ CHAPTER 48. The First Lowering. +

+

+ CHAPTER 49. The Hyena. +

+

+ CHAPTER 50. Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah. + +

+

+ CHAPTER 51. The Spirit-Spout. +

+

+ CHAPTER 52. The Albatross. +

+

+ CHAPTER 53. The Gam. +

+

+ CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho’s Story. +

+

+ CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of + Whales. +

+

+ CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of + Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes. +

+

+ CHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in + Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars. +

+

+ CHAPTER 58. Brit. +

+

+ CHAPTER 59. Squid. +

+

+ CHAPTER 60. The Line. +

+

+ CHAPTER 61. Stubb Kills a Whale. +

+

+ CHAPTER 62. The Dart. +

+

+ CHAPTER 63. The Crotch. +

+

+ CHAPTER 64. Stubb’s Supper. +

+

+ CHAPTER 65. The Whale as a Dish. +

+

+ CHAPTER 66. The Shark Massacre. +

+

+ CHAPTER 67. Cutting In. +

+

+ CHAPTER 68. The Blanket. +

+

+ CHAPTER 69. The Funeral. +

+

+ CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx. +

+

+ CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam’s Story. +

+

+ CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope. +

+

+ CHAPTER 73. Stubb and Flask kill a Right Whale; + and Then Have a Talk over Him. +

+

+ CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted + View. +

+

+ CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale’s Head—Contrasted + View. +

+

+ CHAPTER 76. The Battering-Ram. +

+

+ CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun. +

+

+ CHAPTER 78. Cistern and Buckets. +

+

+ CHAPTER 79. The Prairie. +

+

+ CHAPTER 80. The Nut. +

+

+ CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin. +

+

+ CHAPTER 82. The Honor and Glory of Whaling. + +

+

+ CHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded. +

+

+ CHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling. +

+

+ CHAPTER 85. The Fountain. +

+

+ CHAPTER 86. The Tail. +

+

+ CHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada. +

+

+ CHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters. +

+

+ CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish. +

+

+ CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails. +

+

+ CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud. +

+

+ CHAPTER 92. Ambergris. +

+

+ CHAPTER 93. The Castaway. +

+

+ CHAPTER 94. A Squeeze of the Hand. +

+

+ CHAPTER 95. The Cassock. +

+

+ CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works. +

+

+ CHAPTER 97. The Lamp. +

+

+ CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up. +

+

+ CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon. +

+

+ CHAPTER 100. Leg and Arm. +

+

+ CHAPTER 101. The Decanter. +

+

+ CHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides. +

+

+ CHAPTER 103. Measurement of The Whale’s + Skeleton. +

+

+ CHAPTER 104. The Fossil Whale. +

+

+ CHAPTER 105. Does the Whale’s Magnitude + Diminish?—Will He Perish? +

+

+ CHAPTER 106. Ahab’s Leg. +

+

+ CHAPTER 107. The Carpenter. +

+

+ CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter. +

+

+ CHAPTER 109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin. + +

+

+ CHAPTER 110. Queequeg in His Coffin. +

+

+ CHAPTER 111. The Pacific. +

+

+ CHAPTER 112. The Blacksmith. +

+

+ CHAPTER 113. The Forge. +

+

+ CHAPTER 114. The Gilder. +

+

+ CHAPTER 115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. + +

+

+ CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale. +

+

+ CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch. +

+

+ CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant. +

+

+ CHAPTER 119. The Candles. +

+

+ CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the + First Night Watch. +

+

+ CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle + Bulwarks. +

+

+ CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and + Lightning. +

+

+ CHAPTER 123. The Musket. +

+

+ CHAPTER 124. The Needle. +

+

+ CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line. +

+

+ CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy. +

+

+ CHAPTER 127. The Deck. +

+

+ CHAPTER 128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel. +

+

+ CHAPTER 129. The Cabin. +

+

+ CHAPTER 130. The Hat. +

+

+ CHAPTER 131. The Pequod Meets The Delight. +

+

+ CHAPTER 132. The Symphony. +

+

+ CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day. +

+

+ CHAPTER 134. The Chase—Second Day. +

+

+ CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day. +

+

+ Epilogue +

+
+

+

+

+
+

+

+ +

+
+

+ Original Transcriber’s Notes: +

+

+ This text is a combination of etexts, one from the now-defunct ERIS + project at Virginia Tech and one from Project Gutenberg’s archives. The + proofreaders of this version are indebted to The University of Adelaide + Library for preserving the Virginia Tech version. The resulting etext + was compared with a public domain hard copy version of the text. +

+
+
+
+ + +
+



+
+

+ ETYMOLOGY. +

+

+ (Supplied by a Late Consumptive Usher to a Grammar School.) +

+

+ The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see + him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer + handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the + known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it + somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality. +

+

+ “While you take in hand to school others, and to teach them by what name + a whale-fish is to be called in our tongue, leaving out, through + ignorance, the letter H, which almost alone maketh up the signification of + the word, you deliver that which is not true.” —Hackluyt. +

+

+ “WHALE. * * * Sw. and Dan. hval. This animal is named from roundness or + rolling; for in Dan. hvalt is arched or vaulted.” —Webster’s + Dictionary. +

+

+ “WHALE. * * * It is more immediately from the Dut. and Ger. Wallen; A.S. + Walw-ian, to roll, to wallow.” —Richardson’s Dictionary. +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
חו, Hebrew.
ϰητος, Greek.
CETUS, Latin.
WHÅ’L, Anglo-Saxon.
HVALT, Danish.
WAL, Dutch.
HWAL, Swedish.
WHALE, Icelandic.
WHALE, English.
BALEINE, French.
BALLENA, Spanish.
PEKEE-NUEE-NUEE, Fegee.
PEHEE-NUEE-NUEE, Erromangoan.
+ + +
+



+
+

+ EXTRACTS. (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian). +

+

+ It will be seen that this mere painstaking burrower and grub-worm of a + poor devil of a Sub-Sub appears to have gone through the long Vaticans + and street-stalls of the earth, picking up whatever random allusions to + whales he could anyways find in any book whatsoever, sacred or profane. + Therefore you must not, in every case at least, take the + higgledy-piggledy whale statements, however authentic, in these + extracts, for veritable gospel cetology. Far from it. As touching the + ancient authors generally, as well as the poets here appearing, these + extracts are solely valuable or entertaining, as affording a glancing + bird’s eye view of what has been promiscuously said, thought, fancied, + and sung of Leviathan, by many nations and generations, including our + own. +

+

+ So fare thee well, poor devil of a Sub-Sub, whose commentator I am. Thou + belongest to that hopeless, sallow tribe which no wine of this world + will ever warm; and for whom even Pale Sherry would be too rosy-strong; + but with whom one sometimes loves to sit, and feel poor-devilish, too; + and grow convivial upon tears; and say to them bluntly, with full eyes + and empty glasses, and in not altogether unpleasant sadness—Give + it up, Sub-Subs! For by how much the more pains ye take to please the + world, by so much the more shall ye for ever go thankless! Would that I + could clear out Hampton Court and the Tuileries for ye! But gulp down + your tears and hie aloft to the royal-mast with your hearts; for your + friends who have gone before are clearing out the seven-storied heavens, + and making refugees of long-pampered Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, + against your coming. Here ye strike but splintered hearts together—there, + ye shall strike unsplinterable glasses! +

+

+ EXTRACTS. +

+

+ “And God created great whales.” —Genesis. +

+

+ “Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to + be hoary.” —Job. +

+

+ “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” —Jonah. +

+

+ “There go the ships; there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play + therein.” —Psalms. +

+

+ “In that day, the Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword, shall + punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked + serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” —Isaiah. +

+

+ “And what thing soever besides cometh within the chaos of this monster’s + mouth, be it beast, boat, or stone, down it goes all incontinently that + foul great swallow of his, and perisheth in the bottomless gulf of his + paunch.” —Holland’s Plutarch’s Morals. +

+

+ “The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest fishes that are: among + which the Whales and Whirlpooles called Balaene, take up as much in + length as four acres or arpens of land.” —Holland’s Pliny. +

+

+ “Scarcely had we proceeded two days on the sea, when about sunrise a + great many Whales and other monsters of the sea, appeared. Among the + former, one was of a most monstrous size.... This came towards us, + open-mouthed, raising the waves on all sides, and beating the sea before + him into a foam.” —Tooke’s Lucian. “The True History.” +

+

+ “He visited this country also with a view of catching horse-whales, + which had bones of very great value for their teeth, of which he brought + some to the king.... The best whales were catched in his own country, of + which some were forty-eight, some fifty yards long. He said that he was + one of six who had killed sixty in two days.” —Other or Other’s + verbal narrative taken down from his mouth by King Alfred, A.D. 890. +

+

+ “And whereas all the other things, whether beast or vessel, that enter + into the dreadful gulf of this monster’s (whale’s) mouth, are + immediately lost and swallowed up, the sea-gudgeon retires into it in + great security, and there sleeps.” —MONTAIGNE. —Apology for + Raimond Sebond. +

+

+ “Let us fly, let us fly! Old Nick take me if is not Leviathan described + by the noble prophet Moses in the life of patient Job.” —Rabelais. +

+

+ “This whale’s liver was two cartloads.” —Stowe’s Annals. +

+

+ “The great Leviathan that maketh the seas to seethe like boiling pan.” + —Lord Bacon’s Version of the Psalms. +

+

+ “Touching that monstrous bulk of the whale or ork we have received + nothing certain. They grow exceeding fat, insomuch that an incredible + quantity of oil will be extracted out of one whale.” —Ibid. + “History of Life and Death.” +

+

+ “The sovereignest thing on earth is parmacetti for an inward bruise.” + —King Henry. +

+

+ “Very like a whale.” —Hamlet. +

+
+     “Which to secure, no skill of leach’s art
+     Mote him availle, but to returne againe
+     To his wound’s worker, that with lowly dart,
+     Dinting his breast, had bred his restless paine,
+     Like as the wounded whale to shore flies thro’ the maine.”
+      —The Faerie Queen.
+
+

+ “Immense as whales, the motion of whose vast bodies can in a peaceful + calm trouble the ocean till it boil.” —Sir William Davenant. + Preface to Gondibert. +

+

+ “What spermacetti is, men might justly doubt, since the learned + Hosmannus in his work of thirty years, saith plainly, Nescio quid sit.” + —Sir T. Browne. Of Sperma Ceti and the Sperma Ceti Whale. Vide his + V. E. +

+
+     “Like Spencer’s Talus with his modern flail
+     He threatens ruin with his ponderous tail.
+   ...
+     Their fixed jav’lins in his side he wears,
+     And on his back a grove of pikes appears.”
+      —Waller’s Battle of the Summer Islands.
+
+

+ “By art is created that great Leviathan, called a Commonwealth or State—(in + Latin, Civitas) which is but an artificial man.” —Opening sentence + of Hobbes’s Leviathan. +

+

+ “Silly Mansoul swallowed it without chewing, as if it had been a sprat + in the mouth of a whale.” —Pilgrim’s Progress. +

+
+     “That sea beast
+     Leviathan, which God of all his works
+     Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.” —Paradise Lost.
+
+     —“There Leviathan,
+     Hugest of living creatures, in the deep
+     Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
+     And seems a moving land; and at his gills
+     Draws in, and at his breath spouts out a sea.” —Ibid.
+
+

+ “The mighty whales which swim in a sea of water, and have a sea of oil + swimming in them.” —Fuller’s Profane and Holy State. +

+
+     “So close behind some promontory lie
+     The huge Leviathan to attend their prey,
+     And give no chance, but swallow in the fry,
+     Which through their gaping jaws mistake the way.”
+      —Dryden’s Annus Mirabilis.
+
+

+ “While the whale is floating at the stern of the ship, they cut off his + head, and tow it with a boat as near the shore as it will come; but it + will be aground in twelve or thirteen feet water.” —Thomas Edge’s + Ten Voyages to Spitzbergen, in Purchas. +

+

+ “In their way they saw many whales sporting in the ocean, and in + wantonness fuzzing up the water through their pipes and vents, which + nature has placed on their shoulders.” —Sir T. Herbert’s Voyages + into Asia and Africa. Harris Coll. +

+

+ “Here they saw such huge troops of whales, that they were forced to + proceed with a great deal of caution for fear they should run their ship + upon them.” —Schouten’s Sixth Circumnavigation. +

+

+ “We set sail from the Elbe, wind N.E. in the ship called The + Jonas-in-the-Whale.... Some say the whale can’t open his mouth, but that + is a fable.... They frequently climb up the masts to see whether they + can see a whale, for the first discoverer has a ducat for his pains.... + I was told of a whale taken near Shetland, that had above a barrel of + herrings in his belly.... One of our harpooneers told me that he caught + once a whale in Spitzbergen that was white all over.” —A Voyage to + Greenland, A.D. 1671. Harris Coll. +

+

+ “Several whales have come in upon this coast (Fife) Anno 1652, one + eighty feet in length of the whale-bone kind came in, which (as I was + informed), besides a vast quantity of oil, did afford 500 weight of + baleen. The jaws of it stand for a gate in the garden of Pitferren.” + —Sibbald’s Fife and Kinross. +

+

+ “Myself have agreed to try whether I can master and kill this + Sperma-ceti whale, for I could never hear of any of that sort that was + killed by any man, such is his fierceness and swiftness.” —Richard + Strafford’s Letter from the Bermudas. Phil. Trans. A.D. 1668. +

+

+ “Whales in the sea God’s voice obey.” —N. E. Primer. +

+

+ “We saw also abundance of large whales, there being more in those + southern seas, as I may say, by a hundred to one; than we have to the + northward of us.” —Captain Cowley’s Voyage round the Globe, A.D. + 1729. +

+

+ “... and the breath of the whale is frequently attended with such an + insupportable smell, as to bring on a disorder of the brain.” —Ulloa’s + South America. +

+
+     “To fifty chosen sylphs of special note,
+     We trust the important charge, the petticoat.
+     Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
+     Tho’ stuffed with hoops and armed with ribs of whale.”
+      —Rape of the Lock.
+
+

+ “If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with those that + take up their abode in the deep, we shall find they will appear + contemptible in the comparison. The whale is doubtless the largest + animal in creation.” —Goldsmith, Nat. Hist. +

+

+ “If you should write a fable for little fishes, you would make them + speak like great whales.” —Goldsmith to Johnson. +

+

+ “In the afternoon we saw what was supposed to be a rock, but it was + found to be a dead whale, which some Asiatics had killed, and were then + towing ashore. They seemed to endeavor to conceal themselves behind the + whale, in order to avoid being seen by us.” —Cook’s Voyages. +

+

+ “The larger whales, they seldom venture to attack. They stand in so + great dread of some of them, that when out at sea they are afraid to + mention even their names, and carry dung, lime-stone, juniper-wood, and + some other articles of the same nature in their boats, in order to + terrify and prevent their too near approach.” —Uno Von Troil’s + Letters on Banks’s and Solander’s Voyage to Iceland in 1772. +

+

+ “The Spermacetti Whale found by the Nantuckois, is an active, fierce + animal, and requires vast address and boldness in the fishermen.” + —Thomas Jefferson’s Whale Memorial to the French minister in 1778. +

+

+ “And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it?” —Edmund Burke’s + reference in Parliament to the Nantucket Whale-Fishery. +

+

+ “Spain—a great whale stranded on the shores of Europe.” —Edmund + Burke. (somewhere.) +

+

+ “A tenth branch of the king’s ordinary revenue, said to be grounded on + the consideration of his guarding and protecting the seas from pirates + and robbers, is the right to royal fish, which are whale and sturgeon. + And these, when either thrown ashore or caught near the coast, are the + property of the king.” —Blackstone. +

+
+     “Soon to the sport of death the crews repair:
+     Rodmond unerring o’er his head suspends
+     The barbed steel, and every turn attends.”
+      —Falconer’s Shipwreck.
+
+     “Bright shone the roofs, the domes, the spires,
+     And rockets blew self driven,
+     To hang their momentary fire
+     Around the vault of heaven.
+
+     “So fire with water to compare,
+     The ocean serves on high,
+     Up-spouted by a whale in air,
+     To express unwieldy joy.”
+      —Cowper, on the Queen’s Visit to London.
+
+

+ “Ten or fifteen gallons of blood are thrown out of the heart at a + stroke, with immense velocity.” —John Hunter’s account of the + dissection of a whale. (A small sized one.) +

+

+ “The aorta of a whale is larger in the bore than the main pipe of the + water-works at London Bridge, and the water roaring in its passage + through that pipe is inferior in impetus and velocity to the blood + gushing from the whale’s heart.” —Paley’s Theology. +

+

+ “The whale is a mammiferous animal without hind feet.” —Baron + Cuvier. +

+

+ “In 40 degrees south, we saw Spermacetti Whales, but did not take any + till the first of May, the sea being then covered with them.” —Colnett’s + Voyage for the Purpose of Extending the Spermaceti Whale Fishery. +

+
+     “In the free element beneath me swam,
+     Floundered and dived, in play, in chace, in battle,
+     Fishes of every colour, form, and kind;
+     Which language cannot paint, and mariner
+     Had never seen; from dread Leviathan
+     To insect millions peopling every wave:
+     Gather’d in shoals immense, like floating islands,
+     Led by mysterious instincts through that waste
+     And trackless region, though on every side
+     Assaulted by voracious enemies,
+     Whales, sharks, and monsters, arm’d in front or jaw,
+     With swords, saws, spiral horns, or hooked fangs.”
+      —Montgomery’s World before the Flood.
+
+     “Io!  Paean!  Io! sing.
+     To the finny people’s king.
+     Not a mightier whale than this
+     In the vast Atlantic is;
+     Not a fatter fish than he,
+     Flounders round the Polar Sea.”
+      —Charles Lamb’s Triumph of the Whale.
+
+

+ “In the year 1690 some persons were on a high hill observing the whales + spouting and sporting with each other, when one observed: there—pointing + to the sea—is a green pasture where our children’s grand-children + will go for bread.” —Obed Macy’s History of Nantucket. +

+

+ “I built a cottage for Susan and myself and made a gateway in the form + of a Gothic Arch, by setting up a whale’s jaw bones.” —Hawthorne’s + Twice Told Tales. +

+

+ “She came to bespeak a monument for her first love, who had been killed + by a whale in the Pacific ocean, no less than forty years ago.” —Ibid. +

+

+ “No, Sir, ’tis a Right Whale,” answered Tom; “I saw his sprout; he threw + up a pair of as pretty rainbows as a Christian would wish to look at. + He’s a raal oil-butt, that fellow!” —Cooper’s Pilot. +

+

+ “The papers were brought in, and we saw in the Berlin Gazette that + whales had been introduced on the stage there.” —Eckermann’s + Conversations with Goethe. +

+

+ “My God! Mr. Chace, what is the matter?” I answered, “we have been stove + by a whale.” —“Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Whale Ship Essex + of Nantucket, which was attacked and finally destroyed by a large Sperm + Whale in the Pacific Ocean.” By Owen Chace of Nantucket, first mate of + said vessel. New York, 1821. +

+
+     “A mariner sat in the shrouds one night,
+     The wind was piping free;
+     Now bright, now dimmed, was the moonlight pale,
+     And the phospher gleamed in the wake of the whale,
+     As it floundered in the sea.”
+      —Elizabeth Oakes Smith.
+
+

+ “The quantity of line withdrawn from the boats engaged in the capture of + this one whale, amounted altogether to 10,440 yards or nearly six + English miles.... +

+

+ “Sometimes the whale shakes its tremendous tail in the air, which, + cracking like a whip, resounds to the distance of three or four miles.” + —Scoresby. +

+

+ “Mad with the agonies he endures from these fresh attacks, the + infuriated Sperm Whale rolls over and over; he rears his enormous head, + and with wide expanded jaws snaps at everything around him; he rushes at + the boats with his head; they are propelled before him with vast + swiftness, and sometimes utterly destroyed.... It is a matter of great + astonishment that the consideration of the habits of so interesting, + and, in a commercial point of view, so important an animal (as the Sperm + Whale) should have been so entirely neglected, or should have excited so + little curiosity among the numerous, and many of them competent + observers, that of late years, must have possessed the most abundant and + the most convenient opportunities of witnessing their habitudes.” + —Thomas Beale’s History of the Sperm Whale, 1839. +

+

+ “The Cachalot” (Sperm Whale) “is not only better armed than the True + Whale” (Greenland or Right Whale) “in possessing a formidable weapon at + either extremity of its body, but also more frequently displays a + disposition to employ these weapons offensively and in manner at once so + artful, bold, and mischievous, as to lead to its being regarded as the + most dangerous to attack of all the known species of the whale tribe.” + —Frederick Debell Bennett’s Whaling Voyage Round the Globe, 1840. +

+
+     October 13.  “There she blows,” was sung out from the mast-head.
+     “Where away?” demanded the captain.
+     “Three points off the lee bow, sir.”
+      “Raise up your wheel.  Steady!”  “Steady, sir.”
+      “Mast-head ahoy!  Do you see that whale now?”
+      “Ay ay, sir!  A shoal of Sperm Whales!  There she blows!  There she
+     breaches!”
+      “Sing out! sing out every time!”
+      “Ay Ay, sir!  There she blows! there—there—thar she
+     blows—bowes—bo-o-os!”
+      “How far off?”
+      “Two miles and a half.”
+      “Thunder and lightning! so near!  Call all hands.”
+      —J. Ross Browne’s Etchings of a Whaling Cruize.  1846.
+
+

+ “The Whale-ship Globe, on board of which vessel occurred the horrid + transactions we are about to relate, belonged to the island of + Nantucket.” —“Narrative of the Globe Mutiny,” by Lay and Hussey + survivors. A.D. 1828. +

+

+ Being once pursued by a whale which he had wounded, he parried the + assault for some time with a lance; but the furious monster at length + rushed on the boat; himself and comrades only being preserved by leaping + into the water when they saw the onset was inevitable.” —Missionary + Journal of Tyerman and Bennett. +

+

+ “Nantucket itself,” said Mr. Webster, “is a very striking and peculiar + portion of the National interest. There is a population of eight or nine + thousand persons living here in the sea, adding largely every year to + the National wealth by the boldest and most persevering industry.” + —Report of Daniel Webster’s Speech in the U. S. Senate, on the + application for the Erection of a Breakwater at Nantucket. 1828. +

+

+ “The whale fell directly over him, and probably killed him in a moment.” + —“The Whale and his Captors, or The Whaleman’s Adventures and the + Whale’s Biography, gathered on the Homeward Cruise of the Commodore + Preble.” By Rev. Henry T. Cheever. +

+

+ “If you make the least damn bit of noise,” replied Samuel, “I will send + you to hell.” —Life of Samuel Comstock (the mutineer), by his + brother, William Comstock. Another Version of the whale-ship Globe + narrative. +

+

+ “The voyages of the Dutch and English to the Northern Ocean, in order, + if possible, to discover a passage through it to India, though they + failed of their main object, laid-open the haunts of the whale.” —McCulloch’s + Commercial Dictionary. +

+

+ “These things are reciprocal; the ball rebounds, only to bound forward + again; for now in laying open the haunts of the whale, the whalemen seem + to have indirectly hit upon new clews to that same mystic North-West + Passage.” —From “Something” unpublished. +

+

+ “It is impossible to meet a whale-ship on the ocean without being struck + by her near appearance. The vessel under short sail, with look-outs at + the mast-heads, eagerly scanning the wide expanse around them, has a + totally different air from those engaged in regular voyage.” —Currents + and Whaling. U.S. Ex. Ex. +

+

+ “Pedestrians in the vicinity of London and elsewhere may recollect + having seen large curved bones set upright in the earth, either to form + arches over gateways, or entrances to alcoves, and they may perhaps have + been told that these were the ribs of whales.” —Tales of a Whale + Voyager to the Arctic Ocean. +

+

+ “It was not till the boats returned from the pursuit of these whales, + that the whites saw their ship in bloody possession of the savages + enrolled among the crew.” —Newspaper Account of the Taking and + Retaking of the Whale-Ship Hobomack. +

+

+ “It is generally well known that out of the crews of Whaling vessels + (American) few ever return in the ships on board of which they + departed.” —Cruise in a Whale Boat. +

+

+ “Suddenly a mighty mass emerged from the water, and shot up + perpendicularly into the air. It was the whale.” —Miriam Coffin or + the Whale Fisherman. +

+

+ “The Whale is harpooned to be sure; but bethink you, how you would + manage a powerful unbroken colt, with the mere appliance of a rope tied + to the root of his tail.” —A Chapter on Whaling in Ribs and + Trucks. +

+

+ “On one occasion I saw two of these monsters (whales) probably male and + female, slowly swimming, one after the other, within less than a stone’s + throw of the shore” (Terra Del Fuego), “over which the beech tree + extended its branches.” —Darwin’s Voyage of a Naturalist. +

+

+ “‘Stern all!’ exclaimed the mate, as upon turning his head, he saw the + distended jaws of a large Sperm Whale close to the head of the boat, + threatening it with instant destruction;—‘Stern all, for your + lives!’” —Wharton the Whale Killer. +

+

+ “So be cheery, my lads, let your hearts never fail, While the bold + harpooneer is striking the whale!” —Nantucket Song. +

+
+     “Oh, the rare old Whale, mid storm and gale
+     In his ocean home will be
+     A giant in might, where might is right,
+     And King of the boundless sea.”
+      —Whale Song.
+
+
+
+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 1. Loomings. +

+

+ Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having + little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on + shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of + the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the + circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever + it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself + involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear + of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an + upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me + from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking + people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon + as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical + flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. + There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men + in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings + towards the ocean with me. +

+

+ There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves + as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. + Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is + the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by + breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the + crowds of water-gazers there. +

+

+ Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears + Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do + you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand + thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some + leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking + over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as + if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all + landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster—tied to counters, + nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green + fields gone? What do they here? +

+

+ But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and + seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the + extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder + warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as + they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand—miles of + them—leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, + streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all + unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses + of all those ships attract them thither? +

+

+ Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take + almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, + and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let + the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand + that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead + you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be + athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan + happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one + knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever. +

+

+ But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, + quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of + the Saco. What is the chief element he employs? There stand his trees, + each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and + here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder + cottage goes a sleepy smoke. Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, + reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue. + But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes + down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd’s head, yet all were vain, + unless the shepherd’s eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him. Go + visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade + knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there + is not a drop of water there! Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would + you travel your thousand miles to see it? Why did the poor poet of + Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate + whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a + pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach? Why is almost every robust healthy boy + with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to + sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such + a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out + of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the + Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this + is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of + Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he + saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, + we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the + ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all. +

+

+ Now, when I say that I am in the habit of going to sea whenever I begin to + grow hazy about the eyes, and begin to be over conscious of my lungs, I do + not mean to have it inferred that I ever go to sea as a passenger. For to + go as a passenger you must needs have a purse, and a purse is but a rag + unless you have something in it. Besides, passengers get sea-sick—grow + quarrelsome—don’t sleep of nights—do not enjoy themselves + much, as a general thing;—no, I never go as a passenger; nor, though + I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a + Captain, or a Cook. I abandon the glory and distinction of such offices to + those who like them. For my part, I abominate all honorable respectable + toils, trials, and tribulations of every kind whatsoever. It is quite as + much as I can do to take care of myself, without taking care of ships, + barques, brigs, schooners, and what not. And as for going as cook,—though + I confess there is considerable glory in that, a cook being a sort of + officer on ship-board—yet, somehow, I never fancied broiling fowls;—though + once broiled, judiciously buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, + there is no one who will speak more respectfully, not to say + reverentially, of a broiled fowl than I will. It is out of the idolatrous + dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, + that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the + pyramids. +

+

+ No, when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor, right before the mast, + plumb down into the forecastle, aloft there to the royal mast-head. True, + they rather order me about some, and make me jump from spar to spar, like + a grasshopper in a May meadow. And at first, this sort of thing is + unpleasant enough. It touches one’s sense of honor, particularly if you + come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensselaers, or + Randolphs, or Hardicanutes. And more than all, if just previous to putting + your hand into the tar-pot, you have been lording it as a country + schoolmaster, making the tallest boys stand in awe of you. The transition + is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires + a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics to enable you to grin and bear + it. But even this wears off in time. +

+

+ What of it, if some old hunks of a sea-captain orders me to get a broom + and sweep down the decks? What does that indignity amount to, weighed, I + mean, in the scales of the New Testament? Do you think the archangel + Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and + respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who ain’t a + slave? Tell me that. Well, then, however the old sea-captains may order me + about—however they may thump and punch me about, I have the + satisfaction of knowing that it is all right; that everybody else is one + way or other served in much the same way—either in a physical or + metaphysical point of view, that is; and so the universal thump is passed + round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be + content. +

+

+ Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying + me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I + ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there + is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid. The act + of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two + orchard thieves entailed upon us. But being paid,—what will compare + with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really + marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root + of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. + Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition! +

+

+ Finally, I always go to sea as a sailor, because of the wholesome exercise + and pure air of the fore-castle deck. For as in this world, head winds are + far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate + the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the + quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the + forecastle. He thinks he breathes it first; but not so. In much the same + way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same + time that the leaders little suspect it. But wherefore it was that after + having repeatedly smelt the sea as a merchant sailor, I should now take it + into my head to go on a whaling voyage; this the invisible police officer + of the Fates, who has the constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs + me, and influences me in some unaccountable way—he can better answer + than any one else. And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed + part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time + ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more + extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run + something like this: +

+

+ “Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States. + “WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL. “BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN.” +

+

+ Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the + Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others + were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short and easy + parts in genteel comedies, and jolly parts in farces—though I cannot + tell why this was exactly; yet, now that I recall all the circumstances, I + think I can see a little into the springs and motives which being + cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about + performing the part I did, besides cajoling me into the delusion that it + was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill and discriminating + judgment. +

+

+ Chief among these motives was the overwhelming idea of the great whale + himself. Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity. + Then the wild and distant seas where he rolled his island bulk; the + undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale; these, with all the attending + marvels of a thousand Patagonian sights and sounds, helped to sway me to + my wish. With other men, perhaps, such things would not have been + inducements; but as for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for + things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous + coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and + could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is + but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one + lodges in. +

+

+ By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great + flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that + swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, + endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand + hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag. +

+

+ I stuffed a shirt or two into my old carpet-bag, tucked it under my arm, + and started for Cape Horn and the Pacific. Quitting the good city of old + Manhatto, I duly arrived in New Bedford. It was a Saturday night in + December. Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for + Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would + offer, till the following Monday. +

+

+ As most young candidates for the pains and penalties of whaling stop at + this same New Bedford, thence to embark on their voyage, it may as well be + related that I, for one, had no idea of so doing. For my mind was made up + to sail in no other than a Nantucket craft, because there was a fine, + boisterous something about everything connected with that famous old + island, which amazingly pleased me. Besides though New Bedford has of late + been gradually monopolising the business of whaling, and though in this + matter poor old Nantucket is now much behind her, yet Nantucket was her + great original—the Tyre of this Carthage;—the place where the + first dead American whale was stranded. Where else but from Nantucket did + those aboriginal whalemen, the Red-Men, first sally out in canoes to give + chase to the Leviathan? And where but from Nantucket, too, did that first + adventurous little sloop put forth, partly laden with imported + cobblestones—so goes the story—to throw at the whales, in + order to discover when they were nigh enough to risk a harpoon from the + bowsprit? +

+

+ Now having a night, a day, and still another night following before me in + New Bedford, ere I could embark for my destined port, it became a matter + of concernment where I was to eat and sleep meanwhile. It was a very + dubious-looking, nay, a very dark and dismal night, bitingly cold and + cheerless. I knew no one in the place. With anxious grapnels I had sounded + my pocket, and only brought up a few pieces of silver,—So, wherever + you go, Ishmael, said I to myself, as I stood in the middle of a dreary + street shouldering my bag, and comparing the gloom towards the north with + the darkness towards the south—wherever in your wisdom you may + conclude to lodge for the night, my dear Ishmael, be sure to inquire the + price, and don’t be too particular. +

+

+ With halting steps I paced the streets, and passed the sign of “The + Crossed Harpoons”—but it looked too expensive and jolly there. + Further on, from the bright red windows of the “Sword-Fish Inn,” there + came such fervent rays, that it seemed to have melted the packed snow and + ice from before the house, for everywhere else the congealed frost lay ten + inches thick in a hard, asphaltic pavement,—rather weary for me, + when I struck my foot against the flinty projections, because from hard, + remorseless service the soles of my boots were in a most miserable plight. + Too expensive and jolly, again thought I, pausing one moment to watch the + broad glare in the street, and hear the sounds of the tinkling glasses + within. But go on, Ishmael, said I at last; don’t you hear? get away from + before the door; your patched boots are stopping the way. So on I went. I + now by instinct followed the streets that took me waterward, for there, + doubtless, were the cheapest, if not the cheeriest inns. +

+

+ Such dreary streets! blocks of blackness, not houses, on either hand, and + here and there a candle, like a candle moving about in a tomb. At this + hour of the night, of the last day of the week, that quarter of the town + proved all but deserted. But presently I came to a smoky light proceeding + from a low, wide building, the door of which stood invitingly open. It had + a careless look, as if it were meant for the uses of the public; so, + entering, the first thing I did was to stumble over an ash-box in the + porch. Ha! thought I, ha, as the flying particles almost choked me, are + these ashes from that destroyed city, Gomorrah? But “The Crossed + Harpoons,” and “The Sword-Fish?”—this, then must needs be the sign + of “The Trap.” However, I picked myself up and hearing a loud voice + within, pushed on and opened a second, interior door. +

+

+ It seemed the great Black Parliament sitting in Tophet. A hundred black + faces turned round in their rows to peer; and beyond, a black Angel of + Doom was beating a book in a pulpit. It was a negro church; and the + preacher’s text was about the blackness of darkness, and the weeping and + wailing and teeth-gnashing there. Ha, Ishmael, muttered I, backing out, + Wretched entertainment at the sign of ‘The Trap!’ +

+

+ Moving on, I at last came to a dim sort of light not far from the docks, + and heard a forlorn creaking in the air; and looking up, saw a swinging + sign over the door with a white painting upon it, faintly representing a + tall straight jet of misty spray, and these words underneath—“The + Spouter Inn:—Peter Coffin.” +

+

+ Coffin?—Spouter?—Rather ominous in that particular connexion, + thought I. But it is a common name in Nantucket, they say, and I suppose + this Peter here is an emigrant from there. As the light looked so dim, and + the place, for the time, looked quiet enough, and the dilapidated little + wooden house itself looked as if it might have been carted here from the + ruins of some burnt district, and as the swinging sign had a + poverty-stricken sort of creak to it, I thought that here was the very + spot for cheap lodgings, and the best of pea coffee. +

+

+ It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old house, one side + palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly. It stood on a sharp bleak + corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling + than ever it did about poor Paul’s tossed craft. Euroclydon, nevertheless, + is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob + quietly toasting for bed. “In judging of that tempestuous wind called + Euroclydon,” says an old writer—of whose works I possess the only + copy extant—“it maketh a marvellous difference, whether thou lookest + out at it from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or + whether thou observest it from that sashless window, where the frost is on + both sides, and of which the wight Death is the only glazier.” True + enough, thought I, as this passage occurred to my mind—old + black-letter, thou reasonest well. Yes, these eyes are windows, and this + body of mine is the house. What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and + the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there. But it’s + too late to make any improvements now. The universe is finished; the + copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. Poor + Lazarus there, chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his pillow, + and shaking off his tatters with his shiverings, he might plug up both + ears with rags, and put a corn-cob into his mouth, and yet that would not + keep out the tempestuous Euroclydon. Euroclydon! says old Dives, in his + red silken wrapper—(he had a redder one afterwards) pooh, pooh! What + a fine frosty night; how Orion glitters; what northern lights! Let them + talk of their oriental summer climes of everlasting conservatories; give + me the privilege of making my own summer with my own coals. +

+

+ But what thinks Lazarus? Can he warm his blue hands by holding them up to + the grand northern lights? Would not Lazarus rather be in Sumatra than + here? Would he not far rather lay him down lengthwise along the line of + the equator; yea, ye gods! go down to the fiery pit itself, in order to + keep out this frost? +

+

+ Now, that Lazarus should lie stranded there on the curbstone before the + door of Dives, this is more wonderful than that an iceberg should be + moored to one of the Moluccas. Yet Dives himself, he too lives like a Czar + in an ice palace made of frozen sighs, and being a president of a + temperance society, he only drinks the tepid tears of orphans. +

+

+ But no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling, and there is + plenty of that yet to come. Let us scrape the ice from our frosted feet, + and see what sort of a place this “Spouter” may be. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn. +

+

+ Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, + straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the + bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very large + oilpainting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the + unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study + and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the + neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its + purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first + you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New + England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of + much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and + especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the + entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, + might not be altogether unwarranted. +

+

+ But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, + black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three + blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, + soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. + Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity + about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath + with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and + anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.—It’s + the Black Sea in a midnight gale.—It’s the unnatural combat of the + four primal elements.—It’s a blasted heath.—It’s a Hyperborean + winter scene.—It’s the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. + But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in + the picture’s midst. That once found out, and all the rest were plain. But + stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the + great leviathan himself? +

+

+ In fact, the artist’s design seemed this: a final theory of my own, partly + based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with whom I + conversed upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a + great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three + dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to + spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself + upon the three mast-heads. +

+

+ The opposite wall of this entry was hung all over with a heathenish array + of monstrous clubs and spears. Some were thickly set with glittering teeth + resembling ivory saws; others were tufted with knots of human hair; and + one was sickle-shaped, with a vast handle sweeping round like the segment + made in the new-mown grass by a long-armed mower. You shuddered as you + gazed, and wondered what monstrous cannibal and savage could ever have + gone a death-harvesting with such a hacking, horrifying implement. Mixed + with these were rusty old whaling lances and harpoons all broken and + deformed. Some were storied weapons. With this once long lance, now wildly + elbowed, fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a + sunrise and a sunset. And that harpoon—so like a corkscrew now—was + flung in Javan seas, and run away with by a whale, years afterwards slain + off the Cape of Blanco. The original iron entered nigh the tail, and, like + a restless needle sojourning in the body of a man, travelled full forty + feet, and at last was found imbedded in the hump. +

+

+ Crossing this dusky entry, and on through yon low-arched way—cut + through what in old times must have been a great central chimney with + fireplaces all round—you enter the public room. A still duskier + place is this, with such low ponderous beams above, and such old wrinkled + planks beneath, that you would almost fancy you trod some old craft’s + cockpits, especially of such a howling night, when this corner-anchored + old ark rocked so furiously. On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like + table covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities + gathered from this wide world’s remotest nooks. Projecting from the + further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den—the bar—a + rude attempt at a right whale’s head. Be that how it may, there stands the + vast arched bone of the whale’s jaw, so wide, a coach might almost drive + beneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old decanters, + bottles, flasks; and in those jaws of swift destruction, like another + cursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles a little + withered old man, who, for their money, dearly sells the sailors deliriums + and death. +

+

+ Abominable are the tumblers into which he pours his poison. Though true + cylinders without—within, the villanous green goggling glasses + deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom. Parallel meridians + rudely pecked into the glass, surround these footpads’ goblets. Fill to + this mark, and your charge is but a penny; to this a penny more; and so on + to the full glass—the Cape Horn measure, which you may gulp down for + a shilling. +

+

+ Upon entering the place I found a number of young seamen gathered about a + table, examining by a dim light divers specimens of skrimshander. I sought + the landlord, and telling him I desired to be accommodated with a room, + received for answer that his house was full—not a bed unoccupied. + “But avast,” he added, tapping his forehead, “you haint no objections to + sharing a harpooneer’s blanket, have ye? I s’pose you are goin’ a-whalin’, + so you’d better get used to that sort of thing.” +

+

+ I told him that I never liked to sleep two in a bed; that if I should ever + do so, it would depend upon who the harpooneer might be, and that if he + (the landlord) really had no other place for me, and the harpooneer was + not decidedly objectionable, why rather than wander further about a + strange town on so bitter a night, I would put up with the half of any + decent man’s blanket. +

+

+ “I thought so. All right; take a seat. Supper?—you want supper? + Supper’ll be ready directly.” +

+

+ I sat down on an old wooden settle, carved all over like a bench on the + Battery. At one end a ruminating tar was still further adorning it with + his jack-knife, stooping over and diligently working away at the space + between his legs. He was trying his hand at a ship under full sail, but he + didn’t make much headway, I thought. +

+

+ At last some four or five of us were summoned to our meal in an adjoining + room. It was cold as Iceland—no fire at all—the landlord said + he couldn’t afford it. Nothing but two dismal tallow candles, each in a + winding sheet. We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to + our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers. But the fare + was of the most substantial kind—not only meat and potatoes, but + dumplings; good heavens! dumplings for supper! One young fellow in a green + box coat, addressed himself to these dumplings in a most direful manner. +

+

+ “My boy,” said the landlord, “you’ll have the nightmare to a dead + sartainty.” +

+

+ “Landlord,” I whispered, “that aint the harpooneer is it?” +

+

+ “Oh, no,” said he, looking a sort of diabolically funny, “the harpooneer + is a dark complexioned chap. He never eats dumplings, he don’t—he + eats nothing but steaks, and he likes ’em rare.” +

+

+ “The devil he does,” says I. “Where is that harpooneer? Is he here?” +

+

+ “He’ll be here afore long,” was the answer. +

+

+ I could not help it, but I began to feel suspicious of this “dark + complexioned” harpooneer. At any rate, I made up my mind that if it so + turned out that we should sleep together, he must undress and get into bed + before I did. +

+

+ Supper over, the company went back to the bar-room, when, knowing not what + else to do with myself, I resolved to spend the rest of the evening as a + looker on. +

+

+ Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord + cried, “That’s the Grampus’s crew. I seed her reported in the offing this + morning; a three years’ voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah, boys; now we’ll + have the latest news from the Feegees.” +

+

+ A tramping of sea boots was heard in the entry; the door was flung open, + and in rolled a wild set of mariners enough. Enveloped in their shaggy + watch coats, and with their heads muffled in woollen comforters, all + bedarned and ragged, and their beards stiff with icicles, they seemed an + eruption of bears from Labrador. They had just landed from their boat, and + this was the first house they entered. No wonder, then, that they made a + straight wake for the whale’s mouth—the bar—when the wrinkled + little old Jonah, there officiating, soon poured them out brimmers all + round. One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed + him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a + sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever, never mind of how + long standing, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the + weather side of an ice-island. +

+

+ The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with + the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering about + most obstreperously. +

+

+ I observed, however, that one of them held somewhat aloof, and though he + seemed desirous not to spoil the hilarity of his shipmates by his own + sober face, yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as + the rest. This man interested me at once; and since the sea-gods had + ordained that he should soon become my shipmate (though but a + sleeping-partner one, so far as this narrative is concerned), I will here + venture upon a little description of him. He stood full six feet in + height, with noble shoulders, and a chest like a coffer-dam. I have seldom + seen such brawn in a man. His face was deeply brown and burnt, making his + white teeth dazzling by the contrast; while in the deep shadows of his + eyes floated some reminiscences that did not seem to give him much joy. + His voice at once announced that he was a Southerner, and from his fine + stature, I thought he must be one of those tall mountaineers from the + Alleghanian Ridge in Virginia. When the revelry of his companions had + mounted to its height, this man slipped away unobserved, and I saw no more + of him till he became my comrade on the sea. In a few minutes, however, he + was missed by his shipmates, and being, it seems, for some reason a huge + favourite with them, they raised a cry of “Bulkington! Bulkington! where’s + Bulkington?” and darted out of the house in pursuit of him. +

+

+ It was now about nine o’clock, and the room seeming almost supernaturally + quiet after these orgies, I began to congratulate myself upon a little + plan that had occurred to me just previous to the entrance of the seamen. +

+

+ No man prefers to sleep two in a bed. In fact, you would a good deal + rather not sleep with your own brother. I don’t know how it is, but people + like to be private when they are sleeping. And when it comes to sleeping + with an unknown stranger, in a strange inn, in a strange town, and that + stranger a harpooneer, then your objections indefinitely multiply. Nor was + there any earthly reason why I as a sailor should sleep two in a bed, more + than anybody else; for sailors no more sleep two in a bed at sea, than + bachelor Kings do ashore. To be sure they all sleep together in one + apartment, but you have your own hammock, and cover yourself with your own + blanket, and sleep in your own skin. +

+

+ The more I pondered over this harpooneer, the more I abominated the + thought of sleeping with him. It was fair to presume that being a + harpooneer, his linen or woollen, as the case might be, would not be of + the tidiest, certainly none of the finest. I began to twitch all over. + Besides, it was getting late, and my decent harpooneer ought to be home + and going bedwards. Suppose now, he should tumble in upon me at midnight—how + could I tell from what vile hole he had been coming? +

+

+ “Landlord! I’ve changed my mind about that harpooneer.—I shan’t + sleep with him. I’ll try the bench here.” +

+

+ “Just as you please; I’m sorry I can’t spare ye a tablecloth for a + mattress, and it’s a plaguy rough board here”—feeling of the knots + and notches. “But wait a bit, Skrimshander; I’ve got a carpenter’s plane + there in the bar—wait, I say, and I’ll make ye snug enough.” So + saying he procured the plane; and with his old silk handkerchief first + dusting the bench, vigorously set to planing away at my bed, the while + grinning like an ape. The shavings flew right and left; till at last the + plane-iron came bump against an indestructible knot. The landlord was near + spraining his wrist, and I told him for heaven’s sake to quit—the + bed was soft enough to suit me, and I did not know how all the planing in + the world could make eider down of a pine plank. So gathering up the + shavings with another grin, and throwing them into the great stove in the + middle of the room, he went about his business, and left me in a brown + study. +

+

+ I now took the measure of the bench, and found that it was a foot too + short; but that could be mended with a chair. But it was a foot too + narrow, and the other bench in the room was about four inches higher than + the planed one—so there was no yoking them. I then placed the first + bench lengthwise along the only clear space against the wall, leaving a + little interval between, for my back to settle down in. But I soon found + that there came such a draught of cold air over me from under the sill of + the window, that this plan would never do at all, especially as another + current from the rickety door met the one from the window, and both + together formed a series of small whirlwinds in the immediate vicinity of + the spot where I had thought to spend the night. +

+

+ The devil fetch that harpooneer, thought I, but stop, couldn’t I steal a + march on him—bolt his door inside, and jump into his bed, not to be + wakened by the most violent knockings? It seemed no bad idea; but upon + second thoughts I dismissed it. For who could tell but what the next + morning, so soon as I popped out of the room, the harpooneer might be + standing in the entry, all ready to knock me down! +

+

+ Still, looking round me again, and seeing no possible chance of spending a + sufferable night unless in some other person’s bed, I began to think that + after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this + unknown harpooneer. Thinks I, I’ll wait awhile; he must be dropping in + before long. I’ll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become + jolly good bedfellows after all—there’s no telling. +

+

+ But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones, twos, and threes, + and going to bed, yet no sign of my harpooneer. +

+

+ “Landlord!” said I, “what sort of a chap is he—does he always keep + such late hours?” It was now hard upon twelve o’clock. +

+

+ The landlord chuckled again with his lean chuckle, and seemed to be + mightily tickled at something beyond my comprehension. “No,” he answered, + “generally he’s an early bird—airley to bed and airley to rise—yes, + he’s the bird what catches the worm. But to-night he went out a peddling, + you see, and I don’t see what on airth keeps him so late, unless, may be, + he can’t sell his head.” +

+

+ “Can’t sell his head?—What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you + are telling me?” getting into a towering rage. “Do you pretend to say, + landlord, that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday + night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head around this town?” +

+

+ “That’s precisely it,” said the landlord, “and I told him he couldn’t sell + it here, the market’s overstocked.” +

+

+ “With what?” shouted I. +

+

+ “With heads to be sure; ain’t there too many heads in the world?” +

+

+ “I tell you what it is, landlord,” said I quite calmly, “you’d better stop + spinning that yarn to me—I’m not green.” +

+

+ “May be not,” taking out a stick and whittling a toothpick, “but I rayther + guess you’ll be done brown if that ere harpooneer hears you a slanderin’ + his head.” +

+

+ “I’ll break it for him,” said I, now flying into a passion again at this + unaccountable farrago of the landlord’s. +

+

+ “It’s broke a’ready,” said he. +

+

+ “Broke,” said I—“broke, do you mean?” +

+

+ “Sartain, and that’s the very reason he can’t sell it, I guess.” +

+

+ “Landlord,” said I, going up to him as cool as Mt. Hecla in a snow-storm—“landlord, + stop whittling. You and I must understand one another, and that too + without delay. I come to your house and want a bed; you tell me you can + only give me half a one; that the other half belongs to a certain + harpooneer. And about this harpooneer, whom I have not yet seen, you + persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating stories tending + to beget in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design + for my bedfellow—a sort of connexion, landlord, which is an intimate + and confidential one in the highest degree. I now demand of you to speak + out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is, and whether I shall be in + all respects safe to spend the night with him. And in the first place, you + will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if + true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark mad, and + I’ve no idea of sleeping with a madman; and you, sir, you I mean, + landlord, you, sir, by trying to induce me to do so knowingly, would + thereby render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution.” +

+

+ “Wall,” said the landlord, fetching a long breath, “that’s a purty long + sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then. But be easy, be easy, + this here harpooneer I have been tellin’ you of has just arrived from the + south seas, where he bought up a lot of ’balmed New Zealand heads (great + curios, you know), and he’s sold all on ’em but one, and that one he’s + trying to sell to-night, cause to-morrow’s Sunday, and it would not do to + be sellin’ human heads about the streets when folks is goin’ to churches. + He wanted to, last Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin’ out of + the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a + string of inions.” +

+

+ This account cleared up the otherwise unaccountable mystery, and showed + that the landlord, after all, had had no idea of fooling me—but at + the same time what could I think of a harpooneer who stayed out of a + Saturday night clean into the holy Sabbath, engaged in such a cannibal + business as selling the heads of dead idolators? +

+

+ “Depend upon it, landlord, that harpooneer is a dangerous man.” +

+

+ “He pays reg’lar,” was the rejoinder. “But come, it’s getting dreadful + late, you had better be turning flukes—it’s a nice bed; Sal and me + slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced. There’s plenty of room + for two to kick about in that bed; it’s an almighty big bed that. Why, + afore we give it up, Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot + of it. But I got a dreaming and sprawling about one night, and somehow, + Sam got pitched on the floor, and came near breaking his arm. Arter that, + Sal said it wouldn’t do. Come along here, I’ll give ye a glim in a jiffy;” + and so saying he lighted a candle and held it towards me, offering to lead + the way. But I stood irresolute; when looking at a clock in the corner, he + exclaimed “I vum it’s Sunday—you won’t see that harpooneer to-night; + he’s come to anchor somewhere—come along then; do come; won’t ye + come?” +

+

+ I considered the matter a moment, and then up stairs we went, and I was + ushered into a small room, cold as a clam, and furnished, sure enough, + with a prodigious bed, almost big enough indeed for any four harpooneers + to sleep abreast. +

+

+ “There,” said the landlord, placing the candle on a crazy old sea chest + that did double duty as a wash-stand and centre table; “there, make + yourself comfortable now, and good night to ye.” I turned round from + eyeing the bed, but he had disappeared. +

+

+ Folding back the counterpane, I stooped over the bed. Though none of the + most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny tolerably well. I then glanced + round the room; and besides the bedstead and centre table, could see no + other furniture belonging to the place, but a rude shelf, the four walls, + and a papered fireboard representing a man striking a whale. Of things not + properly belonging to the room, there was a hammock lashed up, and thrown + upon the floor in one corner; also a large seaman’s bag, containing the + harpooneer’s wardrobe, no doubt in lieu of a land trunk. Likewise, there + was a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the + fire-place, and a tall harpoon standing at the head of the bed. +

+

+ But what is this on the chest? I took it up, and held it close to the + light, and felt it, and smelt it, and tried every way possible to arrive + at some satisfactory conclusion concerning it. I can compare it to nothing + but a large door mat, ornamented at the edges with little tinkling tags + something like the stained porcupine quills round an Indian moccasin. + There was a hole or slit in the middle of this mat, as you see the same in + South American ponchos. But could it be possible that any sober harpooneer + would get into a door mat, and parade the streets of any Christian town in + that sort of guise? I put it on, to try it, and it weighed me down like a + hamper, being uncommonly shaggy and thick, and I thought a little damp, as + though this mysterious harpooneer had been wearing it of a rainy day. I + went up in it to a bit of glass stuck against the wall, and I never saw + such a sight in my life. I tore myself out of it in such a hurry that I + gave myself a kink in the neck. +

+

+ I sat down on the side of the bed, and commenced thinking about this + head-peddling harpooneer, and his door mat. After thinking some time on + the bed-side, I got up and took off my monkey jacket, and then stood in + the middle of the room thinking. I then took off my coat, and thought a + little more in my shirt sleeves. But beginning to feel very cold now, half + undressed as I was, and remembering what the landlord said about the + harpooneer’s not coming home at all that night, it being so very late, I + made no more ado, but jumped out of my pantaloons and boots, and then + blowing out the light tumbled into bed, and commended myself to the care + of heaven. +

+

+ Whether that mattress was stuffed with corn-cobs or broken crockery, there + is no telling, but I rolled about a good deal, and could not sleep for a + long time. At last I slid off into a light doze, and had pretty nearly + made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall + in the passage, and saw a glimmer of light come into the room from under + the door. +

+

+ Lord save me, thinks I, that must be the harpooneer, the infernal + head-peddler. But I lay perfectly still, and resolved not to say a word + till spoken to. Holding a light in one hand, and that identical New + Zealand head in the other, the stranger entered the room, and without + looking towards the bed, placed his candle a good way off from me on the + floor in one corner, and then began working away at the knotted cords of + the large bag I before spoke of as being in the room. I was all eagerness + to see his face, but he kept it averted for some time while employed in + unlacing the bag’s mouth. This accomplished, however, he turned round—when, + good heavens! what a sight! Such a face! It was of a dark, purplish, + yellow colour, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking + squares. Yes, it’s just as I thought, he’s a terrible bedfellow; he’s been + in a fight, got dreadfully cut, and here he is, just from the surgeon. But + at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I + plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black + squares on his cheeks. They were stains of some sort or other. At first I + knew not what to make of this; but soon an inkling of the truth occurred + to me. I remembered a story of a white man—a whaleman too—who, + falling among the cannibals, had been tattooed by them. I concluded that + this harpooneer, in the course of his distant voyages, must have met with + a similar adventure. And what is it, thought I, after all! It’s only his + outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. But then, what to make + of his unearthly complexion, that part of it, I mean, lying round about, + and completely independent of the squares of tattooing. To be sure, it + might be nothing but a good coat of tropical tanning; but I never heard of + a hot sun’s tanning a white man into a purplish yellow one. However, I had + never been in the South Seas; and perhaps the sun there produced these + extraordinary effects upon the skin. Now, while all these ideas were + passing through me like lightning, this harpooneer never noticed me at + all. But, after some difficulty having opened his bag, he commenced + fumbling in it, and presently pulled out a sort of tomahawk, and a + seal-skin wallet with the hair on. Placing these on the old chest in the + middle of the room, he then took the New Zealand head—a ghastly + thing enough—and crammed it down into the bag. He now took off his + hat—a new beaver hat—when I came nigh singing out with fresh + surprise. There was no hair on his head—none to speak of at least—nothing + but a small scalp-knot twisted up on his forehead. His bald purplish head + now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull. Had not the stranger + stood between me and the door, I would have bolted out of it quicker than + ever I bolted a dinner. +

+

+ Even as it was, I thought something of slipping out of the window, but it + was the second floor back. I am no coward, but what to make of this + head-peddling purple rascal altogether passed my comprehension. Ignorance + is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed and confounded + about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it was + the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night. + In fact, I was so afraid of him that I was not game enough just then to + address him, and demand a satisfactory answer concerning what seemed + inexplicable in him. +

+

+ Meanwhile, he continued the business of undressing, and at last showed his + chest and arms. As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with + the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark + squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years’ War, and just escaped + from it with a sticking-plaster shirt. Still more, his very legs were + marked, as if a parcel of dark green frogs were running up the trunks of + young palms. It was now quite plain that he must be some abominable savage + or other shipped aboard of a whaleman in the South Seas, and so landed in + this Christian country. I quaked to think of it. A peddler of heads too—perhaps + the heads of his own brothers. He might take a fancy to mine—heavens! + look at that tomahawk! +

+

+ But there was no time for shuddering, for now the savage went about + something that completely fascinated my attention, and convinced me that + he must indeed be a heathen. Going to his heavy grego, or wrapall, or + dreadnaught, which he had previously hung on a chair, he fumbled in the + pockets, and produced at length a curious little deformed image with a + hunch on its back, and exactly the colour of a three days’ old Congo baby. + Remembering the embalmed head, at first I almost thought that this black + manikin was a real baby preserved in some similar manner. But seeing that + it was not at all limber, and that it glistened a good deal like polished + ebony, I concluded that it must be nothing but a wooden idol, which indeed + it proved to be. For now the savage goes up to the empty fire-place, and + removing the papered fire-board, sets up this little hunch-backed image, + like a tenpin, between the andirons. The chimney jambs and all the bricks + inside were very sooty, so that I thought this fire-place made a very + appropriate little shrine or chapel for his Congo idol. +

+

+ I now screwed my eyes hard towards the half hidden image, feeling but ill + at ease meantime—to see what was next to follow. First he takes + about a double handful of shavings out of his grego pocket, and places + them carefully before the idol; then laying a bit of ship biscuit on top + and applying the flame from the lamp, he kindled the shavings into a + sacrificial blaze. Presently, after many hasty snatches into the fire, and + still hastier withdrawals of his fingers (whereby he seemed to be + scorching them badly), he at last succeeded in drawing out the biscuit; + then blowing off the heat and ashes a little, he made a polite offer of it + to the little negro. But the little devil did not seem to fancy such dry + sort of fare at all; he never moved his lips. All these strange antics + were accompanied by still stranger guttural noises from the devotee, who + seemed to be praying in a sing-song or else singing some pagan psalmody or + other, during which his face twitched about in the most unnatural manner. + At last extinguishing the fire, he took the idol up very unceremoniously, + and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a + sportsman bagging a dead woodcock. +

+

+ All these queer proceedings increased my uncomfortableness, and seeing him + now exhibiting strong symptoms of concluding his business operations, and + jumping into bed with me, I thought it was high time, now or never, before + the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been + bound. +

+

+ But the interval I spent in deliberating what to say, was a fatal one. + Taking up his tomahawk from the table, he examined the head of it for an + instant, and then holding it to the light, with his mouth at the handle, + he puffed out great clouds of tobacco smoke. The next moment the light was + extinguished, and this wild cannibal, tomahawk between his teeth, sprang + into bed with me. I sang out, I could not help it now; and giving a sudden + grunt of astonishment he began feeling me. +

+

+ Stammering out something, I knew not what, I rolled away from him against + the wall, and then conjured him, whoever or whatever he might be, to keep + quiet, and let me get up and light the lamp again. But his guttural + responses satisfied me at once that he but ill comprehended my meaning. +

+

+ “Who-e debel you?”—he at last said—“you no speak-e, dam-me, I + kill-e.” And so saying the lighted tomahawk began flourishing about me in + the dark. +

+

+ “Landlord, for God’s sake, Peter Coffin!” shouted I. “Landlord! Watch! + Coffin! Angels! save me!” +

+

+ “Speak-e! tell-ee me who-ee be, or dam-me, I kill-e!” again growled the + cannibal, while his horrid flourishings of the tomahawk scattered the hot + tobacco ashes about me till I thought my linen would get on fire. But + thank heaven, at that moment the landlord came into the room light in + hand, and leaping from the bed I ran up to him. +

+

+ “Don’t be afraid now,” said he, grinning again, “Queequeg here wouldn’t + harm a hair of your head.” +

+

+ “Stop your grinning,” shouted I, “and why didn’t you tell me that that + infernal harpooneer was a cannibal?” +

+

+ “I thought ye know’d it;—didn’t I tell ye, he was a peddlin’ heads + around town?—but turn flukes again and go to sleep. Queequeg, look + here—you sabbee me, I sabbee—you this man sleepe you—you + sabbee?” +

+

+ “Me sabbee plenty”—grunted Queequeg, puffing away at his pipe and + sitting up in bed. +

+

+ “You gettee in,” he added, motioning to me with his tomahawk, and throwing + the clothes to one side. He really did this in not only a civil but a + really kind and charitable way. I stood looking at him a moment. For all + his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal. + What’s all this fuss I have been making about, thought I to myself—the + man’s a human being just as I am: he has just as much reason to fear me, + as I have to be afraid of him. Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a + drunken Christian. +

+

+ “Landlord,” said I, “tell him to stash his tomahawk there, or pipe, or + whatever you call it; tell him to stop smoking, in short, and I will turn + in with him. But I don’t fancy having a man smoking in bed with me. It’s + dangerous. Besides, I ain’t insured.” +

+

+ This being told to Queequeg, he at once complied, and again politely + motioned me to get into bed—rolling over to one side as much as to + say—“I won’t touch a leg of ye.” +

+

+ “Good night, landlord,” said I, “you may go.” +

+

+ I turned in, and never slept better in my life. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 4. The Counterpane. +

+

+ Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg’s arm thrown + over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought + I had been his wife. The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little + parti-coloured squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all + over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of + which were of one precise shade—owing I suppose to his keeping his + arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly + rolled up at various times—this same arm of his, I say, looked for + all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt. Indeed, partly + lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke, I could hardly tell it from + the quilt, they so blended their hues together; and it was only by the + sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging + me. +

+

+ My sensations were strange. Let me try to explain them. When I was a + child, I well remember a somewhat similar circumstance that befell me; + whether it was a reality or a dream, I never could entirely settle. The + circumstance was this. I had been cutting up some caper or other—I + think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep + do a few days previous; and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was all + the time whipping me, or sending me to bed supperless,—my mother + dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed, though + it was only two o’clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day + in the year in our hemisphere. I felt dreadfully. But there was no help + for it, so up stairs I went to my little room in the third floor, + undressed myself as slowly as possible so as to kill time, and with a + bitter sigh got between the sheets. +

+

+ I lay there dismally calculating that sixteen entire hours must elapse + before I could hope for a resurrection. Sixteen hours in bed! the small of + my back ached to think of it. And it was so light too; the sun shining in + at the window, and a great rattling of coaches in the streets, and the + sound of gay voices all over the house. I felt worse and worse—at + last I got up, dressed, and softly going down in my stockinged feet, + sought out my stepmother, and suddenly threw myself at her feet, + beseeching her as a particular favour to give me a good slippering for my + misbehaviour; anything indeed but condemning me to lie abed such an + unendurable length of time. But she was the best and most conscientious of + stepmothers, and back I had to go to my room. For several hours I lay + there broad awake, feeling a great deal worse than I have ever done since, + even from the greatest subsequent misfortunes. At last I must have fallen + into a troubled nightmare of a doze; and slowly waking from it—half + steeped in dreams—I opened my eyes, and the before sun-lit room was + now wrapped in outer darkness. Instantly I felt a shock running through + all my frame; nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard; but a + supernatural hand seemed placed in mine. My arm hung over the counterpane, + and the nameless, unimaginable, silent form or phantom, to which the hand + belonged, seemed closely seated by my bed-side. For what seemed ages piled + on ages, I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag + away my hand; yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single + inch, the horrid spell would be broken. I knew not how this consciousness + at last glided away from me; but waking in the morning, I shudderingly + remembered it all, and for days and weeks and months afterwards I lost + myself in confounding attempts to explain the mystery. Nay, to this very + hour, I often puzzle myself with it. +

+

+ Now, take away the awful fear, and my sensations at feeling the + supernatural hand in mine were very similar, in their strangeness, to + those which I experienced on waking up and seeing Queequeg’s pagan arm + thrown round me. But at length all the past night’s events soberly + recurred, one by one, in fixed reality, and then I lay only alive to the + comical predicament. For though I tried to move his arm—unlock his + bridegroom clasp—yet, sleeping as he was, he still hugged me + tightly, as though naught but death should part us twain. I now strove to + rouse him—“Queequeg!”—but his only answer was a snore. I then + rolled over, my neck feeling as if it were in a horse-collar; and suddenly + felt a slight scratch. Throwing aside the counterpane, there lay the + tomahawk sleeping by the savage’s side, as if it were a hatchet-faced + baby. A pretty pickle, truly, thought I; abed here in a strange house in + the broad day, with a cannibal and a tomahawk! “Queequeg!—in the + name of goodness, Queequeg, wake!” At length, by dint of much wriggling, + and loud and incessant expostulations upon the unbecomingness of his + hugging a fellow male in that matrimonial sort of style, I succeeded in + extracting a grunt; and presently, he drew back his arm, shook himself all + over like a Newfoundland dog just from the water, and sat up in bed, stiff + as a pike-staff, looking at me, and rubbing his eyes as if he did not + altogether remember how I came to be there, though a dim consciousness of + knowing something about me seemed slowly dawning over him. Meanwhile, I + lay quietly eyeing him, having no serious misgivings now, and bent upon + narrowly observing so curious a creature. When, at last, his mind seemed + made up touching the character of his bedfellow, and he became, as it + were, reconciled to the fact; he jumped out upon the floor, and by certain + signs and sounds gave me to understand that, if it pleased me, he would + dress first and then leave me to dress afterwards, leaving the whole + apartment to myself. Thinks I, Queequeg, under the circumstances, this is + a very civilized overture; but, the truth is, these savages have an innate + sense of delicacy, say what you will; it is marvellous how essentially + polite they are. I pay this particular compliment to Queequeg, because he + treated me with so much civility and consideration, while I was guilty of + great rudeness; staring at him from the bed, and watching all his toilette + motions; for the time my curiosity getting the better of my breeding. + Nevertheless, a man like Queequeg you don’t see every day, he and his ways + were well worth unusual regarding. +

+

+ He commenced dressing at top by donning his beaver hat, a very tall one, + by the by, and then—still minus his trowsers—he hunted up his + boots. What under the heavens he did it for, I cannot tell, but his next + movement was to crush himself—boots in hand, and hat on—under + the bed; when, from sundry violent gaspings and strainings, I inferred he + was hard at work booting himself; though by no law of propriety that I + ever heard of, is any man required to be private when putting on his + boots. But Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in the transition stage—neither + caterpillar nor butterfly. He was just enough civilized to show off his + outlandishness in the strangest possible manners. His education was not + yet completed. He was an undergraduate. If he had not been a small degree + civilized, he very probably would not have troubled himself with boots at + all; but then, if he had not been still a savage, he never would have + dreamt of getting under the bed to put them on. At last, he emerged with + his hat very much dented and crushed down over his eyes, and began + creaking and limping about the room, as if, not being much accustomed to + boots, his pair of damp, wrinkled cowhide ones—probably not made to + order either—rather pinched and tormented him at the first go off of + a bitter cold morning. +

+

+ Seeing, now, that there were no curtains to the window, and that the + street being very narrow, the house opposite commanded a plain view into + the room, and observing more and more the indecorous figure that Queequeg + made, staving about with little else but his hat and boots on; I begged + him as well as I could, to accelerate his toilet somewhat, and + particularly to get into his pantaloons as soon as possible. He complied, + and then proceeded to wash himself. At that time in the morning any + Christian would have washed his face; but Queequeg, to my amazement, + contented himself with restricting his ablutions to his chest, arms, and + hands. He then donned his waistcoat, and taking up a piece of hard soap on + the wash-stand centre table, dipped it into water and commenced lathering + his face. I was watching to see where he kept his razor, when lo and + behold, he takes the harpoon from the bed corner, slips out the long + wooden stock, unsheathes the head, whets it a little on his boot, and + striding up to the bit of mirror against the wall, begins a vigorous + scraping, or rather harpooning of his cheeks. Thinks I, Queequeg, this is + using Rogers’s best cutlery with a vengeance. Afterwards I wondered the + less at this operation when I came to know of what fine steel the head of + a harpoon is made, and how exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are + always kept. +

+

+ The rest of his toilet was soon achieved, and he proudly marched out of + the room, wrapped up in his great pilot monkey jacket, and sporting his + harpoon like a marshal’s baton. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 5. Breakfast. +

+

+ I quickly followed suit, and descending into the bar-room accosted the + grinning landlord very pleasantly. I cherished no malice towards him, + though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my + bedfellow. +

+

+ However, a good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good + thing; the more’s the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, + afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let + him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the + man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is + more in that man than you perhaps think for. +

+

+ The bar-room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping in the + night previous, and whom I had not as yet had a good look at. They were + nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates, and third mates, and + sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and + ship keepers; a brown and brawny company, with bosky beards; an unshorn, + shaggy set, all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns. +

+

+ You could pretty plainly tell how long each one had been ashore. This + young fellow’s healthy cheek is like a sun-toasted pear in hue, and would + seem to smell almost as musky; he cannot have been three days landed from + his Indian voyage. That man next him looks a few shades lighter; you might + say a touch of satin wood is in him. In the complexion of a third still + lingers a tropic tawn, but slightly bleached withal; he doubtless has + tarried whole weeks ashore. But who could show a cheek like Queequeg? + which, barred with various tints, seemed like the Andes’ western slope, to + show forth in one array, contrasting climates, zone by zone. +

+

+ “Grub, ho!” now cried the landlord, flinging open a door, and in we went + to breakfast. +

+

+ They say that men who have seen the world, thereby become quite at ease in + manner, quite self-possessed in company. Not always, though: Ledyard, the + great New England traveller, and Mungo Park, the Scotch one; of all men, + they possessed the least assurance in the parlor. But perhaps the mere + crossing of Siberia in a sledge drawn by dogs as Ledyard did, or the + taking a long solitary walk on an empty stomach, in the negro heart of + Africa, which was the sum of poor Mungo’s performances—this kind of + travel, I say, may not be the very best mode of attaining a high social + polish. Still, for the most part, that sort of thing is to be had + anywhere. +

+

+ These reflections just here are occasioned by the circumstance that after + we were all seated at the table, and I was preparing to hear some good + stories about whaling; to my no small surprise, nearly every man + maintained a profound silence. And not only that, but they looked + embarrassed. Yes, here were a set of sea-dogs, many of whom without the + slightest bashfulness had boarded great whales on the high seas—entire + strangers to them—and duelled them dead without winking; and yet, + here they sat at a social breakfast table—all of the same calling, + all of kindred tastes—looking round as sheepishly at each other as + though they had never been out of sight of some sheepfold among the Green + Mountains. A curious sight; these bashful bears, these timid warrior + whalemen! +

+

+ But as for Queequeg—why, Queequeg sat there among them—at the + head of the table, too, it so chanced; as cool as an icicle. To be sure I + cannot say much for his breeding. His greatest admirer could not have + cordially justified his bringing his harpoon into breakfast with him, and + using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table with it, to the + imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the beefsteaks towards him. + But that was certainly very coolly done by him, and every one knows that + in most people’s estimation, to do anything coolly is to do it genteelly. +

+

+ We will not speak of all Queequeg’s peculiarities here; how he eschewed + coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to beefsteaks, + done rare. Enough, that when breakfast was over he withdrew like the rest + into the public room, lighted his tomahawk-pipe, and was sitting there + quietly digesting and smoking with his inseparable hat on, when I sallied + out for a stroll. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 6. The Street. +

+

+ If I had been astonished at first catching a glimpse of so outlandish an + individual as Queequeg circulating among the polite society of a civilized + town, that astonishment soon departed upon taking my first daylight stroll + through the streets of New Bedford. +

+

+ In thoroughfares nigh the docks, any considerable seaport will frequently + offer to view the queerest looking nondescripts from foreign parts. Even + in Broadway and Chestnut streets, Mediterranean mariners will sometimes + jostle the affrighted ladies. Regent Street is not unknown to Lascars and + Malays; and at Bombay, in the Apollo Green, live Yankees have often scared + the natives. But New Bedford beats all Water Street and Wapping. In these + last-mentioned haunts you see only sailors; but in New Bedford, actual + cannibals stand chatting at street corners; savages outright; many of whom + yet carry on their bones unholy flesh. It makes a stranger stare. +

+

+ But, besides the Feegeeans, Tongatobooarrs, Erromanggoans, Pannangians, + and Brighggians, and, besides the wild specimens of the whaling-craft + which unheeded reel about the streets, you will see other sights still + more curious, certainly more comical. There weekly arrive in this town + scores of green Vermonters and New Hampshire men, all athirst for gain and + glory in the fishery. They are mostly young, of stalwart frames; fellows + who have felled forests, and now seek to drop the axe and snatch the + whale-lance. Many are as green as the Green Mountains whence they came. In + some things you would think them but a few hours old. Look there! that + chap strutting round the corner. He wears a beaver hat and swallow-tailed + coat, girdled with a sailor-belt and sheath-knife. Here comes another with + a sou’-wester and a bombazine cloak. +

+

+ No town-bred dandy will compare with a country-bred one—I mean a + downright bumpkin dandy—a fellow that, in the dog-days, will mow his + two acres in buckskin gloves for fear of tanning his hands. Now when a + country dandy like this takes it into his head to make a distinguished + reputation, and joins the great whale-fishery, you should see the comical + things he does upon reaching the seaport. In bespeaking his sea-outfit, he + orders bell-buttons to his waistcoats; straps to his canvas trowsers. Ah, + poor Hay-Seed! how bitterly will burst those straps in the first howling + gale, when thou art driven, straps, buttons, and all, down the throat of + the tempest. +

+

+ But think not that this famous town has only harpooneers, cannibals, and + bumpkins to show her visitors. Not at all. Still New Bedford is a queer + place. Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day + perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador. As it + is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so + bony. The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New + England. It is a land of oil, true enough: but not like Canaan; a land, + also, of corn and wine. The streets do not run with milk; nor in the + spring-time do they pave them with fresh eggs. Yet, in spite of this, + nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and + gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford. Whence came they? how planted + upon this once scraggy scoria of a country? +

+

+ Go and gaze upon the iron emblematical harpoons round yonder lofty + mansion, and your question will be answered. Yes; all these brave houses + and flowery gardens came from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. + One and all, they were harpooned and dragged up hither from the bottom of + the sea. Can Herr Alexander perform a feat like that? +

+

+ In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their + daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece. You + must go to New Bedford to see a brilliant wedding; for, they say, they + have reservoirs of oil in every house, and every night recklessly burn + their lengths in spermaceti candles. +

+

+ In summer time, the town is sweet to see; full of fine maples—long + avenues of green and gold. And in August, high in air, the beautiful and + bountiful horse-chestnuts, candelabra-wise, proffer the passer-by their + tapering upright cones of congregated blossoms. So omnipotent is art; + which in many a district of New Bedford has superinduced bright terraces + of flowers upon the barren refuse rocks thrown aside at creation’s final + day. +

+

+ And the women of New Bedford, they bloom like their own red roses. But + roses only bloom in summer; whereas the fine carnation of their cheeks is + perennial as sunlight in the seventh heavens. Elsewhere match that bloom + of theirs, ye cannot, save in Salem, where they tell me the young girls + breathe such musk, their sailor sweethearts smell them miles off shore, as + though they were drawing nigh the odorous Moluccas instead of the + Puritanic sands. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 7. The Chapel. +

+

+ In this same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman’s Chapel, and few are the + moody fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail + to make a Sunday visit to the spot. I am sure that I did not. +

+

+ Returning from my first morning stroll, I again sallied out upon this + special errand. The sky had changed from clear, sunny cold, to driving + sleet and mist. Wrapping myself in my shaggy jacket of the cloth called + bearskin, I fought my way against the stubborn storm. Entering, I found a + small scattered congregation of sailors, and sailors’ wives and widows. A + muffled silence reigned, only broken at times by the shrieks of the storm. + Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as + if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable. The chaplain had not + yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat + steadfastly eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned + into the wall on either side the pulpit. Three of them ran something like + the following, but I do not pretend to quote:— +

+

+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN TALBOT, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost + overboard, Near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia, November 1st, 1836. + THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS SISTER. +

+

+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT LONG, WILLIS ELLERY, NATHAN COLEMAN, WALTER + CANNY, SETH MACY, AND SAMUEL GLEIG, Forming one of the boats’ crews OF THE + SHIP ELIZA Who were towed out of sight by a Whale, On the Off-shore Ground + in the PACIFIC, December 31st, 1839. THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their + surviving SHIPMATES. +

+

+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF The late CAPTAIN EZEKIEL HARDY, Who in the bows of + his boat was killed by a Sperm Whale on the coast of Japan, August 3d, + 1833. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS WIDOW. +

+

+ Shaking off the sleet from my ice-glazed hat and jacket, I seated myself + near the door, and turning sideways was surprised to see Queequeg near me. + Affected by the solemnity of the scene, there was a wondering gaze of + incredulous curiosity in his countenance. This savage was the only person + present who seemed to notice my entrance; because he was the only one who + could not read, and, therefore, was not reading those frigid inscriptions + on the wall. Whether any of the relatives of the seamen whose names + appeared there were now among the congregation, I knew not; but so many + are the unrecorded accidents in the fishery, and so plainly did several + women present wear the countenance if not the trappings of some unceasing + grief, that I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose + unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak tablets sympathetically caused + the old wounds to bleed afresh. +

+

+ Oh! ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among + flowers can say—here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the + desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those + black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes! What despair in those + immovable inscriptions! What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the + lines that seem to gnaw upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the + beings who have placelessly perished without a grave. As well might those + tablets stand in the cave of Elephanta as here. +

+

+ In what census of living creatures, the dead of mankind are included; why + it is that a universal proverb says of them, that they tell no tales, + though containing more secrets than the Goodwin Sands; how it is that to + his name who yesterday departed for the other world, we prefix so + significant and infidel a word, and yet do not thus entitle him, if he but + embarks for the remotest Indies of this living earth; why the Life + Insurance Companies pay death-forfeitures upon immortals; in what eternal, + unstirring paralysis, and deadly, hopeless trance, yet lies antique Adam + who died sixty round centuries ago; how it is that we still refuse to be + comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in + unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead; + wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city. + All these things are not without their meanings. +

+

+ But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead + doubts she gathers her most vital hope. +

+

+ It needs scarcely to be told, with what feelings, on the eve of a + Nantucket voyage, I regarded those marble tablets, and by the murky light + of that darkened, doleful day read the fate of the whalemen who had gone + before me. Yes, Ishmael, the same fate may be thine. But somehow I grew + merry again. Delightful inducements to embark, fine chance for promotion, + it seems—aye, a stove boat will make me an immortal by brevet. Yes, + there is death in this business of whaling—a speechlessly quick + chaotic bundling of a man into Eternity. But what then? Methinks we have + hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they + call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in + looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the + sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. + Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body + who will, take it I say, it is not me. And therefore three cheers for + Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave + my soul, Jove himself cannot. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 8. The Pulpit. +

+

+ I had not been seated very long ere a man of a certain venerable + robustness entered; immediately as the storm-pelted door flew back upon + admitting him, a quick regardful eyeing of him by all the congregation, + sufficiently attested that this fine old man was the chaplain. Yes, it was + the famous Father Mapple, so called by the whalemen, among whom he was a + very great favourite. He had been a sailor and a harpooneer in his youth, + but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry. At the + time I now write of, Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy + old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering + youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain + mild gleams of a newly developing bloom—the spring verdure peeping + forth even beneath February’s snow. No one having previously heard his + history, could for the first time behold Father Mapple without the utmost + interest, because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities + about him, imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led. When he + entered I observed that he carried no umbrella, and certainly had not come + in his carriage, for his tarpaulin hat ran down with melting sleet, and + his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with + the weight of the water it had absorbed. However, hat and coat and + overshoes were one by one removed, and hung up in a little space in an + adjacent corner; when, arrayed in a decent suit, he quietly approached the + pulpit. +

+

+ Like most old fashioned pulpits, it was a very lofty one, and since a + regular stairs to such a height would, by its long angle with the floor, + seriously contract the already small area of the chapel, the architect, it + seemed, had acted upon the hint of Father Mapple, and finished the pulpit + without a stairs, substituting a perpendicular side ladder, like those + used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea. The wife of a whaling captain + had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red worsted man-ropes for + this ladder, which, being itself nicely headed, and stained with a + mahogany colour, the whole contrivance, considering what manner of chapel + it was, seemed by no means in bad taste. Halting for an instant at the + foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of + the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly + sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the + steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel. +

+

+ The perpendicular parts of this side ladder, as is usually the case with + swinging ones, were of cloth-covered rope, only the rounds were of wood, + so that at every step there was a joint. At my first glimpse of the + pulpit, it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship, these + joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary. For I was not prepared + to see Father Mapple after gaining the height, slowly turn round, and + stooping over the pulpit, deliberately drag up the ladder step by step, + till the whole was deposited within, leaving him impregnable in his little + Quebec. +

+

+ I pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this. + Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity, + that I could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks of + the stage. No, thought I, there must be some sober reason for this thing; + furthermore, it must symbolize something unseen. Can it be, then, that by + that act of physical isolation, he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for + the time, from all outward worldly ties and connexions? Yes, for + replenished with the meat and wine of the word, to the faithful man of + God, this pulpit, I see, is a self-containing stronghold—a lofty + Ehrenbreitstein, with a perennial well of water within the walls. +

+

+ But the side ladder was not the only strange feature of the place, + borrowed from the chaplain’s former sea-farings. Between the marble + cenotaphs on either hand of the pulpit, the wall which formed its back was + adorned with a large painting representing a gallant ship beating against + a terrible storm off a lee coast of black rocks and snowy breakers. But + high above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated a little + isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel’s face; and this bright + face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship’s tossed deck, + something like that silver plate now inserted into the Victory’s plank + where Nelson fell. “Ah, noble ship,” the angel seemed to say, “beat on, + beat on, thou noble ship, and bear a hardy helm; for lo! the sun is + breaking through; the clouds are rolling off—serenest azure is at + hand.” +

+

+ Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that had + achieved the ladder and the picture. Its panelled front was in the + likeness of a ship’s bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting + piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship’s fiddle-headed beak. +

+

+ What could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this + earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads + the world. From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first + descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the + God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds. Yes, + the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the + pulpit is its prow. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 9. The Sermon. +

+

+ Father Mapple rose, and in a mild voice of unassuming authority ordered + the scattered people to condense. “Starboard gangway, there! side away to + larboard—larboard gangway to starboard! Midships! midships!” +

+

+ There was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a still + slighter shuffling of women’s shoes, and all was quiet again, and every + eye on the preacher. +

+

+ He paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit’s bows, folded his large + brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and offered a + prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom + of the sea. +

+

+ This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a + bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog—in such tones he + commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the + concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy— +

+
+     “The ribs and terrors in the whale,
+     Arched over me a dismal gloom,
+     While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,
+     And lift me deepening down to doom.
+
+     “I saw the opening maw of hell,
+     With endless pains and sorrows there;
+     Which none but they that feel can tell—
+     Oh, I was plunging to despair.
+
+     “In black distress, I called my God,
+     When I could scarce believe him mine,
+     He bowed his ear to my complaints—
+     No more the whale did me confine.
+
+     “With speed he flew to my relief,
+     As on a radiant dolphin borne;
+     Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone
+     The face of my Deliverer God.
+
+     “My song for ever shall record
+     That terrible, that joyful hour;
+     I give the glory to my God,
+     His all the mercy and the power.”
+
+

+ Nearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the + howling of the storm. A brief pause ensued; the preacher slowly turned + over the leaves of the Bible, and at last, folding his hand down upon the + proper page, said: “Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first + chapter of Jonah—‘And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up + Jonah.’” +

+

+ “Shipmates, this book, containing only four chapters—four yarns—is + one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures. Yet + what depths of the soul does Jonah’s deep sealine sound! what a pregnant + lesson to us is this prophet! What a noble thing is that canticle in the + fish’s belly! How billow-like and boisterously grand! We feel the floods + surging over us; we sound with him to the kelpy bottom of the waters; + sea-weed and all the slime of the sea is about us! But what is this lesson + that the book of Jonah teaches? Shipmates, it is a two-stranded lesson; a + lesson to us all as sinful men, and a lesson to me as a pilot of the + living God. As sinful men, it is a lesson to us all, because it is a story + of the sin, hard-heartedness, suddenly awakened fears, the swift + punishment, repentance, prayers, and finally the deliverance and joy of + Jonah. As with all sinners among men, the sin of this son of Amittai was + in his wilful disobedience of the command of God—never mind now what + that command was, or how conveyed—which he found a hard command. But + all the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do—remember + that—and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. + And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this + disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists. +

+

+ “With this sin of disobedience in him, Jonah still further flouts at God, + by seeking to flee from Him. He thinks that a ship made by men will carry + him into countries where God does not reign, but only the Captains of this + earth. He skulks about the wharves of Joppa, and seeks a ship that’s bound + for Tarshish. There lurks, perhaps, a hitherto unheeded meaning here. By + all accounts Tarshish could have been no other city than the modern Cadiz. + That’s the opinion of learned men. And where is Cadiz, shipmates? Cadiz is + in Spain; as far by water, from Joppa, as Jonah could possibly have sailed + in those ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almost unknown sea. + Because Joppa, the modern Jaffa, shipmates, is on the most easterly coast + of the Mediterranean, the Syrian; and Tarshish or Cadiz more than two + thousand miles to the westward from that, just outside the Straits of + Gibraltar. See ye not then, shipmates, that Jonah sought to flee + world-wide from God? Miserable man! Oh! most contemptible and worthy of + all scorn; with slouched hat and guilty eye, skulking from his God; + prowling among the shipping like a vile burglar hastening to cross the + seas. So disordered, self-condemning is his look, that had there been + policemen in those days, Jonah, on the mere suspicion of something wrong, + had been arrested ere he touched a deck. How plainly he’s a fugitive! no + baggage, not a hat-box, valise, or carpet-bag,—no friends accompany + him to the wharf with their adieux. At last, after much dodging search, he + finds the Tarshish ship receiving the last items of her cargo; and as he + steps on board to see its Captain in the cabin, all the sailors for the + moment desist from hoisting in the goods, to mark the stranger’s evil eye. + Jonah sees this; but in vain he tries to look all ease and confidence; in + vain essays his wretched smile. Strong intuitions of the man assure the + mariners he can be no innocent. In their gamesome but still serious way, + one whispers to the other—“Jack, he’s robbed a widow;” or, “Joe, do + you mark him; he’s a bigamist;” or, “Harry lad, I guess he’s the adulterer + that broke jail in old Gomorrah, or belike, one of the missing murderers + from Sodom.” Another runs to read the bill that’s stuck against the spile + upon the wharf to which the ship is moored, offering five hundred gold + coins for the apprehension of a parricide, and containing a description of + his person. He reads, and looks from Jonah to the bill; while all his + sympathetic shipmates now crowd round Jonah, prepared to lay their hands + upon him. Frighted Jonah trembles, and summoning all his boldness to his + face, only looks so much the more a coward. He will not confess himself + suspected; but that itself is strong suspicion. So he makes the best of + it; and when the sailors find him not to be the man that is advertised, + they let him pass, and he descends into the cabin. +

+

+ “‘Who’s there?’ cries the Captain at his busy desk, hurriedly making out + his papers for the Customs—‘Who’s there?’ Oh! how that harmless + question mangles Jonah! For the instant he almost turns to flee again. But + he rallies. ‘I seek a passage in this ship to Tarshish; how soon sail ye, + sir?’ Thus far the busy Captain had not looked up to Jonah, though the man + now stands before him; but no sooner does he hear that hollow voice, than + he darts a scrutinizing glance. ‘We sail with the next coming tide,’ at + last he slowly answered, still intently eyeing him. ‘No sooner, sir?’—‘Soon + enough for any honest man that goes a passenger.’ Ha! Jonah, that’s + another stab. But he swiftly calls away the Captain from that scent. ‘I’ll + sail with ye,’—he says,—‘the passage money how much is that?—I’ll + pay now.’ For it is particularly written, shipmates, as if it were a thing + not to be overlooked in this history, ‘that he paid the fare thereof’ ere + the craft did sail. And taken with the context, this is full of meaning. +

+

+ “Now Jonah’s Captain, shipmates, was one whose discernment detects crime + in any, but whose cupidity exposes it only in the penniless. In this + world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a + passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers. So + Jonah’s Captain prepares to test the length of Jonah’s purse, ere he judge + him openly. He charges him thrice the usual sum; and it’s assented to. + Then the Captain knows that Jonah is a fugitive; but at the same time + resolves to help a flight that paves its rear with gold. Yet when Jonah + fairly takes out his purse, prudent suspicions still molest the Captain. + He rings every coin to find a counterfeit. Not a forger, any way, he + mutters; and Jonah is put down for his passage. ‘Point out my state-room, + Sir,’ says Jonah now, ‘I’m travel-weary; I need sleep.’ ‘Thou lookest like + it,’ says the Captain, ‘there’s thy room.’ Jonah enters, and would lock + the door, but the lock contains no key. Hearing him foolishly fumbling + there, the Captain laughs lowly to himself, and mutters something about + the doors of convicts’ cells being never allowed to be locked within. All + dressed and dusty as he is, Jonah throws himself into his berth, and finds + the little state-room ceiling almost resting on his forehead. The air is + close, and Jonah gasps. Then, in that contracted hole, sunk, too, beneath + the ship’s water-line, Jonah feels the heralding presentiment of that + stifling hour, when the whale shall hold him in the smallest of his + bowels’ wards. +

+

+ “Screwed at its axis against the side, a swinging lamp slightly oscillates + in Jonah’s room; and the ship, heeling over towards the wharf with the + weight of the last bales received, the lamp, flame and all, though in + slight motion, still maintains a permanent obliquity with reference to the + room; though, in truth, infallibly straight itself, it but made obvious + the false, lying levels among which it hung. The lamp alarms and frightens + Jonah; as lying in his berth his tormented eyes roll round the place, and + this thus far successful fugitive finds no refuge for his restless glance. + But that contradiction in the lamp more and more appals him. The floor, + the ceiling, and the side, are all awry. ‘Oh! so my conscience hangs in + me!’ he groans, ‘straight upwards, so it burns; but the chambers of my + soul are all in crookedness!’ +

+

+ “Like one who after a night of drunken revelry hies to his bed, still + reeling, but with conscience yet pricking him, as the plungings of the + Roman race-horse but so much the more strike his steel tags into him; as + one who in that miserable plight still turns and turns in giddy anguish, + praying God for annihilation until the fit be passed; and at last amid the + whirl of woe he feels, a deep stupor steals over him, as over the man who + bleeds to death, for conscience is the wound, and there’s naught to + staunch it; so, after sore wrestlings in his berth, Jonah’s prodigy of + ponderous misery drags him drowning down to sleep. +

+

+ “And now the time of tide has come; the ship casts off her cables; and + from the deserted wharf the uncheered ship for Tarshish, all careening, + glides to sea. That ship, my friends, was the first of recorded smugglers! + the contraband was Jonah. But the sea rebels; he will not bear the wicked + burden. A dreadful storm comes on, the ship is like to break. But now when + the boatswain calls all hands to lighten her; when boxes, bales, and jars + are clattering overboard; when the wind is shrieking, and the men are + yelling, and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah’s + head; in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep. He sees + no black sky and raging sea, feels not the reeling timbers, and little + hears he or heeds he the far rush of the mighty whale, which even now with + open mouth is cleaving the seas after him. Aye, shipmates, Jonah was gone + down into the sides of the ship—a berth in the cabin as I have taken + it, and was fast asleep. But the frightened master comes to him, and + shrieks in his dead ear, ‘What meanest thou, O, sleeper! arise!’ Startled + from his lethargy by that direful cry, Jonah staggers to his feet, and + stumbling to the deck, grasps a shroud, to look out upon the sea. But at + that moment he is sprung upon by a panther billow leaping over the + bulwarks. Wave after wave thus leaps into the ship, and finding no speedy + vent runs roaring fore and aft, till the mariners come nigh to drowning + while yet afloat. And ever, as the white moon shows her affrighted face + from the steep gullies in the blackness overhead, aghast Jonah sees the + rearing bowsprit pointing high upward, but soon beat downward again + towards the tormented deep. +

+

+ “Terrors upon terrors run shouting through his soul. In all his cringing + attitudes, the God-fugitive is now too plainly known. The sailors mark + him; more and more certain grow their suspicions of him, and at last, + fully to test the truth, by referring the whole matter to high Heaven, + they fall to casting lots, to see for whose cause this great tempest was + upon them. The lot is Jonah’s; that discovered, then how furiously they + mob him with their questions. ‘What is thine occupation? Whence comest + thou? Thy country? What people? But mark now, my shipmates, the behavior + of poor Jonah. The eager mariners but ask him who he is, and where from; + whereas, they not only receive an answer to those questions, but likewise + another answer to a question not put by them, but the unsolicited answer + is forced from Jonah by the hard hand of God that is upon him. +

+

+ “‘I am a Hebrew,’ he cries—and then—‘I fear the Lord the God + of Heaven who hath made the sea and the dry land!’ Fear him, O Jonah? Aye, + well mightest thou fear the Lord God then! Straightway, he now goes on to + make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more + appalled, but still are pitiful. For when Jonah, not yet supplicating God + for mercy, since he but too well knew the darkness of his deserts,—when + wretched Jonah cries out to them to take him and cast him forth into the + sea, for he knew that for his sake this great tempest was upon them; they + mercifully turn from him, and seek by other means to save the ship. But + all in vain; the indignant gale howls louder; then, with one hand raised + invokingly to God, with the other they not unreluctantly lay hold of + Jonah. +

+

+ “And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea; when + instantly an oily calmness floats out from the east, and the sea is still, + as Jonah carries down the gale with him, leaving smooth water behind. He + goes down in the whirling heart of such a masterless commotion that he + scarce heeds the moment when he drops seething into the yawning jaws + awaiting him; and the whale shoots-to all his ivory teeth, like so many + white bolts, upon his prison. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the + fish’s belly. But observe his prayer, and learn a weighty lesson. For + sinful as he is, Jonah does not weep and wail for direct deliverance. He + feels that his dreadful punishment is just. He leaves all his deliverance + to God, contenting himself with this, that spite of all his pains and + pangs, he will still look towards His holy temple. And here, shipmates, is + true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for + punishment. And how pleasing to God was this conduct in Jonah, is shown in + the eventual deliverance of him from the sea and the whale. Shipmates, I + do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him + before you as a model for repentance. Sin not; but if you do, take heed to + repent of it like Jonah.” +

+

+ While he was speaking these words, the howling of the shrieking, slanting + storm without seemed to add new power to the preacher, who, when + describing Jonah’s sea-storm, seemed tossed by a storm himself. His deep + chest heaved as with a ground-swell; his tossed arms seemed the warring + elements at work; and the thunders that rolled away from off his swarthy + brow, and the light leaping from his eye, made all his simple hearers look + on him with a quick fear that was strange to them. +

+

+ There now came a lull in his look, as he silently turned over the leaves + of the Book once more; and, at last, standing motionless, with closed + eyes, for the moment, seemed communing with God and himself. +

+

+ But again he leaned over towards the people, and bowing his head lowly, + with an aspect of the deepest yet manliest humility, he spake these words: +

+

+ “Shipmates, God has laid but one hand upon you; both his hands press upon + me. I have read ye by what murky light may be mine the lesson that Jonah + teaches to all sinners; and therefore to ye, and still more to me, for I + am a greater sinner than ye. And now how gladly would I come down from + this mast-head and sit on the hatches there where you sit, and listen as + you listen, while some one of you reads me that other and more awful + lesson which Jonah teaches to me, as a pilot of the living God. How being + an anointed pilot-prophet, or speaker of true things, and bidden by the + Lord to sound those unwelcome truths in the ears of a wicked Nineveh, + Jonah, appalled at the hostility he should raise, fled from his mission, + and sought to escape his duty and his God by taking ship at Joppa. But God + is everywhere; Tarshish he never reached. As we have seen, God came upon + him in the whale, and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, and with + swift slantings tore him along ‘into the midst of the seas,’ where the + eddying depths sucked him ten thousand fathoms down, and ‘the weeds were + wrapped about his head,’ and all the watery world of woe bowled over him. + Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet—‘out of the belly of + hell’—when the whale grounded upon the ocean’s utmost bones, even + then, God heard the engulphed, repenting prophet when he cried. Then God + spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the + sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and + all the delights of air and earth; and ‘vomited out Jonah upon the dry + land;’ when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised + and beaten—his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously + murmuring of the ocean—Jonah did the Almighty’s bidding. And what + was that, shipmates? To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood! That + was it! +

+

+ “This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the + living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel + duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed + them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal! Woe + to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in + this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even + though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot + Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway!” +

+

+ He dropped and fell away from himself for a moment; then lifting his face + to them again, showed a deep joy in his eyes, as he cried out with a + heavenly enthusiasm,—“But oh! shipmates! on the starboard hand of + every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, + than the bottom of the woe is deep. Is not the main-truck higher than the + kelson is low? Delight is to him—a far, far upward, and inward + delight—who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, + ever stands forth his own inexorable self. Delight is to him whose strong + arms yet support him, when the ship of this base treacherous world has + gone down beneath him. Delight is to him, who gives no quarter in the + truth, and kills, burns, and destroys all sin though he pluck it out from + under the robes of Senators and Judges. Delight,—top-gallant delight + is to him, who acknowledges no law or lord, but the Lord his God, and is + only a patriot to heaven. Delight is to him, whom all the waves of the + billows of the seas of the boisterous mob can never shake from this sure + Keel of the Ages. And eternal delight and deliciousness will be his, who + coming to lay him down, can say with his final breath—O Father!—chiefly + known to me by Thy rod—mortal or immortal, here I die. I have + striven to be Thine, more than to be this world’s, or mine own. Yet this + is nothing: I leave eternity to Thee; for what is man that he should live + out the lifetime of his God?” +

+

+ He said no more, but slowly waving a benediction, covered his face with + his hands, and so remained kneeling, till all the people had departed, and + he was left alone in the place. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 10. A Bosom Friend. +

+

+ Returning to the Spouter-Inn from the Chapel, I found Queequeg there quite + alone; he having left the Chapel before the benediction some time. He was + sitting on a bench before the fire, with his feet on the stove hearth, and + in one hand was holding close up to his face that little negro idol of + his; peering hard into its face, and with a jack-knife gently whittling + away at its nose, meanwhile humming to himself in his heathenish way. +

+

+ But being now interrupted, he put up the image; and pretty soon, going to + the table, took up a large book there, and placing it on his lap began + counting the pages with deliberate regularity; at every fiftieth page—as + I fancied—stopping a moment, looking vacantly around him, and giving + utterance to a long-drawn gurgling whistle of astonishment. He would then + begin again at the next fifty; seeming to commence at number one each + time, as though he could not count more than fifty, and it was only by + such a large number of fifties being found together, that his astonishment + at the multitude of pages was excited. +

+

+ With much interest I sat watching him. Savage though he was, and hideously + marred about the face—at least to my taste—his countenance yet + had a something in it which was by no means disagreeable. You cannot hide + the soul. Through all his unearthly tattooings, I thought I saw the traces + of a simple honest heart; and in his large, deep eyes, fiery black and + bold, there seemed tokens of a spirit that would dare a thousand devils. + And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, + which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim. He looked like a man + who had never cringed and never had had a creditor. Whether it was, too, + that his head being shaved, his forehead was drawn out in freer and + brighter relief, and looked more expansive than it otherwise would, this I + will not venture to decide; but certain it was his head was + phrenologically an excellent one. It may seem ridiculous, but it reminded + me of General Washington’s head, as seen in the popular busts of him. It + had the same long regularly graded retreating slope from above the brows, + which were likewise very projecting, like two long promontories thickly + wooded on top. Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed. +

+

+ Whilst I was thus closely scanning him, half-pretending meanwhile to be + looking out at the storm from the casement, he never heeded my presence, + never troubled himself with so much as a single glance; but appeared + wholly occupied with counting the pages of the marvellous book. + Considering how sociably we had been sleeping together the night previous, + and especially considering the affectionate arm I had found thrown over me + upon waking in the morning, I thought this indifference of his very + strange. But savages are strange beings; at times you do not know exactly + how to take them. At first they are overawing; their calm + self-collectedness of simplicity seems a Socratic wisdom. I had noticed + also that Queequeg never consorted at all, or but very little, with the + other seamen in the inn. He made no advances whatever; appeared to have no + desire to enlarge the circle of his acquaintances. All this struck me as + mighty singular; yet, upon second thoughts, there was something almost + sublime in it. Here was a man some twenty thousand miles from home, by the + way of Cape Horn, that is—which was the only way he could get there—thrown + among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; + and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; + content with his own companionship; always equal to himself. Surely this + was a touch of fine philosophy; though no doubt he had never heard there + was such a thing as that. But, perhaps, to be true philosophers, we + mortals should not be conscious of so living or so striving. So soon as I + hear that such or such a man gives himself out for a philosopher, I + conclude that, like the dyspeptic old woman, he must have “broken his + digester.” +

+

+ As I sat there in that now lonely room; the fire burning low, in that mild + stage when, after its first intensity has warmed the air, it then only + glows to be looked at; the evening shades and phantoms gathering round the + casements, and peering in upon us silent, solitary twain; the storm + booming without in solemn swells; I began to be sensible of strange + feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened + hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had + redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in + which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits. Wild he + was; a very sight of sights to see; yet I began to feel myself + mysteriously drawn towards him. And those same things that would have + repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me. I’ll + try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but + hollow courtesy. I drew my bench near him, and made some friendly signs + and hints, doing my best to talk with him meanwhile. At first he little + noticed these advances; but presently, upon my referring to his last + night’s hospitalities, he made out to ask me whether we were again to be + bedfellows. I told him yes; whereat I thought he looked pleased, perhaps a + little complimented. +

+

+ We then turned over the book together, and I endeavored to explain to him + the purpose of the printing, and the meaning of the few pictures that were + in it. Thus I soon engaged his interest; and from that we went to + jabbering the best we could about the various outer sights to be seen in + this famous town. Soon I proposed a social smoke; and, producing his pouch + and tomahawk, he quietly offered me a puff. And then we sat exchanging + puffs from that wild pipe of his, and keeping it regularly passing between + us. +

+

+ If there yet lurked any ice of indifference towards me in the Pagan’s + breast, this pleasant, genial smoke we had, soon thawed it out, and left + us cronies. He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I + to him; and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, + clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; + meaning, in his country’s phrase, that we were bosom friends; he would + gladly die for me, if need should be. In a countryman, this sudden flame + of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much + distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply. +

+

+ After supper, and another social chat and smoke, we went to our room + together. He made me a present of his embalmed head; took out his enormous + tobacco wallet, and groping under the tobacco, drew out some thirty + dollars in silver; then spreading them on the table, and mechanically + dividing them into two equal portions, pushed one of them towards me, and + said it was mine. I was going to remonstrate; but he silenced me by + pouring them into my trowsers’ pockets. I let them stay. He then went + about his evening prayers, took out his idol, and removed the paper + fireboard. By certain signs and symptoms, I thought he seemed anxious for + me to join him; but well knowing what was to follow, I deliberated a + moment whether, in case he invited me, I would comply or otherwise. +

+

+ I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible + Presbyterian Church. How then could I unite with this wild idolator in + worshipping his piece of wood? But what is worship? thought I. Do you + suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth—pagans + and all included—can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of + black wood? Impossible! But what is worship?—to do the will of God—that + is worship. And what is the will of God?—to do to my fellow man what + I would have my fellow man to do to me—that is the will of God. Now, + Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do + to me? Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship. + Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn + idolator. So I kindled the shavings; helped prop up the innocent little + idol; offered him burnt biscuit with Queequeg; salamed before him twice or + thrice; kissed his nose; and that done, we undressed and went to bed, at + peace with our own consciences and all the world. But we did not go to + sleep without some little chat. +

+

+ How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential + disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very + bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and + chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts’ + honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg—a cosy, loving pair. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 11. Nightgown. +

+

+ We had lain thus in bed, chatting and napping at short intervals, and + Queequeg now and then affectionately throwing his brown tattooed legs over + mine, and then drawing them back; so entirely sociable and free and easy + were we; when, at last, by reason of our confabulations, what little + nappishness remained in us altogether departed, and we felt like getting + up again, though day-break was yet some way down the future. +

+

+ Yes, we became very wakeful; so much so that our recumbent position began + to grow wearisome, and by little and little we found ourselves sitting up; + the clothes well tucked around us, leaning against the head-board with our + four knees drawn up close together, and our two noses bending over them, + as if our kneepans were warming-pans. We felt very nice and snug, the more + so since it was so chilly out of doors; indeed out of bed-clothes too, + seeing that there was no fire in the room. The more so, I say, because + truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for + there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by + contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are + all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be + said to be comfortable any more. But if, like Queequeg and me in the bed, + the tip of your nose or the crown of your head be slightly chilled, why + then, indeed, in the general consciousness you feel most delightfully and + unmistakably warm. For this reason a sleeping apartment should never be + furnished with a fire, which is one of the luxurious discomforts of the + rich. For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but + the blanket between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air. + Then there you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic + crystal. +

+

+ We had been sitting in this crouching manner for some time, when all at + once I thought I would open my eyes; for when between sheets, whether by + day or by night, and whether asleep or awake, I have a way of always + keeping my eyes shut, in order the more to concentrate the snugness of + being in bed. Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except + his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our + essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part. Upon opening + my eyes then, and coming out of my own pleasant and self-created darkness + into the imposed and coarse outer gloom of the unilluminated + twelve-o’clock-at-night, I experienced a disagreeable revulsion. Nor did I + at all object to the hint from Queequeg that perhaps it were best to + strike a light, seeing that we were so wide awake; and besides he felt a + strong desire to have a few quiet puffs from his Tomahawk. Be it said, + that though I had felt such a strong repugnance to his smoking in the bed + the night before, yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love + once comes to bend them. For now I liked nothing better than to have + Queequeg smoking by me, even in bed, because he seemed to be full of such + serene household joy then. I no more felt unduly concerned for the + landlord’s policy of insurance. I was only alive to the condensed + confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real + friend. With our shaggy jackets drawn about our shoulders, we now passed + the Tomahawk from one to the other, till slowly there grew over us a blue + hanging tester of smoke, illuminated by the flame of the new-lit lamp. +

+

+ Whether it was that this undulating tester rolled the savage away to far + distant scenes, I know not, but he now spoke of his native island; and, + eager to hear his history, I begged him to go on and tell it. He gladly + complied. Though at the time I but ill comprehended not a few of his + words, yet subsequent disclosures, when I had become more familiar with + his broken phraseology, now enable me to present the whole story such as + it may prove in the mere skeleton I give. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 12. Biographical. +

+

+ Queequeg was a native of Rokovoko, an island far away to the West and + South. It is not down in any map; true places never are. +

+

+ When a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a + grass clout, followed by the nibbling goats, as if he were a green + sapling; even then, in Queequeg’s ambitious soul, lurked a strong desire + to see something more of Christendom than a specimen whaler or two. His + father was a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the + maternal side he boasted aunts who were the wives of unconquerable + warriors. There was excellent blood in his veins—royal stuff; though + sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his + untutored youth. +

+

+ A Sag Harbor ship visited his father’s bay, and Queequeg sought a passage + to Christian lands. But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, + spurned his suit; and not all the King his father’s influence could + prevail. But Queequeg vowed a vow. Alone in his canoe, he paddled off to a + distant strait, which he knew the ship must pass through when she quitted + the island. On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of + land, covered with mangrove thickets that grew out into the water. Hiding + his canoe, still afloat, among these thickets, with its prow seaward, he + sat down in the stern, paddle low in hand; and when the ship was gliding + by, like a flash he darted out; gained her side; with one backward dash of + his foot capsized and sank his canoe; climbed up the chains; and throwing + himself at full length upon the deck, grappled a ring-bolt there, and + swore not to let it go, though hacked in pieces. +

+

+ In vain the captain threatened to throw him overboard; suspended a cutlass + over his naked wrists; Queequeg was the son of a King, and Queequeg budged + not. Struck by his desperate dauntlessness, and his wild desire to visit + Christendom, the captain at last relented, and told him he might make + himself at home. But this fine young savage—this sea Prince of + Wales, never saw the Captain’s cabin. They put him down among the sailors, + and made a whaleman of him. But like Czar Peter content to toil in the + shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if + thereby he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored + countrymen. For at bottom—so he told me—he was actuated by a + profound desire to learn among the Christians, the arts whereby to make + his people still happier than they were; and more than that, still better + than they were. But, alas! the practices of whalemen soon convinced him + that even Christians could be both miserable and wicked; infinitely more + so, than all his father’s heathens. Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor; and + seeing what the sailors did there; and then going on to Nantucket, and + seeing how they spent their wages in that place also, poor Queequeg gave + it up for lost. Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die + a pagan. +

+

+ And thus an old idolator at heart, he yet lived among these Christians, + wore their clothes, and tried to talk their gibberish. Hence the queer + ways about him, though now some time from home. +

+

+ By hints, I asked him whether he did not propose going back, and having a + coronation; since he might now consider his father dead and gone, he being + very old and feeble at the last accounts. He answered no, not yet; and + added that he was fearful Christianity, or rather Christians, had unfitted + him for ascending the pure and undefiled throne of thirty pagan Kings + before him. But by and by, he said, he would return,—as soon as he + felt himself baptized again. For the nonce, however, he proposed to sail + about, and sow his wild oats in all four oceans. They had made a + harpooneer of him, and that barbed iron was in lieu of a sceptre now. +

+

+ I asked him what might be his immediate purpose, touching his future + movements. He answered, to go to sea again, in his old vocation. Upon + this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my + intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising port for + an adventurous whaleman to embark from. He at once resolved to accompany + me to that island, ship aboard the same vessel, get into the same watch, + the same boat, the same mess with me, in short to share my every hap; with + both my hands in his, boldly dip into the Potluck of both worlds. To all + this I joyously assented; for besides the affection I now felt for + Queequeg, he was an experienced harpooneer, and as such, could not fail to + be of great usefulness to one, who, like me, was wholly ignorant of the + mysteries of whaling, though well acquainted with the sea, as known to + merchant seamen. +

+

+ His story being ended with his pipe’s last dying puff, Queequeg embraced + me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light, we + rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were + sleeping. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow. +

+

+ Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, + for a block, I settled my own and comrade’s bill; using, however, my + comrade’s money. The grinning landlord, as well as the boarders, seemed + amazingly tickled at the sudden friendship which had sprung up between me + and Queequeg—especially as Peter Coffin’s cock and bull stories + about him had previously so much alarmed me concerning the very person + whom I now companied with. +

+

+ We borrowed a wheelbarrow, and embarking our things, including my own poor + carpet-bag, and Queequeg’s canvas sack and hammock, away we went down to + “the Moss,” the little Nantucket packet schooner moored at the wharf. As + we were going along the people stared; not at Queequeg so much—for + they were used to seeing cannibals like him in their streets,—but at + seeing him and me upon such confidential terms. But we heeded them not, + going along wheeling the barrow by turns, and Queequeg now and then + stopping to adjust the sheath on his harpoon barbs. I asked him why he + carried such a troublesome thing with him ashore, and whether all whaling + ships did not find their own harpoons. To this, in substance, he replied, + that though what I hinted was true enough, yet he had a particular + affection for his own harpoon, because it was of assured stuff, well tried + in many a mortal combat, and deeply intimate with the hearts of whales. In + short, like many inland reapers and mowers, who go into the farmers’ + meadows armed with their own scythes—though in no wise obliged to + furnish them—even so, Queequeg, for his own private reasons, + preferred his own harpoon. +

+

+ Shifting the barrow from my hand to his, he told me a funny story about + the first wheelbarrow he had ever seen. It was in Sag Harbor. The owners + of his ship, it seems, had lent him one, in which to carry his heavy chest + to his boarding house. Not to seem ignorant about the thing—though + in truth he was entirely so, concerning the precise way in which to manage + the barrow—Queequeg puts his chest upon it; lashes it fast; and then + shoulders the barrow and marches up the wharf. “Why,” said I, “Queequeg, + you might have known better than that, one would think. Didn’t the people + laugh?” +

+

+ Upon this, he told me another story. The people of his island of Rokovoko, + it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young + cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl; and this + punchbowl always forms the great central ornament on the braided mat where + the feast is held. Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at + Rokovoko, and its commander—from all accounts, a very stately + punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain—this commander was + invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg’s sister, a pretty young princess + just turned of ten. Well; when all the wedding guests were assembled at + the bride’s bamboo cottage, this Captain marches in, and being assigned + the post of honor, placed himself over against the punchbowl, and between + the High Priest and his majesty the King, Queequeg’s father. Grace being + said,—for those people have their grace as well as we—though + Queequeg told me that unlike us, who at such times look downwards to our + platters, they, on the contrary, copying the ducks, glance upwards to the + great Giver of all feasts—Grace, I say, being said, the High Priest + opens the banquet by the immemorial ceremony of the island; that is, + dipping his consecrated and consecrating fingers into the bowl before the + blessed beverage circulates. Seeing himself placed next the Priest, and + noting the ceremony, and thinking himself—being Captain of a ship—as + having plain precedence over a mere island King, especially in the King’s + own house—the Captain coolly proceeds to wash his hands in the + punchbowl;—taking it I suppose for a huge finger-glass. “Now,” said + Queequeg, “what you tink now?—Didn’t our people laugh?” +

+

+ At last, passage paid, and luggage safe, we stood on board the schooner. + Hoisting sail, it glided down the Acushnet river. On one side, New Bedford + rose in terraces of streets, their ice-covered trees all glittering in the + clear, cold air. Huge hills and mountains of casks on casks were piled + upon her wharves, and side by side the world-wandering whale ships lay + silent and safely moored at last; while from others came a sound of + carpenters and coopers, with blended noises of fires and forges to melt + the pitch, all betokening that new cruises were on the start; that one + most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second + ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the + endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort. +

+

+ Gaining the more open water, the bracing breeze waxed fresh; the little + Moss tossed the quick foam from her bows, as a young colt his snortings. + How I snuffed that Tartar air!—how I spurned that turnpike earth!—that + common highway all over dented with the marks of slavish heels and hoofs; + and turned me to admire the magnanimity of the sea which will permit no + records. +

+

+ At the same foam-fountain, Queequeg seemed to drink and reel with me. His + dusky nostrils swelled apart; he showed his filed and pointed teeth. On, + on we flew; and our offing gained, the Moss did homage to the blast; + ducked and dived her bows as a slave before the Sultan. Sideways leaning, + we sideways darted; every ropeyarn tingling like a wire; the two tall + masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes. So full of this + reeling scene were we, as we stood by the plunging bowsprit, that for some + time we did not notice the jeering glances of the passengers, a + lubber-like assembly, who marvelled that two fellow beings should be so + companionable; as though a white man were anything more dignified than a + whitewashed negro. But there were some boobies and bumpkins there, who, by + their intense greenness, must have come from the heart and centre of all + verdure. Queequeg caught one of these young saplings mimicking him behind + his back. I thought the bumpkin’s hour of doom was come. Dropping his + harpoon, the brawny savage caught him in his arms, and by an almost + miraculous dexterity and strength, sent him high up bodily into the air; + then slightly tapping his stern in mid-somerset, the fellow landed with + bursting lungs upon his feet, while Queequeg, turning his back upon him, + lighted his tomahawk pipe and passed it to me for a puff. +

+

+ “Capting! Capting!” yelled the bumpkin, running towards that officer; + “Capting, Capting, here’s the devil.” +

+

+ “Hallo, you sir,” cried the Captain, a gaunt rib of the sea, + stalking up to Queequeg, “what in thunder do you mean by that? Don’t you + know you might have killed that chap?” +

+

+ “What him say?” said Queequeg, as he mildly turned to me. +

+

+ “He say,” said I, “that you came near kill-e that man there,” pointing to + the still shivering greenhorn. +

+

+ “Kill-e,” cried Queequeg, twisting his tattooed face into an unearthly + expression of disdain, “ah! him bevy small-e fish-e; Queequeg no kill-e so + small-e fish-e; Queequeg kill-e big whale!” +

+

+ “Look you,” roared the Captain, “I’ll kill-e you, you cannibal, if you try + any more of your tricks aboard here; so mind your eye.” +

+

+ But it so happened just then, that it was high time for the Captain to + mind his own eye. The prodigious strain upon the main-sail had parted the + weather-sheet, and the tremendous boom was now flying from side to side, + completely sweeping the entire after part of the deck. The poor fellow + whom Queequeg had handled so roughly, was swept overboard; all hands were + in a panic; and to attempt snatching at the boom to stay it, seemed + madness. It flew from right to left, and back again, almost in one ticking + of a watch, and every instant seemed on the point of snapping into + splinters. Nothing was done, and nothing seemed capable of being done; + those on deck rushed towards the bows, and stood eyeing the boom as if it + were the lower jaw of an exasperated whale. In the midst of this + consternation, Queequeg dropped deftly to his knees, and crawling under + the path of the boom, whipped hold of a rope, secured one end to the + bulwarks, and then flinging the other like a lasso, caught it round the + boom as it swept over his head, and at the next jerk, the spar was that + way trapped, and all was safe. The schooner was run into the wind, and + while the hands were clearing away the stern boat, Queequeg, stripped to + the waist, darted from the side with a long living arc of a leap. For + three minutes or more he was seen swimming like a dog, throwing his long + arms straight out before him, and by turns revealing his brawny shoulders + through the freezing foam. I looked at the grand and glorious fellow, but + saw no one to be saved. The greenhorn had gone down. Shooting himself + perpendicularly from the water, Queequeg, now took an instant’s glance + around him, and seeming to see just how matters were, dived down and + disappeared. A few minutes more, and he rose again, one arm still striking + out, and with the other dragging a lifeless form. The boat soon picked + them up. The poor bumpkin was restored. All hands voted Queequeg a noble + trump; the captain begged his pardon. From that hour I clove to Queequeg + like a barnacle; yea, till poor Queequeg took his last long dive. +

+

+ Was there ever such unconsciousness? He did not seem to think that he at + all deserved a medal from the Humane and Magnanimous Societies. He only + asked for water—fresh water—something to wipe the brine off; + that done, he put on dry clothes, lighted his pipe, and leaning against + the bulwarks, and mildly eyeing those around him, seemed to be saying to + himself—“It’s a mutual, joint-stock world, in all meridians. We + cannibals must help these Christians.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 14. Nantucket. +

+

+ Nothing more happened on the passage worthy the mentioning; so, after a + fine run, we safely arrived in Nantucket. +

+

+ Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the + world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than + the Eddystone lighthouse. Look at it—a mere hillock, and elbow of + sand; all beach, without a background. There is more sand there than you + would use in twenty years as a substitute for blotting paper. Some + gamesome wights will tell you that they have to plant weeds there, they + don’t grow naturally; that they import Canada thistles; that they have to + send beyond seas for a spile to stop a leak in an oil cask; that pieces of + wood in Nantucket are carried about like bits of the true cross in Rome; + that people there plant toadstools before their houses, to get under the + shade in summer time; that one blade of grass makes an oasis, three blades + in a day’s walk a prairie; that they wear quicksand shoes, something like + Laplander snow-shoes; that they are so shut up, belted about, every way + inclosed, surrounded, and made an utter island of by the ocean, that to + their very chairs and tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering, + as to the backs of sea turtles. But these extravaganzas only show that + Nantucket is no Illinois. +

+

+ Look now at the wondrous traditional story of how this island was settled + by the red-men. Thus goes the legend. In olden times an eagle swooped down + upon the New England coast, and carried off an infant Indian in his + talons. With loud lament the parents saw their child borne out of sight + over the wide waters. They resolved to follow in the same direction. + Setting out in their canoes, after a perilous passage they discovered the + island, and there they found an empty ivory casket,—the poor little + Indian’s skeleton. +

+

+ What wonder, then, that these Nantucketers, born on a beach, should take + to the sea for a livelihood! They first caught crabs and quohogs in the + sand; grown bolder, they waded out with nets for mackerel; more + experienced, they pushed off in boats and captured cod; and at last, + launching a navy of great ships on the sea, explored this watery world; + put an incessant belt of circumnavigations round it; peeped in at + Behring’s Straits; and in all seasons and all oceans declared everlasting + war with the mightiest animated mass that has survived the flood; most + monstrous and most mountainous! That Himmalehan, salt-sea Mastodon, + clothed with such portentousness of unconscious power, that his very + panics are more to be dreaded than his most fearless and malicious + assaults! +

+

+ And thus have these naked Nantucketers, these sea hermits, issuing from + their ant-hill in the sea, overrun and conquered the watery world like so + many Alexanders; parcelling out among them the Atlantic, Pacific, and + Indian oceans, as the three pirate powers did Poland. Let America add + Mexico to Texas, and pile Cuba upon Canada; let the English overswarm all + India, and hang out their blazing banner from the sun; two thirds of this + terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer’s. For the sea is his; he owns it, + as Emperors own empires; other seamen having but a right of way through + it. Merchant ships are but extension bridges; armed ones but floating + forts; even pirates and privateers, though following the sea as highwaymen + the road, they but plunder other ships, other fragments of the land like + themselves, without seeking to draw their living from the bottomless deep + itself. The Nantucketer, he alone resides and riots on the sea; he alone, + in Bible language, goes down to it in ships; to and fro ploughing it as + his own special plantation. There is his home; there lies his business, + which a Noah’s flood would not interrupt, though it overwhelmed all the + millions in China. He lives on the sea, as prairie cocks in the prairie; + he hides among the waves, he climbs them as chamois hunters climb the + Alps. For years he knows not the land; so that when he comes to it at + last, it smells like another world, more strangely than the moon would to + an Earthsman. With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings and + is rocked to sleep between billows; so at nightfall, the Nantucketer, out + of sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under + his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 15. Chowder. +

+

+ It was quite late in the evening when the little Moss came snugly to + anchor, and Queequeg and I went ashore; so we could attend to no business + that day, at least none but a supper and a bed. The landlord of the + Spouter-Inn had recommended us to his cousin Hosea Hussey of the Try Pots, + whom he asserted to be the proprietor of one of the best kept hotels in + all Nantucket, and moreover he had assured us that Cousin Hosea, as he + called him, was famous for his chowders. In short, he plainly hinted that + we could not possibly do better than try pot-luck at the Try Pots. But the + directions he had given us about keeping a yellow warehouse on our + starboard hand till we opened a white church to the larboard, and then + keeping that on the larboard hand till we made a corner three points to + the starboard, and that done, then ask the first man we met where the + place was: these crooked directions of his very much puzzled us at first, + especially as, at the outset, Queequeg insisted that the yellow warehouse—our + first point of departure—must be left on the larboard hand, whereas + I had understood Peter Coffin to say it was on the starboard. However, by + dint of beating about a little in the dark, and now and then knocking up a + peaceable inhabitant to inquire the way, we at last came to something + which there was no mistaking. +

+

+ Two enormous wooden pots painted black, and suspended by asses’ ears, + swung from the cross-trees of an old top-mast, planted in front of an old + doorway. The horns of the cross-trees were sawed off on the other side, so + that this old top-mast looked not a little like a gallows. Perhaps I was + over sensitive to such impressions at the time, but I could not help + staring at this gallows with a vague misgiving. A sort of crick was in my + neck as I gazed up to the two remaining horns; yes, two of them, one for + Queequeg, and one for me. It’s ominous, thinks I. A Coffin my Innkeeper + upon landing in my first whaling port; tombstones staring at me in the + whalemen’s chapel; and here a gallows! and a pair of prodigious black pots + too! Are these last throwing out oblique hints touching Tophet? +

+

+ I was called from these reflections by the sight of a freckled woman with + yellow hair and a yellow gown, standing in the porch of the inn, under a + dull red lamp swinging there, that looked much like an injured eye, and + carrying on a brisk scolding with a man in a purple woollen shirt. +

+

+ “Get along with ye,” said she to the man, “or I’ll be combing ye!” +

+

+ “Come on, Queequeg,” said I, “all right. There’s Mrs. Hussey.” +

+

+ And so it turned out; Mr. Hosea Hussey being from home, but leaving Mrs. + Hussey entirely competent to attend to all his affairs. Upon making known + our desires for a supper and a bed, Mrs. Hussey, postponing further + scolding for the present, ushered us into a little room, and seating us at + a table spread with the relics of a recently concluded repast, turned + round to us and said—“Clam or Cod?” +

+

+ “What’s that about Cods, ma’am?” said I, with much politeness. +

+

+ “Clam or Cod?” she repeated. +

+

+ “A clam for supper? a cold clam; is that what you mean, Mrs. Hussey?” says + I, “but that’s a rather cold and clammy reception in the winter time, + ain’t it, Mrs. Hussey?” +

+

+ But being in a great hurry to resume scolding the man in the purple Shirt, + who was waiting for it in the entry, and seeming to hear nothing but the + word “clam,” Mrs. Hussey hurried towards an open door leading to the + kitchen, and bawling out “clam for two,” disappeared. +

+

+ “Queequeg,” said I, “do you think that we can make out a supper for us + both on one clam?” +

+

+ However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the + apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder + came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! + hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than + hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into + little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned + with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, + and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, + and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great + expedition: when leaning back a moment and bethinking me of Mrs. Hussey’s + clam and cod announcement, I thought I would try a little experiment. + Stepping to the kitchen door, I uttered the word “cod” with great + emphasis, and resumed my seat. In a few moments the savoury steam came + forth again, but with a different flavor, and in good time a fine + cod-chowder was placed before us. +

+

+ We resumed business; and while plying our spoons in the bowl, thinks I to + myself, I wonder now if this here has any effect on the head? What’s that + stultifying saying about chowder-headed people? “But look, Queequeg, ain’t + that a live eel in your bowl? Where’s your harpoon?” +

+

+ Fishiest of all fishy places was the Try Pots, which well deserved its + name; for the pots there were always boiling chowders. Chowder for + breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began + to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes. The area before the + house was paved with clam-shells. Mrs. Hussey wore a polished necklace of + codfish vertebra; and Hosea Hussey had his account books bound in superior + old shark-skin. There was a fishy flavor to the milk, too, which I could + not at all account for, till one morning happening to take a stroll along + the beach among some fishermen’s boats, I saw Hosea’s brindled cow feeding + on fish remnants, and marching along the sand with each foot in a cod’s + decapitated head, looking very slip-shod, I assure ye. +

+

+ Supper concluded, we received a lamp, and directions from Mrs. Hussey + concerning the nearest way to bed; but, as Queequeg was about to precede + me up the stairs, the lady reached forth her arm, and demanded his + harpoon; she allowed no harpoon in her chambers. “Why not?” said I; “every + true whaleman sleeps with his harpoon—but why not?” “Because it’s + dangerous,” says she. “Ever since young Stiggs coming from that unfort’nt + v’y’ge of his, when he was gone four years and a half, with only three + barrels of ile, was found dead in my first floor back, with his + harpoon in his side; ever since then I allow no boarders to take sich + dangerous weepons in their rooms at night. So, Mr. Queequeg” (for she had + learned his name), “I will just take this here iron, and keep it for you + till morning. But the chowder; clam or cod to-morrow for breakfast, men?” +

+

+ “Both,” says I; “and let’s have a couple of smoked herring by way of + variety.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 16. The Ship. +

+

+ In bed we concocted our plans for the morrow. But to my surprise and no + small concern, Queequeg now gave me to understand, that he had been + diligently consulting Yojo—the name of his black little god—and + Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it + everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in + harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo + earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with + me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order to do so, had + already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I, Ishmael, + should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had turned + out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for the + present irrespective of Queequeg. +

+

+ I have forgotten to mention that, in many things, Queequeg placed great + confidence in the excellence of Yojo’s judgment and surprising forecast of + things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort + of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did + not succeed in his benevolent designs. +

+

+ Now, this plan of Queequeg’s, or rather Yojo’s, touching the selection of + our craft; I did not like that plan at all. I had not a little relied upon + Queequeg’s sagacity to point out the whaler best fitted to carry us and + our fortunes securely. But as all my remonstrances produced no effect upon + Queequeg, I was obliged to acquiesce; and accordingly prepared to set + about this business with a determined rushing sort of energy and vigor, + that should quickly settle that trifling little affair. Next morning + early, leaving Queequeg shut up with Yojo in our little bedroom—for + it seemed that it was some sort of Lent or Ramadan, or day of fasting, + humiliation, and prayer with Queequeg and Yojo that day; how it was I + never could find out, for, though I applied myself to it several times, I + never could master his liturgies and XXXIX Articles—leaving + Queequeg, then, fasting on his tomahawk pipe, and Yojo warming himself at + his sacrificial fire of shavings, I sallied out among the shipping. After + much prolonged sauntering and many random inquiries, I learnt that there + were three ships up for three-years’ voyages—The Devil-dam, the + Tit-bit, and the Pequod. Devil-Dam, I do not know the origin of; Tit-bit + is obvious; Pequod, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a + celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians; now extinct as the ancient + Medes. I peered and pryed about the Devil-dam; from her, hopped over to + the Tit-bit; and finally, going on board the Pequod, looked around her for + a moment, and then decided that this was the very ship for us. +

+

+ You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day, for aught I know;—square-toed + luggers; mountainous Japanese junks; butter-box galliots, and what not; + but take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this same + rare old Pequod. She was a ship of the old school, rather small if + anything; with an old-fashioned claw-footed look about her. Long seasoned + and weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old + hull’s complexion was darkened like a French grenadier’s, who has alike + fought in Egypt and Siberia. Her venerable bows looked bearded. Her masts—cut + somewhere on the coast of Japan, where her original ones were lost + overboard in a gale—her masts stood stiffly up like the spines of + the three old kings of Cologne. Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, + like the pilgrim-worshipped flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where + Becket bled. But to all these her old antiquities, were added new and + marvellous features, pertaining to the wild business that for more than + half a century she had followed. Old Captain Peleg, many years her + chief-mate, before he commanded another vessel of his own, and now a + retired seaman, and one of the principal owners of the Pequod,—this + old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her + original grotesqueness, and inlaid it, all over, with a quaintness both of + material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake’s + carved buckler or bedstead. She was apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian + emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory. She was a thing + of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased + bones of her enemies. All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were + garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm + whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons + to. Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly + travelled over sheaves of sea-ivory. Scorning a turnstile wheel at her + reverend helm, she sported there a tiller; and that tiller was in one + mass, curiously carved from the long narrow lower jaw of her hereditary + foe. The helmsman who steered by that tiller in a tempest, felt like the + Tartar, when he holds back his fiery steed by clutching its jaw. A noble + craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with + that. +

+

+ Now when I looked about the quarter-deck, for some one having authority, + in order to propose myself as a candidate for the voyage, at first I saw + nobody; but I could not well overlook a strange sort of tent, or rather + wigwam, pitched a little behind the main-mast. It seemed only a temporary + erection used in port. It was of a conical shape, some ten feet high; + consisting of the long, huge slabs of limber black bone taken from the + middle and highest part of the jaws of the right-whale. Planted with their + broad ends on the deck, a circle of these slabs laced together, mutually + sloped towards each other, and at the apex united in a tufted point, where + the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like the top-knot on some old + Pottowottamie Sachem’s head. A triangular opening faced towards the bows + of the ship, so that the insider commanded a complete view forward. +

+

+ And half concealed in this queer tenement, I at length found one who by + his aspect seemed to have authority; and who, it being noon, and the + ship’s work suspended, was now enjoying respite from the burden of + command. He was seated on an old-fashioned oaken chair, wriggling all over + with curious carving; and the bottom of which was formed of a stout + interlacing of the same elastic stuff of which the wigwam was constructed. +

+

+ There was nothing so very particular, perhaps, about the appearance of the + elderly man I saw; he was brown and brawny, like most old seamen, and + heavily rolled up in blue pilot-cloth, cut in the Quaker style; only there + was a fine and almost microscopic net-work of the minutest wrinkles + interlacing round his eyes, which must have arisen from his continual + sailings in many hard gales, and always looking to windward;—for + this causes the muscles about the eyes to become pursed together. Such + eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl. +

+

+ “Is this the Captain of the Pequod?” said I, advancing to the door of the + tent. +

+

+ “Supposing it be the captain of the Pequod, what dost thou want of him?” + he demanded. +

+

+ “I was thinking of shipping.” +

+

+ “Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou art no Nantucketer—ever been in a + stove boat?” +

+

+ “No, Sir, I never have.” +

+

+ “Dost know nothing at all about whaling, I dare say—eh? +

+

+ “Nothing, Sir; but I have no doubt I shall soon learn. I’ve been several + voyages in the merchant service, and I think that—” +

+

+ “Merchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that leg?—I’ll + take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest of the marchant + service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose now ye feel + considerable proud of having served in those marchant ships. But flukes! + man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh?—it looks a little + suspicious, don’t it, eh?—Hast not been a pirate, hast thou?—Didst + not rob thy last Captain, didst thou?—Dost not think of murdering + the officers when thou gettest to sea?” +

+

+ I protested my innocence of these things. I saw that under the mask of + these half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish + Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of + all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard. +

+

+ “But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of + shipping ye.” +

+

+ “Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.” +

+

+ “Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?” +

+

+ “Who is Captain Ahab, sir?” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship.” +

+

+ “I am mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself.” +

+

+ “Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg—that’s who ye are speaking to, + young man. It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted + out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We + are part owners and agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to + know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of + finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out. Clap eye + on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one leg.” +

+

+ “What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?” +

+

+ “Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was devoured, chewed + up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat!—ah, + ah!” +

+

+ I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little touched at the + hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly as I could, + “What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know there was + any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I might have + inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident.” +

+

+ “Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d’ye see; thou dost + not talk shark a bit. Sure, ye’ve been to sea before now; sure of that?” +

+

+ “Sir,” said I, “I thought I told you that I had been four voyages in the + merchant—” +

+

+ “Hard down out of that! Mind what I said about the marchant service—don’t + aggravate me—I won’t have it. But let us understand each other. I + have given thee a hint about what whaling is; do ye yet feel inclined for + it?” +

+

+ “I do, sir.” +

+

+ “Very good. Now, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a live whale’s + throat, and then jump after it? Answer, quick!” +

+

+ “I am, sir, if it should be positively indispensable to do so; not to be + got rid of, that is; which I don’t take to be the fact.” +

+

+ “Good again. Now then, thou not only wantest to go a-whaling, to find out + by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to go in order to see the + world? Was not that what ye said? I thought so. Well then, just step + forward there, and take a peep over the weather-bow, and then back to me + and tell me what ye see there.” +

+

+ For a moment I stood a little puzzled by this curious request, not knowing + exactly how to take it, whether humorously or in earnest. But + concentrating all his crow’s feet into one scowl, Captain Peleg started me + on the errand. +

+

+ Going forward and glancing over the weather bow, I perceived that the ship + swinging to her anchor with the flood-tide, was now obliquely pointing + towards the open ocean. The prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly + monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see. +

+

+ “Well, what’s the report?” said Peleg when I came back; “what did ye see?” +

+

+ “Not much,” I replied—“nothing but water; considerable horizon + though, and there’s a squall coming up, I think.” +

+

+ “Well, what does thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go + round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can’t ye see the world where + you stand?” +

+

+ I was a little staggered, but go a-whaling I must, and I would; and the + Pequod was as good a ship as any—I thought the best—and all + this I now repeated to Peleg. Seeing me so determined, he expressed his + willingness to ship me. +

+

+ “And thou mayest as well sign the papers right off,” he added—“come + along with ye.” And so saying, he led the way below deck into the cabin. +

+

+ Seated on the transom was what seemed to me a most uncommon and surprising + figure. It turned out to be Captain Bildad, who along with Captain Peleg + was one of the largest owners of the vessel; the other shares, as is + sometimes the case in these ports, being held by a crowd of old + annuitants; widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards; each owning + about the value of a timber head, or a foot of plank, or a nail or two in + the ship. People in Nantucket invest their money in whaling vessels, the + same way that you do yours in approved state stocks bringing in good + interest. +

+

+ Now, Bildad, like Peleg, and indeed many other Nantucketers, was a Quaker, + the island having been originally settled by that sect; and to this day + its inhabitants in general retain in an uncommon measure the peculiarities + of the Quaker, only variously and anomalously modified by things + altogether alien and heterogeneous. For some of these same Quakers are the + most sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. They are fighting + Quakers; they are Quakers with a vengeance. +

+

+ So that there are instances among them of men, who, named with Scripture + names—a singularly common fashion on the island—and in + childhood naturally imbibing the stately dramatic thee and thou of the + Quaker idiom; still, from the audacious, daring, and boundless adventure + of their subsequent lives, strangely blend with these unoutgrown + peculiarities, a thousand bold dashes of character, not unworthy a + Scandinavian sea-king, or a poetical Pagan Roman. And when these things + unite in a man of greatly superior natural force, with a globular brain + and a ponderous heart; who has also by the stillness and seclusion of many + long night-watches in the remotest waters, and beneath constellations + never seen here at the north, been led to think untraditionally and + independently; receiving all nature’s sweet or savage impressions fresh + from her own virgin voluntary and confiding breast, and thereby chiefly, + but with some help from accidental advantages, to learn a bold and nervous + lofty language—that man makes one in a whole nation’s census—a + mighty pageant creature, formed for noble tragedies. Nor will it at all + detract from him, dramatically regarded, if either by birth or other + circumstances, he have what seems a half wilful overruling morbidness at + the bottom of his nature. For all men tragically great are made so through + a certain morbidness. Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal + greatness is but disease. But, as yet we have not to do with such an one, + but with quite another; and still a man, who, if indeed peculiar, it only + results again from another phase of the Quaker, modified by individual + circumstances. +

+

+ Like Captain Peleg, Captain Bildad was a well-to-do, retired whaleman. But + unlike Captain Peleg—who cared not a rush for what are called + serious things, and indeed deemed those self-same serious things the + veriest of all trifles—Captain Bildad had not only been originally + educated according to the strictest sect of Nantucket Quakerism, but all + his subsequent ocean life, and the sight of many unclad, lovely island + creatures, round the Horn—all that had not moved this native born + Quaker one single jot, had not so much as altered one angle of his vest. + Still, for all this immutableness, was there some lack of common + consistency about worthy Captain Bildad. Though refusing, from + conscientious scruples, to bear arms against land invaders, yet himself + had illimitably invaded the Atlantic and Pacific; and though a sworn foe + to human bloodshed, yet had he in his straight-bodied coat, spilled tuns + upon tuns of leviathan gore. How now in the contemplative evening of his + days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the reminiscence, I do + not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and very probably he + had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man’s + religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another. This world + pays dividends. Rising from a little cabin-boy in short clothes of the + drabbest drab, to a harpooneer in a broad shad-bellied waistcoat; from + that becoming boat-header, chief-mate, and captain, and finally a ship + owner; Bildad, as I hinted before, had concluded his adventurous career by + wholly retiring from active life at the goodly age of sixty, and + dedicating his remaining days to the quiet receiving of his well-earned + income. +

+

+ Now, Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an + incorrigible old hunks, and in his sea-going days, a bitter, hard + task-master. They told me in Nantucket, though it certainly seems a + curious story, that when he sailed the old Categut whaleman, his crew, + upon arriving home, were mostly all carried ashore to the hospital, sore + exhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especially for a Quaker, he was + certainly rather hard-hearted, to say the least. He never used to swear, + though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an inordinate quantity + of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them. When Bildad was a chief-mate, + to have his drab-coloured eye intently looking at you, made you feel + completely nervous, till you could clutch something—a hammer or a + marling-spike, and go to work like mad, at something or other, never mind + what. Indolence and idleness perished before him. His own person was the + exact embodiment of his utilitarian character. On his long, gaunt body, he + carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, + economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat. +

+

+ Such, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom when I + followed Captain Peleg down into the cabin. The space between the decks + was small; and there, bolt-upright, sat old Bildad, who always sat so, and + never leaned, and this to save his coat tails. His broad-brim was placed + beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was buttoned + up to his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in reading from + a ponderous volume. +

+

+ “Bildad,” cried Captain Peleg, “at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye have been + studying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my certain + knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad?” +

+

+ As if long habituated to such profane talk from his old shipmate, Bildad, + without noticing his present irreverence, quietly looked up, and seeing + me, glanced again inquiringly towards Peleg. +

+

+ “He says he’s our man, Bildad,” said Peleg, “he wants to ship.” +

+

+ “Dost thee?” said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me. +

+

+ “I dost,” said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker. +

+

+ “What do ye think of him, Bildad?” said Peleg. +

+

+ “He’ll do,” said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his + book in a mumbling tone quite audible. +

+

+ I thought him the queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg, his + friend and old shipmate, seemed such a blusterer. But I said nothing, only + looking round me sharply. Peleg now threw open a chest, and drawing forth + the ship’s articles, placed pen and ink before him, and seated himself at + a little table. I began to think it was high time to settle with myself at + what terms I would be willing to engage for the voyage. I was already + aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, + including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, + and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance + pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company. I was also + aware that being a green hand at whaling, my own lay would not be very + large; but considering that I was used to the sea, could steer a ship, + splice a rope, and all that, I made no doubt that from all I had heard I + should be offered at least the 275th lay—that is, the 275th part of + the clear net proceeds of the voyage, whatever that might eventually + amount to. And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather long lay, + yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty + nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my + three years’ beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver. +

+

+ It might be thought that this was a poor way to accumulate a princely + fortune—and so it was, a very poor way indeed. But I am one of those + that never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite content if the + world is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at this grim + sign of the Thunder Cloud. Upon the whole, I thought that the 275th lay + would be about the fair thing, but would not have been surprised had I + been offered the 200th, considering I was of a broad-shouldered make. +

+

+ But one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about + receiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard + something of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad; + how that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore the + other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the whole + management of the ship’s affairs to these two. And I did not know but what + the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty deal to say about shipping + hands, especially as I now found him on board the Pequod, quite at home + there in the cabin, and reading his Bible as if at his own fireside. Now + while Peleg was vainly trying to mend a pen with his jack-knife, old + Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering that he was such an + interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded us, but went on + mumbling to himself out of his book, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures + upon earth, where moth—” +

+

+ “Well, Captain Bildad,” interrupted Peleg, “what d’ye say, what lay shall + we give this young man?” +

+

+ “Thou knowest best,” was the sepulchral reply, “the seven hundred and + seventy-seventh wouldn’t be too much, would it?—‘where moth and rust + do corrupt, but lay—’” +

+

+ Lay, indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and + seventy-seventh! Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one, + shall not lay up many lays here below, where moth and rust do corrupt. It + was an exceedingly long lay that, indeed; and though from the magnitude of + the figure it might at first deceive a landsman, yet the slightest + consideration will show that though seven hundred and seventy-seven is a + pretty large number, yet, when you come to make a teenth of it, you will + then see, I say, that the seven hundred and seventy-seventh part of a + farthing is a good deal less than seven hundred and seventy-seven gold + doubloons; and so I thought at the time. +

+

+ “Why, blast your eyes, Bildad,” cried Peleg, “thou dost not want to + swindle this young man! he must have more than that.” +

+

+ “Seven hundred and seventy-seventh,” again said Bildad, without lifting + his eyes; and then went on mumbling—“for where your treasure is, + there will your heart be also.” +

+

+ “I am going to put him down for the three hundredth,” said Peleg, “do ye + hear that, Bildad! The three hundredth lay, I say.” +

+

+ Bildad laid down his book, and turning solemnly towards him said, “Captain + Peleg, thou hast a generous heart; but thou must consider the duty thou + owest to the other owners of this ship—widows and orphans, many of + them—and that if we too abundantly reward the labors of this young + man, we may be taking the bread from those widows and those orphans. The + seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay, Captain Peleg.” +

+

+ “Thou Bildad!” roared Peleg, starting up and clattering about the cabin. + “Blast ye, Captain Bildad, if I had followed thy advice in these matters, + I would afore now had a conscience to lug about that would be heavy enough + to founder the largest ship that ever sailed round Cape Horn.” +

+

+ “Captain Peleg,” said Bildad steadily, “thy conscience may be drawing ten + inches of water, or ten fathoms, I can’t tell; but as thou art still an + impenitent man, Captain Peleg, I greatly fear lest thy conscience be but a + leaky one; and will in the end sink thee foundering down to the fiery pit, + Captain Peleg.” +

+

+ “Fiery pit! fiery pit! ye insult me, man; past all natural bearing, ye + insult me. It’s an all-fired outrage to tell any human creature that he’s + bound to hell. Flukes and flames! Bildad, say that again to me, and start + my soul-bolts, but I’ll—I’ll—yes, I’ll swallow a live goat + with all his hair and horns on. Out of the cabin, ye canting, + drab-coloured son of a wooden gun—a straight wake with ye!” +

+

+ As he thundered out this he made a rush at Bildad, but with a marvellous + oblique, sliding celerity, Bildad for that time eluded him. +

+

+ Alarmed at this terrible outburst between the two principal and + responsible owners of the ship, and feeling half a mind to give up all + idea of sailing in a vessel so questionably owned and temporarily + commanded, I stepped aside from the door to give egress to Bildad, who, I + made no doubt, was all eagerness to vanish from before the awakened wrath + of Peleg. But to my astonishment, he sat down again on the transom very + quietly, and seemed to have not the slightest intention of withdrawing. He + seemed quite used to impenitent Peleg and his ways. As for Peleg, after + letting off his rage as he had, there seemed no more left in him, and he, + too, sat down like a lamb, though he twitched a little as if still + nervously agitated. “Whew!” he whistled at last—“the squall’s gone + off to leeward, I think. Bildad, thou used to be good at sharpening a + lance, mend that pen, will ye. My jack-knife here needs the grindstone. + That’s he; thank ye, Bildad. Now then, my young man, Ishmael’s thy name, + didn’t ye say? Well then, down ye go here, Ishmael, for the three + hundredth lay.” +

+

+ “Captain Peleg,” said I, “I have a friend with me who wants to ship too—shall + I bring him down to-morrow?” +

+

+ “To be sure,” said Peleg. “Fetch him along, and we’ll look at him.” +

+

+ “What lay does he want?” groaned Bildad, glancing up from the book in + which he had again been burying himself. +

+

+ “Oh! never thee mind about that, Bildad,” said Peleg. “Has he ever whaled + it any?” turning to me. +

+

+ “Killed more whales than I can count, Captain Peleg.” +

+

+ “Well, bring him along then.” +

+

+ And, after signing the papers, off I went; nothing doubting but that I had + done a good morning’s work, and that the Pequod was the identical ship + that Yojo had provided to carry Queequeg and me round the Cape. +

+

+ But I had not proceeded far, when I began to bethink me that the Captain + with whom I was to sail yet remained unseen by me; though, indeed, in many + cases, a whale-ship will be completely fitted out, and receive all her + crew on board, ere the captain makes himself visible by arriving to take + command; for sometimes these voyages are so prolonged, and the shore + intervals at home so exceedingly brief, that if the captain have a family, + or any absorbing concernment of that sort, he does not trouble himself + much about his ship in port, but leaves her to the owners till all is + ready for sea. However, it is always as well to have a look at him before + irrevocably committing yourself into his hands. Turning back I accosted + Captain Peleg, inquiring where Captain Ahab was to be found. +

+

+ “And what dost thou want of Captain Ahab? It’s all right enough; thou art + shipped.” +

+

+ “Yes, but I should like to see him.” +

+

+ “But I don’t think thou wilt be able to at present. I don’t know exactly + what’s the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house; a sort of + sick, and yet he don’t look so. In fact, he ain’t sick; but no, he isn’t + well either. Any how, young man, he won’t always see me, so I don’t + suppose he will thee. He’s a queer man, Captain Ahab—so some think—but + a good one. Oh, thou’lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He’s a + grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but, when + he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s + above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ’mong the cannibals; + been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in + mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the + surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain’t Captain Bildad; no, and he + ain’t Captain Peleg; he’s Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a + crowned king!” +

+

+ “And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they + not lick his blood?” +

+

+ “Come hither to me—hither, hither,” said Peleg, with a significance + in his eye that almost startled me. “Look ye, lad; never say that on board + the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself. + ’Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when + he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, + said that the name would somehow prove prophetic. And, perhaps, other + fools like her may tell thee the same. I wish to warn thee. It’s a lie. I + know Captain Ahab well; I’ve sailed with him as mate years ago; I know + what he is—a good man—not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but + a swearing good man—something like me—only there’s a good deal + more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and I know + that on the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell; but + it was the sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought that + about, as any one might see. I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg + last voyage by that accursed whale, he’s been a kind of moody—desperate + moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off. And once for all, + let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it’s better to sail with a + moody good captain than a laughing bad one. So good-bye to thee—and + wrong not Captain Ahab, because he happens to have a wicked name. Besides, + my boy, he has a wife—not three voyages wedded—a sweet, + resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man has a child: + hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my + lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!” +

+

+ As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been incidentally + revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain wild vagueness of + painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the time, I felt a sympathy + and a sorrow for him, but for I don’t know what, unless it was the cruel + loss of his leg. And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that sort + of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know + what it was. But I felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him; + though I felt impatience at what seemed like mystery in him, so + imperfectly as he was known to me then. However, my thoughts were at + length carried in other directions, so that for the present dark Ahab + slipped my mind. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 17. The Ramadan. +

+

+ As Queequeg’s Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all + day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall; for I + cherish the greatest respect towards everybody’s religious obligations, + never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart to undervalue + even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other + creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism + quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a + deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions + yet owned and rented in his name. +

+

+ I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these + things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, + pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these + subjects. There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most absurd + notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;—but what of that? Queequeg + thought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content; and + there let him rest. All our arguing with him would not avail; let him be, + I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans + alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and + sadly need mending. +

+

+ Towards evening, when I felt assured that all his performances and rituals + must be over, I went up to his room and knocked at the door; but no + answer. I tried to open it, but it was fastened inside. “Queequeg,” said I + softly through the key-hole:—all silent. “I say, Queequeg! why don’t + you speak? It’s I—Ishmael.” But all remained still as before. I + began to grow alarmed. I had allowed him such abundant time; I thought he + might have had an apoplectic fit. I looked through the key-hole; but the + door opening into an odd corner of the room, the key-hole prospect was but + a crooked and sinister one. I could only see part of the foot-board of the + bed and a line of the wall, but nothing more. I was surprised to behold + resting against the wall the wooden shaft of Queequeg’s harpoon, which the + landlady the evening previous had taken from him, before our mounting to + the chamber. That’s strange, thought I; but at any rate, since the harpoon + stands yonder, and he seldom or never goes abroad without it, therefore he + must be inside here, and no possible mistake. +

+

+ “Queequeg!—Queequeg!”—all still. Something must have happened. + Apoplexy! I tried to burst open the door; but it stubbornly resisted. + Running down stairs, I quickly stated my suspicions to the first person I + met—the chamber-maid. “La! la!” she cried, “I thought something must + be the matter. I went to make the bed after breakfast, and the door was + locked; and not a mouse to be heard; and it’s been just so silent ever + since. But I thought, may be, you had both gone off and locked your + baggage in for safe keeping. La! la, ma’am!—Mistress! murder! Mrs. + Hussey! apoplexy!”—and with these cries, she ran towards the + kitchen, I following. +

+

+ Mrs. Hussey soon appeared, with a mustard-pot in one hand and a + vinegar-cruet in the other, having just broken away from the occupation of + attending to the castors, and scolding her little black boy meantime. +

+

+ “Wood-house!” cried I, “which way to it? Run for God’s sake, and fetch + something to pry open the door—the axe!—the axe! he’s had a + stroke; depend upon it!”—and so saying I was unmethodically rushing + up stairs again empty-handed, when Mrs. Hussey interposed the mustard-pot + and vinegar-cruet, and the entire castor of her countenance. +

+

+ “What’s the matter with you, young man?” +

+

+ “Get the axe! For God’s sake, run for the doctor, some one, while I pry it + open!” +

+

+ “Look here,” said the landlady, quickly putting down the vinegar-cruet, so + as to have one hand free; “look here; are you talking about prying open + any of my doors?”—and with that she seized my arm. “What’s the + matter with you? What’s the matter with you, shipmate?” +

+

+ In as calm, but rapid a manner as possible, I gave her to understand the + whole case. Unconsciously clapping the vinegar-cruet to one side of her + nose, she ruminated for an instant; then exclaimed—“No! I haven’t + seen it since I put it there.” Running to a little closet under the + landing of the stairs, she glanced in, and returning, told me that + Queequeg’s harpoon was missing. “He’s killed himself,” she cried. “It’s + unfort’nate Stiggs done over again—there goes another counterpane—God + pity his poor mother!—it will be the ruin of my house. Has the poor + lad a sister? Where’s that girl?—there, Betty, go to Snarles the + Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with—“no suicides + permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor;”—might as well kill + both birds at once. Kill? The Lord be merciful to his ghost! What’s that + noise there? You, young man, avast there!” +

+

+ And running up after me, she caught me as I was again trying to force open + the door. +

+

+ “I don’t allow it; I won’t have my premises spoiled. Go for the locksmith, + there’s one about a mile from here. But avast!” putting her hand in her + side-pocket, “here’s a key that’ll fit, I guess; let’s see.” And with + that, she turned it in the lock; but, alas! Queequeg’s supplemental bolt + remained unwithdrawn within. +

+

+ “Have to burst it open,” said I, and was running down the entry a little, + for a good start, when the landlady caught at me, again vowing I should + not break down her premises; but I tore from her, and with a sudden bodily + rush dashed myself full against the mark. +

+

+ With a prodigious noise the door flew open, and the knob slamming against + the wall, sent the plaster to the ceiling; and there, good heavens! there + sat Queequeg, altogether cool and self-collected; right in the middle of + the room; squatting on his hams, and holding Yojo on top of his head. He + looked neither one way nor the other way, but sat like a carved image with + scarce a sign of active life. +

+

+ “Queequeg,” said I, going up to him, “Queequeg, what’s the matter with + you?” +

+

+ “He hain’t been a sittin’ so all day, has he?” said the landlady. +

+

+ But all we said, not a word could we drag out of him; I almost felt like + pushing him over, so as to change his position, for it was almost + intolerable, it seemed so painfully and unnaturally constrained; + especially, as in all probability he had been sitting so for upwards of + eight or ten hours, going too without his regular meals. +

+

+ “Mrs. Hussey,” said I, “he’s alive at all events; so leave us, if you + please, and I will see to this strange affair myself.” +

+

+ Closing the door upon the landlady, I endeavored to prevail upon Queequeg + to take a chair; but in vain. There he sat; and all he could do—for + all my polite arts and blandishments—he would not move a peg, nor + say a single word, nor even look at me, nor notice my presence in the + slightest way. +

+

+ I wonder, thought I, if this can possibly be a part of his Ramadan; do + they fast on their hams that way in his native island. It must be so; yes, + it’s part of his creed, I suppose; well, then, let him rest; he’ll get up + sooner or later, no doubt. It can’t last for ever, thank God, and his + Ramadan only comes once a year; and I don’t believe it’s very punctual + then. +

+

+ I went down to supper. After sitting a long time listening to the long + stories of some sailors who had just come from a plum-pudding voyage, as + they called it (that is, a short whaling-voyage in a schooner or brig, + confined to the north of the line, in the Atlantic Ocean only); after + listening to these plum-puddingers till nearly eleven o’clock, I went up + stairs to go to bed, feeling quite sure by this time Queequeg must + certainly have brought his Ramadan to a termination. But no; there he was + just where I had left him; he had not stirred an inch. I began to grow + vexed with him; it seemed so downright senseless and insane to be sitting + there all day and half the night on his hams in a cold room, holding a + piece of wood on his head. +

+

+ “For heaven’s sake, Queequeg, get up and shake yourself; get up and have + some supper. You’ll starve; you’ll kill yourself, Queequeg.” But not a + word did he reply. +

+

+ Despairing of him, therefore, I determined to go to bed and to sleep; and + no doubt, before a great while, he would follow me. But previous to + turning in, I took my heavy bearskin jacket, and threw it over him, as it + promised to be a very cold night; and he had nothing but his ordinary + round jacket on. For some time, do all I would, I could not get into the + faintest doze. I had blown out the candle; and the mere thought of + Queequeg—not four feet off—sitting there in that uneasy + position, stark alone in the cold and dark; this made me really wretched. + Think of it; sleeping all night in the same room with a wide awake pagan + on his hams in this dreary, unaccountable Ramadan! +

+

+ But somehow I dropped off at last, and knew nothing more till break of + day; when, looking over the bedside, there squatted Queequeg, as if he had + been screwed down to the floor. But as soon as the first glimpse of sun + entered the window, up he got, with stiff and grating joints, but with a + cheerful look; limped towards me where I lay; pressed his forehead again + against mine; and said his Ramadan was over. +

+

+ Now, as I before hinted, I have no objection to any person’s religion, be + it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other + person, because that other person don’t believe it also. But when a man’s + religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; + and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; + then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the + point with him. +

+

+ And just so I now did with Queequeg. “Queequeg,” said I, “get into bed + now, and lie and listen to me.” I then went on, beginning with the rise + and progress of the primitive religions, and coming down to the various + religions of the present time, during which time I labored to show + Queequeg that all these Lents, Ramadans, and prolonged ham-squattings in + cold, cheerless rooms were stark nonsense; bad for the health; useless for + the soul; opposed, in short, to the obvious laws of Hygiene and common + sense. I told him, too, that he being in other things such an extremely + sensible and sagacious savage, it pained me, very badly pained me, to see + him now so deplorably foolish about this ridiculous Ramadan of his. + Besides, argued I, fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves + in; and all thoughts born of a fast must necessarily be half-starved. This + is the reason why most dyspeptic religionists cherish such melancholy + notions about their hereafters. In one word, Queequeg, said I, rather + digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; + and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by + Ramadans. +

+

+ I then asked Queequeg whether he himself was ever troubled with dyspepsia; + expressing the idea very plainly, so that he could take it in. He said no; + only upon one memorable occasion. It was after a great feast given by his + father the king, on the gaining of a great battle wherein fifty of the + enemy had been killed by about two o’clock in the afternoon, and all + cooked and eaten that very evening. +

+

+ “No more, Queequeg,” said I, shuddering; “that will do;” for I knew the + inferences without his further hinting them. I had seen a sailor who had + visited that very island, and he told me that it was the custom, when a + great battle had been gained there, to barbecue all the slain in the yard + or garden of the victor; and then, one by one, they were placed in great + wooden trenchers, and garnished round like a pilau, with breadfruit and + cocoanuts; and with some parsley in their mouths, were sent round with the + victor’s compliments to all his friends, just as though these presents + were so many Christmas turkeys. +

+

+ After all, I do not think that my remarks about religion made much + impression upon Queequeg. Because, in the first place, he somehow seemed + dull of hearing on that important subject, unless considered from his own + point of view; and, in the second place, he did not more than one third + understand me, couch my ideas simply as I would; and, finally, he no doubt + thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did. He + looked at me with a sort of condescending concern and compassion, as + though he thought it a great pity that such a sensible young man should be + so hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan piety. +

+

+ At last we rose and dressed; and Queequeg, taking a prodigiously hearty + breakfast of chowders of all sorts, so that the landlady should not make + much profit by reason of his Ramadan, we sallied out to board the Pequod, + sauntering along, and picking our teeth with halibut bones. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 18. His Mark. +

+

+ As we were walking down the end of the wharf towards the ship, Queequeg + carrying his harpoon, Captain Peleg in his gruff voice loudly hailed us + from his wigwam, saying he had not suspected my friend was a cannibal, and + furthermore announcing that he let no cannibals on board that craft, + unless they previously produced their papers. +

+

+ “What do you mean by that, Captain Peleg?” said I, now jumping on the + bulwarks, and leaving my comrade standing on the wharf. +

+

+ “I mean,” he replied, “he must show his papers.” +

+

+ “Yes,” said Captain Bildad in his hollow voice, sticking his head from + behind Peleg’s, out of the wigwam. “He must show that he’s converted. Son + of darkness,” he added, turning to Queequeg, “art thou at present in + communion with any Christian church?” +

+

+ “Why,” said I, “he’s a member of the first Congregational Church.” Here be + it said, that many tattooed savages sailing in Nantucket ships at last + come to be converted into the churches. +

+

+ “First Congregational Church,” cried Bildad, “what! that worships in + Deacon Deuteronomy Coleman’s meeting-house?” and so saying, taking out his + spectacles, he rubbed them with his great yellow bandana handkerchief, and + putting them on very carefully, came out of the wigwam, and leaning + stiffly over the bulwarks, took a good long look at Queequeg. +

+

+ “How long hath he been a member?” he then said, turning to me; “not very + long, I rather guess, young man.” +

+

+ “No,” said Peleg, “and he hasn’t been baptized right either, or it would + have washed some of that devil’s blue off his face.” +

+

+ “Do tell, now,” cried Bildad, “is this Philistine a regular member of + Deacon Deuteronomy’s meeting? I never saw him going there, and I pass it + every Lord’s day.” +

+

+ “I don’t know anything about Deacon Deuteronomy or his meeting,” said I; + “all I know is, that Queequeg here is a born member of the First + Congregational Church. He is a deacon himself, Queequeg is.” +

+

+ “Young man,” said Bildad sternly, “thou art skylarking with me—explain + thyself, thou young Hittite. What church dost thee mean? answer me.” +

+

+ Finding myself thus hard pushed, I replied. “I mean, sir, the same ancient + Catholic Church to which you and I, and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg + here, and all of us, and every mother’s son and soul of us belong; the + great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; + we all belong to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no + ways touching the grand belief; in that we all join hands.” +

+

+ “Splice, thou mean’st splice hands,” cried Peleg, drawing nearer. “Young + man, you’d better ship for a missionary, instead of a fore-mast hand; I + never heard a better sermon. Deacon Deuteronomy—why Father Mapple + himself couldn’t beat it, and he’s reckoned something. Come aboard, come + aboard; never mind about the papers. I say, tell Quohog there—what’s + that you call him? tell Quohog to step along. By the great anchor, what a + harpoon he’s got there! looks like good stuff that; and he handles it + about right. I say, Quohog, or whatever your name is, did you ever stand + in the head of a whale-boat? did you ever strike a fish?” +

+

+ Without saying a word, Queequeg, in his wild sort of way, jumped upon the + bulwarks, from thence into the bows of one of the whale-boats hanging to + the side; and then bracing his left knee, and poising his harpoon, cried + out in some such way as this:— +

+

+ “Cap’ain, you see him small drop tar on water dere? You see him? well, + spose him one whale eye, well, den!” and taking sharp aim at it, he darted + the iron right over old Bildad’s broad brim, clean across the ship’s + decks, and struck the glistening tar spot out of sight. +

+

+ “Now,” said Queequeg, quietly hauling in the line, “spos-ee him whale-e + eye; why, dad whale dead.” +

+

+ “Quick, Bildad,” said Peleg, his partner, who, aghast at the close + vicinity of the flying harpoon, had retreated towards the cabin gangway. + “Quick, I say, you Bildad, and get the ship’s papers. We must have + Hedgehog there, I mean Quohog, in one of our boats. Look ye, Quohog, we’ll + give ye the ninetieth lay, and that’s more than ever was given a + harpooneer yet out of Nantucket.” +

+

+ So down we went into the cabin, and to my great joy Queequeg was soon + enrolled among the same ship’s company to which I myself belonged. +

+

+ When all preliminaries were over and Peleg had got everything ready for + signing, he turned to me and said, “I guess, Quohog there don’t know how + to write, does he? I say, Quohog, blast ye! dost thou sign thy name or + make thy mark?” +

+

+ But at this question, Queequeg, who had twice or thrice before taken part + in similar ceremonies, looked no ways abashed; but taking the offered pen, + copied upon the paper, in the proper place, an exact counterpart of a + queer round figure which was tattooed upon his arm; so that through + Captain Peleg’s obstinate mistake touching his appellative, it stood + something like this:— +

+

+ Quohog. his X mark. +

+

+ Meanwhile Captain Bildad sat earnestly and steadfastly eyeing Queequeg, + and at last rising solemnly and fumbling in the huge pockets of his + broad-skirted drab coat, took out a bundle of tracts, and selecting one + entitled “The Latter Day Coming; or No Time to Lose,” placed it in + Queequeg’s hands, and then grasping them and the book with both his, + looked earnestly into his eyes, and said, “Son of darkness, I must do my + duty by thee; I am part owner of this ship, and feel concerned for the + souls of all its crew; if thou still clingest to thy Pagan ways, which I + sadly fear, I beseech thee, remain not for aye a Belial bondsman. Spurn + the idol Bell, and the hideous dragon; turn from the wrath to come; mind + thine eye, I say; oh! goodness gracious! steer clear of the fiery pit!” +

+

+ Something of the salt sea yet lingered in old Bildad’s language, + heterogeneously mixed with Scriptural and domestic phrases. +

+

+ “Avast there, avast there, Bildad, avast now spoiling our harpooneer,” + cried Peleg. “Pious harpooneers never make good voyagers—it takes the shark out of ’em; no harpooneer is worth a straw who aint pretty sharkish. + There was young Nat Swaine, once the bravest boat-header out of all + Nantucket and the Vineyard; he joined the meeting, and never came to good. + He got so frightened about his plaguy soul, that he shrinked and sheered + away from whales, for fear of after-claps, in case he got stove and went + to Davy Jones.” +

+

+ “Peleg! Peleg!” said Bildad, lifting his eyes and hands, “thou thyself, as + I myself, hast seen many a perilous time; thou knowest, Peleg, what it is + to have the fear of death; how, then, can’st thou prate in this ungodly + guise. Thou beliest thine own heart, Peleg. Tell me, when this same Pequod + here had her three masts overboard in that typhoon on Japan, that same + voyage when thou went mate with Captain Ahab, did’st thou not think of + Death and the Judgment then?” +

+

+ “Hear him, hear him now,” cried Peleg, marching across the cabin, and + thrusting his hands far down into his pockets,—“hear him, all of ye. + Think of that! When every moment we thought the ship would sink! Death and + the Judgment then? What? With all three masts making such an everlasting + thundering against the side; and every sea breaking over us, fore and aft. + Think of Death and the Judgment then? No! no time to think about Death + then. Life was what Captain Ahab and I was thinking of; and how to save + all hands—how to rig jury-masts—how to get into the nearest + port; that was what I was thinking of.” +

+

+ Bildad said no more, but buttoning up his coat, stalked on deck, where we + followed him. There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who + were mending a top-sail in the waist. Now and then he stooped to pick up a + patch, or save an end of tarred twine, which otherwise might have been + wasted. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 19. The Prophet. +

+

+ “Shipmates, have ye shipped in that ship?” +

+

+ Queequeg and I had just left the Pequod, and were sauntering away from the + water, for the moment each occupied with his own thoughts, when the above + words were put to us by a stranger, who, pausing before us, levelled his + massive forefinger at the vessel in question. He was but shabbily + apparelled in faded jacket and patched trowsers; a rag of a black + handkerchief investing his neck. A confluent small-pox had in all + directions flowed over his face, and left it like the complicated ribbed + bed of a torrent, when the rushing waters have been dried up. +

+

+ “Have ye shipped in her?” he repeated. +

+

+ “You mean the ship Pequod, I suppose,” said I, trying to gain a little + more time for an uninterrupted look at him. +

+

+ “Aye, the Pequod—that ship there,” he said, drawing back his whole + arm, and then rapidly shoving it straight out from him, with the fixed + bayonet of his pointed finger darted full at the object. +

+

+ “Yes,” said I, “we have just signed the articles.” +

+

+ “Anything down there about your souls?” +

+

+ “About what?” +

+

+ “Oh, perhaps you hav’n’t got any,” he said quickly. “No matter though, I + know many chaps that hav’n’t got any,—good luck to ’em; and they are + all the better off for it. A soul’s a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon.” +

+

+ “What are you jabbering about, shipmate?” said I. +

+

+ “He’s got enough, though, to make up for all deficiencies of that sort in + other chaps,” abruptly said the stranger, placing a nervous emphasis upon + the word he. +

+

+ “Queequeg,” said I, “let’s go; this fellow has broken loose from + somewhere; he’s talking about something and somebody we don’t know.” +

+

+ “Stop!” cried the stranger. “Ye said true—ye hav’n’t seen Old + Thunder yet, have ye?” +

+

+ “Who’s Old Thunder?” said I, again riveted with the insane earnestness of + his manner. +

+

+ “Captain Ahab.” +

+

+ “What! the captain of our ship, the Pequod?” +

+

+ “Aye, among some of us old sailor chaps, he goes by that name. Ye hav’n’t + seen him yet, have ye?” +

+

+ “No, we hav’n’t. He’s sick they say, but is getting better, and will be + all right again before long.” +

+

+ “All right again before long!” laughed the stranger, with a solemnly + derisive sort of laugh. “Look ye; when Captain Ahab is all right, then + this left arm of mine will be all right; not before.” +

+

+ “What do you know about him?” +

+

+ “What did they tell you about him? Say that!” +

+

+ “They didn’t tell much of anything about him; only I’ve heard that he’s a + good whale-hunter, and a good captain to his crew.” +

+

+ “That’s true, that’s true—yes, both true enough. But you must jump + when he gives an order. Step and growl; growl and go—that’s the word + with Captain Ahab. But nothing about that thing that happened to him off + Cape Horn, long ago, when he lay like dead for three days and nights; + nothing about that deadly skrimmage with the Spaniard afore the altar in + Santa?—heard nothing about that, eh? Nothing about the silver + calabash he spat into? And nothing about his losing his leg last voyage, + according to the prophecy. Didn’t ye hear a word about them matters and + something more, eh? No, I don’t think ye did; how could ye? Who knows it? + Not all Nantucket, I guess. But hows’ever, mayhap, ye’ve heard tell about + the leg, and how he lost it; aye, ye have heard of that, I dare say. Oh + yes, that every one knows a’most—I mean they know he’s only one leg; + and that a parmacetti took the other off.” +

+

+ “My friend,” said I, “what all this gibberish of yours is about, I don’t + know, and I don’t much care; for it seems to me that you must be a little + damaged in the head. But if you are speaking of Captain Ahab, of that ship + there, the Pequod, then let me tell you, that I know all about the loss of + his leg.” +

+

+ “All about it, eh—sure you do?—all?” +

+

+ “Pretty sure.” +

+

+ With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggar-like + stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; then starting a + little, turned and said:—“Ye’ve shipped, have ye? Names down on the + papers? Well, well, what’s signed, is signed; and what’s to be, will be; + and then again, perhaps it won’t be, after all. Anyhow, it’s all fixed and + arranged a’ready; and some sailors or other must go with him, I suppose; + as well these as any other men, God pity ’em! Morning to ye, shipmates, + morning; the ineffable heavens bless ye; I’m sorry I stopped ye.” +

+

+ “Look here, friend,” said I, “if you have anything important to tell us, + out with it; but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken + in your game; that’s all I have to say.” +

+

+ “And it’s said very well, and I like to hear a chap talk up that way; you + are just the man for him—the likes of ye. Morning to ye, shipmates, + morning! Oh! when ye get there, tell ’em I’ve concluded not to make one of + ’em.” +

+

+ “Ah, my dear fellow, you can’t fool us that way—you can’t fool us. + It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a + great secret in him.” +

+

+ “Morning to ye, shipmates, morning.” +

+

+ “Morning it is,” said I. “Come along, Queequeg, let’s leave this crazy + man. But stop, tell me your name, will you?” +

+

+ “Elijah.” +

+

+ Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other’s + fashion, upon this ragged old sailor; and agreed that he was nothing but a + humbug, trying to be a bugbear. But we had not gone perhaps above a + hundred yards, when chancing to turn a corner, and looking back as I did + so, who should be seen but Elijah following us, though at a distance. + Somehow, the sight of him struck me so, that I said nothing to Queequeg of + his being behind, but passed on with my comrade, anxious to see whether + the stranger would turn the same corner that we did. He did; and then it + seemed to me that he was dogging us, but with what intent I could not for + the life of me imagine. This circumstance, coupled with his ambiguous, + half-hinting, half-revealing, shrouded sort of talk, now begat in me all + kinds of vague wonderments and half-apprehensions, and all connected with + the Pequod; and Captain Ahab; and the leg he had lost; and the Cape Horn + fit; and the silver calabash; and what Captain Peleg had said of him, when + I left the ship the day previous; and the prediction of the squaw Tistig; + and the voyage we had bound ourselves to sail; and a hundred other shadowy + things. +

+

+ I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really + dogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg, and + on that side of it retraced our steps. But Elijah passed on, without + seeming to notice us. This relieved me; and once more, and finally as it + seemed to me, I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 20. All Astir. +

+

+ A day or two passed, and there was great activity aboard the Pequod. Not + only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on board, + and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything betokened + that the ship’s preparations were hurrying to a close. Captain Peleg + seldom or never went ashore, but sat in his wigwam keeping a sharp + look-out upon the hands: Bildad did all the purchasing and providing at + the stores; and the men employed in the hold and on the rigging were + working till long after night-fall. +

+

+ On the day following Queequeg’s signing the articles, word was given at + all the inns where the ship’s company were stopping, that their chests + must be on board before night, for there was no telling how soon the + vessel might be sailing. So Queequeg and I got down our traps, resolving, + however, to sleep ashore till the last. But it seems they always give very + long notice in these cases, and the ship did not sail for several days. + But no wonder; there was a good deal to be done, and there is no telling + how many things to be thought of, before the Pequod was fully equipped. +

+

+ Every one knows what a multitude of things—beds, sauce-pans, knives + and forks, shovels and tongs, napkins, nut-crackers, and what not, are + indispensable to the business of housekeeping. Just so with whaling, which + necessitates a three-years’ housekeeping upon the wide ocean, far from all + grocers, costermongers, doctors, bakers, and bankers. And though this also + holds true of merchant vessels, yet not by any means to the same extent as + with whalemen. For besides the great length of the whaling voyage, the + numerous articles peculiar to the prosecution of the fishery, and the + impossibility of replacing them at the remote harbors usually frequented, + it must be remembered, that of all ships, whaling vessels are the most + exposed to accidents of all kinds, and especially to the destruction and + loss of the very things upon which the success of the voyage most depends. + Hence, the spare boats, spare spars, and spare lines and harpoons, and + spare everythings, almost, but a spare Captain and duplicate ship. +

+

+ At the period of our arrival at the Island, the heaviest storage of the + Pequod had been almost completed; comprising her beef, bread, water, fuel, + and iron hoops and staves. But, as before hinted, for some time there was + a continual fetching and carrying on board of divers odds and ends of + things, both large and small. +

+

+ Chief among those who did this fetching and carrying was Captain Bildad’s + sister, a lean old lady of a most determined and indefatigable spirit, but + withal very kindhearted, who seemed resolved that, if she could help it, + nothing should be found wanting in the Pequod, after once fairly getting + to sea. At one time she would come on board with a jar of pickles for the + steward’s pantry; another time with a bunch of quills for the chief mate’s + desk, where he kept his log; a third time with a roll of flannel for the + small of some one’s rheumatic back. Never did any woman better deserve her + name, which was Charity—Aunt Charity, as everybody called her. And + like a sister of charity did this charitable Aunt Charity bustle about + hither and thither, ready to turn her hand and heart to anything that + promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation to all on board a ship + in which her beloved brother Bildad was concerned, and in which she + herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars. +

+

+ But it was startling to see this excellent hearted Quakeress coming on + board, as she did the last day, with a long oil-ladle in one hand, and a + still longer whaling lance in the other. Nor was Bildad himself nor + Captain Peleg at all backward. As for Bildad, he carried about with him a + long list of the articles needed, and at every fresh arrival, down went + his mark opposite that article upon the paper. Every once in a while Peleg + came hobbling out of his whalebone den, roaring at the men down the + hatchways, roaring up to the riggers at the mast-head, and then concluded + by roaring back into his wigwam. +

+

+ During these days of preparation, Queequeg and I often visited the craft, + and as often I asked about Captain Ahab, and how he was, and when he was + going to come on board his ship. To these questions they would answer, + that he was getting better and better, and was expected aboard every day; + meantime, the two captains, Peleg and Bildad, could attend to everything + necessary to fit the vessel for the voyage. If I had been downright honest + with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but + half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once + laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so + soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any + wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, + he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And + much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing. +

+

+ At last it was given out that some time next day the ship would certainly + sail. So next morning, Queequeg and I took a very early start. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 21. Going Aboard. +

+

+ It was nearly six o’clock, but only grey imperfect misty dawn, when we + drew nigh the wharf. +

+

+ “There are some sailors running ahead there, if I see right,” said I to + Queequeg, “it can’t be shadows; she’s off by sunrise, I guess; come on!” +

+

+ “Avast!” cried a voice, whose owner at the same time coming close behind + us, laid a hand upon both our shoulders, and then insinuating himself + between us, stood stooping forward a little, in the uncertain twilight, + strangely peering from Queequeg to me. It was Elijah. +

+

+ “Going aboard?” +

+

+ “Hands off, will you,” said I. +

+

+ “Lookee here,” said Queequeg, shaking himself, “go ’way!” +

+

+ “Ain’t going aboard, then?” +

+

+ “Yes, we are,” said I, “but what business is that of yours? Do you know, + Mr. Elijah, that I consider you a little impertinent?” +

+

+ “No, no, no; I wasn’t aware of that,” said Elijah, slowly and wonderingly + looking from me to Queequeg, with the most unaccountable glances. +

+

+ “Elijah,” said I, “you will oblige my friend and me by withdrawing. We are + going to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and would prefer not to be + detained.” +

+

+ “Ye be, be ye? Coming back afore breakfast?” +

+

+ “He’s cracked, Queequeg,” said I, “come on.” +

+

+ “Holloa!” cried stationary Elijah, hailing us when we had removed a few + paces. +

+

+ “Never mind him,” said I, “Queequeg, come on.” +

+

+ But he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping his hand on my + shoulder, said—“Did ye see anything looking like men going towards + that ship a while ago?” +

+

+ Struck by this plain matter-of-fact question, I answered, saying, “Yes, I + thought I did see four or five men; but it was too dim to be sure.” +

+

+ “Very dim, very dim,” said Elijah. “Morning to ye.” +

+

+ Once more we quitted him; but once more he came softly after us; and + touching my shoulder again, said, “See if you can find ’em now, will ye? +

+

+ “Find who?” +

+

+ “Morning to ye! morning to ye!” he rejoined, again moving off. “Oh! I was + going to warn ye against—but never mind, never mind—it’s all + one, all in the family too;—sharp frost this morning, ain’t it? + Good-bye to ye. Shan’t see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it’s before + the Grand Jury.” And with these cracked words he finally departed, leaving + me, for the moment, in no small wonderment at his frantic impudence. +

+

+ At last, stepping on board the Pequod, we found everything in profound + quiet, not a soul moving. The cabin entrance was locked within; the + hatches were all on, and lumbered with coils of rigging. Going forward to + the forecastle, we found the slide of the scuttle open. Seeing a light, we + went down, and found only an old rigger there, wrapped in a tattered + pea-jacket. He was thrown at whole length upon two chests, his face + downwards and inclosed in his folded arms. The profoundest slumber slept + upon him. +

+

+ “Those sailors we saw, Queequeg, where can they have gone to?” said I, + looking dubiously at the sleeper. But it seemed that, when on the wharf, + Queequeg had not at all noticed what I now alluded to; hence I would have + thought myself to have been optically deceived in that matter, were it not + for Elijah’s otherwise inexplicable question. But I beat the thing down; + and again marking the sleeper, jocularly hinted to Queequeg that perhaps + we had best sit up with the body; telling him to establish himself + accordingly. He put his hand upon the sleeper’s rear, as though feeling if + it was soft enough; and then, without more ado, sat quietly down there. +

+

+ “Gracious! Queequeg, don’t sit there,” said I. +

+

+ “Oh! perry dood seat,” said Queequeg, “my country way; won’t hurt him + face.” +

+

+ “Face!” said I, “call that his face? very benevolent countenance then; but + how hard he breathes, he’s heaving himself; get off, Queequeg, you are + heavy, it’s grinding the face of the poor. Get off, Queequeg! Look, he’ll + twitch you off soon. I wonder he don’t wake.” +

+

+ Queequeg removed himself to just beyond the head of the sleeper, and + lighted his tomahawk pipe. I sat at the feet. We kept the pipe passing + over the sleeper, from one to the other. Meanwhile, upon questioning him + in his broken fashion, Queequeg gave me to understand that, in his land, + owing to the absence of settees and sofas of all sorts, the king, chiefs, + and great people generally, were in the custom of fattening some of the + lower orders for ottomans; and to furnish a house comfortably in that + respect, you had only to buy up eight or ten lazy fellows, and lay them + round in the piers and alcoves. Besides, it was very convenient on an + excursion; much better than those garden-chairs which are convertible into + walking-sticks; upon occasion, a chief calling his attendant, and desiring + him to make a settee of himself under a spreading tree, perhaps in some + damp marshy place. +

+

+ While narrating these things, every time Queequeg received the tomahawk + from me, he flourished the hatchet-side of it over the sleeper’s head. +

+

+ “What’s that for, Queequeg?” +

+

+ “Perry easy, kill-e; oh! perry easy!” +

+

+ He was going on with some wild reminiscences about his tomahawk-pipe, + which, it seemed, had in its two uses both brained his foes and soothed + his soul, when we were directly attracted to the sleeping rigger. The + strong vapor now completely filling the contracted hole, it began to tell + upon him. He breathed with a sort of muffledness; then seemed troubled in + the nose; then revolved over once or twice; then sat up and rubbed his + eyes. +

+

+ “Holloa!” he breathed at last, “who be ye smokers?” +

+

+ “Shipped men,” answered I, “when does she sail?” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, ye are going in her, be ye? She sails to-day. The Captain came + aboard last night.” +

+

+ “What Captain?—Ahab?” +

+

+ “Who but him indeed?” +

+

+ I was going to ask him some further questions concerning Ahab, when we + heard a noise on deck. +

+

+ “Holloa! Starbuck’s astir,” said the rigger. “He’s a lively chief mate, + that; good man, and a pious; but all alive now, I must turn to.” And so + saying he went on deck, and we followed. +

+

+ It was now clear sunrise. Soon the crew came on board in twos and threes; + the riggers bestirred themselves; the mates were actively engaged; and + several of the shore people were busy in bringing various last things on + board. Meanwhile Captain Ahab remained invisibly enshrined within his + cabin. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas. +

+

+ At length, towards noon, upon the final dismissal of the ship’s riggers, + and after the Pequod had been hauled out from the wharf, and after the + ever-thoughtful Charity had come off in a whale-boat, with her last gift—a + night-cap for Stubb, the second mate, her brother-in-law, and a spare + Bible for the steward—after all this, the two Captains, Peleg and + Bildad, issued from the cabin, and turning to the chief mate, Peleg said: +

+

+ “Now, Mr. Starbuck, are you sure everything is right? Captain Ahab is all + ready—just spoke to him—nothing more to be got from shore, eh? + Well, call all hands, then. Muster ’em aft here—blast ’em!” +

+

+ “No need of profane words, however great the hurry, Peleg,” said Bildad, + “but away with thee, friend Starbuck, and do our bidding.” +

+

+ How now! Here upon the very point of starting for the voyage, Captain + Peleg and Captain Bildad were going it with a high hand on the + quarter-deck, just as if they were to be joint-commanders at sea, as well + as to all appearances in port. And, as for Captain Ahab, no sign of him + was yet to be seen; only, they said he was in the cabin. But then, the + idea was, that his presence was by no means necessary in getting the ship + under weigh, and steering her well out to sea. Indeed, as that was not at + all his proper business, but the pilot’s; and as he was not yet completely + recovered—so they said—therefore, Captain Ahab stayed below. + And all this seemed natural enough; especially as in the merchant service + many captains never show themselves on deck for a considerable time after + heaving up the anchor, but remain over the cabin table, having a farewell + merry-making with their shore friends, before they quit the ship for good + with the pilot. +

+

+ But there was not much chance to think over the matter, for Captain Peleg + was now all alive. He seemed to do most of the talking and commanding, and + not Bildad. +

+

+ “Aft here, ye sons of bachelors,” he cried, as the sailors lingered at the + main-mast. “Mr. Starbuck, drive ’em aft.” +

+

+ “Strike the tent there!”—was the next order. As I hinted before, + this whalebone marquee was never pitched except in port; and on board the + Pequod, for thirty years, the order to strike the tent was well known to + be the next thing to heaving up the anchor. +

+

+ “Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!”—was the next + command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes. +

+

+ Now in getting under weigh, the station generally occupied by the pilot is + the forward part of the ship. And here Bildad, who, with Peleg, be it + known, in addition to his other officers, was one of the licensed pilots + of the port—he being suspected to have got himself made a pilot in + order to save the Nantucket pilot-fee to all the ships he was concerned + in, for he never piloted any other craft—Bildad, I say, might now be + seen actively engaged in looking over the bows for the approaching anchor, + and at intervals singing what seemed a dismal stave of psalmody, to cheer + the hands at the windlass, who roared forth some sort of a chorus about + the girls in Booble Alley, with hearty good will. Nevertheless, not three + days previous, Bildad had told them that no profane songs would be allowed + on board the Pequod, particularly in getting under weigh; and Charity, his + sister, had placed a small choice copy of Watts in each seaman’s berth. +

+

+ Meantime, overseeing the other part of the ship, Captain Peleg ripped and + swore astern in the most frightful manner. I almost thought he would sink + the ship before the anchor could be got up; involuntarily I paused on my + handspike, and told Queequeg to do the same, thinking of the perils we + both ran, in starting on the voyage with such a devil for a pilot. I was + comforting myself, however, with the thought that in pious Bildad might be + found some salvation, spite of his seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay; + when I felt a sudden sharp poke in my rear, and turning round, was + horrified at the apparition of Captain Peleg in the act of withdrawing his + leg from my immediate vicinity. That was my first kick. +

+

+ “Is that the way they heave in the marchant service?” he roared. “Spring, + thou sheep-head; spring, and break thy backbone! Why don’t ye spring, I + say, all of ye—spring! Quohog! spring, thou chap with the red + whiskers; spring there, Scotch-cap; spring, thou green pants. Spring, I + say, all of ye, and spring your eyes out!” And so saying, he moved along + the windlass, here and there using his leg very freely, while + imperturbable Bildad kept leading off with his psalmody. Thinks I, Captain + Peleg must have been drinking something to-day. +

+

+ At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a + short, cold Christmas; and as the short northern day merged into night, we + found ourselves almost broad upon the wintry ocean, whose freezing spray + cased us in ice, as in polished armor. The long rows of teeth on the + bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of + some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows. +

+

+ Lank Bildad, as pilot, headed the first watch, and ever and anon, as the + old craft deep dived into the green seas, and sent the shivering frost all + over her, and the winds howled, and the cordage rang, his steady notes + were heard,— +

+
+      “Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood,
+         Stand dressed in living green.
+      So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
+         While Jordan rolled between.”
+
+

+ Never did those sweet words sound more sweetly to me than then. They were + full of hope and fruition. Spite of this frigid winter night in the + boisterous Atlantic, spite of my wet feet and wetter jacket, there was + yet, it then seemed to me, many a pleasant haven in store; and meads and + glades so eternally vernal, that the grass shot up by the spring, + untrodden, unwilted, remains at midsummer. +

+

+ At last we gained such an offing, that the two pilots were needed no + longer. The stout sail-boat that had accompanied us began ranging + alongside. +

+

+ It was curious and not unpleasing, how Peleg and Bildad were affected at + this juncture, especially Captain Bildad. For loath to depart, yet; very + loath to leave, for good, a ship bound on so long and perilous a voyage—beyond + both stormy Capes; a ship in which some thousands of his hard earned + dollars were invested; a ship, in which an old shipmate sailed as captain; + a man almost as old as he, once more starting to encounter all the terrors + of the pitiless jaw; loath to say good-bye to a thing so every way brimful + of every interest to him,—poor old Bildad lingered long; paced the + deck with anxious strides; ran down into the cabin to speak another + farewell word there; again came on deck, and looked to windward; looked + towards the wide and endless waters, only bounded by the far-off unseen + Eastern Continents; looked towards the land; looked aloft; looked right + and left; looked everywhere and nowhere; and at last, mechanically coiling + a rope upon its pin, convulsively grasped stout Peleg by the hand, and + holding up a lantern, for a moment stood gazing heroically in his face, as + much as to say, “Nevertheless, friend Peleg, I can stand it; yes, I can.” +

+

+ As for Peleg himself, he took it more like a philosopher; but for all his + philosophy, there was a tear twinkling in his eye, when the lantern came + too near. And he, too, did not a little run from cabin to deck—now a + word below, and now a word with Starbuck, the chief mate. +

+

+ But, at last, he turned to his comrade, with a final sort of look about + him,—“Captain Bildad—come, old shipmate, we must go. Back the + main-yard there! Boat ahoy! Stand by to come close alongside, now! + Careful, careful!—come, Bildad, boy—say your last. Luck to ye, + Starbuck—luck to ye, Mr. Stubb—luck to ye, Mr. Flask—good-bye + and good luck to ye all—and this day three years I’ll have a hot + supper smoking for ye in old Nantucket. Hurrah and away!” +

+

+ “God bless ye, and have ye in His holy keeping, men,” murmured old Bildad, + almost incoherently. “I hope ye’ll have fine weather now, so that Captain + Ahab may soon be moving among ye—a pleasant sun is all he needs, and + ye’ll have plenty of them in the tropic voyage ye go. Be careful in the + hunt, ye mates. Don’t stave the boats needlessly, ye harpooneers; good + white cedar plank is raised full three per cent. within the year. Don’t + forget your prayers, either. Mr. Starbuck, mind that cooper don’t waste + the spare staves. Oh! the sail-needles are in the green locker! Don’t + whale it too much a’ Lord’s days, men; but don’t miss a fair chance + either, that’s rejecting Heaven’s good gifts. Have an eye to the molasses + tierce, Mr. Stubb; it was a little leaky, I thought. If ye touch at the + islands, Mr. Flask, beware of fornication. Good-bye, good-bye! Don’t keep + that cheese too long down in the hold, Mr. Starbuck; it’ll spoil. Be + careful with the butter—twenty cents the pound it was, and mind ye, + if—” +

+

+ “Come, come, Captain Bildad; stop palavering,—away!” and with that, + Peleg hurried him over the side, and both dropt into the boat. +

+

+ Ship and boat diverged; the cold, damp night breeze blew between; a + screaming gull flew overhead; the two hulls wildly rolled; we gave three + heavy-hearted cheers, and blindly plunged like fate into the lone + Atlantic. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 23. The Lee Shore. +

+

+ Some chapters back, one Bulkington was spoken of, a tall, newlanded + mariner, encountered in New Bedford at the inn. +

+

+ When on that shivering winter’s night, the Pequod thrust her vindictive + bows into the cold malicious waves, who should I see standing at her helm + but Bulkington! I looked with sympathetic awe and fearfulness upon the + man, who in mid-winter just landed from a four years’ dangerous voyage, + could so unrestingly push off again for still another tempestuous term. + The land seemed scorching to his feet. Wonderfullest things are ever the + unmentionable; deep memories yield no epitaphs; this six-inch chapter is + the stoneless grave of Bulkington. Let me only say that it fared with him + as with the storm-tossed ship, that miserably drives along the leeward + land. The port would fain give succor; the port is pitiful; in the port is + safety, comfort, hearthstone, supper, warm blankets, friends, all that’s + kind to our mortalities. But in that gale, the port, the land, is that + ship’s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, + though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through. + With all her might she crowds all sail off shore; in so doing, fights + ’gainst the very winds that fain would blow her homeward; seeks all the + lashed sea’s landlessness again; for refuge’s sake forlornly rushing into + peril; her only friend her bitterest foe! +

+

+ Know ye now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally + intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid + effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the + wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, + slavish shore? +

+

+ But as in landlessness alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite + as God—so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be + ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, + then, oh! who would craven crawl to land! Terrors of the terrible! is all + this agony so vain? Take heart, take heart, O Bulkington! Bear thee + grimly, demigod! Up from the spray of thy ocean-perishing—straight + up, leaps thy apotheosis! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 24. The Advocate. +

+

+ As Queequeg and I are now fairly embarked in this business of whaling; and + as this business of whaling has somehow come to be regarded among landsmen + as a rather unpoetical and disreputable pursuit; therefore, I am all + anxiety to convince ye, ye landsmen, of the injustice hereby done to us + hunters of whales. +

+

+ In the first place, it may be deemed almost superfluous to establish the + fact, that among people at large, the business of whaling is not accounted + on a level with what are called the liberal professions. If a stranger + were introduced into any miscellaneous metropolitan society, it would but + slightly advance the general opinion of his merits, were he presented to + the company as a harpooneer, say; and if in emulation of the naval + officers he should append the initials S.W.F. (Sperm Whale Fishery) to his + visiting card, such a procedure would be deemed pre-eminently presuming + and ridiculous. +

+

+ Doubtless one leading reason why the world declines honoring us whalemen, + is this: they think that, at best, our vocation amounts to a butchering + sort of business; and that when actively engaged therein, we are + surrounded by all manner of defilements. Butchers we are, that is true. + But butchers, also, and butchers of the bloodiest badge have been all + Martial Commanders whom the world invariably delights to honor. And as + for the matter of the alleged uncleanliness of our business, ye shall soon + be initiated into certain facts hitherto pretty generally unknown, and + which, upon the whole, will triumphantly plant the sperm whale-ship at + least among the cleanliest things of this tidy earth. But even granting + the charge in question to be true; what disordered slippery decks of a + whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those + battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies’ + plaudits? And if the idea of peril so much enhances the popular conceit of + the soldier’s profession; let me assure ye that many a veteran who has + freely marched up to a battery, would quickly recoil at the apparition of + the sperm whale’s vast tail, fanning into eddies the air over his head. + For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the + interlinked terrors and wonders of God! +

+

+ But, though the world scouts at us whale hunters, yet does it unwittingly + pay us the profoundest homage; yea, an all-abounding adoration! for almost + all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn round the globe, burn, as + before so many shrines, to our glory! +

+

+ But look at this matter in other lights; weigh it in all sorts of scales; + see what we whalemen are, and have been. +

+

+ Why did the Dutch in De Witt’s time have admirals of their whaling fleets? + Why did Louis XVI. of France, at his own personal expense, fit out whaling + ships from Dunkirk, and politely invite to that town some score or two of + families from our own island of Nantucket? Why did Britain between the + years 1750 and 1788 pay to her whalemen in bounties upwards of £1,000,000? + And lastly, how comes it that we whalemen of America now outnumber all the + rest of the banded whalemen in the world; sail a navy of upwards of seven + hundred vessels; manned by eighteen thousand men; yearly consuming + 4,000,000 of dollars; the ships worth, at the time of sailing, + $20,000,000! and every year importing into our harbors a well reaped + harvest of $7,000,000. How comes all this, if there be not something + puissant in whaling? +

+

+ But this is not the half; look again. +

+

+ I freely assert, that the cosmopolite philosopher cannot, for his life, + point out one single peaceful influence, which within the last sixty years + has operated more potentially upon the whole broad world, taken in one + aggregate, than the high and mighty business of whaling. One way and + another, it has begotten events so remarkable in themselves, and so + continuously momentous in their sequential issues, that whaling may well + be regarded as that Egyptian mother, who bore offspring themselves + pregnant from her womb. It would be a hopeless, endless task to catalogue + all these things. Let a handful suffice. For many years past the + whale-ship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and least + known parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which + had no chart, where no Cook or Vancouver had ever sailed. If American and + European men-of-war now peacefully ride in once savage harbors, let them + fire salutes to the honor and glory of the whale-ship, which originally + showed them the way, and first interpreted between them and the savages. + They may celebrate as they will the heroes of Exploring Expeditions, your + Cooks, your Krusensterns; but I say that scores of anonymous Captains have + sailed out of Nantucket, that were as great, and greater than your Cook + and your Krusenstern. For in their succourless empty-handedness, they, in + the heathenish sharked waters, and by the beaches of unrecorded, javelin + islands, battled with virgin wonders and terrors that Cook with all his + marines and muskets would not willingly have dared. All that is made such + a flourish of in the old South Sea Voyages, those things were but the + life-time commonplaces of our heroic Nantucketers. Often, adventures which + Vancouver dedicates three chapters to, these men accounted unworthy of + being set down in the ship’s common log. Ah, the world! Oh, the world! +

+

+ Until the whale fishery rounded Cape Horn, no commerce but colonial, + scarcely any intercourse but colonial, was carried on between Europe and + the long line of the opulent Spanish provinces on the Pacific coast. It + was the whaleman who first broke through the jealous policy of the Spanish + crown, touching those colonies; and, if space permitted, it might be + distinctly shown how from those whalemen at last eventuated the liberation + of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia from the yoke of Old Spain, and the + establishment of the eternal democracy in those parts. +

+

+ That great America on the other side of the sphere, Australia, was given + to the enlightened world by the whaleman. After its first blunder-born + discovery by a Dutchman, all other ships long shunned those shores as + pestiferously barbarous; but the whale-ship touched there. The whale-ship + is the true mother of that now mighty colony. Moreover, in the infancy of + the first Australian settlement, the emigrants were several times saved + from starvation by the benevolent biscuit of the whale-ship luckily + dropping an anchor in their waters. The uncounted isles of all Polynesia + confess the same truth, and do commercial homage to the whale-ship, that + cleared the way for the missionary and the merchant, and in many cases + carried the primitive missionaries to their first destinations. If that + double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to become hospitable, it is the + whale-ship alone to whom the credit will be due; for already she is on the + threshold. +

+

+ But if, in the face of all this, you still declare that whaling has no + æsthetically noble associations connected with it, then am I ready to + shiver fifty lances with you there, and unhorse you with a split helmet + every time. +

+

+ The whale has no famous author, and whaling no famous chronicler, you will + say. +

+

+ The whale no famous author, and whaling no famous chronicler? Who wrote + the first account of our Leviathan? Who but mighty Job! And who composed + the first narrative of a whaling-voyage? Who, but no less a prince than + Alfred the Great, who, with his own royal pen, took down the words from + Other, the Norwegian whale-hunter of those times! And who pronounced our + glowing eulogy in Parliament? Who, but Edmund Burke! +

+

+ True enough, but then whalemen themselves are poor devils; they have no + good blood in their veins. +

+

+ No good blood in their veins? They have something better than royal blood + there. The grandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel; afterwards, + by marriage, Mary Folger, one of the old settlers of Nantucket, and the + ancestress to a long line of Folgers and harpooneers—all kith and + kin to noble Benjamin—this day darting the barbed iron from one side + of the world to the other. +

+

+ Good again; but then all confess that somehow whaling is not respectable. +

+

+ Whaling not respectable? Whaling is imperial! By old English statutory + law, the whale is declared “a royal fish.” * +

+

+ Oh, that’s only nominal! The whale himself has never figured in any grand + imposing way. +

+

+ The whale never figured in any grand imposing way? In one of the mighty + triumphs given to a Roman general upon his entering the world’s capital, + the bones of a whale, brought all the way from the Syrian coast, were the + most conspicuous object in the cymballed procession.* +

+

+ *See subsequent chapters for something more on this head. +

+

+ Grant it, since you cite it; but, say what you will, there is no real + dignity in whaling. +

+

+ No dignity in whaling? The dignity of our calling the very heavens attest. + Cetus is a constellation in the South! No more! Drive down your hat in + presence of the Czar, and take it off to Queequeg! No more! I know a man + that, in his lifetime, has taken three hundred and fifty whales. I account + that man more honorable than that great captain of antiquity who boasted + of taking as many walled towns. +

+

+ And, as for me, if, by any possibility, there be any as yet undiscovered + prime thing in me; if I shall ever deserve any real repute in that small + but high hushed world which I might not be unreasonably ambitious of; if + hereafter I shall do anything that, upon the whole, a man might rather + have done than to have left undone; if, at my death, my executors, or more + properly my creditors, find any precious MSS. in my desk, then here I + prospectively ascribe all the honor and the glory to whaling; for a + whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 25. Postscript. +

+

+ In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but + substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who + should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell + eloquently upon his cause—such an advocate, would he not be + blameworthy? +

+

+ It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern + ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is + gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be + a castor of state. How they use the salt, precisely—who knows? + Certain I am, however, that a king’s head is solemnly oiled at his + coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint + it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery? + Much might be ruminated here, concerning the essential dignity of this + regal process, because in common life we esteem but meanly and + contemptibly a fellow who anoints his hair, and palpably smells of that + anointing. In truth, a mature man who uses hair-oil, unless medicinally, + that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general + rule, he can’t amount to much in his totality. +

+

+ But the only thing to be considered here, is this—what kind of oil + is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar + oil, nor castor oil, nor bear’s oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. + What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, + unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils? +

+

+ Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens + with coronation stuff! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires. +

+

+ The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a + Quaker by descent. He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an icy + coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot latitudes, his flesh being hard + as twice-baked biscuit. Transported to the Indies, his live blood would + not spoil like bottled ale. He must have been born in some time of general + drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which his state is + famous. Only some thirty arid summers had he seen; those summers had dried + up all his physical superfluousness. But this, his thinness, so to speak, + seemed no more the token of wasting anxieties and cares, than it seemed + the indication of any bodily blight. It was merely the condensation of the + man. He was by no means ill-looking; quite the contrary. His pure tight + skin was an excellent fit; and closely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with + inner health and strength, like a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck + seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as + now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his + interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates. Looking into + his eyes, you seemed to see there the yet lingering images of those + thousand-fold perils he had calmly confronted through life. A staid, + steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of + action, and not a tame chapter of sounds. Yet, for all his hardy sobriety + and fortitude, there were certain qualities in him which at times + affected, and in some cases seemed well nigh to overbalance all the rest. + Uncommonly conscientious for a seaman, and endued with a deep natural + reverence, the wild watery loneliness of his life did therefore strongly + incline him to superstition; but to that sort of superstition, which in + some organizations seems rather to spring, somehow, from intelligence than + from ignorance. Outward portents and inward presentiments were his. And if + at times these things bent the welded iron of his soul, much more did his + far-away domestic memories of his young Cape wife and child, tend to bend + him still more from the original ruggedness of his nature, and open him + still further to those latent influences which, in some honest-hearted + men, restrain the gush of dare-devil daring, so often evinced by others in + the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. “I will have no man in my + boat,” said Starbuck, “who is not afraid of a whale.” By this, he seemed + to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which + arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an + utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward. +

+

+ “Aye, aye,” said Stubb, the second mate, “Starbuck, there, is as careful a + man as you’ll find anywhere in this fishery.” But we shall ere long see + what that word “careful” precisely means when used by a man like Stubb, or + almost any other whale hunter. +

+

+ Starbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a sentiment; + but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all mortally + practical occasions. Besides, he thought, perhaps, that in this business + of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits of the ship, like + her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly wasted. Wherefore he had + no fancy for lowering for whales after sun-down; nor for persisting in + fighting a fish that too much persisted in fighting him. For, thought + Starbuck, I am here in this critical ocean to kill whales for my living, + and not to be killed by them for theirs; and that hundreds of men had been + so killed Starbuck well knew. What doom was his own father’s? Where, in + the bottomless deeps, could he find the torn limbs of his brother? +

+

+ With memories like these in him, and, moreover, given to a certain + superstitiousness, as has been said; the courage of this Starbuck which + could, nevertheless, still flourish, must indeed have been extreme. But it + was not in reasonable nature that a man so organized, and with such + terrible experiences and remembrances as he had; it was not in nature that + these things should fail in latently engendering an element in him, which, + under suitable circumstances, would break out from its confinement, and + burn all his courage up. And brave as he might be, it was that sort of + bravery chiefly, visible in some intrepid men, which, while generally + abiding firm in the conflict with seas, or winds, or whales, or any of the + ordinary irrational horrors of the world, yet cannot withstand those more + terrific, because more spiritual terrors, which sometimes menace you from + the concentrating brow of an enraged and mighty man. +

+

+ But were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete + abasement of poor Starbuck’s fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to + write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose the + fall of valour in the soul. Men may seem detestable as joint + stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; + men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and + so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious + blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes. + That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that + it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with + keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man. Nor can + piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings + against the permitting stars. But this august dignity I treat of, is not + the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no + robed investiture. Thou shalt see it shining in the arm that wields a pick + or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates + without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The centre and + circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality! +

+

+ If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall + hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic + graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among them + all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall touch + that workman’s arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a rainbow + over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics bear me + out in it, thou just Spirit of Equality, which hast spread one royal + mantle of humanity over all my kind! Bear me out in it, thou great + democratic God! who didst not refuse to the swart convict, Bunyan, the + pale, poetic pearl; Thou who didst clothe with doubly hammered leaves of + finest gold, the stumped and paupered arm of old Cervantes; Thou who didst + pick up Andrew Jackson from the pebbles; who didst hurl him upon a + war-horse; who didst thunder him higher than a throne! Thou who, in all + Thy mighty, earthly marchings, ever cullest Thy selectest champions from + the kingly commons; bear me out in it, O God! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires. +

+

+ Stubb was the second mate. He was a native of Cape Cod; and hence, + according to local usage, was called a Cape-Cod-man. A happy-go-lucky; + neither craven nor valiant; taking perils as they came with an indifferent + air; and while engaged in the most imminent crisis of the chase, toiling + away, calm and collected as a journeyman joiner engaged for the year. + Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if + the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited + guests. He was as particular about the comfortable arrangement of his part + of the boat, as an old stage-driver is about the snugness of his box. When + close to the whale, in the very death-lock of the fight, he handled his + unpitying lance coolly and off-handedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer. + He would hum over his old rigadig tunes while flank and flank with the + most exasperated monster. Long usage had, for this Stubb, converted the + jaws of death into an easy chair. What he thought of death itself, there + is no telling. Whether he ever thought of it at all, might be a question; + but, if he ever did chance to cast his mind that way after a comfortable + dinner, no doubt, like a good sailor, he took it to be a sort of call of + the watch to tumble aloft, and bestir themselves there, about something + which he would find out when he obeyed the order, and not sooner. +

+

+ What, perhaps, with other things, made Stubb such an easy-going, unfearing + man, so cheerily trudging off with the burden of life in a world full of + grave pedlars, all bowed to the ground with their packs; what helped to + bring about that almost impious good-humor of his; that thing must have + been his pipe. For, like his nose, his short, black little pipe was one of + the regular features of his face. You would almost as soon have expected + him to turn out of his bunk without his nose as without his pipe. He kept + a whole row of pipes there ready loaded, stuck in a rack, within easy + reach of his hand; and, whenever he turned in, he smoked them all out in + succession, lighting one from the other to the end of the chapter; then + loading them again to be in readiness anew. For, when Stubb dressed, + instead of first putting his legs into his trowsers, he put his pipe into + his mouth. +

+

+ I say this continual smoking must have been one cause, at least, of his + peculiar disposition; for every one knows that this earthly air, whether + ashore or afloat, is terribly infected with the nameless miseries of the + numberless mortals who have died exhaling it; and as in time of the + cholera, some people go about with a camphorated handkerchief to their + mouths; so, likewise, against all mortal tribulations, Stubb’s tobacco + smoke might have operated as a sort of disinfecting agent. +

+

+ The third mate was Flask, a native of Tisbury, in Martha’s Vineyard. A + short, stout, ruddy young fellow, very pugnacious concerning whales, who + somehow seemed to think that the great leviathans had personally and + hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort of point of honor + with him, to destroy them whenever encountered. So utterly lost was he to + all sense of reverence for the many marvels of their majestic bulk and + mystic ways; and so dead to anything like an apprehension of any possible + danger from encountering them; that in his poor opinion, the wondrous + whale was but a species of magnified mouse, or at least water-rat, + requiring only a little circumvention and some small application of time + and trouble in order to kill and boil. This ignorant, unconscious + fearlessness of his made him a little waggish in the matter of whales; he + followed these fish for the fun of it; and a three years’ voyage round + Cape Horn was only a jolly joke that lasted that length of time. As a + carpenter’s nails are divided into wrought nails and cut nails; so mankind + may be similarly divided. Little Flask was one of the wrought ones; made + to clinch tight and last long. They called him King-Post on board of the + Pequod; because, in form, he could be well likened to the short, square + timber known by that name in Arctic whalers; and which by the means of + many radiating side timbers inserted into it, serves to brace the ship + against the icy concussions of those battering seas. +

+

+ Now these three mates—Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, were momentous + men. They it was who by universal prescription commanded three of the + Pequod’s boats as headsmen. In that grand order of battle in which Captain + Ahab would probably marshal his forces to descend on the whales, these + three headsmen were as captains of companies. Or, being armed with their + long keen whaling spears, they were as a picked trio of lancers; even as + the harpooneers were flingers of javelins. +

+

+ And since in this famous fishery, each mate or headsman, like a Gothic + Knight of old, is always accompanied by his boat-steerer or harpooneer, + who in certain conjunctures provides him with a fresh lance, when the + former one has been badly twisted, or elbowed in the assault; and + moreover, as there generally subsists between the two, a close intimacy + and friendliness; it is therefore but meet, that in this place we set down + who the Pequod’s harpooneers were, and to what headsman each of them + belonged. +

+

+ First of all was Queequeg, whom Starbuck, the chief mate, had selected for + his squire. But Queequeg is already known. +

+

+ Next was Tashtego, an unmixed Indian from Gay Head, the most westerly + promontory of Martha’s Vineyard, where there still exists the last remnant + of a village of red men, which has long supplied the neighboring island of + Nantucket with many of her most daring harpooneers. In the fishery, they + usually go by the generic name of Gay-Headers. Tashtego’s long, lean, + sable hair, his high cheek bones, and black rounding eyes—for an + Indian, Oriental in their largeness, but Antarctic in their glittering + expression—all this sufficiently proclaimed him an inheritor of the + unvitiated blood of those proud warrior hunters, who, in quest of the + great New England moose, had scoured, bow in hand, the aboriginal forests + of the main. But no longer snuffing in the trail of the wild beasts of the + woodland, Tashtego now hunted in the wake of the great whales of the sea; + the unerring harpoon of the son fitly replacing the infallible arrow of + the sires. To look at the tawny brawn of his lithe snaky limbs, you would + almost have credited the superstitions of some of the earlier Puritans, + and half-believed this wild Indian to be a son of the Prince of the Powers + of the Air. Tashtego was Stubb the second mate’s squire. +

+

+ Third among the harpooneers was Daggoo, a gigantic, coal-black + negro-savage, with a lion-like tread—an Ahasuerus to behold. + Suspended from his ears were two golden hoops, so large that the sailors + called them ring-bolts, and would talk of securing the top-sail halyards + to them. In his youth Daggoo had voluntarily shipped on board of a whaler, + lying in a lonely bay on his native coast. And never having been anywhere + in the world but in Africa, Nantucket, and the pagan harbors most + frequented by whalemen; and having now led for many years the bold life of + the fishery in the ships of owners uncommonly heedful of what manner of + men they shipped; Daggoo retained all his barbaric virtues, and erect as a + giraffe, moved about the decks in all the pomp of six feet five in his + socks. There was a corporeal humility in looking up at him; and a white + man standing before him seemed a white flag come to beg truce of a + fortress. Curious to tell, this imperial negro, Ahasuerus Daggoo, was the + Squire of little Flask, who looked like a chess-man beside him. As for the + residue of the Pequod’s company, be it said, that at the present day not + one in two of the many thousand men before the mast employed in the + American whale fishery, are Americans born, though pretty nearly all the + officers are. Herein it is the same with the American whale fishery as + with the American army and military and merchant navies, and the + engineering forces employed in the construction of the American Canals and + Railroads. The same, I say, because in all these cases the native American + liberally provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously + supplying the muscles. No small number of these whaling seamen belong to + the Azores, where the outward bound Nantucket whalers frequently touch to + augment their crews from the hardy peasants of those rocky shores. In like + manner, the Greenland whalers sailing out of Hull or London, put in at the + Shetland Islands, to receive the full complement of their crew. Upon the + passage homewards, they drop them there again. How it is, there is no + telling, but Islanders seem to make the best whalemen. They were nearly + all Islanders in the Pequod, Isolatoes too, I call such, not acknowledging + the common continent of men, but each Isolato living on a separate + continent of his own. Yet now, federated along one keel, what a set these + Isolatoes were! An Anacharsis Clootz deputation from all the isles of the + sea, and all the ends of the earth, accompanying Old Ahab in the Pequod to + lay the world’s grievances before that bar from which not very many of + them ever come back. Black Little Pip—he never did—oh, no! he + went before. Poor Alabama boy! On the grim Pequod’s forecastle, ye shall + ere long see him, beating his tambourine; prelusive of the eternal time, + when sent for, to the great quarter-deck on high, he was bid strike in + with angels, and beat his tambourine in glory; called a coward here, + hailed a hero there! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 28. Ahab. +

+

+ For several days after leaving Nantucket, nothing above hatches was seen + of Captain Ahab. The mates regularly relieved each other at the watches, + and for aught that could be seen to the contrary, they seemed to be the + only commanders of the ship; only they sometimes issued from the cabin + with orders so sudden and peremptory, that after all it was plain they but + commanded vicariously. Yes, their supreme lord and dictator was there, + though hitherto unseen by any eyes not permitted to penetrate into the now + sacred retreat of the cabin. +

+

+ Every time I ascended to the deck from my watches below, I instantly gazed + aft to mark if any strange face were visible; for my first vague + disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, + became almost a perturbation. This was strangely heightened at times by + the ragged Elijah’s diabolical incoherences uninvitedly recurring to me, + with a subtle energy I could not have before conceived of. But poorly + could I withstand them, much as in other moods I was almost ready to smile + at the solemn whimsicalities of that outlandish prophet of the wharves. + But whatever it was of apprehensiveness or uneasiness—to call it so—which + I felt, yet whenever I came to look about me in the ship, it seemed + against all warrantry to cherish such emotions. For though the + harpooneers, with the great body of the crew, were a far more barbaric, + heathenish, and motley set than any of the tame merchant-ship companies + which my previous experiences had made me acquainted with, still I + ascribed this—and rightly ascribed it—to the fierce uniqueness + of the very nature of that wild Scandinavian vocation in which I had so + abandonedly embarked. But it was especially the aspect of the three chief + officers of the ship, the mates, which was most forcibly calculated to + allay these colourless misgivings, and induce confidence and cheerfulness + in every presentment of the voyage. Three better, more likely sea-officers + and men, each in his own different way, could not readily be found, and + they were every one of them Americans; a Nantucketer, a Vineyarder, a Cape + man. Now, it being Christmas when the ship shot from out her harbor, for a + space we had biting Polar weather, though all the time running away from + it to the southward; and by every degree and minute of latitude which we + sailed, gradually leaving that merciless winter, and all its intolerable + weather behind us. It was one of those less lowering, but still grey and + gloomy enough mornings of the transition, when with a fair wind the ship + was rushing through the water with a vindictive sort of leaping and + melancholy rapidity, that as I mounted to the deck at the call of the + forenoon watch, so soon as I levelled my glance towards the taffrail, + foreboding shivers ran over me. Reality outran apprehension; Captain Ahab + stood upon his quarter-deck. +

+

+ There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the + recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the + fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or + taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole + high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an + unalterable mould, like Cellini’s cast Perseus. Threading its way out from + among his grey hairs, and continuing right down one side of his tawny + scorched face and neck, till it disappeared in his clothing, you saw a + slender rod-like mark, lividly whitish. It resembled that perpendicular + seam sometimes made in the straight, lofty trunk of a great tree, when the + upper lightning tearingly darts down it, and without wrenching a single + twig, peels and grooves out the bark from top to bottom, ere running off + into the soil, leaving the tree still greenly alive, but branded. Whether + that mark was born with him, or whether it was the scar left by some + desperate wound, no one could certainly say. By some tacit consent, + throughout the voyage little or no allusion was made to it, especially by + the mates. But once Tashtego’s senior, an old Gay-Head Indian among the + crew, superstitiously asserted that not till he was full forty years old + did Ahab become that way branded, and then it came upon him, not in the + fury of any mortal fray, but in an elemental strife at sea. Yet, this wild + hint seemed inferentially negatived, by what a grey Manxman insinuated, an + old sepulchral man, who, having never before sailed out of Nantucket, had + never ere this laid eye upon wild Ahab. Nevertheless, the old + sea-traditions, the immemorial credulities, popularly invested this old + Manxman with preternatural powers of discernment. So that no white sailor + seriously contradicted him when he said that if ever Captain Ahab should + be tranquilly laid out—which might hardly come to pass, so he + muttered—then, whoever should do that last office for the dead, + would find a birth-mark on him from crown to sole. +

+

+ So powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me, and the livid + brand which streaked it, that for the first few moments I hardly noted + that not a little of this overbearing grimness was owing to the barbaric + white leg upon which he partly stood. It had previously come to me that + this ivory leg had at sea been fashioned from the polished bone of the + sperm whale’s jaw. “Aye, he was dismasted off Japan,” said the old + Gay-Head Indian once; “but like his dismasted craft, he shipped another + mast without coming home for it. He has a quiver of ’em.” +

+

+ I was struck with the singular posture he maintained. Upon each side of + the Pequod’s quarter deck, and pretty close to the mizzen shrouds, there + was an auger hole, bored about half an inch or so, into the plank. His + bone leg steadied in that hole; one arm elevated, and holding by a shroud; + Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship’s + ever-pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a + determinate, unsurrenderable wilfulness, in the fixed and fearless, + forward dedication of that glance. Not a word he spoke; nor did his + officers say aught to him; though by all their minutest gestures and + expressions, they plainly showed the uneasy, if not painful, consciousness + of being under a troubled master-eye. And not only that, but moody + stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the + nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe. +

+

+ Ere long, from his first visit in the air, he withdrew into his cabin. But + after that morning, he was every day visible to the crew; either standing + in his pivot-hole, or seated upon an ivory stool he had; or heavily + walking the deck. As the sky grew less gloomy; indeed, began to grow a + little genial, he became still less and less a recluse; as if, when the + ship had sailed from home, nothing but the dead wintry bleakness of the + sea had then kept him so secluded. And, by and by, it came to pass, that + he was almost continually in the air; but, as yet, for all that he said, + or perceptibly did, on the at last sunny deck, he seemed as unnecessary + there as another mast. But the Pequod was only making a passage now; not + regularly cruising; nearly all whaling preparatives needing supervision + the mates were fully competent to, so that there was little or nothing, + out of himself, to employ or excite Ahab, now; and thus chase away, for + that one interval, the clouds that layer upon layer were piled upon his + brow, as ever all clouds choose the loftiest peaks to pile themselves + upon. +

+

+ Nevertheless, ere long, the warm, warbling persuasiveness of the pleasant, + holiday weather we came to, seemed gradually to charm him from his mood. + For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to + the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most + thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to + welcome such glad-hearted visitants; so Ahab did, in the end, a little + respond to the playful allurings of that girlish air. More than once did + he put forth the faint blossom of a look, which, in any other man, would + have soon flowered out in a smile. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb. +

+

+ Some days elapsed, and ice and icebergs all astern, the Pequod now went + rolling through the bright Quito spring, which, at sea, almost perpetually + reigns on the threshold of the eternal August of the Tropic. The warmly + cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as + crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up—flaked up, with + rose-water snow. The starred and stately nights seemed haughty dames in + jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely pride, the memory of their + absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted suns! For sleeping man, ’twas + hard to choose between such winsome days and such seducing nights. But all + the witcheries of that unwaning weather did not merely lend new spells and + potencies to the outward world. Inward they turned upon the soul, + especially when the still mild hours of eve came on; then, memory shot her + crystals as the clear ice most forms of noiseless twilights. And all these + subtle agencies, more and more they wrought on Ahab’s texture. +

+

+ Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less + man has to do with aught that looks like death. Among sea-commanders, the + old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the night-cloaked + deck. It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to + live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the + cabin, than from the cabin to the planks. “It feels like going down into + one’s tomb,”—he would mutter to himself—“for an old captain + like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug + berth.” +

+

+ So, almost every twenty-four hours, when the watches of the night were + set, and the band on deck sentinelled the slumbers of the band below; and + when if a rope was to be hauled upon the forecastle, the sailors flung it + not rudely down, as by day, but with some cautiousness dropt it to its + place for fear of disturbing their slumbering shipmates; when this sort of + steady quietude would begin to prevail, habitually, the silent steersman + would watch the cabin-scuttle; and ere long the old man would emerge, + gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled way. Some considering + touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually + abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, + seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been + the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would + have been on the crunching teeth of sharks. But once, the mood was on him + too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was + measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the old second mate, + came up from below, with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, + hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one + could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting + something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the + insertion into it, of the ivory heel. Ah! Stubb, thou didst not know Ahab + then. +

+

+ “Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb,” said Ahab, “that thou wouldst wad me that + fashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave; where + such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filling one at last.—Down, + dog, and kennel!” +

+

+ Starting at the unforseen concluding exclamation of the so suddenly + scornful old man, Stubb was speechless a moment; then said excitedly, “I + am not used to be spoken to that way, sir; I do but less than half like + it, sir.” +

+

+ “Avast! gritted Ahab between his set teeth, and violently moving away, as + if to avoid some passionate temptation. +

+

+ “No, sir; not yet,” said Stubb, emboldened, “I will not tamely be called a + dog, sir.” +

+

+ “Then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone, or + I’ll clear the world of thee!” +

+

+ As he said this, Ahab advanced upon him with such overbearing terrors in + his aspect, that Stubb involuntarily retreated. +

+

+ “I was never served so before without giving a hard blow for it,” muttered + Stubb, as he found himself descending the cabin-scuttle. “It’s very queer. + Stop, Stubb; somehow, now, I don’t well know whether to go back and strike + him, or—what’s that?—down here on my knees and pray for him? + Yes, that was the thought coming up in me; but it would be the first time + I ever did pray. It’s queer; very queer; and he’s queer too; aye, take him + fore and aft, he’s about the queerest old man Stubb ever sailed with. How + he flashed at me!—his eyes like powder-pans! is he mad? Anyway + there’s something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a + deck when it cracks. He aint in his bed now, either, more than three hours + out of the twenty-four; and he don’t sleep then. Didn’t that Dough-Boy, + the steward, tell me that of a morning he always finds the old man’s + hammock clothes all rumpled and tumbled, and the sheets down at the foot, + and the coverlid almost tied into knots, and the pillow a sort of + frightful hot, as though a baked brick had been on it? A hot old man! I + guess he’s got what some folks ashore call a conscience; it’s a kind of + Tic-Dolly-row they say—worse nor a toothache. Well, well; I don’t + know what it is, but the Lord keep me from catching it. He’s full of + riddles; I wonder what he goes into the after hold for, every night, as + Dough-Boy tells me he suspects; what’s that for, I should like to know? + Who’s made appointments with him in the hold? Ain’t that queer, now? But + there’s no telling, it’s the old game—Here goes for a snooze. Damn + me, it’s worth a fellow’s while to be born into the world, if only to fall + right asleep. And now that I think of it, that’s about the first thing + babies do, and that’s a sort of queer, too. Damn me, but all things are + queer, come to think of ’em. But that’s against my principles. Think not, + is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth—So + here goes again. But how’s that? didn’t he call me a dog? blazes! he + called me ten times a donkey, and piled a lot of jackasses on top of that! + He might as well have kicked me, and done with it. Maybe he did kick me, + and I didn’t observe it, I was so taken all aback with his brow, somehow. + It flashed like a bleached bone. What the devil’s the matter with me? I + don’t stand right on my legs. Coming afoul of that old man has a sort of + turned me wrong side out. By the Lord, I must have been dreaming, though—How? + how? how?—but the only way’s to stash it; so here goes to hammock + again; and in the morning, I’ll see how this plaguey juggling thinks over + by daylight.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 30. The Pipe. +

+

+ When Stubb had departed, Ahab stood for a while leaning over the bulwarks; + and then, as had been usual with him of late, calling a sailor of the + watch, he sent him below for his ivory stool, and also his pipe. Lighting + the pipe at the binnacle lamp and planting the stool on the weather side + of the deck, he sat and smoked. +

+

+ In old Norse times, the thrones of the sea-loving Danish kings were + fabricated, saith tradition, of the tusks of the narwhale. How could one + look at Ahab then, seated on that tripod of bones, without bethinking him + of the royalty it symbolized? For a Khan of the plank, and a king of the + sea, and a great lord of Leviathans was Ahab. +

+

+ Some moments passed, during which the thick vapor came from his mouth in + quick and constant puffs, which blew back again into his face. “How now,” + he soliloquized at last, withdrawing the tube, “this smoking no longer + soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here + have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring—aye, and + ignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such + nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jets were the + strongest and fullest of trouble. What business have I with this pipe? + This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapors + among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I’ll + smoke no more—” +

+

+ He tossed the still lighted pipe into the sea. The fire hissed in the + waves; the same instant the ship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made. + With slouched hat, Ahab lurchingly paced the planks. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 31. Queen Mab. +

+

+ Next morning Stubb accosted Flask. +

+

+ “Such a queer dream, King-Post, I never had. You know the old man’s ivory + leg, well I dreamed he kicked me with it; and when I tried to kick back, + upon my soul, my little man, I kicked my leg right off! And then, presto! + Ahab seemed a pyramid, and I, like a blazing fool, kept kicking at it. But + what was still more curious, Flask—you know how curious all dreams + are—through all this rage that I was in, I somehow seemed to be + thinking to myself, that after all, it was not much of an insult, that + kick from Ahab. ‘Why,’ thinks I, ‘what’s the row? It’s not a real leg, + only a false leg.’ And there’s a mighty difference between a living thump + and a dead thump. That’s what makes a blow from the hand, Flask, fifty + times more savage to bear than a blow from a cane. The living member—that + makes the living insult, my little man. And thinks I to myself all the + while, mind, while I was stubbing my silly toes against that cursed + pyramid—so confoundedly contradictory was it all, all the while, I + say, I was thinking to myself, ‘what’s his leg now, but a cane—a + whalebone cane. Yes,’ thinks I, ‘it was only a playful cudgelling—in + fact, only a whaleboning that he gave me—not a base kick. Besides,’ + thinks I, ‘look at it once; why, the end of it—the foot part—what + a small sort of end it is; whereas, if a broad footed farmer kicked me, + there’s a devilish broad insult. But this insult is whittled down to a + point only.’ But now comes the greatest joke of the dream, Flask. While I + was battering away at the pyramid, a sort of badger-haired old merman, + with a hump on his back, takes me by the shoulders, and slews me round. + ‘What are you ’bout?’ says he. Slid! man, but I was frightened. Such a + phiz! But, somehow, next moment I was over the fright. ‘What am I about?’ + says I at last. ‘And what business is that of yours, I should like to + know, Mr. Humpback? Do you want a kick?’ By the lord, Flask, I had no + sooner said that, than he turned round his stern to me, bent over, and + dragging up a lot of seaweed he had for a clout—what do you think, I + saw?—why thunder alive, man, his stern was stuck full of + marlinspikes, with the points out. Says I, on second thoughts, ‘I guess I + won’t kick you, old fellow.’ ‘Wise Stubb,’ said he, ‘wise Stubb;’ and kept + muttering it all the time, a sort of eating of his own gums like a chimney + hag. Seeing he wasn’t going to stop saying over his ‘wise Stubb, wise + Stubb,’ I thought I might as well fall to kicking the pyramid again. But I + had only just lifted my foot for it, when he roared out, ‘Stop that + kicking!’ ‘Halloa,’ says I, ‘what’s the matter now, old fellow?’ ‘Look ye + here,’ says he; ‘let’s argue the insult. Captain Ahab kicked ye, didn’t + he?’ ‘Yes, he did,’ says I—‘right here it was.’ ‘Very good,’ says he—‘he + used his ivory leg, didn’t he?’ ‘Yes, he did,’ says I. ‘Well then,’ says + he, ‘wise Stubb, what have you to complain of? Didn’t he kick with right + good will? it wasn’t a common pitch pine leg he kicked with, was it? No, + you were kicked by a great man, and with a beautiful ivory leg, Stubb. + It’s an honor; I consider it an honor. Listen, wise Stubb. In old + England the greatest lords think it great glory to be slapped by a queen, + and made garter-knights of; but, be your boast, Stubb, that ye were kicked + by old Ahab, and made a wise man of. Remember what I say; be kicked by + him; account his kicks honors; and on no account kick back; for you can’t + help yourself, wise Stubb. Don’t you see that pyramid?’ With that, he all + of a sudden seemed somehow, in some queer fashion, to swim off into the + air. I snored; rolled over; and there I was in my hammock! Now, what do + you think of that dream, Flask?” +

+

+ “I don’t know; it seems a sort of foolish to me, tho.’” +

+

+ “May be; may be. But it’s made a wise man of me, Flask. D’ye see Ahab + standing there, sideways looking over the stern? Well, the best thing you + can do, Flask, is to let the old man alone; never speak to him, whatever + he says. Halloa! What’s that he shouts? Hark!” +

+

+ “Mast-head, there! Look sharp, all of ye! There are whales hereabouts! +

+

+ “If ye see a white one, split your lungs for him! +

+

+ “What do you think of that now, Flask? ain’t there a small drop of + something queer about that, eh? A white whale—did ye mark that, man? + Look ye—there’s something special in the wind. Stand by for it, + Flask. Ahab has that that’s bloody on his mind. But, mum; he comes this + way.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 32. Cetology. +

+

+ Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in + its unshored, harbourless immensities. Ere that come to pass; ere the + Pequod’s weedy hull rolls side by side with the barnacled hulls of the + leviathan; at the outset it is but well to attend to a matter almost + indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special + leviathanic revelations and allusions of all sorts which are to follow. +

+

+ It is some systematized exhibition of the whale in his broad genera, that + I would now fain put before you. Yet is it no easy task. The + classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here + essayed. Listen to what the best and latest authorities have laid down. +

+

+ “No branch of Zoology is so much involved as that which is entitled + Cetology,” says Captain Scoresby, A.D. 1820. +

+

+ “It is not my intention, were it in my power, to enter into the inquiry as + to the true method of dividing the cetacea into groups and families. * * * + Utter confusion exists among the historians of this animal” (sperm whale), + says Surgeon Beale, A.D. 1839. +

+

+ “Unfitness to pursue our research in the unfathomable waters.” + “Impenetrable veil covering our knowledge of the cetacea.” “A field strewn + with thorns.” “All these incomplete indications but serve to torture us + naturalists.” +

+

+ Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and John Hunter, and Lesson, + those lights of zoology and anatomy. Nevertheless, though of real + knowledge there be little, yet of books there are a plenty; and so in some + small degree, with cetology, or the science of whales. Many are the men, + small and great, old and new, landsmen and seamen, who have at large or in + little, written of the whale. Run over a few:—The Authors of the + Bible; Aristotle; Pliny; Aldrovandi; Sir Thomas Browne; Gesner; Ray; + Linnæus; Rondeletius; Willoughby; Green; Artedi; Sibbald; Brisson; + Marten; Lacépède; Bonneterre; Desmarest; Baron Cuvier; Frederick Cuvier; + John Hunter; Owen; Scoresby; Beale; Bennett; J. Ross Browne; the Author of + Miriam Coffin; Olmstead; and the Rev. T. Cheever. But to what ultimate + generalizing purpose all these have written, the above cited extracts will + show. +

+

+ Of the names in this list of whale authors, only those following Owen ever + saw living whales; and but one of them was a real professional harpooneer + and whaleman. I mean Captain Scoresby. On the separate subject of the + Greenland or right-whale, he is the best existing authority. But Scoresby + knew nothing and says nothing of the great sperm whale, compared with + which the Greenland whale is almost unworthy mentioning. And here be it + said, that the Greenland whale is an usurper upon the throne of the seas. + He is not even by any means the largest of the whales. Yet, owing to the + long priority of his claims, and the profound ignorance which, till some + seventy years back, invested the then fabulous or utterly unknown + sperm-whale, and which ignorance to this present day still reigns in all + but some few scientific retreats and whale-ports; this usurpation has been + every way complete. Reference to nearly all the leviathanic allusions in + the great poets of past days, will satisfy you that the Greenland whale, + without one rival, was to them the monarch of the seas. But the time has + at last come for a new proclamation. This is Charing Cross; hear ye! good + people all,—the Greenland whale is deposed,—the great sperm + whale now reigneth! +

+

+ There are only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living + sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree + succeed in the attempt. Those books are Beale’s and Bennett’s; both in + their time surgeons to English South-Sea whale-ships, and both exact and + reliable men. The original matter touching the sperm whale to be found in + their volumes is necessarily small; but so far as it goes, it is of + excellent quality, though mostly confined to scientific description. As + yet, however, the sperm whale, scientific or poetic, lives not complete in + any literature. Far above all other hunted whales, his is an unwritten + life. +

+

+ Now the various species of whales need some sort of popular comprehensive + classification, if only an easy outline one for the present, hereafter to + be filled in all its departments by subsequent laborers. As no better man + advances to take this matter in hand, I hereupon offer my own poor + endeavors. I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to + be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty. I shall not + pretend to a minute anatomical description of the various species, or—in + this place at least—to much of any description. My object here is + simply to project the draught of a systematization of cetology. I am the + architect, not the builder. +

+

+ But it is a ponderous task; no ordinary letter-sorter in the Post-Office + is equal to it. To grope down into the bottom of the sea after them; to + have one’s hands among the unspeakable foundations, ribs, and very pelvis + of the world; this is a fearful thing. What am I that I should essay to + hook the nose of this leviathan! The awful tauntings in Job might well + appal me. Will he (the leviathan) make a covenant with thee? Behold the + hope of him is vain! But I have swam through libraries and sailed through + oceans; I have had to do with whales with these visible hands; I am in + earnest; and I will try. There are some preliminaries to settle. +

+

+ First: The uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is + in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still + remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish. In his System of Nature, + A.D. 1776, Linnæus declares, “I hereby separate the whales from the + fish.” But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year 1850, sharks + and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnæus’s express edict, were + still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan. +

+

+ The grounds upon which Linnæus would fain have banished the whales from + the waters, he states as follows: “On account of their warm bilocular + heart, their lungs, their movable eyelids, their hollow ears, penem + intrantem feminam mammis lactantem,” and finally, “ex lege naturæ jure + meritoque.” I submitted all this to my friends Simeon Macey and Charley + Coffin, of Nantucket, both messmates of mine in a certain voyage, and they + united in the opinion that the reasons set forth were altogether + insufficient. Charley profanely hinted they were humbug. +

+

+ Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned + ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me. This + fundamental thing settled, the next point is, in what internal respect + does the whale differ from other fish. Above, Linnæus has given you those + items. But in brief, they are these: lungs and warm blood; whereas, all + other fish are lungless and cold blooded. +

+

+ Next: how shall we define the whale, by his obvious externals, so as + conspicuously to label him for all time to come? To be short, then, a + whale is a spouting fish with a horizontal tail. There you have him. + However contracted, that definition is the result of expanded meditation. + A walrus spouts much like a whale, but the walrus is not a fish, because + he is amphibious. But the last term of the definition is still more + cogent, as coupled with the first. Almost any one must have noticed that + all the fish familiar to landsmen have not a flat, but a vertical, or + up-and-down tail. Whereas, among spouting fish the tail, though it may be + similarly shaped, invariably assumes a horizontal position. +

+

+ By the above definition of what a whale is, I do by no means exclude from + the leviathanic brotherhood any sea creature hitherto identified with the + whale by the best informed Nantucketers; nor, on the other hand, link with + it any fish hitherto authoritatively regarded as alien.* Hence, all the + smaller, spouting, and horizontal tailed fish must be included in this + ground-plan of Cetology. Now, then, come the grand divisions of the entire + whale host. +

+

+ *I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and + Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included + by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, + contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on + wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as + whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom + of Cetology. +

+

+ First: According to magnitude I divide the whales into three primary BOOKS + (subdivisible into CHAPTERS), and these shall comprehend them all, both + small and large. +

+

+ I. THE FOLIO WHALE; II. the OCTAVO WHALE; III. the DUODECIMO WHALE. +

+

+ As the type of the FOLIO I present the Sperm Whale; of the OCTAVO, the + Grampus; of the DUODECIMO, the Porpoise. +

+

+ FOLIOS. Among these I here include the following chapters:—I. The + Sperm Whale; II. the Right Whale; III. the Fin-Back Whale; IV. the + Hump-backed Whale; V. the Razor Back Whale; VI. the Sulphur Bottom Whale. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER I. (Sperm Whale).—This whale, among the + English of old vaguely known as the Trumpa whale, and the Physeter whale, + and the Anvil Headed whale, is the present Cachalot of the French, and the + Pottsfich of the Germans, and the Macrocephalus of the Long Words. He is, + without doubt, the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of + all whales to encounter; the most majestic in aspect; and lastly, by far + the most valuable in commerce; he being the only creature from which that + valuable substance, spermaceti, is obtained. All his peculiarities will, + in many other places, be enlarged upon. It is chiefly with his name that I + now have to do. Philologically considered, it is absurd. Some centuries + ago, when the Sperm whale was almost wholly unknown in his own proper + individuality, and when his oil was only accidentally obtained from the + stranded fish; in those days spermaceti, it would seem, was popularly + supposed to be derived from a creature identical with the one then known + in England as the Greenland or Right Whale. It was the idea also, that + this same spermaceti was that quickening humor of the Greenland Whale + which the first syllable of the word literally expresses. In those times, + also, spermaceti was exceedingly scarce, not being used for light, but + only as an ointment and medicament. It was only to be had from the + druggists as you nowadays buy an ounce of rhubarb. When, as I opine, in + the course of time, the true nature of spermaceti became known, its + original name was still retained by the dealers; no doubt to enhance its + value by a notion so strangely significant of its scarcity. And so the + appellation must at last have come to be bestowed upon the whale from + which this spermaceti was really derived. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER II. (Right Whale).—In one respect this is + the most venerable of the leviathans, being the one first regularly hunted + by man. It yields the article commonly known as whalebone or baleen; and + the oil specially known as “whale oil,” an inferior article in commerce. + Among the fishermen, he is indiscriminately designated by all the + following titles: The Whale; the Greenland Whale; the Black Whale; the + Great Whale; the True Whale; the Right Whale. There is a deal of obscurity + concerning the identity of the species thus multitudinously baptised. What + then is the whale, which I include in the second species of my Folios? It + is the Great Mysticetus of the English naturalists; the Greenland Whale of + the English whalemen; the Baleine Ordinaire of the French whalemen; the + Growlands Walfish of the Swedes. It is the whale which for more than two + centuries past has been hunted by the Dutch and English in the Arctic + seas; it is the whale which the American fishermen have long pursued in + the Indian ocean, on the Brazil Banks, on the Nor’ West Coast, and various + other parts of the world, designated by them Right Whale Cruising Grounds. +

+

+ Some pretend to see a difference between the Greenland whale of the + English and the right whale of the Americans. But they precisely agree in + all their grand features; nor has there yet been presented a single + determinate fact upon which to ground a radical distinction. It is by + endless subdivisions based upon the most inconclusive differences, that + some departments of natural history become so repellingly intricate. The + right whale will be elsewhere treated of at some length, with reference to + elucidating the sperm whale. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER III. (Fin-Back).—Under this head I reckon a + monster which, by the various names of Fin-Back, Tall-Spout, and + Long-John, has been seen almost in every sea and is commonly the whale + whose distant jet is so often descried by passengers crossing the + Atlantic, in the New York packet-tracks. In the length he attains, and in + his baleen, the Fin-back resembles the right whale, but is of a less + portly girth, and a lighter colour, approaching to olive. His great lips + present a cable-like aspect, formed by the intertwisting, slanting folds + of large wrinkles. His grand distinguishing feature, the fin, from which + he derives his name, is often a conspicuous object. This fin is some three + or four feet long, growing vertically from the hinder part of the back, of + an angular shape, and with a very sharp pointed end. Even if not the + slightest other part of the creature be visible, this isolated fin will, + at times, be seen plainly projecting from the surface. When the sea is + moderately calm, and slightly marked with spherical ripples, and this + gnomon-like fin stands up and casts shadows upon the wrinkled surface, it + may well be supposed that the watery circle surrounding it somewhat + resembles a dial, with its style and wavy hour-lines graved on it. On that + Ahaz-dial the shadow often goes back. The Fin-Back is not gregarious. He + seems a whale-hater, as some men are man-haters. Very shy; always going + solitary; unexpectedly rising to the surface in the remotest and most + sullen waters; his straight and single lofty jet rising like a tall + misanthropic spear upon a barren plain; gifted with such wondrous power + and velocity in swimming, as to defy all present pursuit from man; this + leviathan seems the banished and unconquerable Cain of his race, bearing + for his mark that style upon his back. From having the baleen in his + mouth, the Fin-Back is sometimes included with the right whale, among a + theoretic species denominated Whalebone whales, that is, whales with + baleen. Of these so called Whalebone whales, there would seem to be + several varieties, most of which, however, are little known. Broad-nosed + whales and beaked whales; pike-headed whales; bunched whales; under-jawed + whales and rostrated whales, are the fishermen’s names for a few sorts. +

+

+ In connection with this appellative of “Whalebone whales,” it is of great + importance to mention, that however such a nomenclature may be convenient + in facilitating allusions to some kind of whales, yet it is in vain to + attempt a clear classification of the Leviathan, founded upon either his + baleen, or hump, or fin, or teeth; notwithstanding that those marked parts + or features very obviously seem better adapted to afford the basis for a + regular system of Cetology than any other detached bodily distinctions, + which the whale, in his kinds, presents. How then? The baleen, hump, + back-fin, and teeth; these are things whose peculiarities are + indiscriminately dispersed among all sorts of whales, without any regard + to what may be the nature of their structure in other and more essential + particulars. Thus, the sperm whale and the humpbacked whale, each has a + hump; but there the similitude ceases. Then, this same humpbacked whale + and the Greenland whale, each of these has baleen; but there again the + similitude ceases. And it is just the same with the other parts above + mentioned. In various sorts of whales, they form such irregular + combinations; or, in the case of any one of them detached, such an + irregular isolation; as utterly to defy all general methodization formed + upon such a basis. On this rock every one of the whale-naturalists has + split. +

+

+ But it may possibly be conceived that, in the internal parts of the whale, + in his anatomy—there, at least, we shall be able to hit the right + classification. Nay; what thing, for example, is there in the Greenland + whale’s anatomy more striking than his baleen? Yet we have seen that by + his baleen it is impossible correctly to classify the Greenland whale. And + if you descend into the bowels of the various leviathans, why there you + will not find distinctions a fiftieth part as available to the + systematizer as those external ones already enumerated. What then remains? + nothing but to take hold of the whales bodily, in their entire liberal + volume, and boldly sort them that way. And this is the Bibliographical + system here adopted; and it is the only one that can possibly succeed, for + it alone is practicable. To proceed. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio) CHAPTER IV. (Hump Back).—This whale is often seen on + the northern American coast. He has been frequently captured there, and + towed into harbor. He has a great pack on him like a peddler; or you might + call him the Elephant and Castle whale. At any rate, the popular name for + him does not sufficiently distinguish him, since the sperm whale also has + a hump though a smaller one. His oil is not very valuable. He has baleen. + He is the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more + gay foam and white water generally than any other of them. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER V. (Razor Back).—Of this whale little is + known but his name. I have seen him at a distance off Cape Horn. Of a + retiring nature, he eludes both hunters and philosophers. Though no + coward, he has never yet shown any part of him but his back, which rises + in a long sharp ridge. Let him go. I know little more of him, nor does + anybody else. +

+

+ BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER VI. (Sulphur Bottom).—Another retiring + gentleman, with a brimstone belly, doubtless got by scraping along the + Tartarian tiles in some of his profounder divings. He is seldom seen; at + least I have never seen him except in the remoter southern seas, and then + always at too great a distance to study his countenance. He is never + chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of + him. Adieu, Sulphur Bottom! I can say nothing more that is true of ye, nor + can the oldest Nantucketer. +

+

+ Thus ends BOOK I. (Folio), and now begins BOOK II. (Octavo). +

+

+ OCTAVOES.*—These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among + which present may be numbered:—I., the Grampus; II., the Black Fish; + III., the Narwhale; IV., the Thrasher; V., the Killer. +

+

+ *Why this book of whales is not denominated the Quarto is very plain. + Because, while the whales of this order, though smaller than those of the + former order, nevertheless retain a proportionate likeness to them in + figure, yet the bookbinder’s Quarto volume in its dimensioned form does + not preserve the shape of the Folio volume, but the Octavo volume does. +

+

+ BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER I. (Grampus).—Though this fish, whose + loud sonorous breathing, or rather blowing, has furnished a proverb to + landsmen, is so well known a denizen of the deep, yet is he not popularly + classed among whales. But possessing all the grand distinctive features of + the leviathan, most naturalists have recognised him for one. He is of + moderate octavo size, varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, + and of corresponding dimensions round the waist. He swims in herds; he is + never regularly hunted, though his oil is considerable in quantity, and + pretty good for light. By some fishermen his approach is regarded as + premonitory of the advance of the great sperm whale. +

+

+ BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER II. (Black Fish).—I give the popular + fishermen’s names for all these fish, for generally they are the best. + Where any name happens to be vague or inexpressive, I shall say so, and + suggest another. I do so now, touching the Black Fish, so-called, because + blackness is the rule among almost all whales. So, call him the Hyena + Whale, if you please. His voracity is well known, and from the + circumstance that the inner angles of his lips are curved upwards, he + carries an everlasting Mephistophelean grin on his face. This whale + averages some sixteen or eighteen feet in length. He is found in almost + all latitudes. He has a peculiar way of showing his dorsal hooked fin in + swimming, which looks something like a Roman nose. When not more + profitably employed, the sperm whale hunters sometimes capture the Hyena + whale, to keep up the supply of cheap oil for domestic employment—as + some frugal housekeepers, in the absence of company, and quite alone by + themselves, burn unsavory tallow instead of odorous wax. Though their + blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you upwards of + thirty gallons of oil. +

+

+ BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER III. (Narwhale), that is, Nostril whale.—Another + instance of a curiously named whale, so named I suppose from his peculiar + horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. The creature is some + sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five feet, though some + exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. Strictly speaking, this horn + is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw in a line a little + depressed from the horizontal. But it is only found on the sinister side, + which has an ill effect, giving its owner something analogous to the + aspect of a clumsy left-handed man. What precise purpose this ivory horn + or lance answers, it would be hard to say. It does not seem to be used + like the blade of the sword-fish and bill-fish; though some sailors tell + me that the Narwhale employs it for a rake in turning over the bottom of + the sea for food. Charley Coffin said it was used for an ice-piercer; for + the Narwhale, rising to the surface of the Polar Sea, and finding it + sheeted with ice, thrusts his horn up, and so breaks through. But you + cannot prove either of these surmises to be correct. My own opinion is, + that however this one-sided horn may really be used by the Narwhale—however + that may be—it would certainly be very convenient to him for a + folder in reading pamphlets. The Narwhale I have heard called the Tusked + whale, the Horned whale, and the Unicorn whale. He is certainly a curious + example of the Unicornism to be found in almost every kingdom of animated + nature. From certain cloistered old authors I have gathered that this same + sea-unicorn’s horn was in ancient days regarded as the great antidote + against poison, and as such, preparations of it brought immense prices. It + was also distilled to a volatile salts for fainting ladies, the same way + that the horns of the male deer are manufactured into hartshorn. + Originally it was in itself accounted an object of great curiosity. Black + Letter tells me that Sir Martin Frobisher on his return from that voyage, + when Queen Bess did gallantly wave her jewelled hand to him from a window + of Greenwich Palace, as his bold ship sailed down the Thames; “when Sir + Martin returned from that voyage,” saith Black Letter, “on bended knees he + presented to her highness a prodigious long horn of the Narwhale, which + for a long period after hung in the castle at Windsor.” An Irish author + avers that the Earl of Leicester, on bended knees, did likewise present to + her highness another horn, pertaining to a land beast of the unicorn + nature. +

+

+ The Narwhale has a very picturesque, leopard-like look, being of a + milk-white ground colour, dotted with round and oblong spots of black. His + oil is very superior, clear and fine; but there is little of it, and he is + seldom hunted. He is mostly found in the circumpolar seas. +

+

+ BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).—Of this whale little is + precisely known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed + naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that + he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage—a sort of + Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip, and + hangs there like a leech, till the mighty brute is worried to death. The + Killer is never hunted. I never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception + might be taken to the name bestowed upon this whale, on the ground of its + indistinctness. For we are all killers, on land and on sea; Bonapartes and + Sharks included. +

+

+ BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER V. (Thrasher).—This gentleman is famous + for his tail, which he uses for a ferule in thrashing his foes. He mounts + the Folio whale’s back, and as he swims, he works his passage by flogging + him; as some schoolmasters get along in the world by a similar process. + Still less is known of the Thrasher than of the Killer. Both are outlaws, + even in the lawless seas. +

+

+ Thus ends BOOK II. (Octavo), and begins BOOK III. (Duodecimo). +

+

+ DUODECIMOES.—These include the smaller whales. I. The Huzza + Porpoise. II. The Algerine Porpoise. III. The Mealy-mouthed Porpoise. +

+

+ To those who have not chanced specially to study the subject, it may + possibly seem strange, that fishes not commonly exceeding four or five + feet should be marshalled among WHALES—a word, which, in the popular + sense, always conveys an idea of hugeness. But the creatures set down + above as Duodecimoes are infallibly whales, by the terms of my definition + of what a whale is—i.e. a spouting fish, with a horizontal tail. +

+

+ BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER 1. (Huzza Porpoise).—This is the + common porpoise found almost all over the globe. The name is of my own + bestowal; for there are more than one sort of porpoises, and something + must be done to distinguish them. I call him thus, because he always swims + in hilarious shoals, which upon the broad sea keep tossing themselves to + heaven like caps in a Fourth-of-July crowd. Their appearance is generally + hailed with delight by the mariner. Full of fine spirits, they invariably + come from the breezy billows to windward. They are the lads that always + live before the wind. They are accounted a lucky omen. If you yourself can + withstand three cheers at beholding these vivacious fish, then heaven help + ye; the spirit of godly gamesomeness is not in ye. A well-fed, plump Huzza + Porpoise will yield you one good gallon of good oil. But the fine and + delicate fluid extracted from his jaws is exceedingly valuable. It is in + request among jewellers and watchmakers. Sailors put it on their hones. + Porpoise meat is good eating, you know. It may never have occurred to you + that a porpoise spouts. Indeed, his spout is so small that it is not very + readily discernible. But the next time you have a chance, watch him; and + you will then see the great Sperm whale himself in miniature. +

+

+ BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER II. (Algerine Porpoise).—A pirate. + Very savage. He is only found, I think, in the Pacific. He is somewhat + larger than the Huzza Porpoise, but much of the same general make. Provoke + him, and he will buckle to a shark. I have lowered for him many times, but + never yet saw him captured. +

+

+ BOOK III. (Duodecimo), CHAPTER III. (Mealy-mouthed Porpoise).—The + largest kind of Porpoise; and only found in the Pacific, so far as it is + known. The only English name, by which he has hitherto been designated, is + that of the fishers—Right-Whale Porpoise, from the circumstance that + he is chiefly found in the vicinity of that Folio. In shape, he differs in + some degree from the Huzza Porpoise, being of a less rotund and jolly + girth; indeed, he is of quite a neat and gentleman-like figure. He has no + fins on his back (most other porpoises have), he has a lovely tail, and + sentimental Indian eyes of a hazel hue. But his mealy-mouth spoils all. + Though his entire back down to his side fins is of a deep sable, yet a + boundary line, distinct as the mark in a ship’s hull, called the “bright + waist,” that line streaks him from stem to stern, with two separate + colours, black above and white below. The white comprises part of his + head, and the whole of his mouth, which makes him look as if he had just + escaped from a felonious visit to a meal-bag. A most mean and mealy + aspect! His oil is much like that of the common porpoise. +

+

+ * * * * * * +

+

+ Beyond the DUODECIMO, this system does not proceed, inasmuch as the + Porpoise is the smallest of the whales. Above, you have all the Leviathans + of note. But there are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive, half-fabulous + whales, which, as an American whaleman, I know by reputation, but not + personally. I shall enumerate them by their fore-castle appellations; for + possibly such a list may be valuable to future investigators, who may + complete what I have here but begun. If any of the following whales, shall + hereafter be caught and marked, then he can readily be incorporated into + this System, according to his Folio, Octavo, or Duodecimo magnitude:—The + Bottle-Nose Whale; the Junk Whale; the Pudding-Headed Whale; the Cape + Whale; the Leading Whale; the Cannon Whale; the Scragg Whale; the Coppered + Whale; the Elephant Whale; the Iceberg Whale; the Quog Whale; the Blue + Whale; etc. From Icelandic, Dutch, and old English authorities, there + might be quoted other lists of uncertain whales, blessed with all manner + of uncouth names. But I omit them as altogether obsolete; and can hardly + help suspecting them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying + nothing. +

+

+ Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, + and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my + word. But I now leave my cetological System standing thus unfinished, even + as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing + upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished + by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone + to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book + is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, + Strength, Cash, and Patience! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 33. The Specksnyder. +

+

+ Concerning the officers of the whale-craft, this seems as good a place as + any to set down a little domestic peculiarity on ship-board, arising from + the existence of the harpooneer class of officers, a class unknown of + course in any other marine than the whale-fleet. +

+

+ The large importance attached to the harpooneer’s vocation is evinced by + the fact, that originally in the old Dutch Fishery, two centuries and more + ago, the command of a whale ship was not wholly lodged in the person now + called the captain, but was divided between him and an officer called the + Specksnyder. Literally this word means Fat-Cutter; usage, however, in time + made it equivalent to Chief Harpooneer. In those days, the captain’s + authority was restricted to the navigation and general management of the + vessel; while over the whale-hunting department and all its concerns, the + Specksnyder or Chief Harpooneer reigned supreme. In the British Greenland + Fishery, under the corrupted title of Specksioneer, this old Dutch + official is still retained, but his former dignity is sadly abridged. At + present he ranks simply as senior Harpooneer; and as such, is but one of + the captain’s more inferior subalterns. Nevertheless, as upon the good + conduct of the harpooneers the success of a whaling voyage largely + depends, and since in the American Fishery he is not only an important + officer in the boat, but under certain circumstances (night watches on a + whaling ground) the command of the ship’s deck is also his; therefore the + grand political maxim of the sea demands, that he should nominally live + apart from the men before the mast, and be in some way distinguished as + their professional superior; though always, by them, familiarly regarded + as their social equal. +

+

+ Now, the grand distinction drawn between officer and man at sea, is this—the + first lives aft, the last forward. Hence, in whale-ships and merchantmen + alike, the mates have their quarters with the captain; and so, too, in + most of the American whalers the harpooneers are lodged in the after part + of the ship. That is to say, they take their meals in the captain’s cabin, + and sleep in a place indirectly communicating with it. +

+

+ Though the long period of a Southern whaling voyage (by far the longest of + all voyages now or ever made by man), the peculiar perils of it, and the + community of interest prevailing among a company, all of whom, high or + low, depend for their profits, not upon fixed wages, but upon their common + luck, together with their common vigilance, intrepidity, and hard work; + though all these things do in some cases tend to beget a less rigorous + discipline than in merchantmen generally; yet, never mind how much like an + old Mesopotamian family these whalemen may, in some primitive instances, + live together; for all that, the punctilious externals, at least, of the + quarter-deck are seldom materially relaxed, and in no instance done away. + Indeed, many are the Nantucket ships in which you will see the skipper + parading his quarter-deck with an elated grandeur not surpassed in any + military navy; nay, extorting almost as much outward homage as if he wore + the imperial purple, and not the shabbiest of pilot-cloth. +

+

+ And though of all men the moody captain of the Pequod was the least given + to that sort of shallowest assumption; and though the only homage he ever + exacted, was implicit, instantaneous obedience; though he required no man + to remove the shoes from his feet ere stepping upon the quarter-deck; and + though there were times when, owing to peculiar circumstances connected + with events hereafter to be detailed, he addressed them in unusual terms, + whether of condescension or in terrorem, or otherwise; yet even Captain + Ahab was by no means unobservant of the paramount forms and usages of the + sea. +

+

+ Nor, perhaps, will it fail to be eventually perceived, that behind those + forms and usages, as it were, he sometimes masked himself; incidentally + making use of them for other and more private ends than they were + legitimately intended to subserve. That certain sultanism of his brain, + which had otherwise in a good degree remained unmanifested; through those + forms that same sultanism became incarnate in an irresistible + dictatorship. For be a man’s intellectual superiority what it will, it can + never assume the practical, available supremacy over other men, without + the aid of some sort of external arts and entrenchments, always, in + themselves, more or less paltry and base. This it is, that for ever keeps + God’s true princes of the Empire from the world’s hustings; and leaves the + highest honors that this air can give, to those men who become famous + more through their infinite inferiority to the choice hidden handful of + the Divine Inert, than through their undoubted superiority over the dead + level of the mass. Such large virtue lurks in these small things when + extreme political superstitions invest them, that in some royal instances + even to idiot imbecility they have imparted potency. But when, as in the + case of Nicholas the Czar, the ringed crown of geographical empire + encircles an imperial brain; then, the plebeian herds crouch abased before + the tremendous centralization. Nor, will the tragic dramatist who would + depict mortal indomitableness in its fullest sweep and direct swing, ever + forget a hint, incidentally so important in his art, as the one now + alluded to. +

+

+ But Ahab, my Captain, still moves before me in all his Nantucket grimness + and shagginess; and in this episode touching Emperors and Kings, I must + not conceal that I have only to do with a poor old whale-hunter like him; + and, therefore, all outward majestical trappings and housings are denied + me. Oh, Ahab! what shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at + from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied + air! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 34. The Cabin-Table. +

+

+ It is noon; and Dough-Boy, the steward, thrusting his pale loaf-of-bread + face from the cabin-scuttle, announces dinner to his lord and master; who, + sitting in the lee quarter-boat, has just been taking an observation of + the sun; and is now mutely reckoning the latitude on the smooth, + medallion-shaped tablet, reserved for that daily purpose on the upper part + of his ivory leg. From his complete inattention to the tidings, you would + think that moody Ahab had not heard his menial. But presently, catching + hold of the mizen shrouds, he swings himself to the deck, and in an even, + unexhilarated voice, saying, “Dinner, Mr. Starbuck,” disappears into the + cabin. +

+

+ When the last echo of his sultan’s step has died away, and Starbuck, the + first Emir, has every reason to suppose that he is seated, then Starbuck + rouses from his quietude, takes a few turns along the planks, and, after a + grave peep into the binnacle, says, with some touch of pleasantness, + “Dinner, Mr. Stubb,” and descends the scuttle. The second Emir lounges + about the rigging awhile, and then slightly shaking the main brace, to see + whether it will be all right with that important rope, he likewise takes + up the old burden, and with a rapid “Dinner, Mr. Flask,” follows after his + predecessors. +

+

+ But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, + seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts + of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he + strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the + Grand Turk’s head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up + into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as + he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by + bringing up the rear with music. But ere stepping into the cabin doorway + below, he pauses, ships a new face altogether, and, then, independent, + hilarious little Flask enters King Ahab’s presence, in the character of + Abjectus, or the Slave. +

+

+ It is not the least among the strange things bred by the intense + artificialness of sea-usages, that while in the open air of the deck some + officers will, upon provocation, bear themselves boldly and defyingly + enough towards their commander; yet, ten to one, let those very officers + the next moment go down to their customary dinner in that same commander’s + cabin, and straightway their inoffensive, not to say deprecatory and + humble air towards him, as he sits at the head of the table; this is + marvellous, sometimes most comical. Wherefore this difference? A problem? + Perhaps not. To have been Belshazzar, King of Babylon; and to have been + Belshazzar, not haughtily but courteously, therein certainly must have + been some touch of mundane grandeur. But he who in the rightly regal and + intelligent spirit presides over his own private dinner-table of invited + guests, that man’s unchallenged power and dominion of individual influence + for the time; that man’s royalty of state transcends Belshazzar’s, for + Belshazzar was not the greatest. Who has but once dined his friends, has + tasted what it is to be Cæsar. It is a witchery of social czarship which + there is no withstanding. Now, if to this consideration you superadd the + official supremacy of a ship-master, then, by inference, you will derive + the cause of that peculiarity of sea-life just mentioned. +

+

+ Over his ivory-inlaid table, Ahab presided like a mute, maned sea-lion on + the white coral beach, surrounded by his warlike but still deferential + cubs. In his own proper turn, each officer waited to be served. They were + as little children before Ahab; and yet, in Ahab, there seemed not to lurk + the smallest social arrogance. With one mind, their intent eyes all + fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. + I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment + with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the + weather. No! And when reaching out his knife and fork, between which the + slice of beef was locked, Ahab thereby motioned Starbuck’s plate towards + him, the mate received his meat as though receiving alms; and cut it + tenderly; and a little started if, perchance, the knife grazed against the + plate; and chewed it noiselessly; and swallowed it, not without + circumspection. For, like the Coronation banquet at Frankfort, where the + German Emperor profoundly dines with the seven Imperial Electors, so these + cabin meals were somehow solemn meals, eaten in awful silence; and yet at + table old Ahab forbade not conversation; only he himself was dumb. What a + relief it was to choking Stubb, when a rat made a sudden racket in the + hold below. And poor little Flask, he was the youngest son, and little boy + of this weary family party. His were the shinbones of the saline beef; his + would have been the drumsticks. For Flask to have presumed to help + himself, this must have seemed to him tantamount to larceny in the first + degree. Had he helped himself at that table, doubtless, never more would + he have been able to hold his head up in this honest world; nevertheless, + strange to say, Ahab never forbade him. And had Flask helped himself, the + chances were Ahab had never so much as noticed it. Least of all, did Flask + presume to help himself to butter. Whether he thought the owners of the + ship denied it to him, on account of its clotting his clear, sunny + complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so long a voyage in such + marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and therefore was not for him, + a subaltern; however it was, Flask, alas! was a butterless man! +

+

+ Another thing. Flask was the last person down at the dinner, and Flask is + the first man up. Consider! For hereby Flask’s dinner was badly jammed in + point of time. Starbuck and Stubb both had the start of him; and yet they + also have the privilege of lounging in the rear. If Stubb even, who is but + a peg higher than Flask, happens to have but a small appetite, and soon + shows symptoms of concluding his repast, then Flask must bestir himself, + he will not get more than three mouthfuls that day; for it is against holy + usage for Stubb to precede Flask to the deck. Therefore it was that Flask + once admitted in private, that ever since he had arisen to the dignity of + an officer, from that moment he had never known what it was to be + otherwise than hungry, more or less. For what he ate did not so much + relieve his hunger, as keep it immortal in him. Peace and satisfaction, + thought Flask, have for ever departed from my stomach. I am an officer; + but, how I wish I could fish a bit of old-fashioned beef in the + forecastle, as I used to when I was before the mast. There’s the fruits of + promotion now; there’s the vanity of glory: there’s the insanity of life! + Besides, if it were so that any mere sailor of the Pequod had a grudge + against Flask in Flask’s official capacity, all that sailor had to do, in + order to obtain ample vengeance, was to go aft at dinner-time, and get a + peep at Flask through the cabin sky-light, sitting silly and dumfoundered + before awful Ahab. +

+

+ Now, Ahab and his three mates formed what may be called the first table in + the Pequod’s cabin. After their departure, taking place in inverted order + to their arrival, the canvas cloth was cleared, or rather was restored to + some hurried order by the pallid steward. And then the three harpooneers + were bidden to the feast, they being its residuary legatees. They made a + sort of temporary servants’ hall of the high and mighty cabin. +

+

+ In strange contrast to the hardly tolerable constraint and nameless + invisible domineerings of the captain’s table, was the entire care-free + license and ease, the almost frantic democracy of those inferior fellows + the harpooneers. While their masters, the mates, seemed afraid of the + sound of the hinges of their own jaws, the harpooneers chewed their food + with such a relish that there was a report to it. They dined like lords; + they filled their bellies like Indian ships all day loading with spices. + Such portentous appetites had Queequeg and Tashtego, that to fill out the + vacancies made by the previous repast, often the pale Dough-Boy was fain + to bring on a great baron of salt-junk, seemingly quarried out of the + solid ox. And if he were not lively about it, if he did not go with a + nimble hop-skip-and-jump, then Tashtego had an ungentlemanly way of + accelerating him by darting a fork at his back, harpoon-wise. And once + Daggoo, seized with a sudden humor, assisted Dough-Boy’s memory by + snatching him up bodily, and thrusting his head into a great empty wooden + trencher, while Tashtego, knife in hand, began laying out the circle + preliminary to scalping him. He was naturally a very nervous, shuddering + sort of little fellow, this bread-faced steward; the progeny of a bankrupt + baker and a hospital nurse. And what with the standing spectacle of the + black terrific Ahab, and the periodical tumultuous visitations of these + three savages, Dough-Boy’s whole life was one continual lip-quiver. + Commonly, after seeing the harpooneers furnished with all things they + demanded, he would escape from their clutches into his little pantry + adjoining, and fearfully peep out at them through the blinds of its door, + till all was over. +

+

+ It was a sight to see Queequeg seated over against Tashtego, opposing his + filed teeth to the Indian’s: crosswise to them, Daggoo seated on the + floor, for a bench would have brought his hearse-plumed head to the low + carlines; at every motion of his colossal limbs, making the low cabin + framework to shake, as when an African elephant goes passenger in a ship. + But for all this, the great negro was wonderfully abstemious, not to say + dainty. It seemed hardly possible that by such comparatively small + mouthfuls he could keep up the vitality diffused through so broad, + baronial, and superb a person. But, doubtless, this noble savage fed + strong and drank deep of the abounding element of air; and through his + dilated nostrils snuffed in the sublime life of the worlds. Not by beef or + by bread, are giants made or nourished. But Queequeg, he had a mortal, + barbaric smack of the lip in eating—an ugly sound enough—so + much so, that the trembling Dough-Boy almost looked to see whether any + marks of teeth lurked in his own lean arms. And when he would hear + Tashtego singing out for him to produce himself, that his bones might be + picked, the simple-witted steward all but shattered the crockery hanging + round him in the pantry, by his sudden fits of the palsy. Nor did the + whetstone which the harpooneers carried in their pockets, for their lances + and other weapons; and with which whetstones, at dinner, they would + ostentatiously sharpen their knives; that grating sound did not at all + tend to tranquillize poor Dough-Boy. How could he forget that in his + Island days, Queequeg, for one, must certainly have been guilty of some + murderous, convivial indiscretions. Alas! Dough-Boy! hard fares the white + waiter who waits upon cannibals. Not a napkin should he carry on his arm, + but a buckler. In good time, though, to his great delight, the three + salt-sea warriors would rise and depart; to his credulous, fable-mongering + ears, all their martial bones jingling in them at every step, like Moorish + scimetars in scabbards. +

+

+ But, though these barbarians dined in the cabin, and nominally lived + there; still, being anything but sedentary in their habits, they were + scarcely ever in it except at mealtimes, and just before sleeping-time, + when they passed through it to their own peculiar quarters. +

+

+ In this one matter, Ahab seemed no exception to most American whale + captains, who, as a set, rather incline to the opinion that by rights the + ship’s cabin belongs to them; and that it is by courtesy alone that + anybody else is, at any time, permitted there. So that, in real truth, the + mates and harpooneers of the Pequod might more properly be said to have + lived out of the cabin than in it. For when they did enter it, it was + something as a street-door enters a house; turning inwards for a moment, + only to be turned out the next; and, as a permanent thing, residing in the + open air. Nor did they lose much hereby; in the cabin was no + companionship; socially, Ahab was inaccessible. Though nominally included + in the census of Christendom, he was still an alien to it. He lived in the + world, as the last of the Grisly Bears lived in settled Missouri. And as + when Spring and Summer had departed, that wild Logan of the woods, burying + himself in the hollow of a tree, lived out the winter there, sucking his + own paws; so, in his inclement, howling old age, Ahab’s soul, shut up in + the caved trunk of his body, there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head. +

+

+ It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation with the + other seamen my first mast-head came round. +

+

+ In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned almost simultaneously + with the vessel’s leaving her port; even though she may have fifteen + thousand miles, and more, to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground. + And if, after a three, four, or five years’ voyage she is drawing nigh + home with anything empty in her—say, an empty vial even—then, + her mast-heads are kept manned to the last; and not till her skysail-poles + sail in among the spires of the port, does she altogether relinquish the + hope of capturing one whale more. +

+

+ Now, as the business of standing mast-heads, ashore or afloat, is a very + ancient and interesting one, let us in some measure expatiate here. I take + it, that the earliest standers of mast-heads were the old Egyptians; + because, in all my researches, I find none prior to them. For though their + progenitors, the builders of Babel, must doubtless, by their tower, have + intended to rear the loftiest mast-head in all Asia, or Africa either; yet + (ere the final truck was put to it) as that great stone mast of theirs may + be said to have gone by the board, in the dread gale of God’s wrath; + therefore, we cannot give these Babel builders priority over the + Egyptians. And that the Egyptians were a nation of mast-head standers, is + an assertion based upon the general belief among archæologists, that the + first pyramids were founded for astronomical purposes: a theory singularly + supported by the peculiar stair-like formation of all four sides of those + edifices; whereby, with prodigious long upliftings of their legs, those + old astronomers were wont to mount to the apex, and sing out for new + stars; even as the look-outs of a modern ship sing out for a sail, or a + whale just bearing in sight. In Saint Stylites, the famous Christian + hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and + spent the whole latter portion of his life on its summit, hoisting his + food from the ground with a tackle; in him we have a remarkable instance + of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his + place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet; but valiantly facing + everything out to the last, literally died at his post. Of modern + standers-of-mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and + bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still + entirely incompetent to the business of singing out upon discovering any + strange sight. There is Napoleon; who, upon the top of the column of + Vendome, stands with arms folded, some one hundred and fifty feet in the + air; careless, now, who rules the decks below; whether Louis Philippe, + Louis Blanc, or Louis the Devil. Great Washington, too, stands high aloft + on his towering main-mast in Baltimore, and like one of Hercules’ pillars, + his column marks that point of human grandeur beyond which few mortals + will go. Admiral Nelson, also, on a capstan of gun-metal, stands his + mast-head in Trafalgar Square; and ever when most obscured by that London + smoke, token is yet given that a hidden hero is there; for where there is + smoke, must be fire. But neither great Washington, nor Napoleon, nor + Nelson, will answer a single hail from below, however madly invoked to + befriend by their counsels the distracted decks upon which they gaze; + however it may be surmised, that their spirits penetrate through the thick + haze of the future, and descry what shoals and what rocks must be shunned. +

+

+ It may seem unwarrantable to couple in any respect the mast-head standers + of the land with those of the sea; but that in truth it is not so, is + plainly evinced by an item for which Obed Macy, the sole historian of + Nantucket, stands accountable. The worthy Obed tells us, that in the early + times of the whale fishery, ere ships were regularly launched in pursuit + of the game, the people of that island erected lofty spars along the + sea-coast, to which the look-outs ascended by means of nailed cleats, + something as fowls go upstairs in a hen-house. A few years ago this same + plan was adopted by the Bay whalemen of New Zealand, who, upon descrying + the game, gave notice to the ready-manned boats nigh the beach. But this + custom has now become obsolete; turn we then to the one proper mast-head, + that of a whale-ship at sea. The three mast-heads are kept manned from + sun-rise to sun-set; the seamen taking their regular turns (as at the + helm), and relieving each other every two hours. In the serene weather of + the tropics it is exceedingly pleasant the mast-head; nay, to a dreamy + meditative man it is delightful. There you stand, a hundred feet above the + silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic + stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the + hugest monsters of the sea, even as ships once sailed between the boots of + the famous Colossus at old Rhodes. There you stand, lost in the infinite + series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves. The tranced ship + indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you + into languor. For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime + uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras + with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary + excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; + fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have + for dinner—for all your meals for three years and more are snugly + stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable. +

+

+ In one of those southern whalesmen, on a long three or four years’ voyage, + as often happens, the sum of the various hours you spend at the mast-head + would amount to several entire months. And it is much to be deplored that + the place to which you devote so considerable a portion of the whole term + of your natural life, should be so sadly destitute of anything approaching + to a cosy inhabitiveness, or adapted to breed a comfortable localness of + feeling, such as pertains to a bed, a hammock, a hearse, a sentry box, a + pulpit, a coach, or any other of those small and snug contrivances in + which men temporarily isolate themselves. Your most usual point of perch + is the head of the t’ gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel + sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t’ gallant cross-trees. + Here, tossed about by the sea, the beginner feels about as cosy as he + would standing on a bull’s horns. To be sure, in cold weather you may + carry your house aloft with you, in the shape of a watch-coat; but + properly speaking the thickest watch-coat is no more of a house than the + unclad body; for as the soul is glued inside of its fleshy tabernacle, and + cannot freely move about in it, nor even move out of it, without running + great risk of perishing (like an ignorant pilgrim crossing the snowy Alps + in winter); so a watch-coat is not so much of a house as it is a mere + envelope, or additional skin encasing you. You cannot put a shelf or chest + of drawers in your body, and no more can you make a convenient closet of + your watch-coat. +

+

+ Concerning all this, it is much to be deplored that the mast-heads of a + southern whale ship are unprovided with those enviable little tents or + pulpits, called crow’s-nests, in which the look-outs of a Greenland whaler + are protected from the inclement weather of the frozen seas. In the + fireside narrative of Captain Sleet, entitled “A Voyage among the + Icebergs, in quest of the Greenland Whale, and incidentally for the + re-discovery of the Lost Icelandic Colonies of Old Greenland;” in this + admirable volume, all standers of mast-heads are furnished with a + charmingly circumstantial account of the then recently invented + crow’s-nest of the Glacier, which was the name of Captain Sleet’s good + craft. He called it the Sleet’s crow’s-nest, in honor of himself; he + being the original inventor and patentee, and free from all ridiculous + false delicacy, and holding that if we call our own children after our own + names (we fathers being the original inventors and patentees), so likewise + should we denominate after ourselves any other apparatus we may beget. In + shape, the Sleet’s crow’s-nest is something like a large tierce or pipe; + it is open above, however, where it is furnished with a movable + side-screen to keep to windward of your head in a hard gale. Being fixed + on the summit of the mast, you ascend into it through a little trap-hatch + in the bottom. On the after side, or side next the stern of the ship, is a + comfortable seat, with a locker underneath for umbrellas, comforters, and + coats. In front is a leather rack, in which to keep your speaking trumpet, + pipe, telescope, and other nautical conveniences. When Captain Sleet in + person stood his mast-head in this crow’s-nest of his, he tells us that he + always had a rifle with him (also fixed in the rack), together with a + powder flask and shot, for the purpose of popping off the stray narwhales, + or vagrant sea unicorns infesting those waters; for you cannot + successfully shoot at them from the deck owing to the resistance of the + water, but to shoot down upon them is a very different thing. Now, it was + plainly a labor of love for Captain Sleet to describe, as he does, all the + little detailed conveniences of his crow’s-nest; but though he so enlarges + upon many of these, and though he treats us to a very scientific account + of his experiments in this crow’s-nest, with a small compass he kept there + for the purpose of counteracting the errors resulting from what is called + the “local attraction” of all binnacle magnets; an error ascribable to the + horizontal vicinity of the iron in the ship’s planks, and in the Glacier’s + case, perhaps, to there having been so many broken-down blacksmiths among + her crew; I say, that though the Captain is very discreet and scientific + here, yet, for all his learned “binnacle deviations,” “azimuth compass + observations,” and “approximate errors,” he knows very well, Captain + Sleet, that he was not so much immersed in those profound magnetic + meditations, as to fail being attracted occasionally towards that well + replenished little case-bottle, so nicely tucked in on one side of his + crow’s nest, within easy reach of his hand. Though, upon the whole, I + greatly admire and even love the brave, the honest, and learned Captain; + yet I take it very ill of him that he should so utterly ignore that + case-bottle, seeing what a faithful friend and comforter it must have + been, while with mittened fingers and hooded head he was studying the + mathematics aloft there in that bird’s nest within three or four perches + of the pole. +

+

+ But if we Southern whale-fishers are not so snugly housed aloft as Captain + Sleet and his Greenlandmen were; yet that disadvantage is greatly + counter-balanced by the widely contrasting serenity of those seductive + seas in which we South fishers mostly float. For one, I used to lounge up + the rigging very leisurely, resting in the top to have a chat with + Queequeg, or any one else off duty whom I might find there; then ascending + a little way further, and throwing a lazy leg over the top-sail yard, take + a preliminary view of the watery pastures, and so at last mount to my + ultimate destination. +

+

+ Let me make a clean breast of it here, and frankly admit that I kept but + sorry guard. With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I—being + left completely to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude—how + could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whale-ships’ + standing orders, “Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time.” +

+

+ And let me in this place movingly admonish you, ye ship-owners of + Nantucket! Beware of enlisting in your vigilant fisheries any lad with + lean brow and hollow eye; given to unseasonable meditativeness; and who + offers to ship with the Phædon instead of Bowditch in his head. Beware of + such an one, I say; your whales must be seen before they can be killed; + and this sunken-eyed young Platonist will tow you ten wakes round the + world, and never make you one pint of sperm the richer. Nor are these + monitions at all unneeded. For nowadays, the whale-fishery furnishes an + asylum for many romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men, + disgusted with the carking cares of earth, and seeking sentiment in tar + and blubber. Childe Harold not unfrequently perches himself upon the + mast-head of some luckless disappointed whale-ship, and in moody phrase + ejaculates:— +

+
+      “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll!
+      Ten thousand blubber-hunters sweep over thee in vain.”
+
+

+ Very often do the captains of such ships take those absent-minded young + philosophers to task, upbraiding them with not feeling sufficient + “interest” in the voyage; half-hinting that they are so hopelessly lost to + all honorable ambition, as that in their secret souls they would rather + not see whales than otherwise. But all in vain; those young Platonists + have a notion that their vision is imperfect; they are short-sighted; what + use, then, to strain the visual nerve? They have left their opera-glasses + at home. +

+

+ “Why, thou monkey,” said a harpooneer to one of these lads, “we’ve been + cruising now hard upon three years, and thou hast not raised a whale yet. + Whales are scarce as hen’s teeth whenever thou art up here.” Perhaps they + were; or perhaps there might have been shoals of them in the far horizon; + but lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious + reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with + thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at + his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, + pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, + beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of + some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive + thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it. In + this enchanted mood, thy spirit ebbs away to whence it came; becomes + diffused through time and space; like Cranmer’s sprinkled Pantheistic + ashes, forming at last a part of every shore the round globe over. +

+

+ There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a + gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the + inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move + your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes + back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at + mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop + through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for + ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck. +

+

+ (Enter Ahab: Then, all.) +

+

+ It was not a great while after the affair of the pipe, that one morning + shortly after breakfast, Ahab, as was his wont, ascended the cabin-gangway + to the deck. There most sea-captains usually walk at that hour, as country + gentlemen, after the same meal, take a few turns in the garden. +

+

+ Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as to and fro he paced his old + rounds, upon planks so familiar to his tread, that they were all over + dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar mark of his walk. Did + you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow; there also, you + would see still stranger foot-prints—the foot-prints of his one + unsleeping, ever-pacing thought. +

+

+ But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his + nervous step that morning left a deeper mark. And, so full of his thought + was Ahab, that at every uniform turn that he made, now at the main-mast + and now at the binnacle, you could almost see that thought turn in him as + he turned, and pace in him as he paced; so completely possessing him, + indeed, that it all but seemed the inward mould of every outer movement. +

+

+ “D’ye mark him, Flask?” whispered Stubb; “the chick that’s in him pecks + the shell. ’Twill soon be out.” +

+

+ The hours wore on;—Ahab now shut up within his cabin; anon, pacing + the deck, with the same intense bigotry of purpose in his aspect. +

+

+ It drew near the close of day. Suddenly he came to a halt by the bulwarks, + and inserting his bone leg into the auger-hole there, and with one hand + grasping a shroud, he ordered Starbuck to send everybody aft. +

+

+ “Sir!” said the mate, astonished at an order seldom or never given on + ship-board except in some extraordinary case. +

+

+ “Send everybody aft,” repeated Ahab. “Mast-heads, there! come down!” +

+

+ When the entire ship’s company were assembled, and with curious and not + wholly unapprehensive faces, were eyeing him, for he looked not unlike the + weather horizon when a storm is coming up, Ahab, after rapidly glancing + over the bulwarks, and then darting his eyes among the crew, started from + his standpoint; and as though not a soul were nigh him resumed his heavy + turns upon the deck. With bent head and half-slouched hat he continued to + pace, unmindful of the wondering whispering among the men; till Stubb + cautiously whispered to Flask, that Ahab must have summoned them there for + the purpose of witnessing a pedestrian feat. But this did not last long. + Vehemently pausing, he cried:— +

+

+ “What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?” +

+

+ “Sing out for him!” was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed + voices. +

+

+ “Good!” cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the + hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically + thrown them. +

+

+ “And what do ye next, men?” +

+

+ “Lower away, and after him!” +

+

+ “And what tune is it ye pull to, men?” +

+

+ “A dead whale or a stove boat!” +

+

+ More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving, grew the + countenance of the old man at every shout; while the mariners began to + gaze curiously at each other, as if marvelling how it was that they + themselves became so excited at such seemingly purposeless questions. +

+

+ But, they were all eagerness again, as Ahab, now half-revolving in his + pivot-hole, with one hand reaching high up a shroud, and tightly, almost + convulsively grasping it, addressed them thus:— +

+

+ “All ye mast-headers have before now heard me give orders about a white + whale. Look ye! d’ye see this Spanish ounce of gold?”—holding up a + broad bright coin to the sun—“it is a sixteen dollar piece, men. + D’ye see it? Mr. Starbuck, hand me yon top-maul.” +

+

+ While the mate was getting the hammer, Ahab, without speaking, was slowly + rubbing the gold piece against the skirts of his jacket, as if to heighten + its lustre, and without using any words was meanwhile lowly humming to + himself, producing a sound so strangely muffled and inarticulate that it + seemed the mechanical humming of the wheels of his vitality in him. +

+

+ Receiving the top-maul from Starbuck, he advanced towards the main-mast + with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold with the other, + and with a high raised voice exclaiming: “Whosoever of ye raises me a + white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye + raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his + starboard fluke—look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white + whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!” +

+

+ “Huzza! huzza!” cried the seamen, as with swinging tarpaulins they hailed + the act of nailing the gold to the mast. +

+

+ “It’s a white whale, I say,” resumed Ahab, as he threw down the topmaul: + “a white whale. Skin your eyes for him, men; look sharp for white water; + if ye see but a bubble, sing out.” +

+

+ All this while Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg had looked on with even more + intense interest and surprise than the rest, and at the mention of the + wrinkled brow and crooked jaw they had started as if each was separately + touched by some specific recollection. +

+

+ “Captain Ahab,” said Tashtego, “that white whale must be the same that + some call Moby Dick.” +

+

+ “Moby Dick?” shouted Ahab. “Do ye know the white whale then, Tash?” +

+

+ “Does he fan-tail a little curious, sir, before he goes down?” said the + Gay-Header deliberately. +

+

+ “And has he a curious spout, too,” said Daggoo, “very bushy, even for a + parmacetty, and mighty quick, Captain Ahab?” +

+

+ “And he have one, two, three—oh! good many iron in him hide, too, + Captain,” cried Queequeg disjointedly, “all twiske-tee be-twisk, like him—him—” + faltering hard for a word, and screwing his hand round and round as though + uncorking a bottle—“like him—him—” +

+

+ “Corkscrew!” cried Ahab, “aye, Queequeg, the harpoons lie all twisted and + wrenched in him; aye, Daggoo, his spout is a big one, like a whole shock + of wheat, and white as a pile of our Nantucket wool after the great annual + sheep-shearing; aye, Tashtego, and he fan-tails like a split jib in a + squall. Death and devils! men, it is Moby Dick ye have seen—Moby + Dick—Moby Dick!” +

+

+ “Captain Ahab,” said Starbuck, who, with Stubb and Flask, had thus far + been eyeing his superior with increasing surprise, but at last seemed + struck with a thought which somewhat explained all the wonder. “Captain + Ahab, I have heard of Moby Dick—but it was not Moby Dick that took + off thy leg?” +

+

+ “Who told thee that?” cried Ahab; then pausing, “Aye, Starbuck; aye, my + hearties all round; it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that + brought me to this dead stump I stand on now. Aye, aye,” he shouted with a + terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; “Aye, + aye! it was that accursed white whale that razed me; made a poor pegging + lubber of me for ever and a day!” Then tossing both arms, with measureless + imprecations he shouted out: “Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good + Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round + perdition’s flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped + for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all + sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, + men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye!” shouted the harpooneers and seamen, running closer to the + excited old man: “A sharp eye for the white whale; a sharp lance for Moby + Dick!” +

+

+ “God bless ye,” he seemed to half sob and half shout. “God bless ye, men. + Steward! go draw the great measure of grog. But what’s this long face + about, Mr. Starbuck; wilt thou not chase the white whale? art not game for + Moby Dick?” +

+

+ “I am game for his crooked jaw, and for the jaws of Death too, Captain + Ahab, if it fairly comes in the way of the business we follow; but I came + here to hunt whales, not my commander’s vengeance. How many barrels will + thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? it will + not fetch thee much in our Nantucket market.” +

+

+ “Nantucket market! Hoot! But come closer, Starbuck; thou requirest a + little lower layer. If money’s to be the measurer, man, and the + accountants have computed their great counting-house the globe, by + girdling it with guineas, one to every three parts of an inch; then, let + me tell thee, that my vengeance will fetch a great premium here!” +

+

+ “He smites his chest,” whispered Stubb, “what’s that for? methinks it + rings most vast, but hollow.” +

+

+ “Vengeance on a dumb brute!” cried Starbuck, “that simply smote thee from + blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, + seems blasphemous.” +

+

+ “Hark ye yet again—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, + are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, + the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing + puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. + If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach + outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is + that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there’s naught beyond. But + ’tis enough. He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, + with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly + what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale + principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, + man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me. For could the sun do that, then + could I do the other; since there is ever a sort of fair play herein, + jealousy presiding over all creations. But not my master, man, is even + that fair play. Who’s over me? Truth hath no confines. Take off thine eye! + more intolerable than fiends’ glarings is a doltish stare! So, so; thou + reddenest and palest; my heat has melted thee to anger-glow. But look ye, + Starbuck, what is said in heat, that thing unsays itself. There are men + from whom warm words are small indignity. I meant not to incense thee. Let + it go. Look! see yonder Turkish cheeks of spotted tawn—living, + breathing pictures painted by the sun. The Pagan leopards—the + unrecking and unworshipping things, that live; and seek, and give no + reasons for the torrid life they feel! The crew, man, the crew! Are they + not one and all with Ahab, in this matter of the whale? See Stubb! he + laughs! See yonder Chilian! he snorts to think of it. Stand up amid the + general hurricane, thy one tost sapling cannot, Starbuck! And what is it? + Reckon it. ’Tis but to help strike a fin; no wondrous feat for Starbuck. + What is it more? From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all + Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has + clutched a whetstone? Ah! constrainings seize thee; I see! the billow + lifts thee! Speak, but speak!—Aye, aye! thy silence, then, that + voices thee. (Aside) Something shot from my dilated nostrils, he has + inhaled it in his lungs. Starbuck now is mine; cannot oppose me now, + without rebellion.” +

+

+ “God keep me!—keep us all!” murmured Starbuck, lowly. +

+

+ But in his joy at the enchanted, tacit acquiescence of the mate, Ahab did + not hear his foreboding invocation; nor yet the low laugh from the hold; + nor yet the presaging vibrations of the winds in the cordage; nor yet the + hollow flap of the sails against the masts, as for a moment their hearts + sank in. For again Starbuck’s downcast eyes lighted up with the + stubbornness of life; the subterranean laugh died away; the winds blew on; + the sails filled out; the ship heaved and rolled as before. Ah, ye + admonitions and warnings! why stay ye not when ye come? But rather are ye + predictions than warnings, ye shadows! Yet not so much predictions from + without, as verifications of the foregoing things within. For with little + external to constrain us, the innermost necessities in our being, these + still drive us on. +

+

+ “The measure! the measure!” cried Ahab. +

+

+ Receiving the brimming pewter, and turning to the harpooneers, he ordered + them to produce their weapons. Then ranging them before him near the + capstan, with their harpoons in their hands, while his three mates stood + at his side with their lances, and the rest of the ship’s company formed a + circle round the group; he stood for an instant searchingly eyeing every + man of his crew. But those wild eyes met his, as the bloodshot eyes of the + prairie wolves meet the eye of their leader, ere he rushes on at their + head in the trail of the bison; but, alas! only to fall into the hidden + snare of the Indian. +

+

+ “Drink and pass!” he cried, handing the heavy charged flagon to the + nearest seaman. “The crew alone now drink. Round with it, round! Short + draughts—long swallows, men; ’tis hot as Satan’s hoof. So, so; it + goes round excellently. It spiralizes in ye; forks out at the + serpent-snapping eye. Well done; almost drained. That way it went, this + way it comes. Hand it me—here’s a hollow! Men, ye seem the years; so + brimming life is gulped and gone. Steward, refill! +

+

+ “Attend now, my braves. I have mustered ye all round this capstan; and ye + mates, flank me with your lances; and ye harpooneers, stand there with + your irons; and ye, stout mariners, ring me in, that I may in some sort + revive a noble custom of my fisherman fathers before me. O men, you will + yet see that—Ha! boy, come back? bad pennies come not sooner. Hand + it me. Why, now, this pewter had run brimming again, wer’t not thou St. + Vitus’ imp—away, thou ague! +

+

+ “Advance, ye mates! Cross your lances full before me. Well done! Let me + touch the axis.” So saying, with extended arm, he grasped the three level, + radiating lances at their crossed centre; while so doing, suddenly and + nervously twitched them; meanwhile, glancing intently from Starbuck to + Stubb; from Stubb to Flask. It seemed as though, by some nameless, + interior volition, he would fain have shocked into them the same fiery + emotion accumulated within the Leyden jar of his own magnetic life. The + three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic aspect. Stubb + and Flask looked sideways from him; the honest eye of Starbuck fell + downright. +

+

+ “In vain!” cried Ahab; “but, maybe, ’tis well. For did ye three but once + take the full-forced shock, then mine own electric thing, that had perhaps + expired from out me. Perchance, too, it would have dropped ye dead. + Perchance ye need it not. Down lances! And now, ye mates, I do appoint ye + three cupbearers to my three pagan kinsmen there—yon three most + honorable gentlemen and noblemen, my valiant harpooneers. Disdain the + task? What, when the great Pope washes the feet of beggars, using his + tiara for ewer? Oh, my sweet cardinals! your own condescension, that shall + bend ye to it. I do not order ye; ye will it. Cut your seizings and draw + the poles, ye harpooneers!” +

+

+ Silently obeying the order, the three harpooneers now stood with the + detached iron part of their harpoons, some three feet long, held, barbs + up, before him. +

+

+ “Stab me not with that keen steel! Cant them; cant them over! know ye not + the goblet end? Turn up the socket! So, so; now, ye cup-bearers, advance. + The irons! take them; hold them while I fill!” Forthwith, slowly going + from one officer to the other, he brimmed the harpoon sockets with the + fiery waters from the pewter. +

+

+ “Now, three to three, ye stand. Commend the murderous chalices! Bestow + them, ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league. Ha! + Starbuck! but the deed is done! Yon ratifying sun now waits to sit upon + it. Drink, ye harpooneers! drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful + whaleboat’s bow—Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not + hunt Moby Dick to his death!” The long, barbed steel goblets were lifted; + and to cries and maledictions against the white whale, the spirits were + simultaneously quaffed down with a hiss. Starbuck paled, and turned, and + shivered. Once more, and finally, the replenished pewter went the rounds + among the frantic crew; when, waving his free hand to them, they all + dispersed; and Ahab retired within his cabin. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 37. Sunset. +

+

+ The cabin; by the stern windows; Ahab sitting alone, and gazing out. +

+

+ I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where’er I + sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but + first I pass. +

+

+ Yonder, by ever-brimming goblet’s rim, the warm waves blush like wine. The + gold brow plumbs the blue. The diver sun—slow dived from noon—goes + down; my soul mounts up! she wearies with her endless hill. Is, then, the + crown too heavy that I wear? this Iron Crown of Lombardy. Yet is it bright + with many a gem; I the wearer, see not its far flashings; but darkly feel + that I wear that, that dazzlingly confounds. ’Tis iron—that I know—not + gold. ’Tis split, too—that I feel; the jagged edge galls me so, my + brain seems to beat against the solid metal; aye, steel skull, mine; the + sort that needs no helmet in the most brain-battering fight! +

+

+ Dry heat upon my brow? Oh! time was, when as the sunrise nobly spurred me, + so the sunset soothed. No more. This lovely light, it lights not me; all + loveliness is anguish to me, since I can ne’er enjoy. Gifted with the high + perception, I lack the low, enjoying power; damned, most subtly and most + malignantly! damned in the midst of Paradise! Good night—good night! + (waving his hand, he moves from the window.) +

+

+ ’Twas not so hard a task. I thought to find one stubborn, at the least; + but my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they + revolve. Or, if you will, like so many ant-hills of powder, they all stand + before me; and I their match. Oh, hard! that to fire others, the match + itself must needs be wasting! What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve + willed, I’ll do! They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, + I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend + itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and—Aye! I + lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, + then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That’s more than ye, ye great + gods, ever were. I laugh and hoot at ye, ye cricket-players, ye pugilists, + ye deaf Burkes and blinded Bendigoes! I will not say as schoolboys do to + bullies—Take some one of your own size; don’t pommel me! No, ye’ve + knocked me down, and I am up again; but ye have run and hidden. Come forth + from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye. Come, Ahab’s + compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot + swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The + path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is + grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of + mountains, under torrents’ beds, unerringly I rush! Naught’s an obstacle, + naught’s an angle to the iron way! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 38. Dusk. +

+

+ By the Mainmast; Starbuck leaning against it. +

+

+ My soul is more than matched; she’s overmanned; and by a madman! + Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he + drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his + impious end; but feel that I must help him to it. Will I, nill I, the + ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife + to cut. Horrible old man! Who’s over him, he cries;—aye, he would be + a democrat to all above; look, how he lords it over all below! Oh! I + plainly see my miserable office,—to obey, rebelling; and worse yet, + to hate with touch of pity! For in his eyes I read some lurid woe would + shrivel me up, had I it. Yet is there hope. Time and tide flow wide. The + hated whale has the round watery world to swim in, as the small gold-fish + has its glassy globe. His heaven-insulting purpose, God may wedge aside. I + would up heart, were it not like lead. But my whole clock’s run down; my + heart the all-controlling weight, I have no key to lift again. +

+

+ [A burst of revelry from the forecastle.] +

+

+ Oh, God! to sail with such a heathen crew that have small touch of human + mothers in them! Whelped somewhere by the sharkish sea. The white whale is + their demigorgon. Hark! the infernal orgies! that revelry is forward! mark + the unfaltering silence aft! Methinks it pictures life. Foremost through + the sparkling sea shoots on the gay, embattled, bantering bow, but only to + drag dark Ahab after it, where he broods within his sternward cabin, + builded over the dead water of the wake, and further on, hunted by its + wolfish gurglings. The long howl thrills me through! Peace! ye revellers, + and set the watch! Oh, life! ’tis in an hour like this, with soul beat + down and held to knowledge,—as wild, untutored things are forced to + feed—Oh, life! ’tis now that I do feel the latent horror in thee! + but ’tis not me! that horror’s out of me! and with the soft feeling of the + human in me, yet will I try to fight ye, ye grim, phantom futures! Stand + by me, hold me, bind me, O ye blessed influences! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 39. First Night-Watch. +

+

+ Fore-Top. +

+

+ (Stubb solus, and mending a brace.) +

+

+ Ha! ha! ha! ha! hem! clear my throat!—I’ve been thinking over it + ever since, and that ha, ha’s the final consequence. Why so? Because a + laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer; and come what + will, one comfort’s always left—that unfailing comfort is, it’s all + predestinated. I heard not all his talk with Starbuck; but to my poor eye + Starbuck then looked something as I the other evening felt. Be sure the + old Mogul has fixed him, too. I twigged it, knew it; had had the gift, + might readily have prophesied it—for when I clapped my eye upon his + skull I saw it. Well, Stubb, wise Stubb—that’s my title—well, + Stubb, what of it, Stubb? Here’s a carcase. I know not all that may be + coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing. Such a waggish + leering as lurks in all your horribles! I feel funny. Fa, la! lirra, + skirra! What’s my juicy little pear at home doing now? Crying its eyes + out?—Giving a party to the last arrived harpooneers, I dare say, gay + as a frigate’s pennant, and so am I—fa, la! lirra, skirra! Oh— +

+
+      We’ll drink to-night with hearts as light,
+         To love, as gay and fleeting
+      As bubbles that swim, on the beaker’s brim,
+         And break on the lips while meeting.
+
+

+ A brave stave that—who calls? Mr. Starbuck? Aye, aye, sir—(Aside) + he’s my superior, he has his too, if I’m not mistaken.—Aye, aye, + sir, just through with this job—coming. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle. +

+

+ HARPOONEERS AND SAILORS. +

+

+ (Foresail rises and discovers the watch standing, lounging, leaning, and + lying in various attitudes, all singing in chorus.) +

+
+     Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies!
+     Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain!
+     Our captain’s commanded.—
+
+

+ 1ST NANTUCKET SAILOR. Oh, boys, don’t be sentimental; it’s bad + for the digestion! Take a tonic, follow me! +

+

+ (Sings, and all follow.) +

+
+    Our captain stood upon the deck,
+    A spy-glass in his hand,
+    A viewing of those gallant whales
+    That blew at every strand.
+    Oh, your tubs in your boats, my boys,
+    And by your braces stand,
+    And we’ll have one of those fine whales,
+    Hand, boys, over hand!
+    So, be cheery, my lads! may your hearts never fail!
+    While the bold harpooner is striking the whale!
+
+

+ MATE’S VOICE FROM THE QUARTER-DECK. Eight bells there, forward! +

+

+ 2ND NANTUCKET SAILOR. Avast the chorus! Eight bells there! d’ye hear, + bell-boy? Strike the bell eight, thou Pip! thou blackling! and let me call + the watch. I’ve the sort of mouth for that—the hogshead mouth. So, + so, (thrusts his head down the scuttle,) Star-bo-l-e-e-n-s, a-h-o-y! Eight + bells there below! Tumble up! +

+

+ DUTCH SAILOR. Grand snoozing to-night, maty; fat night for that. I mark + this in our old Mogul’s wine; it’s quite as deadening to some as filliping + to others. We sing; they sleep—aye, lie down there, like ground-tier + butts. At ’em again! There, take this copper-pump, and hail ’em through + it. Tell ’em to avast dreaming of their lasses. Tell ’em it’s the + resurrection; they must kiss their last, and come to judgment. That’s the + way—that’s it; thy throat ain’t spoiled with eating Amsterdam + butter. +

+

+ FRENCH SAILOR. Hist, boys! let’s have a jig or two before we ride to + anchor in Blanket Bay. What say ye? There comes the other watch. Stand by + all legs! Pip! little Pip! hurrah with your tambourine! +

+

+ PIP. (Sulky and sleepy.) Don’t know where it is. +

+

+ FRENCH SAILOR. Beat thy belly, then, and wag thy ears. Jig it, men, I say; + merry’s the word; hurrah! Damn me, won’t you dance? Form, now, + Indian-file, and gallop into the double-shuffle? Throw yourselves! Legs! + legs! +

+

+ ICELAND SAILOR. I don’t like your floor, maty; it’s too springy to my + taste. I’m used to ice-floors. I’m sorry to throw cold water on the + subject; but excuse me. +

+

+ MALTESE SAILOR. Me too; where’s your girls? Who but a fool would take his + left hand by his right, and say to himself, how d’ye do? Partners! I must + have partners! +

+

+ SICILIAN SAILOR. Aye; girls and a green!—then I’ll hop with ye; yea, + turn grasshopper! +

+

+ LONG-ISLAND SAILOR. Well, well, ye sulkies, there’s plenty more of us. Hoe + corn when you may, say I. All legs go to harvest soon. Ah! here comes the + music; now for it! +

+

+ AZORE SAILOR. (Ascending, and pitching the tambourine up the scuttle.) + Here you are, Pip; and there’s the windlass-bitts; up you mount! Now, + boys! (The half of them dance to the tambourine; some go below; some sleep + or lie among the coils of rigging. Oaths a-plenty.) +

+

+ AZORE SAILOR. (Dancing) Go it, Pip! Bang it, bell-boy! Rig it, dig it, + stig it, quig it, bell-boy! Make fire-flies; break the jinglers! +

+

+ PIP. Jinglers, you say?—there goes another, dropped off; I pound it + so. +

+

+ CHINA SAILOR. Rattle thy teeth, then, and pound away; make a pagoda of + thyself. +

+

+ FRENCH SAILOR. Merry-mad! Hold up thy hoop, Pip, till I jump through it! + Split jibs! tear yourselves! +

+

+ TASHTEGO. (Quietly smoking.) That’s a white man; he calls that fun: humph! + I save my sweat. +

+

+ OLD MANX SAILOR. I wonder whether those jolly lads bethink them of what + they are dancing over. I’ll dance over your grave, I will—that’s the + bitterest threat of your night-women, that beat head-winds round corners. + O Christ! to think of the green navies and the green-skulled crews! Well, + well; belike the whole world’s a ball, as you scholars have it; and so + ’tis right to make one ballroom of it. Dance on, lads, you’re young; I was + once. +

+

+ 3D NANTUCKET SAILOR. Spell oh!—whew! this is worse than pulling + after whales in a calm—give us a whiff, Tash. +

+

+ (They cease dancing, and gather in clusters. Meantime the sky darkens—the + wind rises.) +

+

+ LASCAR SAILOR. By Brahma! boys, it’ll be douse sail soon. The sky-born, + high-tide Ganges turned to wind! Thou showest thy black brow, Seeva! +

+

+ MALTESE SAILOR. (Reclining and shaking his cap.) It’s the waves—the + snow’s caps turn to jig it now. They’ll shake their tassels soon. Now + would all the waves were women, then I’d go drown, and chassee with them + evermore! There’s naught so sweet on earth—heaven may not match it!—as + those swift glances of warm, wild bosoms in the dance, when the + over-arboring arms hide such ripe, bursting grapes. +

+

+ SICILIAN SAILOR. (Reclining.) Tell me not of it! Hark ye, lad—fleet + interlacings of the limbs—lithe swayings—coyings—flutterings! + lip! heart! hip! all graze: unceasing touch and go! not taste, observe ye, + else come satiety. Eh, Pagan? (Nudging.) +

+

+ TAHITAN SAILOR. (Reclining on a mat.) Hail, holy nakedness of our dancing + girls!—the Heeva-Heeva! Ah! low veiled, high palmed Tahiti! I still + rest me on thy mat, but the soft soil has slid! I saw thee woven in the + wood, my mat! green the first day I brought ye thence; now worn and wilted + quite. Ah me!—not thou nor I can bear the change! How then, if so be + transplanted to yon sky? Hear I the roaring streams from Pirohitee’s peak + of spears, when they leap down the crags and drown the villages?—The + blast! the blast! Up, spine, and meet it! (Leaps to his feet.) +

+

+ PORTUGUESE SAILOR. How the sea rolls swashing ’gainst the side! Stand by + for reefing, hearties! the winds are just crossing swords, pell-mell + they’ll go lunging presently. +

+

+ DANISH SAILOR. Crack, crack, old ship! so long as thou crackest, thou + holdest! Well done! The mate there holds ye to it stiffly. He’s no more + afraid than the isle fort at Cattegat, put there to fight the Baltic with + storm-lashed guns, on which the sea-salt cakes! +

+

+ 4TH NANTUCKET SAILOR. He has his orders, mind ye that. I heard old Ahab + tell him he must always kill a squall, something as they burst a + waterspout with a pistol—fire your ship right into it! +

+

+ ENGLISH SAILOR. Blood! but that old man’s a grand old cove! We are the + lads to hunt him up his whale! +

+

+ ALL. Aye! aye! +

+

+ OLD MANX SAILOR. How the three pines shake! Pines are the hardest sort of + tree to live when shifted to any other soil, and here there’s none but the + crew’s cursed clay. Steady, helmsman! steady. This is the sort of weather + when brave hearts snap ashore, and keeled hulls split at sea. Our captain + has his birthmark; look yonder, boys, there’s another in the sky—lurid-like, + ye see, all else pitch black. +

+

+ DAGGOO. What of that? Who’s afraid of black’s afraid of me! I’m quarried + out of it! +

+

+ SPANISH SAILOR. (Aside.) He wants to bully, ah!—the old grudge makes + me touchy (Advancing.) Aye, harpooneer, thy race is the undeniable dark + side of mankind—devilish dark at that. No offence. +

+

+ DAGGOO (grimly). None. +

+

+ ST. JAGO’S SAILOR. That Spaniard’s mad or drunk. But that can’t be, or + else in his one case our old Mogul’s fire-waters are somewhat long in + working. +

+

+ 5TH NANTUCKET SAILOR. What’s that I saw—lightning? Yes. +

+

+ SPANISH SAILOR. No; Daggoo showing his teeth. +

+

+ DAGGOO (springing). Swallow thine, mannikin! White skin, white liver! +

+

+ SPANISH SAILOR (meeting him). Knife thee heartily! big frame, small + spirit! +

+

+ ALL. A row! a row! a row! +

+

+ TASHTEGO (with a whiff). A row a’low, and a row aloft—Gods and men—both + brawlers! Humph! +

+

+ BELFAST SAILOR. A row! arrah a row! The Virgin be blessed, a row! Plunge + in with ye! +

+

+ ENGLISH SAILOR. Fair play! Snatch the Spaniard’s knife! A ring, a ring! +

+

+ OLD MANX SAILOR. Ready formed. There! the ringed horizon. In that ring + Cain struck Abel. Sweet work, right work! No? Why then, God, mad’st thou + the ring? +

+

+ MATE’S VOICE FROM THE QUARTER-DECK. Hands by the halyards! in top-gallant + sails! Stand by to reef topsails! +

+

+ ALL. The squall! the squall! jump, my jollies! (They scatter.) +

+

+ PIP (shrinking under the windlass). Jollies? Lord help such jollies! + Crish, crash! there goes the jib-stay! Blang-whang! God! Duck lower, Pip, + here comes the royal yard! It’s worse than being in the whirled woods, the + last day of the year! Who’d go climbing after chestnuts now? But there + they go, all cursing, and here I don’t. Fine prospects to ’em; they’re on + the road to heaven. Hold on hard! Jimmini, what a squall! But those chaps + there are worse yet—they are your white squalls, they. White + squalls? white whale, shirr! shirr! Here have I heard all their chat just + now, and the white whale—shirr! shirr!—but spoken of once! and + only this evening—it makes me jingle all over like my tambourine—that + anaconda of an old man swore ’em in to hunt him! Oh, thou big white God + aloft there somewhere in yon darkness, have mercy on this small black boy + down here; preserve him from all men that have no bowels to feel fear! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick. +

+

+ I, Ishmael, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my + oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I + hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, + mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed + mine. With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster + against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and + revenge. +

+

+ For some time past, though at intervals only, the unaccompanied, secluded + White Whale had haunted those uncivilized seas mostly frequented by the + Sperm Whale fishermen. But not all of them knew of his existence; only a + few of them, comparatively, had knowingly seen him; while the number who + as yet had actually and knowingly given battle to him, was small indeed. + For, owing to the large number of whale-cruisers; the disorderly way they + were sprinkled over the entire watery circumference, many of them + adventurously pushing their quest along solitary latitudes, so as seldom + or never for a whole twelvemonth or more on a stretch, to encounter a + single news-telling sail of any sort; the inordinate length of each + separate voyage; the irregularity of the times of sailing from home; all + these, with other circumstances, direct and indirect, long obstructed the + spread through the whole world-wide whaling-fleet of the special + individualizing tidings concerning Moby Dick. It was hardly to be doubted, + that several vessels reported to have encountered, at such or such a time, + or on such or such a meridian, a Sperm Whale of uncommon magnitude and + malignity, which whale, after doing great mischief to his assailants, had + completely escaped them; to some minds it was not an unfair presumption, I + say, that the whale in question must have been no other than Moby Dick. + Yet as of late the Sperm Whale fishery had been marked by various and not + unfrequent instances of great ferocity, cunning, and malice in the monster + attacked; therefore it was, that those who by accident ignorantly gave + battle to Moby Dick; such hunters, perhaps, for the most part, were + content to ascribe the peculiar terror he bred, more, as it were, to the + perils of the Sperm Whale fishery at large, than to the individual cause. + In that way, mostly, the disastrous encounter between Ahab and the whale + had hitherto been popularly regarded. +

+

+ And as for those who, previously hearing of the White Whale, by chance + caught sight of him; in the beginning of the thing they had every one of + them, almost, as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him, as for any other + whale of that species. But at length, such calamities did ensue in these + assaults—not restricted to sprained wrists and ankles, broken limbs, + or devouring amputations—but fatal to the last degree of fatality; + those repeated disastrous repulses, all accumulating and piling their + terrors upon Moby Dick; those things had gone far to shake the fortitude + of many brave hunters, to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually + come. +

+

+ Nor did wild rumors of all sorts fail to exaggerate, and still the more + horrify the true histories of these deadly encounters. For not only do + fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising + terrible events,—as the smitten tree gives birth to its fungi; but, + in maritime life, far more than in that of terra firma, wild rumors + abound, wherever there is any adequate reality for them to cling to. And + as the sea surpasses the land in this matter, so the whale fishery + surpasses every other sort of maritime life, in the wonderfulness and + fearfulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there. For not only + are whalemen as a body unexempt from that ignorance and superstitiousness + hereditary to all sailors; but of all sailors, they are by all odds the + most directly brought into contact with whatever is appallingly + astonishing in the sea; face to face they not only eye its greatest + marvels, but, hand to jaw, give battle to them. Alone, in such remotest + waters, that though you sailed a thousand miles, and passed a thousand + shores, you would not come to any chiseled hearth-stone, or aught + hospitable beneath that part of the sun; in such latitudes and longitudes, + pursuing too such a calling as he does, the whaleman is wrapped by + influences all tending to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty + birth. +

+

+ No wonder, then, that ever gathering volume from the mere transit over the + widest watery spaces, the outblown rumors of the White Whale did in the + end incorporate with themselves all manner of morbid hints, and + half-formed fœtal suggestions of supernatural agencies, which eventually + invested Moby Dick with new terrors unborrowed from anything that visibly + appears. So that in many cases such a panic did he finally strike, that + few who by those rumors, at least, had heard of the White Whale, few of + those hunters were willing to encounter the perils of his jaw. +

+

+ But there were still other and more vital practical influences at work. + Not even at the present day has the original prestige of the Sperm Whale, + as fearfully distinguished from all other species of the leviathan, died + out of the minds of the whalemen as a body. There are those this day among + them, who, though intelligent and courageous enough in offering battle to + the Greenland or Right whale, would perhaps—either from professional + inexperience, or incompetency, or timidity, decline a contest with the + Sperm Whale; at any rate, there are plenty of whalemen, especially among + those whaling nations not sailing under the American flag, who have never + hostilely encountered the Sperm Whale, but whose sole knowledge of the + leviathan is restricted to the ignoble monster primitively pursued in the + North; seated on their hatches, these men will hearken with a childish + fireside interest and awe, to the wild, strange tales of Southern whaling. + Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere + more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him. +

+

+ And as if the now tested reality of his might had in former legendary + times thrown its shadow before it; we find some book naturalists—Olassen + and Povelson—declaring the Sperm Whale not only to be a + consternation to every other creature in the sea, but also to be so + incredibly ferocious as continually to be athirst for human blood. Nor + even down to so late a time as Cuvier’s, were these or almost similar + impressions effaced. For in his Natural History, the Baron himself affirms + that at sight of the Sperm Whale, all fish (sharks included) are “struck + with the most lively terrors,” and “often in the precipitancy of their + flight dash themselves against the rocks with such violence as to cause + instantaneous death.” And however the general experiences in the fishery + may amend such reports as these; yet in their full terribleness, even to + the bloodthirsty item of Povelson, the superstitious belief in them is, in + some vicissitudes of their vocation, revived in the minds of the hunters. +

+

+ So that overawed by the rumors and portents concerning him, not a few of + the fishermen recalled, in reference to Moby Dick, the earlier days of the + Sperm Whale fishery, when it was oftentimes hard to induce long practised + Right whalemen to embark in the perils of this new and daring warfare; + such men protesting that although other leviathans might be hopefully + pursued, yet to chase and point lance at such an apparition as the Sperm + Whale was not for mortal man. That to attempt it, would be inevitably to + be torn into a quick eternity. On this head, there are some remarkable + documents that may be consulted. +

+

+ Nevertheless, some there were, who even in the face of these things were + ready to give chase to Moby Dick; and a still greater number who, chancing + only to hear of him distantly and vaguely, without the specific details of + any certain calamity, and without superstitious accompaniments, were + sufficiently hardy not to flee from the battle if offered. +

+

+ One of the wild suggestions referred to, as at last coming to be linked + with the White Whale in the minds of the superstitiously inclined, was the + unearthly conceit that Moby Dick was ubiquitous; that he had actually been + encountered in opposite latitudes at one and the same instant of time. +

+

+ Nor, credulous as such minds must have been, was this conceit altogether + without some faint show of superstitious probability. For as the secrets + of the currents in the seas have never yet been divulged, even to the most + erudite research; so the hidden ways of the Sperm Whale when beneath the + surface remain, in great part, unaccountable to his pursuers; and from + time to time have originated the most curious and contradictory + speculations regarding them, especially concerning the mystic modes + whereby, after sounding to a great depth, he transports himself with such + vast swiftness to the most widely distant points. +

+

+ It is a thing well known to both American and English whale-ships, and as + well a thing placed upon authoritative record years ago by Scoresby, that + some whales have been captured far north in the Pacific, in whose bodies + have been found the barbs of harpoons darted in the Greenland seas. Nor is + it to be gainsaid, that in some of these instances it has been declared + that the interval of time between the two assaults could not have exceeded + very many days. Hence, by inference, it has been believed by some + whalemen, that the Nor’ West Passage, so long a problem to man, was never + a problem to the whale. So that here, in the real living experience of + living men, the prodigies related in old times of the inland Strello + mountain in Portugal (near whose top there was said to be a lake in which + the wrecks of ships floated up to the surface); and that still more + wonderful story of the Arethusa fountain near Syracuse (whose waters were + believed to have come from the Holy Land by an underground passage); these + fabulous narrations are almost fully equalled by the realities of the + whalemen. +

+

+ Forced into familiarity, then, with such prodigies as these; and knowing + that after repeated, intrepid assaults, the White Whale had escaped alive; + it cannot be much matter of surprise that some whalemen should go still + further in their superstitions; declaring Moby Dick not only ubiquitous, + but immortal (for immortality is but ubiquity in time); that though groves + of spears should be planted in his flanks, he would still swim away + unharmed; or if indeed he should ever be made to spout thick blood, such a + sight would be but a ghastly deception; for again in unensanguined billows + hundreds of leagues away, his unsullied jet would once more be seen. +

+

+ But even stripped of these supernatural surmisings, there was enough in + the earthly make and incontestable character of the monster to strike the + imagination with unwonted power. For, it was not so much his uncommon bulk + that so much distinguished him from other sperm whales, but, as was + elsewhere thrown out—a peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead, and a + high, pyramidical white hump. These were his prominent features; the + tokens whereby, even in the limitless, uncharted seas, he revealed his + identity, at a long distance, to those who knew him. +

+

+ The rest of his body was so streaked, and spotted, and marbled with the + same shrouded hue, that, in the end, he had gained his distinctive + appellation of the White Whale; a name, indeed, literally justified by his + vivid aspect, when seen gliding at high noon through a dark blue sea, + leaving a milky-way wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden + gleamings. +

+

+ Nor was it his unwonted magnitude, nor his remarkable hue, nor yet his + deformed lower jaw, that so much invested the whale with natural terror, + as that unexampled, intelligent malignity which, according to specific + accounts, he had over and over again evinced in his assaults. More than + all, his treacherous retreats struck more of dismay than perhaps aught + else. For, when swimming before his exulting pursuers, with every apparent + symptom of alarm, he had several times been known to turn round suddenly, + and, bearing down upon them, either stave their boats to splinters, or + drive them back in consternation to their ship. +

+

+ Already several fatalities had attended his chase. But though similar + disasters, however little bruited ashore, were by no means unusual in the + fishery; yet, in most instances, such seemed the White Whale’s infernal + aforethought of ferocity, that every dismembering or death that he caused, + was not wholly regarded as having been inflicted by an unintelligent + agent. +

+

+ Judge, then, to what pitches of inflamed, distracted fury the minds of his + more desperate hunters were impelled, when amid the chips of chewed boats, + and the sinking limbs of torn comrades, they swam out of the white curds + of the whale’s direful wrath into the serene, exasperating sunlight, that + smiled on, as if at a birth or a bridal. +

+

+ His three boats stove around him, and oars and men both whirling in the + eddies; one captain, seizing the line-knife from his broken prow, had + dashed at the whale, as an Arkansas duellist at his foe, blindly seeking + with a six inch blade to reach the fathom-deep life of the whale. That + captain was Ahab. And then it was, that suddenly sweeping his + sickle-shaped lower jaw beneath him, Moby Dick had reaped away Ahab’s leg, + as a mower a blade of grass in the field. No turbaned Turk, no hired + Venetian or Malay, could have smote him with more seeming malice. Small + reason was there to doubt, then, that ever since that almost fatal + encounter, Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale, all + the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to + identify with him, not only all his bodily woes, but all his intellectual + and spiritual exasperations. The White Whale swam before him as the + monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men + feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and + half a lung. That intangible malignity which has been from the beginning; + to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the + worlds; which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue + devil;—Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them; but + deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale, he pitted + himself, all mutilated, against it. All that most maddens and torments; + all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all + that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of + life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and + made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white + hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from + Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot + heart’s shell upon it. +

+

+ It is not probable that this monomania in him took its instant rise at the + precise time of his bodily dismemberment. Then, in darting at the monster, + knife in hand, he had but given loose to a sudden, passionate, corporal + animosity; and when he received the stroke that tore him, he probably but + felt the agonizing bodily laceration, but nothing more. Yet, when by this + collision forced to turn towards home, and for long months of days and + weeks, Ahab and anguish lay stretched together in one hammock, rounding in + mid winter that dreary, howling Patagonian Cape; then it was, that his + torn body and gashed soul bled into one another; and so interfusing, made + him mad. That it was only then, on the homeward voyage, after the + encounter, that the final monomania seized him, seems all but certain from + the fact that, at intervals during the passage, he was a raving lunatic; + and, though unlimbed of a leg, yet such vital strength yet lurked in his + Egyptian chest, and was moreover intensified by his delirium, that his + mates were forced to lace him fast, even there, as he sailed, raving in + his hammock. In a strait-jacket, he swung to the mad rockings of the + gales. And, when running into more sufferable latitudes, the ship, with + mild stun’sails spread, floated across the tranquil tropics, and, to all + appearances, the old man’s delirium seemed left behind him with the Cape + Horn swells, and he came forth from his dark den into the blessed light + and air; even then, when he bore that firm, collected front, however pale, + and issued his calm orders once again; and his mates thanked God the + direful madness was now gone; even then, Ahab, in his hidden self, raved + on. Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you + think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler + form. Ahab’s full lunacy subsided not, but deepeningly contracted; like + the unabated Hudson, when that noble Northman flows narrowly, but + unfathomably through the Highland gorge. But, as in his narrow-flowing + monomania, not one jot of Ahab’s broad madness had been left behind; so in + that broad madness, not one jot of his great natural intellect had + perished. That before living agent, now became the living instrument. If + such a furious trope may stand, his special lunacy stormed his general + sanity, and carried it, and turned all its concentred cannon upon its own + mad mark; so that far from having lost his strength, Ahab, to that one + end, did now possess a thousand fold more potency than ever he had sanely + brought to bear upon any one reasonable object. +

+

+ This is much; yet Ahab’s larger, darker, deeper part remains unhinted. But + vain to popularize profundities, and all truth is profound. Winding far + down from within the very heart of this spiked Hotel de Cluny where we + here stand—however grand and wonderful, now quit it;—and take + your way, ye nobler, sadder souls, to those vast Roman halls of Thermes; + where far beneath the fantastic towers of man’s upper earth, his root of + grandeur, his whole awful essence sits in bearded state; an antique buried + beneath antiquities, and throned on torsoes! So with a broken throne, the + great gods mock that captive king; so like a Caryatid, he patient sits, + upholding on his frozen brow the piled entablatures of ages. Wind ye down + there, ye prouder, sadder souls! question that proud, sad king! A family + likeness! aye, he did beget ye, ye young exiled royalties; and from your + grim sire only will the old State-secret come. +

+

+ Now, in his heart, Ahab had some glimpse of this, namely: all my means are + sane, my motive and my object mad. Yet without power to kill, or change, + or shun the fact; he likewise knew that to mankind he did long dissemble; + in some sort, did still. But that thing of his dissembling was only + subject to his perceptibility, not to his will determinate. Nevertheless, + so well did he succeed in that dissembling, that when with ivory leg he + stepped ashore at last, no Nantucketer thought him otherwise than but + naturally grieved, and that to the quick, with the terrible casualty which + had overtaken him. +

+

+ The report of his undeniable delirium at sea was likewise popularly + ascribed to a kindred cause. And so too, all the added moodiness which + always afterwards, to the very day of sailing in the Pequod on the present + voyage, sat brooding on his brow. Nor is it so very unlikely, that far + from distrusting his fitness for another whaling voyage, on account of + such dark symptoms, the calculating people of that prudent isle were + inclined to harbor the conceit, that for those very reasons he was all the + better qualified and set on edge, for a pursuit so full of rage and + wildness as the bloody hunt of whales. Gnawed within and scorched without, + with the infixed, unrelenting fangs of some incurable idea; such an one, + could he be found, would seem the very man to dart his iron and lift his + lance against the most appalling of all brutes. Or, if for any reason + thought to be corporeally incapacitated for that, yet such an one would + seem superlatively competent to cheer and howl on his underlings to the + attack. But be all this as it may, certain it is, that with the mad secret + of his unabated rage bolted up and keyed in him, Ahab had purposely sailed + upon the present voyage with the one only and all-engrossing object of + hunting the White Whale. Had any one of his old acquaintances on shore but + half dreamed of what was lurking in him then, how soon would their aghast + and righteous souls have wrenched the ship from such a fiendish man! They + were bent on profitable cruises, the profit to be counted down in dollars + from the mint. He was intent on an audacious, immitigable, and + supernatural revenge. +

+

+ Here, then, was this grey-headed, ungodly old man, chasing with curses a + Job’s whale round the world, at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up + of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals—morally enfeebled + also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in + Starbuck, the invulnerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in + Stubb, and the pervading mediocrity in Flask. Such a crew, so officered, + seemed specially picked and packed by some infernal fatality to help him + to his monomaniac revenge. How it was that they so aboundingly responded + to the old man’s ire—by what evil magic their souls were possessed, + that at times his hate seemed almost theirs; the White Whale as much their + insufferable foe as his; how all this came to be—what the White + Whale was to them, or how to their unconscious understandings, also, in + some dim, unsuspected way, he might have seemed the gliding great demon of + the seas of life,—all this to explain, would be to dive deeper than + Ishmael can go. The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one + tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his + pick? Who does not feel the irresistible arm drag? What skiff in tow of a + seventy-four can stand still? For one, I gave myself up to the abandonment + of the time and the place; but while yet all a-rush to encounter the + whale, could see naught in that brute but the deadliest ill. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 42. The Whiteness of the Whale. +

+

+ What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was + to me, as yet remains unsaid. +

+

+ Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which + could not but occasionally awaken in any man’s soul some alarm, there was + another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at + times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so + mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting + it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above + all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and + yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these + chapters might be naught. +

+

+ Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as + if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and + pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain + royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu + placing the title “Lord of the White Elephants” above all their other + magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam + unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the + Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the + great Austrian Empire, Cæsarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the + imperial colour the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it + applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership + over every dusky tribe; and though, besides, all this, whiteness has been + even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone + marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and + symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble + things—the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among + the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the + deepest pledge of honor; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the + majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the + daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in + the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the + symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire + worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; + and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a + snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice + of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, + that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could + send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; + and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests + derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, + worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish + faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of + our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the + redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the + great white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; + yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and + honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the + innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than + that redness which affrights in blood. +

+

+ This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when + divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object + terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds. + Witness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the tropics; + what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the transcendent horrors + they are? That ghastly whiteness it is which imparts such an abhorrent + mildness, even more loathsome than terrific, to the dumb gloating of their + aspect. So that not the fierce-fanged tiger in his heraldic coat can so + stagger courage as the white-shrouded bear or shark.* +

+

+ *With reference to the Polar bear, it may possibly be urged by him who + would fain go still deeper into this matter, that it is not the whiteness, + separately regarded, which heightens the intolerable hideousness of that + brute; for, analysed, that heightened hideousness, it might be said, only + rises from the circumstance, that the irresponsible ferociousness of the + creature stands invested in the fleece of celestial innocence and love; + and hence, by bringing together two such opposite emotions in our minds, + the Polar bear frightens us with so unnatural a contrast. But even + assuming all this to be true; yet, were it not for the whiteness, you + would not have that intensified terror. +

+

+ As for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that + creature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the + same quality in the Polar quadruped. This peculiarity is most vividly hit + by the French in the name they bestow upon that fish. The Romish mass for + the dead begins with “Requiem eternam” (eternal rest), whence Requiem + denominating the mass itself, and any other funeral music. Now, in + allusion to the white, silent stillness of death in this shark, and the + mild deadliness of his habits, the French call him Requin. +

+

+ Bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual + wonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all + imaginations? Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God’s great, + unflattering laureate, Nature.* +

+

+ *I remember the first albatross I ever saw. It was during a prolonged + gale, in waters hard upon the Antarctic seas. From my forenoon watch + below, I ascended to the overclouded deck; and there, dashed upon the main + hatches, I saw a regal, feathery thing of unspotted whiteness, and with a + hooked, Roman bill sublime. At intervals, it arched forth its vast + archangel wings, as if to embrace some holy ark. Wondrous flutterings and + throbbings shook it. Though bodily unharmed, it uttered cries, as some + king’s ghost in supernatural distress. Through its inexpressible, strange + eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God. As Abraham + before the angels, I bowed myself; the white thing was so white, its wings + so wide, and in those for ever exiled waters, I had lost the miserable + warping memories of traditions and of towns. Long I gazed at that prodigy + of plumage. I cannot tell, can only hint, the things that darted through + me then. But at last I awoke; and turning, asked a sailor what bird was + this. A goney, he replied. Goney! never had heard that name before; is it + conceivable that this glorious thing is utterly unknown to men ashore! + never! But some time after, I learned that goney was some seaman’s name + for albatross. So that by no possibility could Coleridge’s wild Rhyme have + had aught to do with those mystical impressions which were mine, when I + saw that bird upon our deck. For neither had I then read the Rhyme, nor + knew the bird to be an albatross. Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly + burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet. +

+

+ I assert, then, that in the wondrous bodily whiteness of the bird chiefly + lurks the secret of the spell; a truth the more evinced in this, that by a + solecism of terms there are birds called grey albatrosses; and these I + have frequently seen, but never with such emotions as when I beheld the + Antarctic fowl. +

+

+ But how had the mystic thing been caught? Whisper it not, and I will tell; + with a treacherous hook and line, as the fowl floated on the sea. At last + the Captain made a postman of it; tying a lettered, leathern tally round + its neck, with the ship’s time and place; and then letting it escape. But + I doubt not, that leathern tally, meant for man, was taken off in Heaven, + when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and + adoring cherubim! +

+

+ Most famous in our Western annals and Indian traditions is that of the + White Steed of the Prairies; a magnificent milk-white charger, large-eyed, + small-headed, bluff-chested, and with the dignity of a thousand monarchs + in his lofty, overscorning carriage. He was the elected Xerxes of vast + herds of wild horses, whose pastures in those days were only fenced by the + Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies. At their flaming head he westward + trooped it like that chosen star which every evening leads on the hosts of + light. The flashing cascade of his mane, the curving comet of his tail, + invested him with housings more resplendent than gold and silver-beaters + could have furnished him. A most imperial and archangelical apparition of + that unfallen, western world, which to the eyes of the old trappers and + hunters revived the glories of those primeval times when Adam walked + majestic as a god, bluff-browed and fearless as this mighty steed. Whether + marching amid his aides and marshals in the van of countless cohorts that + endlessly streamed it over the plains, like an Ohio; or whether with his + circumambient subjects browsing all around at the horizon, the White Steed + gallopingly reviewed them with warm nostrils reddening through his cool + milkiness; in whatever aspect he presented himself, always to the bravest + Indians he was the object of trembling reverence and awe. Nor can it be + questioned from what stands on legendary record of this noble horse, that + it was his spiritual whiteness chiefly, which so clothed him with + divineness; and that this divineness had that in it which, though + commanding worship, at the same time enforced a certain nameless terror. +

+

+ But there are other instances where this whiteness loses all that + accessory and strange glory which invests it in the White Steed and + Albatross. +

+

+ What is it that in the Albino man so peculiarly repels and often shocks + the eye, as that sometimes he is loathed by his own kith and kin! It is + that whiteness which invests him, a thing expressed by the name he bears. + The Albino is as well made as other men—has no substantive deformity—and + yet this mere aspect of all-pervading whiteness makes him more strangely + hideous than the ugliest abortion. Why should this be so? +

+

+ Nor, in quite other aspects, does Nature in her least palpable but not the + less malicious agencies, fail to enlist among her forces this crowning + attribute of the terrible. From its snowy aspect, the gauntleted ghost of + the Southern Seas has been denominated the White Squall. Nor, in some + historic instances, has the art of human malice omitted so potent an + auxiliary. How wildly it heightens the effect of that passage in + Froissart, when, masked in the snowy symbol of their faction, the + desperate White Hoods of Ghent murder their bailiff in the market-place! +

+

+ Nor, in some things, does the common, hereditary experience of all mankind + fail to bear witness to the supernaturalism of this hue. It cannot well be + doubted, that the one visible quality in the aspect of the dead which most + appals the gazer, is the marble pallor lingering there; as if indeed that + pallor were as much like the badge of consternation in the other world, as + of mortal trepidation here. And from that pallor of the dead, we borrow + the expressive hue of the shroud in which we wrap them. Nor even in our + superstitions do we fail to throw the same snowy mantle round our + phantoms; all ghosts rising in a milk-white fog—Yea, while these + terrors seize us, let us add, that even the king of terrors, when + personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse. +

+

+ Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing + he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized + significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul. +

+

+ But though without dissent this point be fixed, how is mortal man to + account for it? To analyse it, would seem impossible. Can we, then, by the + citation of some of those instances wherein this thing of whiteness—though + for the time either wholly or in great part stripped of all direct + associations calculated to impart to it aught fearful, but nevertheless, + is found to exert over us the same sorcery, however modified;—can we + thus hope to light upon some chance clue to conduct us to the hidden cause + we seek? +

+

+ Let us try. But in a matter like this, subtlety appeals to subtlety, and + without imagination no man can follow another into these halls. And + though, doubtless, some at least of the imaginative impressions about to + be presented may have been shared by most men, yet few perhaps were + entirely conscious of them at the time, and therefore may not be able to + recall them now. +

+

+ Why to the man of untutored ideality, who happens to be but loosely + acquainted with the peculiar character of the day, does the bare mention + of Whitsuntide marshal in the fancy such long, dreary, speechless + processions of slow-pacing pilgrims, down-cast and hooded with new-fallen + snow? Or, to the unread, unsophisticated Protestant of the Middle American + States, why does the passing mention of a White Friar or a White Nun, + evoke such an eyeless statue in the soul? +

+

+ Or what is there apart from the traditions of dungeoned warriors and kings + (which will not wholly account for it) that makes the White Tower of + London tell so much more strongly on the imagination of an untravelled + American, than those other storied structures, its neighbors—the + Byward Tower, or even the Bloody? And those sublimer towers, the White + Mountains of New Hampshire, whence, in peculiar moods, comes that gigantic + ghostliness over the soul at the bare mention of that name, while the + thought of Virginia’s Blue Ridge is full of a soft, dewy, distant + dreaminess? Or why, irrespective of all latitudes and longitudes, does the + name of the White Sea exert such a spectralness over the fancy, while that + of the Yellow Sea lulls us with mortal thoughts of long lacquered mild + afternoons on the waves, followed by the gaudiest and yet sleepiest of + sunsets? Or, to choose a wholly unsubstantial instance, purely addressed + to the fancy, why, in reading the old fairy tales of Central Europe, does + “the tall pale man” of the Hartz forests, whose changeless pallor + unrustlingly glides through the green of the groves—why is this + phantom more terrible than all the whooping imps of the Blocksburg? +

+

+ Nor is it, altogether, the remembrance of her cathedral-toppling + earthquakes; nor the stampedoes of her frantic seas; nor the tearlessness + of arid skies that never rain; nor the sight of her wide field of leaning + spires, wrenched cope-stones, and crosses all adroop (like canted yards of + anchored fleets); and her suburban avenues of house-walls lying over upon + each other, as a tossed pack of cards;—it is not these things alone + which make tearless Lima, the strangest, saddest city thou can’st see. For + Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this + whiteness of her woe. Old as Pizarro, this whiteness keeps her ruins for + ever new; admits not the cheerful greenness of complete decay; spreads + over her broken ramparts the rigid pallor of an apoplexy that fixes its + own distortions. +

+

+ I know that, to the common apprehension, this phenomenon of whiteness is + not confessed to be the prime agent in exaggerating the terror of objects + otherwise terrible; nor to the unimaginative mind is there aught of terror + in those appearances whose awfulness to another mind almost solely + consists in this one phenomenon, especially when exhibited under any form + at all approaching to muteness or universality. What I mean by these two + statements may perhaps be respectively elucidated by the following + examples. +

+

+ First: The mariner, when drawing nigh the coasts of foreign lands, if by + night he hear the roar of breakers, starts to vigilance, and feels just + enough of trepidation to sharpen all his faculties; but under precisely + similar circumstances, let him be called from his hammock to view his ship + sailing through a midnight sea of milky whiteness—as if from + encircling headlands shoals of combed white bears were swimming round him, + then he feels a silent, superstitious dread; the shrouded phantom of the + whitened waters is horrible to him as a real ghost; in vain the lead + assures him he is still off soundings; heart and helm they both go down; + he never rests till blue water is under him again. Yet where is the + mariner who will tell thee, “Sir, it was not so much the fear of striking + hidden rocks, as the fear of that hideous whiteness that so stirred me?” +

+

+ Second: To the native Indian of Peru, the continual sight of the + snow-howdahed Andes conveys naught of dread, except, perhaps, in the mere + fancying of the eternal frosted desolateness reigning at such vast + altitudes, and the natural conceit of what a fearfulness it would be to + lose oneself in such inhuman solitudes. Much the same is it with the + backwoodsman of the West, who with comparative indifference views an + unbounded prairie sheeted with driven snow, no shadow of tree or twig to + break the fixed trance of whiteness. Not so the sailor, beholding the + scenery of the Antarctic seas; where at times, by some infernal trick of + legerdemain in the powers of frost and air, he, shivering and half + shipwrecked, instead of rainbows speaking hope and solace to his misery, + views what seems a boundless churchyard grinning upon him with its lean + ice monuments and splintered crosses. +

+

+ But thou sayest, methinks that white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a + white flag hung out from a craven soul; thou surrenderest to a hypo, + Ishmael. +

+

+ Tell me, why this strong young colt, foaled in some peaceful valley of + Vermont, far removed from all beasts of prey—why is it that upon the + sunniest day, if you but shake a fresh buffalo robe behind him, so that he + cannot even see it, but only smells its wild animal muskiness—why + will he start, snort, and with bursting eyes paw the ground in phrensies + of affright? There is no remembrance in him of any gorings of wild + creatures in his green northern home, so that the strange muskiness he + smells cannot recall to him anything associated with the experience of + former perils; for what knows he, this New England colt, of the black + bisons of distant Oregon? +

+

+ No: but here thou beholdest even in a dumb brute, the instinct of the + knowledge of the demonism in the world. Though thousands of miles from + Oregon, still when he smells that savage musk, the rending, goring bison + herds are as present as to the deserted wild foal of the prairies, which + this instant they may be trampling into dust. +

+

+ Thus, then, the muffled rollings of a milky sea; the bleak rustlings of + the festooned frosts of mountains; the desolate shiftings of the windrowed + snows of prairies; all these, to Ishmael, are as the shaking of that + buffalo robe to the frightened colt! +

+

+ Though neither knows where lie the nameless things of which the mystic + sign gives forth such hints; yet with me, as with the colt, somewhere + those things must exist. Though in many of its aspects this visible world + seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright. +

+

+ But not yet have we solved the incantation of this whiteness, and learned + why it appeals with such power to the soul; and more strange and far more + portentous—why, as we have seen, it is at once the most meaning + symbol of spiritual things, nay, the very veil of the Christian’s Deity; + and yet should be as it is, the intensifying agent in things the most + appalling to mankind. +

+

+ Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and + immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the + thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? + Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a colour as the + visible absence of colour; and at the same time the concrete of all + colours; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full + of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows—a colourless, all-colour of + atheism from which we shrink? And when we consider that other theory of + the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues—every stately + or lovely emblazoning—the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; + yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of + young girls; all these are but subtile deceits, not actually inherent in + substances, but only laid on from without; so that all deified Nature + absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the + charnel-house within; and when we proceed further, and consider that the + mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great + principle of light, for ever remains white or colorless in itself, and if + operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips + and roses, with its own blank tinge—pondering all this, the palsied + universe lies before us a leper; and like wilful travellers in Lapland, + who refuse to wear coloured and colouring glasses upon their eyes, so the + wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that + wraps all the prospect around him. And of all these things the Albino + whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 43. Hark! +

+

+ “HIST! Did you hear that noise, Cabaco?” +

+

+ It was the middle-watch: a fair moonlight; the seamen were standing in a + cordon, extending from one of the fresh-water butts in the waist, to the + scuttle-butt near the taffrail. In this manner, they passed the buckets to + fill the scuttle-butt. Standing, for the most part, on the hallowed + precincts of the quarter-deck, they were careful not to speak or rustle + their feet. From hand to hand, the buckets went in the deepest silence, + only broken by the occasional flap of a sail, and the steady hum of the + unceasingly advancing keel. +

+

+ It was in the midst of this repose, that Archy, one of the cordon, whose + post was near the after-hatches, whispered to his neighbor, a Cholo, the + words above. +

+

+ “Hist! did you hear that noise, Cabaco?” +

+

+ “Take the bucket, will ye, Archy? what noise d’ye mean?” +

+

+ “There it is again—under the hatches—don’t you hear it—a + cough—it sounded like a cough.” +

+

+ “Cough be damned! Pass along that return bucket.” +

+

+ “There again—there it is!—it sounds like two or three sleepers + turning over, now!” +

+

+ “Caramba! have done, shipmate, will ye? It’s the three soaked biscuits ye + eat for supper turning over inside of ye—nothing else. Look to the + bucket!” +

+

+ “Say what ye will, shipmate; I’ve sharp ears.” +

+

+ “Aye, you are the chap, ain’t ye, that heard the hum of the old + Quakeress’s knitting-needles fifty miles at sea from Nantucket; you’re the + chap.” +

+

+ “Grin away; we’ll see what turns up. Hark ye, Cabaco, there is somebody + down in the after-hold that has not yet been seen on deck; and I suspect + our old Mogul knows something of it too. I heard Stubb tell Flask, one + morning watch, that there was something of that sort in the wind.” +

+

+ “Tish! the bucket!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 44. The Chart. +

+

+ Had you followed Captain Ahab down into his cabin after the squall that + took place on the night succeeding that wild ratification of his purpose + with his crew, you would have seen him go to a locker in the transom, and + bringing out a large wrinkled roll of yellowish sea charts, spread them + before him on his screwed-down table. Then seating himself before it, you + would have seen him intently study the various lines and shadings which + there met his eye; and with slow but steady pencil trace additional + courses over spaces that before were blank. At intervals, he would refer + to piles of old log-books beside him, wherein were set down the seasons + and places in which, on various former voyages of various ships, sperm + whales had been captured or seen. +

+

+ While thus employed, the heavy pewter lamp suspended in chains over his + head, continually rocked with the motion of the ship, and for ever threw + shifting gleams and shadows of lines upon his wrinkled brow, till it + almost seemed that while he himself was marking out lines and courses on + the wrinkled charts, some invisible pencil was also tracing lines and + courses upon the deeply marked chart of his forehead. +

+

+ But it was not this night in particular that, in the solitude of his + cabin, Ahab thus pondered over his charts. Almost every night they were + brought out; almost every night some pencil marks were effaced, and others + were substituted. For with the charts of all four oceans before him, Ahab + was threading a maze of currents and eddies, with a view to the more + certain accomplishment of that monomaniac thought of his soul. +

+

+ Now, to any one not fully acquainted with the ways of the leviathans, it + might seem an absurdly hopeless task thus to seek out one solitary + creature in the unhooped oceans of this planet. But not so did it seem to + Ahab, who knew the sets of all tides and currents; and thereby calculating + the driftings of the sperm whale’s food; and, also, calling to mind the + regular, ascertained seasons for hunting him in particular latitudes; + could arrive at reasonable surmises, almost approaching to certainties, + concerning the timeliest day to be upon this or that ground in search of + his prey. +

+

+ So assured, indeed, is the fact concerning the periodicalness of the sperm + whale’s resorting to given waters, that many hunters believe that, could + he be closely observed and studied throughout the world; were the logs for + one voyage of the entire whale fleet carefully collated, then the + migrations of the sperm whale would be found to correspond in + invariability to those of the herring-shoals or the flights of swallows. + On this hint, attempts have been made to construct elaborate migratory + charts of the sperm whale.* +

+
+     *Since the above was written, the statement is happily borne
+     out by an official circular, issued by Lieutenant Maury, of
+     the National Observatory, Washington, April 16th, 1851. By
+     that circular, it appears that precisely such a chart is in
+     course of completion; and portions of it are presented in
+     the circular. “This chart divides the ocean into districts
+     of five degrees of latitude by five degrees of longitude;
+     perpendicularly through each of which districts are twelve
+     columns for the twelve months; and horizontally through each
+     of which districts are three lines; one to show the number
+     of days that have been spent in each month in every
+     district, and the two others to show the number of days in
+     which whales, sperm or right, have been seen.”
+
+

+ Besides, when making a passage from one feeding-ground to another, the + sperm whales, guided by some infallible instinct—say, rather, secret + intelligence from the Deity—mostly swim in veins, as they are + called; continuing their way along a given ocean-line with such + undeviating exactitude, that no ship ever sailed her course, by any chart, + with one tithe of such marvellous precision. Though, in these cases, the + direction taken by any one whale be straight as a surveyor’s parallel, and + though the line of advance be strictly confined to its own unavoidable, + straight wake, yet the arbitrary vein in which at these times he is said + to swim, generally embraces some few miles in width (more or less, as the + vein is presumed to expand or contract); but never exceeds the visual + sweep from the whale-ship’s mast-heads, when circumspectly gliding along + this magic zone. The sum is, that at particular seasons within that + breadth and along that path, migrating whales may with great confidence be + looked for. +

+

+ And hence not only at substantiated times, upon well known separate + feeding-grounds, could Ahab hope to encounter his prey; but in crossing + the widest expanses of water between those grounds he could, by his art, + so place and time himself on his way, as even then not to be wholly + without prospect of a meeting. +

+

+ There was a circumstance which at first sight seemed to entangle his + delirious but still methodical scheme. But not so in the reality, perhaps. + Though the gregarious sperm whales have their regular seasons for + particular grounds, yet in general you cannot conclude that the herds + which haunted such and such a latitude or longitude this year, say, will + turn out to be identically the same with those that were found there the + preceding season; though there are peculiar and unquestionable instances + where the contrary of this has proved true. In general, the same remark, + only within a less wide limit, applies to the solitaries and hermits among + the matured, aged sperm whales. So that though Moby Dick had in a former + year been seen, for example, on what is called the Seychelle ground in the + Indian ocean, or Volcano Bay on the Japanese Coast; yet it did not follow, + that were the Pequod to visit either of those spots at any subsequent + corresponding season, she would infallibly encounter him there. So, too, + with some other feeding grounds, where he had at times revealed himself. + But all these seemed only his casual stopping-places and ocean-inns, so to + speak, not his places of prolonged abode. And where Ahab’s chances of + accomplishing his object have hitherto been spoken of, allusion has only + been made to whatever way-side, antecedent, extra prospects were his, ere + a particular set time or place were attained, when all possibilities would + become probabilities, and, as Ahab fondly thought, every possibility the + next thing to a certainty. That particular set time and place were + conjoined in the one technical phrase—the Season-on-the-Line. For + there and then, for several consecutive years, Moby Dick had been + periodically descried, lingering in those waters for awhile, as the sun, + in its annual round, loiters for a predicted interval in any one sign of + the Zodiac. There it was, too, that most of the deadly encounters with the + white whale had taken place; there the waves were storied with his deeds; + there also was that tragic spot where the monomaniac old man had found the + awful motive to his vengeance. But in the cautious comprehensiveness and + unloitering vigilance with which Ahab threw his brooding soul into this + unfaltering hunt, he would not permit himself to rest all his hopes upon + the one crowning fact above mentioned, however flattering it might be to + those hopes; nor in the sleeplessness of his vow could he so tranquillize + his unquiet heart as to postpone all intervening quest. +

+

+ Now, the Pequod had sailed from Nantucket at the very beginning of the + Season-on-the-Line. No possible endeavor then could enable her commander + to make the great passage southwards, double Cape Horn, and then running + down sixty degrees of latitude arrive in the equatorial Pacific in time to + cruise there. Therefore, he must wait for the next ensuing season. Yet the + premature hour of the Pequod’s sailing had, perhaps, been correctly + selected by Ahab, with a view to this very complexion of things. Because, + an interval of three hundred and sixty-five days and nights was before + him; an interval which, instead of impatiently enduring ashore, he would + spend in a miscellaneous hunt; if by chance the White Whale, spending his + vacation in seas far remote from his periodical feeding-grounds, should + turn up his wrinkled brow off the Persian Gulf, or in the Bengal Bay, or + China Seas, or in any other waters haunted by his race. So that Monsoons, + Pampas, Nor’-Westers, Harmattans, Trades; any wind but the Levanter and + Simoon, might blow Moby Dick into the devious zig-zag world-circle of the + Pequod’s circumnavigating wake. +

+

+ But granting all this; yet, regarded discreetly and coolly, seems it not + but a mad idea, this; that in the broad boundless ocean, one solitary + whale, even if encountered, should be thought capable of individual + recognition from his hunter, even as a white-bearded Mufti in the thronged + thoroughfares of Constantinople? Yes. For the peculiar snow-white brow of + Moby Dick, and his snow-white hump, could not but be unmistakable. And + have I not tallied the whale, Ahab would mutter to himself, as after + poring over his charts till long after midnight he would throw himself + back in reveries—tallied him, and shall he escape? His broad fins + are bored, and scalloped out like a lost sheep’s ear! And here, his mad + mind would run on in a breathless race; till a weariness and faintness of + pondering came over him; and in the open air of the deck he would seek to + recover his strength. Ah, God! what trances of torments does that man + endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps + with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms. +

+

+ Often, when forced from his hammock by exhausting and intolerably vivid + dreams of the night, which, resuming his own intense thoughts through the + day, carried them on amid a clashing of phrensies, and whirled them round + and round and round in his blazing brain, till the very throbbing of his + life-spot became insufferable anguish; and when, as was sometimes the + case, these spiritual throes in him heaved his being up from its base, and + a chasm seemed opening in him, from which forked flames and lightnings + shot up, and accursed fiends beckoned him to leap down among them; when + this hell in himself yawned beneath him, a wild cry would be heard through + the ship; and with glaring eyes Ahab would burst from his state room, as + though escaping from a bed that was on fire. Yet these, perhaps, instead + of being the unsuppressable symptoms of some latent weakness, or fright at + his own resolve, were but the plainest tokens of its intensity. For, at + such times, crazy Ahab, the scheming, unappeasedly steadfast hunter of the + white whale; this Ahab that had gone to his hammock, was not the agent + that so caused him to burst from it in horror again. The latter was the + eternal, living principle or soul in him; and in sleep, being for the time + dissociated from the characterizing mind, which at other times employed it + for its outer vehicle or agent, it spontaneously sought escape from the + scorching contiguity of the frantic thing, of which, for the time, it was + no longer an integral. But as the mind does not exist unless leagued with + the soul, therefore it must have been that, in Ahab’s case, yielding up + all his thoughts and fancies to his one supreme purpose; that purpose, by + its own sheer inveteracy of will, forced itself against gods and devils + into a kind of self-assumed, independent being of its own. Nay, could + grimly live and burn, while the common vitality to which it was conjoined, + fled horror-stricken from the unbidden and unfathered birth. Therefore, + the tormented spirit that glared out of bodily eyes, when what seemed Ahab + rushed from his room, was for the time but a vacated thing, a formless + somnambulistic being, a ray of living light, to be sure, but without an + object to colour, and therefore a blankness in itself. God help thee, old + man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense + thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for + ever; that vulture the very creature he creates. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit. +

+

+ So far as what there may be of a narrative in this book; and, indeed, as + indirectly touching one or two very interesting and curious particulars in + the habits of sperm whales, the foregoing chapter, in its earlier part, is + as important a one as will be found in this volume; but the leading matter + of it requires to be still further and more familiarly enlarged upon, in + order to be adequately understood, and moreover to take away any + incredulity which a profound ignorance of the entire subject may induce in + some minds, as to the natural verity of the main points of this affair. +

+

+ I care not to perform this part of my task methodically; but shall be + content to produce the desired impression by separate citations of items, + practically or reliably known to me as a whaleman; and from these + citations, I take it—the conclusion aimed at will naturally follow + of itself. +

+

+ First: I have personally known three instances where a whale, after + receiving a harpoon, has effected a complete escape; and, after an + interval (in one instance of three years), has been again struck by the + same hand, and slain; when the two irons, both marked by the same private + cypher, have been taken from the body. In the instance where three years + intervened between the flinging of the two harpoons; and I think it may + have been something more than that; the man who darted them happening, in + the interval, to go in a trading ship on a voyage to Africa, went ashore + there, joined a discovery party, and penetrated far into the interior, + where he travelled for a period of nearly two years, often endangered by + serpents, savages, tigers, poisonous miasmas, with all the other common + perils incident to wandering in the heart of unknown regions. Meanwhile, + the whale he had struck must also have been on its travels; no doubt it + had thrice circumnavigated the globe, brushing with its flanks all the + coasts of Africa; but to no purpose. This man and this whale again came + together, and the one vanquished the other. I say I, myself, have known + three instances similar to this; that is in two of them I saw the whales + struck; and, upon the second attack, saw the two irons with the respective + marks cut in them, afterwards taken from the dead fish. In the three-year + instance, it so fell out that I was in the boat both times, first and + last, and the last time distinctly recognised a peculiar sort of huge mole + under the whale’s eye, which I had observed there three years previous. I + say three years, but I am pretty sure it was more than that. Here are + three instances, then, which I personally know the truth of; but I have + heard of many other instances from persons whose veracity in the matter + there is no good ground to impeach. +

+

+ Secondly: It is well known in the Sperm Whale Fishery, however ignorant + the world ashore may be of it, that there have been several memorable + historical instances where a particular whale in the ocean has been at + distant times and places popularly cognisable. Why such a whale became + thus marked was not altogether and originally owing to his bodily + peculiarities as distinguished from other whales; for however peculiar in + that respect any chance whale may be, they soon put an end to his + peculiarities by killing him, and boiling him down into a peculiarly + valuable oil. No: the reason was this: that from the fatal experiences of + the fishery there hung a terrible prestige of perilousness about such a + whale as there did about Rinaldo Rinaldini, insomuch that most fishermen + were content to recognise him by merely touching their tarpaulins when he + would be discovered lounging by them on the sea, without seeking to + cultivate a more intimate acquaintance. Like some poor devils ashore that + happen to know an irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive + salutations to him in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance + further, they might receive a summary thump for their presumption. +

+

+ But not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great individual + celebrity—Nay, you may call it an ocean-wide renown; not only was he + famous in life and now is immortal in forecastle stories after death, but + he was admitted into all the rights, privileges, and distinctions of a + name; had as much a name indeed as Cambyses or Cæsar. Was it not so, O + Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan, scarred like an iceberg, who so long + did’st lurk in the Oriental straits of that name, whose spout was oft seen + from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it not so, O New Zealand Jack! thou + terror of all cruisers that crossed their wakes in the vicinity of the + Tattoo Land? Was it not so, O Morquan! King of Japan, whose lofty jet they + say at times assumed the semblance of a snow-white cross against the sky? + Was it not so, O Don Miguel! thou Chilian whale, marked like an old + tortoise with mystic hieroglyphics upon the back! In plain prose, here are + four whales as well known to the students of Cetacean History as Marius or + Sylla to the classic scholar. +

+

+ But this is not all. New Zealand Tom and Don Miguel, after at various + times creating great havoc among the boats of different vessels, were + finally gone in quest of, systematically hunted out, chased and killed by + valiant whaling captains, who heaved up their anchors with that express + object as much in view, as in setting out through the Narragansett Woods, + Captain Butler of old had it in his mind to capture that notorious + murderous savage Annawon, the headmost warrior of the Indian King Philip. +

+

+ I do not know where I can find a better place than just here, to make + mention of one or two other things, which to me seem important, as in + printed form establishing in all respects the reasonableness of the whole + story of the White Whale, more especially the catastrophe. For this is one + of those disheartening instances where truth requires full as much + bolstering as error. So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest + and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching + the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might + scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more + detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory. +

+

+ First: Though most men have some vague flitting ideas of the general + perils of the grand fishery, yet they have nothing like a fixed, vivid + conception of those perils, and the frequency with which they recur. One + reason perhaps is, that not one in fifty of the actual disasters and + deaths by casualties in the fishery, ever finds a public record at home, + however transient and immediately forgotten that record. Do you suppose + that that poor fellow there, who this moment perhaps caught by the + whale-line off the coast of New Guinea, is being carried down to the + bottom of the sea by the sounding leviathan—do you suppose that that + poor fellow’s name will appear in the newspaper obituary you will read + to-morrow at your breakfast? No: because the mails are very irregular + between here and New Guinea. In fact, did you ever hear what might be + called regular news direct or indirect from New Guinea? Yet I tell you + that upon one particular voyage which I made to the Pacific, among many + others we spoke thirty different ships, every one of which had had a death + by a whale, some of them more than one, and three that had each lost a + boat’s crew. For God’s sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! + not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man’s blood was spilled + for it. +

+

+ Secondly: People ashore have indeed some indefinite idea that a whale is + an enormous creature of enormous power; but I have ever found that when + narrating to them some specific example of this two-fold enormousness, + they have significantly complimented me upon my facetiousness; when, I + declare upon my soul, I had no more idea of being facetious than Moses, + when he wrote the history of the plagues of Egypt. +

+

+ But fortunately the special point I here seek can be established upon + testimony entirely independent of my own. That point is this: The Sperm + Whale is in some cases sufficiently powerful, knowing, and judiciously + malicious, as with direct aforethought to stave in, utterly destroy, and + sink a large ship; and what is more, the Sperm Whale has done it. +

+

+ First: In the year 1820 the ship Essex, Captain Pollard, of Nantucket, was + cruising in the Pacific Ocean. One day she saw spouts, lowered her boats, + and gave chase to a shoal of sperm whales. Ere long, several of the whales + were wounded; when, suddenly, a very large whale escaping from the boats, + issued from the shoal, and bore directly down upon the ship. Dashing his + forehead against her hull, he so stove her in, that in less than “ten + minutes” she settled down and fell over. Not a surviving plank of her has + been seen since. After the severest exposure, part of the crew reached the + land in their boats. Being returned home at last, Captain Pollard once + more sailed for the Pacific in command of another ship, but the gods + shipwrecked him again upon unknown rocks and breakers; for the second time + his ship was utterly lost, and forthwith forswearing the sea, he has never + tempted it since. At this day Captain Pollard is a resident of Nantucket. + I have seen Owen Chace, who was chief mate of the Essex at the time of the + tragedy; I have read his plain and faithful narrative; I have conversed + with his son; and all this within a few miles of the scene of the + catastrophe.* +

+

+ *The following are extracts from Chace’s narrative: “Every fact seemed to + warrant me in concluding that it was anything but chance which directed + his operations; he made two several attacks upon the ship, at a short + interval between them, both of which, according to their direction, were + calculated to do us the most injury, by being made ahead, and thereby + combining the speed of the two objects for the shock; to effect which, the + exact manÅ“uvres which he made were necessary. His aspect was most + horrible, and such as indicated resentment and fury. He came directly from + the shoal which we had just before entered, and in which we had struck + three of his companions, as if fired with revenge for their sufferings.” + Again: “At all events, the whole circumstances taken together, all + happening before my own eyes, and producing, at the time, impressions in + my mind of decided, calculating mischief, on the part of the whale (many + of which impressions I cannot now recall), induce me to be satisfied that + I am correct in my opinion.” +

+

+ Here are his reflections some time after quitting the ship, during a black + night in an open boat, when almost despairing of reaching any hospitable + shore. “The dark ocean and swelling waters were nothing; the fears of + being swallowed up by some dreadful tempest, or dashed upon hidden rocks, + with all the other ordinary subjects of fearful contemplation, seemed + scarcely entitled to a moment’s thought; the dismal looking wreck, and the + horrid aspect and revenge of the whale, wholly engrossed my reflections, + until day again made its appearance.” +

+

+ In another place—p. 45,—he speaks of “the mysterious and + mortal attack of the animal.” +

+

+ Secondly: The ship Union, also of Nantucket, was in the year 1807 totally + lost off the Azores by a similar onset, but the authentic particulars of + this catastrophe I have never chanced to encounter, though from the whale + hunters I have now and then heard casual allusions to it. +

+

+ Thirdly: Some eighteen or twenty years ago Commodore J——, then + commanding an American sloop-of-war of the first class, happened to be + dining with a party of whaling captains, on board a Nantucket ship in the + harbor of Oahu, Sandwich Islands. Conversation turning upon whales, the + Commodore was pleased to be sceptical touching the amazing strength + ascribed to them by the professional gentlemen present. He peremptorily + denied for example, that any whale could so smite his stout sloop-of-war + as to cause her to leak so much as a thimbleful. Very good; but there is + more coming. Some weeks after, the Commodore set sail in this impregnable + craft for Valparaiso. But he was stopped on the way by a portly sperm + whale, that begged a few moments’ confidential business with him. That + business consisted in fetching the Commodore’s craft such a thwack, that + with all his pumps going he made straight for the nearest port to heave + down and repair. I am not superstitious, but I consider the Commodore’s + interview with that whale as providential. Was not Saul of Tarsus + converted from unbelief by a similar fright? I tell you, the sperm whale + will stand no nonsense. +

+

+ I will now refer you to Langsdorff’s Voyages for a little circumstance in + point, peculiarly interesting to the writer hereof. Langsdorff, you must + know by the way, was attached to the Russian Admiral Krusenstern’s famous + Discovery Expedition in the beginning of the present century. Captain + Langsdorff thus begins his seventeenth chapter: +

+

+ “By the thirteenth of May our ship was ready to sail, and the next day we + were out in the open sea, on our way to Ochotsh. The weather was very + clear and fine, but so intolerably cold that we were obliged to keep on + our fur clothing. For some days we had very little wind; it was not till + the nineteenth that a brisk gale from the northwest sprang up. An uncommon + large whale, the body of which was larger than the ship itself, lay almost + at the surface of the water, but was not perceived by any one on board + till the moment when the ship, which was in full sail, was almost upon + him, so that it was impossible to prevent its striking against him. We + were thus placed in the most imminent danger, as this gigantic creature, + setting up its back, raised the ship three feet at least out of the water. + The masts reeled, and the sails fell altogether, while we who were below + all sprang instantly upon the deck, concluding that we had struck upon + some rock; instead of this we saw the monster sailing off with the utmost + gravity and solemnity. Captain D’Wolf applied immediately to the pumps to + examine whether or not the vessel had received any damage from the shock, + but we found that very happily it had escaped entirely uninjured.” +

+

+ Now, the Captain D’Wolf here alluded to as commanding the ship in + question, is a New Englander, who, after a long life of unusual adventures + as a sea-captain, this day resides in the village of Dorchester near + Boston. I have the honor of being a nephew of his. I have particularly + questioned him concerning this passage in Langsdorff. He substantiates + every word. The ship, however, was by no means a large one: a Russian + craft built on the Siberian coast, and purchased by my uncle after + bartering away the vessel in which he sailed from home. +

+

+ In that up and down manly book of old-fashioned adventure, so full, too, + of honest wonders—the voyage of Lionel Wafer, one of ancient + Dampier’s old chums—I found a little matter set down so like that + just quoted from Langsdorff, that I cannot forbear inserting it here for a + corroborative example, if such be needed. +

+

+ Lionel, it seems, was on his way to “John Ferdinando,” as he calls the + modern Juan Fernandes. “In our way thither,” he says, “about four o’clock + in the morning, when we were about one hundred and fifty leagues from the + Main of America, our ship felt a terrible shock, which put our men in such + consternation that they could hardly tell where they were or what to + think; but every one began to prepare for death. And, indeed, the shock + was so sudden and violent, that we took it for granted the ship had struck + against a rock; but when the amazement was a little over, we cast the + lead, and sounded, but found no ground. * * * * * The suddenness of the shock + made the guns leap in their carriages, and several of the men were shaken + out of their hammocks. Captain Davis, who lay with his head on a gun, was + thrown out of his cabin!” Lionel then goes on to impute the shock to an + earthquake, and seems to substantiate the imputation by stating that a + great earthquake, somewhere about that time, did actually do great + mischief along the Spanish land. But I should not much wonder if, in the + darkness of that early hour of the morning, the shock was after all caused + by an unseen whale vertically bumping the hull from beneath. +

+

+ I might proceed with several more examples, one way or another known to + me, of the great power and malice at times of the sperm whale. In more + than one instance, he has been known, not only to chase the assailing + boats back to their ships, but to pursue the ship itself, and long + withstand all the lances hurled at him from its decks. The English ship + Pusie Hall can tell a story on that head; and, as for his strength, let me + say, that there have been examples where the lines attached to a running + sperm whale have, in a calm, been transferred to the ship, and secured + there; the whale towing her great hull through the water, as a horse walks + off with a cart. Again, it is very often observed that, if the sperm + whale, once struck, is allowed time to rally, he then acts, not so often + with blind rage, as with wilful, deliberate designs of destruction to his + pursuers; nor is it without conveying some eloquent indication of his + character, that upon being attacked he will frequently open his mouth, and + retain it in that dread expansion for several consecutive minutes. But I + must be content with only one more and a concluding illustration; a + remarkable and most significant one, by which you will not fail to see, + that not only is the most marvellous event in this book corroborated by + plain facts of the present day, but that these marvels (like all marvels) + are mere repetitions of the ages; so that for the millionth time we say + amen with Solomon—Verily there is nothing new under the sun. +

+

+ In the sixth Christian century lived Procopius, a Christian magistrate of + Constantinople, in the days when Justinian was Emperor and Belisarius + general. As many know, he wrote the history of his own times, a work every + way of uncommon value. By the best authorities, he has always been + considered a most trustworthy and unexaggerating historian, except in some + one or two particulars, not at all affecting the matter presently to be + mentioned. +

+

+ Now, in this history of his, Procopius mentions that, during the term of + his prefecture at Constantinople, a great sea-monster was captured in the + neighboring Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, after having destroyed vessels + at intervals in those waters for a period of more than fifty years. A fact + thus set down in substantial history cannot easily be gainsaid. Nor is + there any reason it should be. Of what precise species this sea-monster + was, is not mentioned. But as he destroyed ships, as well as for other + reasons, he must have been a whale; and I am strongly inclined to think a + sperm whale. And I will tell you why. For a long time I fancied that the + sperm whale had been always unknown in the Mediterranean and the deep + waters connecting with it. Even now I am certain that those seas are not, + and perhaps never can be, in the present constitution of things, a place + for his habitual gregarious resort. But further investigations have + recently proved to me, that in modern times there have been isolated + instances of the presence of the sperm whale in the Mediterranean. I am + told, on good authority, that on the Barbary coast, a Commodore Davis of + the British navy found the skeleton of a sperm whale. Now, as a vessel of + war readily passes through the Dardanelles, hence a sperm whale could, by + the same route, pass out of the Mediterranean into the Propontis. +

+

+ In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance + called brit is to be found, the aliment of the right whale. But I have + every reason to believe that the food of the sperm whale—squid or + cuttle-fish—lurks at the bottom of that sea, because large + creatures, but by no means the largest of that sort, have been found at + its surface. If, then, you properly put these statements together, and + reason upon them a bit, you will clearly perceive that, according to all + human reasoning, Procopius’s sea-monster, that for half a century stove + the ships of a Roman Emperor, must in all probability have been a sperm + whale. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 46. Surmises. +

+

+ Though, consumed with the hot fire of his purpose, Ahab in all his + thoughts and actions ever had in view the ultimate capture of Moby Dick; + though he seemed ready to sacrifice all mortal interests to that one + passion; nevertheless it may have been that he was by nature and long + habituation far too wedded to a fiery whaleman’s ways, altogether to + abandon the collateral prosecution of the voyage. Or at least if this were + otherwise, there were not wanting other motives much more influential with + him. It would be refining too much, perhaps, even considering his + monomania, to hint that his vindictiveness towards the White Whale might + have possibly extended itself in some degree to all sperm whales, and that + the more monsters he slew by so much the more he multiplied the chances + that each subsequently encountered whale would prove to be the hated one + he hunted. But if such an hypothesis be indeed exceptionable, there were + still additional considerations which, though not so strictly according + with the wildness of his ruling passion, yet were by no means incapable of + swaying him. +

+

+ To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools used in the + shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order. He knew, for + example, that however magnetic his ascendency in some respects was over + Starbuck, yet that ascendency did not cover the complete spiritual man any + more than mere corporeal superiority involves intellectual mastership; for + to the purely spiritual, the intellectual but stand in a sort of corporeal + relation. Starbuck’s body and Starbuck’s coerced will were Ahab’s, so long + as Ahab kept his magnet at Starbuck’s brain; still he knew that for all + this the chief mate, in his soul, abhorred his captain’s quest, and could + he, would joyfully disintegrate himself from it, or even frustrate it. It + might be that a long interval would elapse ere the White Whale was seen. + During that long interval Starbuck would ever be apt to fall into open + relapses of rebellion against his captain’s leadership, unless some + ordinary, prudential, circumstantial influences were brought to bear upon + him. Not only that, but the subtle insanity of Ahab respecting Moby Dick + was noways more significantly manifested than in his superlative sense and + shrewdness in foreseeing that, for the present, the hunt should in some + way be stripped of that strange imaginative impiousness which naturally + invested it; that the full terror of the voyage must be kept withdrawn + into the obscure background (for few men’s courage is proof against + protracted meditation unrelieved by action); that when they stood their + long night watches, his officers and men must have some nearer things to + think of than Moby Dick. For however eagerly and impetuously the savage + crew had hailed the announcement of his quest; yet all sailors of all + sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable—they live in the + varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness—and when + retained for any object remote and blank in the pursuit, however + promissory of life and passion in the end, it is above all things + requisite that temporary interests and employments should intervene and + hold them healthily suspended for the final dash. +

+

+ Nor was Ahab unmindful of another thing. In times of strong emotion + mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. + The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought + Ahab, is sordidness. Granting that the White Whale fully incites the + hearts of this my savage crew, and playing round their savageness even + breeds a certain generous knight-errantism in them, still, while for the + love of it they give chase to Moby Dick, they must also have food for + their more common, daily appetites. For even the high lifted and chivalric + Crusaders of old times were not content to traverse two thousand miles of + land to fight for their holy sepulchre, without committing burglaries, + picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way. Had they + been strictly held to their one final and romantic object—that final + and romantic object, too many would have turned from in disgust. I will + not strip these men, thought Ahab, of all hopes of cash—aye, cash. + They may scorn cash now; but let some months go by, and no perspective + promise of it to them, and then this same quiescent cash all at once + mutinying in them, this same cash would soon cashier Ahab. +

+

+ Nor was there wanting still another precautionary motive more related to + Ahab personally. Having impulsively, it is probable, and perhaps somewhat + prematurely revealed the prime but private purpose of the Pequod’s voyage, + Ahab was now entirely conscious that, in so doing, he had indirectly laid + himself open to the unanswerable charge of usurpation; and with perfect + impunity, both moral and legal, his crew if so disposed, and to that end + competent, could refuse all further obedience to him, and even violently + wrest from him the command. From even the barely hinted imputation of + usurpation, and the possible consequences of such a suppressed impression + gaining ground, Ahab must of course have been most anxious to protect + himself. That protection could only consist in his own predominating brain + and heart and hand, backed by a heedful, closely calculating attention to + every minute atmospheric influence which it was possible for his crew to + be subjected to. +

+

+ For all these reasons then, and others perhaps too analytic to be verbally + developed here, Ahab plainly saw that he must still in a good degree + continue true to the natural, nominal purpose of the Pequod’s voyage; + observe all customary usages; and not only that, but force himself to + evince all his well known passionate interest in the general pursuit of + his profession. +

+

+ Be all this as it may, his voice was now often heard hailing the three + mast-heads and admonishing them to keep a bright look-out, and not omit + reporting even a porpoise. This vigilance was not long without reward. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 47. The Mat-Maker. +

+

+ It was a cloudy, sultry afternoon; the seamen were lazily lounging about + the decks, or vacantly gazing over into the lead-coloured waters. Queequeg + and I were mildly employed weaving what is called a sword-mat, for an + additional lashing to our boat. So still and subdued and yet somehow + preluding was all the scene, and such an incantation of reverie lurked in + the air, that each silent sailor seemed resolved into his own invisible + self. +

+

+ I was the attendant or page of Queequeg, while busy at the mat. As I kept + passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long + yarns of the warp, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, + standing sideways, ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the + threads, and idly looking off upon the water, carelessly and unthinkingly + drove home every yarn: I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign + all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting + dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, + and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the + Fates. There lay the fixed threads of the warp subject to but one single, + ever returning, unchanging vibration, and that vibration merely enough to + admit of the crosswise interblending of other threads with its own. This + warp seemed necessity; and here, thought I, with my own hand I ply my own + shuttle and weave my own destiny into these unalterable threads. Meantime, + Queequeg’s impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof + slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; + and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding + contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric; this savage’s sword, + thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this + easy, indifferent sword must be chance—aye, chance, free will, and + necessity—nowise incompatible—all interweavingly working + together. The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its + ultimate course—its every alternating vibration, indeed, only + tending to that; free will still free to ply her shuttle between given + threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines + of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though + thus prescribed to by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the last + featuring blow at events. +

+

+ Thus we were weaving and weaving away when I started at a sound so + strange, long drawn, and musically wild and unearthly, that the ball of + free will dropped from my hand, and I stood gazing up at the clouds whence + that voice dropped like a wing. High aloft in the cross-trees was that mad + Gay-Header, Tashtego. His body was reaching eagerly forward, his hand + stretched out like a wand, and at brief sudden intervals he continued his + cries. To be sure the same sound was that very moment perhaps being heard + all over the seas, from hundreds of whalemen’s look-outs perched as high + in the air; but from few of those lungs could that accustomed old cry have + derived such a marvellous cadence as from Tashtego the Indian’s. +

+

+ As he stood hovering over you half suspended in air, so wildly and eagerly + peering towards the horizon, you would have thought him some prophet or + seer beholding the shadows of Fate, and by those wild cries announcing + their coming. +

+

+ “There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!” +

+

+ “Where-away?” +

+

+ “On the lee-beam, about two miles off! a school of them!” +

+

+ Instantly all was commotion. +

+

+ The Sperm Whale blows as a clock ticks, with the same undeviating and + reliable uniformity. And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from other + tribes of his genus. +

+

+ “There go flukes!” was now the cry from Tashtego; and the whales + disappeared. +

+

+ “Quick, steward!” cried Ahab. “Time! time!” +

+

+ Dough-Boy hurried below, glanced at the watch, and reported the exact + minute to Ahab. +

+

+ The ship was now kept away from the wind, and she went gently rolling + before it. Tashtego reporting that the whales had gone down heading to + leeward, we confidently looked to see them again directly in advance of + our bows. For that singular craft at times evinced by the Sperm Whale + when, sounding with his head in one direction, he nevertheless, while + concealed beneath the surface, mills round, and swiftly swims off in the + opposite quarter—this deceitfulness of his could not now be in + action; for there was no reason to suppose that the fish seen by Tashtego + had been in any way alarmed, or indeed knew at all of our vicinity. One of + the men selected for shipkeepers—that is, those not appointed to the + boats, by this time relieved the Indian at the main-mast head. The sailors + at the fore and mizzen had come down; the line tubs were fixed in their + places; the cranes were thrust out; the mainyard was backed, and the three + boats swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs. + Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the rail, + while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale. So look the long + line of man-of-war’s men about to throw themselves on board an enemy’s + ship. +

+

+ But at this critical instant a sudden exclamation was heard that took + every eye from the whale. With a start all glared at dark Ahab, who was + surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of air. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 48. The First Lowering. +

+

+ The phantoms, for so they then seemed, were flitting on the other side of + the deck, and, with a noiseless celerity, were casting loose the tackles + and bands of the boat which swung there. This boat had always been deemed + one of the spare boats, though technically called the captain’s, on + account of its hanging from the starboard quarter. The figure that now + stood by its bows was tall and swart, with one white tooth evilly + protruding from its steel-like lips. A rumpled Chinese jacket of black + cotton funereally invested him, with wide black trowsers of the same dark + stuff. But strangely crowning this ebonness was a glistening white plaited + turban, the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head. + Less swart in aspect, the companions of this figure were of that vivid, + tiger-yellow complexion peculiar to some of the aboriginal natives of the + Manillas;—a race notorious for a certain diabolism of subtilty, and + by some honest white mariners supposed to be the paid spies and secret + confidential agents on the water of the devil, their lord, whose + counting-room they suppose to be elsewhere. +

+

+ While yet the wondering ship’s company were gazing upon these strangers, + Ahab cried out to the white-turbaned old man at their head, “All ready + there, Fedallah?” +

+

+ “Ready,” was the half-hissed reply. +

+

+ “Lower away then; d’ye hear?” shouting across the deck. “Lower away there, + I say.” +

+

+ Such was the thunder of his voice, that spite of their amazement the men + sprang over the rail; the sheaves whirled round in the blocks; with a + wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, with a dexterous, + off-handed daring, unknown in any other vocation, the sailors, goat-like, + leaped down the rolling ship’s side into the tossed boats below. +

+

+ Hardly had they pulled out from under the ship’s lee, when a fourth keel, + coming from the windward side, pulled round under the stern, and showed + the five strangers rowing Ahab, who, standing erect in the stern, loudly + hailed Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, to spread themselves widely, so as to + cover a large expanse of water. But with all their eyes again riveted upon + the swart Fedallah and his crew, the inmates of the other boats obeyed not + the command. +

+

+ “Captain Ahab?—” said Starbuck. +

+

+ “Spread yourselves,” cried Ahab; “give way, all four boats. Thou, Flask, + pull out more to leeward!” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, sir,” cheerily cried little King-Post, sweeping round his great + steering oar. “Lay back!” addressing his crew. “There!—there!—there + again! There she blows right ahead, boys!—lay back!” +

+

+ “Never heed yonder yellow boys, Archy.” +

+

+ “Oh, I don’t mind ’em, sir,” said Archy; “I knew it + all before now. Didn’t I hear ’em in the hold? And didn’t I + tell Cabaco here of it? What say ye, Cabaco? They are stowaways, Mr. Flask.” +

+

+ “Pull, pull, my fine hearts-alive; pull, my children; pull, my little + ones,” drawlingly and soothingly sighed Stubb to his crew, some of whom + still showed signs of uneasiness. “Why don’t you break your backbones, my + boys? What is it you stare at? Those chaps in yonder boat? Tut! They are + only five more hands come to help us—never mind from where—the + more the merrier. Pull, then, do pull; never mind the brimstone—devils + are good fellows enough. So, so; there you are now; that’s the stroke for + a thousand pounds; that’s the stroke to sweep the stakes! Hurrah for the + gold cup of sperm oil, my heroes! Three cheers, men—all hearts + alive! Easy, easy; don’t be in a hurry—don’t be in a hurry. Why + don’t you snap your oars, you rascals? Bite something, you dogs! So, so, + so, then:—softly, softly! That’s it—that’s it! long and + strong. Give way there, give way! The devil fetch ye, ye ragamuffin + rapscallions; ye are all asleep. Stop snoring, ye sleepers, and pull. + Pull, will ye? pull, can’t ye? pull, won’t ye? Why in the name of gudgeons + and ginger-cakes don’t ye pull?—pull and break something! pull, and + start your eyes out! Here!” whipping out the sharp knife from his girdle; + “every mother’s son of ye draw his knife, and pull with the blade between + his teeth. That’s it—that’s it. Now ye do something; that looks like + it, my steel-bits. Start her—start her, my silver-spoons! Start her, + marling-spikes!” +

+

+ Stubb’s exordium to his crew is given here at large, because he had rather + a peculiar way of talking to them in general, and especially in + inculcating the religion of rowing. But you must not suppose from this + specimen of his sermonizings that he ever flew into downright passions + with his congregation. Not at all; and therein consisted his chief + peculiarity. He would say the most terrific things to his crew, in a tone + so strangely compounded of fun and fury, and the fury seemed so calculated + merely as a spice to the fun, that no oarsman could hear such queer + invocations without pulling for dear life, and yet pulling for the mere + joke of the thing. Besides he all the time looked so easy and indolent + himself, so loungingly managed his steering-oar, and so broadly gaped—open-mouthed + at times—that the mere sight of such a yawning commander, by sheer + force of contrast, acted like a charm upon the crew. Then again, Stubb was + one of those odd sort of humorists, whose jollity is sometimes so + curiously ambiguous, as to put all inferiors on their guard in the matter + of obeying them. +

+

+ In obedience to a sign from Ahab, Starbuck was now pulling obliquely + across Stubb’s bow; and when for a minute or so the two boats were pretty + near to each other, Stubb hailed the mate. +

+

+ “Mr. Starbuck! larboard boat there, ahoy! a word with ye, sir, if ye + please!” +

+

+ “Halloa!” returned Starbuck, turning round not a single inch as he spoke; + still earnestly but whisperingly urging his crew; his face set like a + flint from Stubb’s. +

+

+ “What think ye of those yellow boys, sir!” +

+

+ “Smuggled on board, somehow, before the ship sailed. (Strong, strong, + boys!)” in a whisper to his crew, then speaking out loud again: “A sad + business, Mr. Stubb! (seethe her, seethe her, my lads!) but never mind, + Mr. Stubb, all for the best. Let all your crew pull strong, come what + will. (Spring, my men, spring!) There’s hogsheads of sperm ahead, Mr. + Stubb, and that’s what ye came for. (Pull, my boys!) Sperm, sperm’s the + play! This at least is duty; duty and profit hand in hand.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, I thought as much,” soliloquized Stubb, when the boats + diverged, “as soon as I clapt eye on ’em, I thought so. Aye, and that’s + what he went into the after hold for, so often, as Dough-Boy long + suspected. They were hidden down there. The White Whale’s at the bottom of + it. Well, well, so be it! Can’t be helped! All right! Give way, men! It + ain’t the White Whale to-day! Give way!” +

+

+ Now the advent of these outlandish strangers at such a critical instant as + the lowering of the boats from the deck, this had not unreasonably + awakened a sort of superstitious amazement in some of the ship’s company; + but Archy’s fancied discovery having some time previous got abroad among + them, though indeed not credited then, this had in some small measure + prepared them for the event. It took off the extreme edge of their wonder; + and so what with all this and Stubb’s confident way of accounting for + their appearance, they were for the time freed from superstitious + surmisings; though the affair still left abundant room for all manner of + wild conjectures as to dark Ahab’s precise agency in the matter from the + beginning. For me, I silently recalled the mysterious shadows I had seen + creeping on board the Pequod during the dim Nantucket dawn, as well as the + enigmatical hintings of the unaccountable Elijah. +

+

+ Meantime, Ahab, out of hearing of his officers, having sided the furthest + to windward, was still ranging ahead of the other boats; a circumstance + bespeaking how potent a crew was pulling him. Those tiger yellow creatures + of his seemed all steel and whalebone; like five trip-hammers they rose + and fell with regular strokes of strength, which periodically started the + boat along the water like a horizontal burst boiler out of a Mississippi + steamer. As for Fedallah, who was seen pulling the harpooneer oar, he had + thrown aside his black jacket, and displayed his naked chest with the + whole part of his body above the gunwale, clearly cut against the + alternating depressions of the watery horizon; while at the other end of + the boat Ahab, with one arm, like a fencer’s, thrown half backward into + the air, as if to counterbalance any tendency to trip; Ahab was seen + steadily managing his steering oar as in a thousand boat lowerings ere the + White Whale had torn him. All at once the outstretched arm gave a peculiar + motion and then remained fixed, while the boat’s five oars were seen + simultaneously peaked. Boat and crew sat motionless on the sea. Instantly + the three spread boats in the rear paused on their way. The whales had + irregularly settled bodily down into the blue, thus giving no distantly + discernible token of the movement, though from his closer vicinity Ahab + had observed it. +

+

+ “Every man look out along his oars!” cried Starbuck. “Thou, Queequeg, + stand up!” +

+

+ Nimbly springing up on the triangular raised box in the bow, the savage + stood erect there, and with intensely eager eyes gazed off towards the + spot where the chase had last been descried. Likewise upon the extreme + stern of the boat where it was also triangularly platformed level with the + gunwale, Starbuck himself was seen coolly and adroitly balancing himself + to the jerking tossings of his chip of a craft, and silently eyeing the + vast blue eye of the sea. +

+

+ Not very far distant Flask’s boat was also lying breathlessly still; its + commander recklessly standing upon the top of the loggerhead, a stout sort + of post rooted in the keel, and rising some two feet above the level of + the stern platform. It is used for catching turns with the whale line. Its + top is not more spacious than the palm of a man’s hand, and standing upon + such a base as that, Flask seemed perched at the mast-head of some ship + which had sunk to all but her trucks. But little King-Post was small and + short, and at the same time little King-Post was full of a large and tall + ambition, so that this loggerhead stand-point of his did by no means + satisfy King-Post. +

+

+ “I can’t see three seas off; tip us up an oar there, and let me on to + that.” +

+

+ Upon this, Daggoo, with either hand upon the gunwale to steady his way, + swiftly slid aft, and then erecting himself volunteered his lofty + shoulders for a pedestal. +

+

+ “Good a mast-head as any, sir. Will you mount?” +

+

+ “That I will, and thank ye very much, my fine fellow; only I wish you + fifty feet taller.” +

+

+ Whereupon planting his feet firmly against two opposite planks of the + boat, the gigantic negro, stooping a little, presented his flat palm to + Flask’s foot, and then putting Flask’s hand on his hearse-plumed head and + bidding him spring as he himself should toss, with one dexterous fling + landed the little man high and dry on his shoulders. And here was Flask + now standing, Daggoo with one lifted arm furnishing him with a breastband + to lean against and steady himself by. +

+

+ At any time it is a strange sight to the tyro to see with what wondrous + habitude of unconscious skill the whaleman will maintain an erect posture + in his boat, even when pitched about by the most riotously perverse and + cross-running seas. Still more strange to see him giddily perched upon the + loggerhead itself, under such circumstances. But the sight of little Flask + mounted upon gigantic Daggoo was yet more curious; for sustaining himself + with a cool, indifferent, easy, unthought of, barbaric majesty, the noble + negro to every roll of the sea harmoniously rolled his fine form. On his + broad back, flaxen-haired Flask seemed a snow-flake. The bearer looked + nobler than the rider. Though truly vivacious, tumultuous, ostentatious + little Flask would now and then stamp with impatience; but not one added + heave did he thereby give to the negro’s lordly chest. So have I seen + Passion and Vanity stamping the living magnanimous earth, but the earth + did not alter her tides and her seasons for that. +

+

+ Meanwhile Stubb, the third mate, betrayed no such far-gazing solicitudes. + The whales might have made one of their regular soundings, not a temporary + dive from mere fright; and if that were the case, Stubb, as his wont in + such cases, it seems, was resolved to solace the languishing interval with + his pipe. He withdrew it from his hatband, where he always wore it aslant + like a feather. He loaded it, and rammed home the loading with his + thumb-end; but hardly had he ignited his match across the rough sandpaper + of his hand, when Tashtego, his harpooneer, whose eyes had been setting to + windward like two fixed stars, suddenly dropped like light from his erect + attitude to his seat, crying out in a quick phrensy of hurry, “Down, down + all, and give way!—there they are!” +

+

+ To a landsman, no whale, nor any sign of a herring, would have been + visible at that moment; nothing but a troubled bit of greenish white + water, and thin scattered puffs of vapor hovering over it, and + suffusingly blowing off to leeward, like the confused scud from white + rolling billows. The air around suddenly vibrated and tingled, as it were, + like the air over intensely heated plates of iron. Beneath this + atmospheric waving and curling, and partially beneath a thin layer of + water, also, the whales were swimming. Seen in advance of all the other + indications, the puffs of vapor they spouted, seemed their forerunning + couriers and detached flying outriders. +

+

+ All four boats were now in keen pursuit of that one spot of troubled water + and air. But it bade fair to outstrip them; it flew on and on, as a mass + of interblending bubbles borne down a rapid stream from the hills. +

+

+ “Pull, pull, my good boys,” said Starbuck, in the lowest possible but + intensest concentrated whisper to his men; while the sharp fixed glance + from his eyes darted straight ahead of the bow, almost seemed as two + visible needles in two unerring binnacle compasses. He did not say much to + his crew, though, nor did his crew say anything to him. Only the silence + of the boat was at intervals startlingly pierced by one of his peculiar + whispers, now harsh with command, now soft with entreaty. +

+

+ How different the loud little King-Post. “Sing out and say something, my + hearties. Roar and pull, my thunderbolts! Beach me, beach me on their + black backs, boys; only do that for me, and I’ll sign over to you my + Martha’s Vineyard plantation, boys; including wife and children, boys. Lay + me on—lay me on! O Lord, Lord! but I shall go stark, staring mad! + See! see that white water!” And so shouting, he pulled his hat from his + head, and stamped up and down on it; then picking it up, flirted it far + off upon the sea; and finally fell to rearing and plunging in the boat’s + stern like a crazed colt from the prairie. +

+

+ “Look at that chap now,” philosophically drawled Stubb, who, with his + unlighted short pipe, mechanically retained between his teeth, at a short + distance, followed after—“He’s got fits, that Flask has. Fits? yes, + give him fits—that’s the very word—pitch fits into ’em. + Merrily, merrily, hearts-alive. Pudding for supper, you know;—merry’s + the word. Pull, babes—pull, sucklings—pull, all. But what the + devil are you hurrying about? Softly, softly, and steadily, my men. Only + pull, and keep pulling; nothing more. Crack all your backbones, and bite + your knives in two—that’s all. Take it easy—why don’t ye take + it easy, I say, and burst all your livers and lungs!” +

+

+ But what it was that inscrutable Ahab said to that tiger-yellow crew of + his—these were words best omitted here; for you live under the + blessed light of the evangelical land. Only the infidel sharks in the + audacious seas may give ear to such words, when, with tornado brow, and + eyes of red murder, and foam-glued lips, Ahab leaped after his prey. +

+

+ Meanwhile, all the boats tore on. The repeated specific allusions of Flask + to “that whale,” as he called the fictitious monster which he declared to + be incessantly tantalizing his boat’s bow with its tail—these + allusions of his were at times so vivid and life-like, that they would + cause some one or two of his men to snatch a fearful look over the + shoulder. But this was against all rule; for the oarsmen must put out + their eyes, and ram a skewer through their necks; usage pronouncing that + they must have no organs but ears, and no limbs but arms, in these + critical moments. +

+

+ It was a sight full of quick wonder and awe! The vast swells of the + omnipotent sea; the surging, hollow roar they made, as they rolled along + the eight gunwales, like gigantic bowls in a boundless bowling-green; the + brief suspended agony of the boat, as it would tip for an instant on the + knife-like edge of the sharper waves, that almost seemed threatening to + cut it in two; the sudden profound dip into the watery glens and hollows; + the keen spurrings and goadings to gain the top of the opposite hill; the + headlong, sled-like slide down its other side;—all these, with the + cries of the headsmen and harpooneers, and the shuddering gasps of the + oarsmen, with the wondrous sight of the ivory Pequod bearing down upon her + boats with outstretched sails, like a wild hen after her screaming brood;—all + this was thrilling. +

+

+ Not the raw recruit, marching from the bosom of his wife into the fever + heat of his first battle; not the dead man’s ghost encountering the first + unknown phantom in the other world;—neither of these can feel + stranger and stronger emotions than that man does, who for the first time + finds himself pulling into the charmed, churned circle of the hunted sperm + whale. +

+

+ The dancing white water made by the chase was now becoming more and more + visible, owing to the increasing darkness of the dun cloud-shadows flung + upon the sea. The jets of vapor no longer blended, but tilted everywhere + to right and left; the whales seemed separating their wakes. The boats + were pulled more apart; Starbuck giving chase to three whales running dead + to leeward. Our sail was now set, and, with the still rising wind, we + rushed along; the boat going with such madness through the water, that the + lee oars could scarcely be worked rapidly enough to escape being torn from + the row-locks. +

+

+ Soon we were running through a suffusing wide veil of mist; neither ship + nor boat to be seen. +

+

+ “Give way, men,” whispered Starbuck, drawing still further aft the sheet + of his sail; “there is time to kill a fish yet before the squall comes. + There’s white water again!—close to! Spring!” +

+

+ Soon after, two cries in quick succession on each side of us denoted that + the other boats had got fast; but hardly were they overheard, when with a + lightning-like hurtling whisper Starbuck said: “Stand up!” and Queequeg, + harpoon in hand, sprang to his feet. +

+

+ Though not one of the oarsmen was then facing the life and death peril so + close to them ahead, yet with their eyes on the intense countenance of the + mate in the stern of the boat, they knew that the imminent instant had + come; they heard, too, an enormous wallowing sound as of fifty elephants + stirring in their litter. Meanwhile the boat was still booming through the + mist, the waves curling and hissing around us like the erected crests of + enraged serpents. +

+

+ “That’s his hump. There, there, give it to him!” whispered Starbuck. +

+

+ A short rushing sound leaped out of the boat; it was the darted iron of + Queequeg. Then all in one welded commotion came an invisible push from + astern, while forward the boat seemed striking on a ledge; the sail + collapsed and exploded; a gush of scalding vapor shot up near by; + something rolled and tumbled like an earthquake beneath us. The whole crew + were half suffocated as they were tossed helter-skelter into the white + curdling cream of the squall. Squall, whale, and harpoon had all blended + together; and the whale, merely grazed by the iron, escaped. +

+

+ Though completely swamped, the boat was nearly unharmed. Swimming round it + we picked up the floating oars, and lashing them across the gunwale, + tumbled back to our places. There we sat up to our knees in the sea, the + water covering every rib and plank, so that to our downward gazing eyes + the suspended craft seemed a coral boat grown up to us from the bottom of + the ocean. +

+

+ The wind increased to a howl; the waves dashed their bucklers together; + the whole squall roared, forked, and crackled around us like a white fire + upon the prairie, in which, unconsumed, we were burning; immortal in these + jaws of death! In vain we hailed the other boats; as well roar to the live + coals down the chimney of a flaming furnace as hail those boats in that + storm. Meanwhile the driving scud, rack, and mist, grew darker with the + shadows of night; no sign of the ship could be seen. The rising sea + forbade all attempts to bale out the boat. The oars were useless as + propellers, performing now the office of life-preservers. So, cutting the + lashing of the waterproof match keg, after many failures Starbuck + contrived to ignite the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif + pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. + There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that + almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man + without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair. +

+

+ Wet, drenched through, and shivering cold, despairing of ship or boat, we + lifted up our eyes as the dawn came on. The mist still spread over the + sea, the empty lantern lay crushed in the bottom of the boat. Suddenly + Queequeg started to his feet, hollowing his hand to his ear. We all heard + a faint creaking, as of ropes and yards hitherto muffled by the storm. The + sound came nearer and nearer; the thick mists were dimly parted by a huge, + vague form. Affrighted, we all sprang into the sea as the ship at last + loomed into view, bearing right down upon us within a distance of not much + more than its length. +

+

+ Floating on the waves we saw the abandoned boat, as for one instant it + tossed and gaped beneath the ship’s bows like a chip at the base of a + cataract; and then the vast hull rolled over it, and it was seen no more + till it came up weltering astern. Again we swam for it, were dashed + against it by the seas, and were at last taken up and safely landed on + board. Ere the squall came close to, the other boats had cut loose from + their fish and returned to the ship in good time. The ship had given us + up, but was still cruising, if haply it might light upon some token of our + perishing,—an oar or a lance pole. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 49. The Hyena. +

+

+ There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair + we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical + joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects + that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own. However, nothing + dispirits, and nothing seems worth while disputing. He bolts down all + events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible + and invisible, never mind how knobby; as an ostrich of potent digestion + gobbles down bullets and gun flints. And as for small difficulties and + worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all + these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and + jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old + joker. That odd sort of wayward mood I am speaking of, comes over a man + only in some time of extreme tribulation; it comes in the very midst of + his earnestness, so that what just before might have seemed to him a thing + most momentous, now seems but a part of the general joke. There is nothing + like the perils of whaling to breed this free and easy sort of genial, + desperado philosophy; and with it I now regarded this whole voyage of the + Pequod, and the great White Whale its object. +

+

+ “Queequeg,” said I, when they had dragged me, the last man, to the deck, + and I was still shaking myself in my jacket to fling off the water; + “Queequeg, my fine friend, does this sort of thing often happen?” Without + much emotion, though soaked through just like me, he gave me to understand + that such things did often happen. +

+

+ “Mr. Stubb,” said I, turning to that worthy, who, buttoned up in his + oil-jacket, was now calmly smoking his pipe in the rain; “Mr. Stubb, I + think I have heard you say that of all whalemen you ever met, our chief + mate, Mr. Starbuck, is by far the most careful and prudent. I suppose + then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy + squall is the height of a whaleman’s discretion?” +

+

+ “Certain. I’ve lowered for whales from a leaking ship in a gale off Cape + Horn.” +

+

+ “Mr. Flask,” said I, turning to little King-Post, who was standing close + by; “you are experienced in these things, and I am not. Will you tell me + whether it is an unalterable law in this fishery, Mr. Flask, for an + oarsman to break his own back pulling himself back-foremost into death’s + jaws?” +

+

+ “Can’t you twist that smaller?” said Flask. “Yes, that’s the law. I should + like to see a boat’s crew backing water up to a whale face foremost. Ha, + ha! the whale would give them squint for squint, mind that!” +

+

+ Here then, from three impartial witnesses, I had a deliberate statement of + the entire case. Considering, therefore, that squalls and capsizings in + the water and consequent bivouacks on the deep, were matters of common + occurrence in this kind of life; considering that at the superlatively + critical instant of going on to the whale I must resign my life into the + hands of him who steered the boat—oftentimes a fellow who at that + very moment is in his impetuousness upon the point of scuttling the craft + with his own frantic stampings; considering that the particular disaster + to our own particular boat was chiefly to be imputed to Starbuck’s driving + on to his whale almost in the teeth of a squall, and considering that + Starbuck, notwithstanding, was famous for his great heedfulness in the + fishery; considering that I belonged to this uncommonly prudent Starbuck’s + boat; and finally considering in what a devil’s chase I was implicated, + touching the White Whale: taking all things together, I say, I thought I + might as well go below and make a rough draft of my will. “Queequeg,” said + I, “come along, you shall be my lawyer, executor, and legatee.” +

+

+ It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering at their + last wills and testaments, but there are no people in the world more fond + of that diversion. This was the fourth time in my nautical life that I had + done the same thing. After the ceremony was concluded upon the present + occasion, I felt all the easier; a stone was rolled away from my heart. + Besides, all the days I should now live would be as good as the days that + Lazarus lived after his resurrection; a supplementary clean gain of so + many months or weeks as the case might be. I survived myself; my death and + burial were locked up in my chest. I looked round me tranquilly and + contentedly, like a quiet ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the + bars of a snug family vault. +

+

+ Now then, thought I, unconsciously rolling up the sleeves of my frock, + here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the + devil fetch the hindmost. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 50. Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah. +

+

+ “Who would have thought it, Flask!” cried Stubb; “if I had but one leg you + would not catch me in a boat, unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my + timber toe. Oh! he’s a wonderful old man!” +

+

+ “I don’t think it so strange, after all, on that account,” said Flask. “If + his leg were off at the hip, now, it would be a different thing. That + would disable him; but he has one knee, and good part of the other left, + you know.” +

+

+ “I don’t know that, my little man; I never yet saw him kneel.” +

+

+ Among whale-wise people it has often been argued whether, considering the + paramount importance of his life to the success of the voyage, it is right + for a whaling captain to jeopardize that life in the active perils of the + chase. So Tamerlane’s soldiers often argued with tears in their eyes, + whether that invaluable life of his ought to be carried into the thickest + of the fight. +

+

+ But with Ahab the question assumed a modified aspect. Considering that + with two legs man is but a hobbling wight in all times of danger; + considering that the pursuit of whales is always under great and + extraordinary difficulties; that every individual moment, indeed, then + comprises a peril; under these circumstances is it wise for any maimed man + to enter a whale-boat in the hunt? As a general thing, the joint-owners of + the Pequod must have plainly thought not. +

+

+ Ahab well knew that although his friends at home would think little of his + entering a boat in certain comparatively harmless vicissitudes of the + chase, for the sake of being near the scene of action and giving his + orders in person, yet for Captain Ahab to have a boat actually apportioned + to him as a regular headsman in the hunt—above all for Captain Ahab + to be supplied with five extra men, as that same boat’s crew, he well knew + that such generous conceits never entered the heads of the owners of the + Pequod. Therefore he had not solicited a boat’s crew from them, nor had he + in any way hinted his desires on that head. Nevertheless he had taken + private measures of his own touching all that matter. Until Cabaco’s + published discovery, the sailors had little foreseen it, though to be sure + when, after being a little while out of port, all hands had concluded the + customary business of fitting the whaleboats for service; when some time + after this Ahab was now and then found bestirring himself in the matter of + making thole-pins with his own hands for what was thought to be one of the + spare boats, and even solicitously cutting the small wooden skewers, which + when the line is running out are pinned over the groove in the bow: when + all this was observed in him, and particularly his solicitude in having an + extra coat of sheathing in the bottom of the boat, as if to make it better + withstand the pointed pressure of his ivory limb; and also the anxiety he + evinced in exactly shaping the thigh board, or clumsy cleat, as it is + sometimes called, the horizontal piece in the boat’s bow for bracing the + knee against in darting or stabbing at the whale; when it was observed how + often he stood up in that boat with his solitary knee fixed in the + semi-circular depression in the cleat, and with the carpenter’s chisel + gouged out a little here and straightened it a little there; all these + things, I say, had awakened much interest and curiosity at the time. But + almost everybody supposed that this particular preparative heedfulness in + Ahab must only be with a view to the ultimate chase of Moby Dick; for he + had already revealed his intention to hunt that mortal monster in person. + But such a supposition did by no means involve the remotest suspicion as + to any boat’s crew being assigned to that boat. +

+

+ Now, with the subordinate phantoms, what wonder remained soon waned away; + for in a whaler wonders soon wane. Besides, now and then such + unaccountable odds and ends of strange nations come up from the unknown + nooks and ash-holes of the earth to man these floating outlaws of whalers; + and the ships themselves often pick up such queer castaway creatures found + tossing about the open sea on planks, bits of wreck, oars, whaleboats, + canoes, blown-off Japanese junks, and what not; that Beelzebub himself + might climb up the side and step down into the cabin to chat with the + captain, and it would not create any unsubduable excitement in the + forecastle. +

+

+ But be all this as it may, certain it is that while the subordinate + phantoms soon found their place among the crew, though still as it were + somehow distinct from them, yet that hair-turbaned Fedallah remained a + muffled mystery to the last. Whence he came in a mannerly world like this, + by what sort of unaccountable tie he soon evinced himself to be linked + with Ahab’s peculiar fortunes; nay, so far as to have some sort of a + half-hinted influence; Heaven knows, but it might have been even authority + over him; all this none knew. But one cannot sustain an indifferent air + concerning Fedallah. He was such a creature as civilized, domestic people + in the temperate zone only see in their dreams, and that but dimly; but + the like of whom now and then glide among the unchanging Asiatic + communities, especially the Oriental isles to the east of the continent—those + insulated, immemorial, unalterable countries, which even in these modern + days still preserve much of the ghostly aboriginalness of earth’s primal + generations, when the memory of the first man was a distinct recollection, + and all men his descendants, unknowing whence he came, eyed each other as + real phantoms, and asked of the sun and the moon why they were created and + to what end; when though, according to Genesis, the angels indeed + consorted with the daughters of men, the devils also, add the uncanonical + Rabbins, indulged in mundane amours. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 51. The Spirit-Spout. +

+

+ Days, weeks passed, and under easy sail, the ivory Pequod had slowly swept + across four several cruising-grounds; that off the Azores; off the Cape de + Verdes; on the Plate (so called), being off the mouth of the Rio de la + Plata; and the Carrol Ground, an unstaked, watery locality, southerly from + St. Helena. +

+

+ It was while gliding through these latter waters that one serene and + moonlight night, when all the waves rolled by like scrolls of silver; and, + by their soft, suffusing seethings, made what seemed a silvery silence, + not a solitude; on such a silent night a silvery jet was seen far in + advance of the white bubbles at the bow. Lit up by the moon, it looked + celestial; seemed some plumed and glittering god uprising from the sea. + Fedallah first descried this jet. For of these moonlight nights, it was + his wont to mount to the main-mast head, and stand a look-out there, with + the same precision as if it had been day. And yet, though herds of whales + were seen by night, not one whaleman in a hundred would venture a lowering + for them. You may think with what emotions, then, the seamen beheld this + old Oriental perched aloft at such unusual hours; his turban and the moon, + companions in one sky. But when, after spending his uniform interval there + for several successive nights without uttering a single sound; when, after + all this silence, his unearthly voice was heard announcing that silvery, + moon-lit jet, every reclining mariner started to his feet as if some + winged spirit had lighted in the rigging, and hailed the mortal crew. + “There she blows!” Had the trump of judgment blown, they could not have + quivered more; yet still they felt no terror; rather pleasure. For though + it was a most unwonted hour, yet so impressive was the cry, and so + deliriously exciting, that almost every soul on board instinctively + desired a lowering. +

+

+ Walking the deck with quick, side-lunging strides, Ahab commanded the + t’gallant sails and royals to be set, and every stunsail spread. The best + man in the ship must take the helm. Then, with every mast-head manned, the + piled-up craft rolled down before the wind. The strange, upheaving, + lifting tendency of the taffrail breeze filling the hollows of so many + sails, made the buoyant, hovering deck to feel like air beneath the feet; + while still she rushed along, as if two antagonistic influences were + struggling in her—one to mount direct to heaven, the other to drive + yawingly to some horizontal goal. And had you watched Ahab’s face that + night, you would have thought that in him also two different things were + warring. While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every + stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap. On life and death this + old man walked. But though the ship so swiftly sped, and though from every + eye, like arrows, the eager glances shot, yet the silvery jet was no more + seen that night. Every sailor swore he saw it once, but not a second time. +

+

+ This midnight-spout had almost grown a forgotten thing, when, some days + after, lo! at the same silent hour, it was again announced: again it was + descried by all; but upon making sail to overtake it, once more it + disappeared as if it had never been. And so it served us night after + night, till no one heeded it but to wonder at it. Mysteriously jetted into + the clear moonlight, or starlight, as the case might be; disappearing + again for one whole day, or two days, or three; and somehow seeming at + every distinct repetition to be advancing still further and further in our + van, this solitary jet seemed for ever alluring us on. +

+

+ Nor with the immemorial superstition of their race, and in accordance with + the preternaturalness, as it seemed, which in many things invested the + Pequod, were there wanting some of the seamen who swore that whenever and + wherever descried; at however remote times, or in however far apart + latitudes and longitudes, that unnearable spout was cast by one self-same + whale; and that whale, Moby Dick. For a time, there reigned, too, a sense + of peculiar dread at this flitting apparition, as if it were treacherously + beckoning us on and on, in order that the monster might turn round upon + us, and rend us at last in the remotest and most savage seas. +

+

+ These temporary apprehensions, so vague but so awful, derived a wondrous + potency from the contrasting serenity of the weather, in which, beneath + all its blue blandness, some thought there lurked a devilish charm, as for + days and days we voyaged along, through seas so wearily, lonesomely mild, + that all space, in repugnance to our vengeful errand, seemed vacating + itself of life before our urn-like prow. +

+

+ But, at last, when turning to the eastward, the Cape winds began howling + around us, and we rose and fell upon the long, troubled seas that are + there; when the ivory-tusked Pequod sharply bowed to the blast, and gored + the dark waves in her madness, till, like showers of silver chips, the + foam-flakes flew over her bulwarks; then all this desolate vacuity of life + went away, but gave place to sights more dismal than before. +

+

+ Close to our bows, strange forms in the water darted hither and thither + before us; while thick in our rear flew the inscrutable sea-ravens. And + every morning, perched on our stays, rows of these birds were seen; and + spite of our hootings, for a long time obstinately clung to the hemp, as + though they deemed our ship some drifting, uninhabited craft; a thing + appointed to desolation, and therefore fit roosting-place for their + homeless selves. And heaved and heaved, still unrestingly heaved the black + sea, as if its vast tides were a conscience; and the great mundane soul + were in anguish and remorse for the long sin and suffering it had bred. +

+

+ Cape of Good Hope, do they call ye? Rather Cape Tormentoso, as called of + yore; for long allured by the perfidious silences that before had attended + us, we found ourselves launched into this tormented sea, where guilty + beings transformed into those fowls and these fish, seemed condemned to + swim on everlastingly without any haven in store, or beat that black air + without any horizon. But calm, snow-white, and unvarying; still directing + its fountain of feathers to the sky; still beckoning us on from before, + the solitary jet would at times be descried. +

+

+ During all this blackness of the elements, Ahab, though assuming for the + time the almost continual command of the drenched and dangerous deck, + manifested the gloomiest reserve; and more seldom than ever addressed his + mates. In tempestuous times like these, after everything above and aloft + has been secured, nothing more can be done but passively to await the + issue of the gale. Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists. So, + with his ivory leg inserted into its accustomed hole, and with one hand + firmly grasping a shroud, Ahab for hours and hours would stand gazing dead + to windward, while an occasional squall of sleet or snow would all but + congeal his very eyelashes together. Meantime, the crew driven from the + forward part of the ship by the perilous seas that burstingly broke over + its bows, stood in a line along the bulwarks in the waist; and the better + to guard against the leaping waves, each man had slipped himself into a + sort of bowline secured to the rail, in which he swung as in a loosened + belt. Few or no words were spoken; and the silent ship, as if manned by + painted sailors in wax, day after day tore on through all the swift + madness and gladness of the demoniac waves. By night the same muteness of + humanity before the shrieks of the ocean prevailed; still in silence the + men swung in the bowlines; still wordless Ahab stood up to the blast. Even + when wearied nature seemed demanding repose he would not seek that repose + in his hammock. Never could Starbuck forget the old man’s aspect, when one + night going down into the cabin to mark how the barometer stood, he saw + him with closed eyes sitting straight in his floor-screwed chair; the rain + and half-melted sleet of the storm from which he had some time before + emerged, still slowly dripping from the unremoved hat and coat. On the + table beside him lay unrolled one of those charts of tides and currents + which have previously been spoken of. His lantern swung from his tightly + clenched hand. Though the body was erect, the head was thrown back so that + the closed eyes were pointed towards the needle of the tell-tale that + swung from a beam in the ceiling.* +

+

+ *The cabin-compass is called the tell-tale, because without going to the + compass at the helm, the Captain, while below, can inform himself of the + course of the ship. +

+

+ Terrible old man! thought Starbuck with a shudder, sleeping in this gale, + still thou steadfastly eyest thy purpose. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 52. The Albatross. +

+

+ South-eastward from the Cape, off the distant Crozetts, a good cruising + ground for Right Whalemen, a sail loomed ahead, the Goney (Albatross) by + name. As she slowly drew nigh, from my lofty perch at the fore-mast-head, + I had a good view of that sight so remarkable to a tyro in the far ocean + fisheries—a whaler at sea, and long absent from home. +

+

+ As if the waves had been fullers, this craft was bleached like the + skeleton of a stranded walrus. All down her sides, this spectral + appearance was traced with long channels of reddened rust, while all her + spars and her rigging were like the thick branches of trees furred over + with hoar-frost. Only her lower sails were set. A wild sight it was to see + her long-bearded look-outs at those three mast-heads. They seemed clad in + the skins of beasts, so torn and bepatched the raiment that had survived + nearly four years of cruising. Standing in iron hoops nailed to the mast, + they swayed and swung over a fathomless sea; and though, when the ship + slowly glided close under our stern, we six men in the air came so nigh to + each other that we might almost have leaped from the mast-heads of one + ship to those of the other; yet, those forlorn-looking fishermen, mildly + eyeing us as they passed, said not one word to our own look-outs, while + the quarter-deck hail was being heard from below. +

+

+ “Ship ahoy! Have ye seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ But as the strange captain, leaning over the pallid bulwarks, was in the + act of putting his trumpet to his mouth, it somehow fell from his hand + into the sea; and the wind now rising amain, he in vain strove to make + himself heard without it. Meantime his ship was still increasing the + distance between. While in various silent ways the seamen of the Pequod + were evincing their observance of this ominous incident at the first mere + mention of the White Whale’s name to another ship, Ahab for a moment + paused; it almost seemed as though he would have lowered a boat to board + the stranger, had not the threatening wind forbade. But taking advantage + of his windward position, he again seized his trumpet, and knowing by her + aspect that the stranger vessel was a Nantucketer and shortly bound home, + he loudly hailed—“Ahoy there! This is the Pequod, bound round the + world! Tell them to address all future letters to the Pacific ocean! and + this time three years, if I am not at home, tell them to address them + to ——” +

+

+ At that moment the two wakes were fairly crossed, and instantly, then, in + accordance with their singular ways, shoals of small harmless fish, that + for some days before had been placidly swimming by our side, darted away + with what seemed shuddering fins, and ranged themselves fore and aft with + the stranger’s flanks. Though in the course of his continual voyagings + Ahab must often before have noticed a similar sight, yet, to any + monomaniac man, the veriest trifles capriciously carry meanings. +

+

+ “Swim away from me, do ye?” murmured Ahab, gazing over into the water. + There seemed but little in the words, but the tone conveyed more of deep + helpless sadness than the insane old man had ever before evinced. But + turning to the steersman, who thus far had been holding the ship in the + wind to diminish her headway, he cried out in his old lion voice,—“Up + helm! Keep her off round the world!” +

+

+ Round the world! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; + but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only through + numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we + left behind secure, were all the time before us. +

+

+ Were this world an endless plain, and by sailing eastward we could for + ever reach new distances, and discover sights more sweet and strange than + any Cyclades or Islands of King Solomon, then there were promise in the + voyage. But in pursuit of those far mysteries we dream of, or in tormented + chase of that demon phantom that, some time or other, swims before all + human hearts; while chasing such over this round globe, they either lead + us on in barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 53. The Gam. +

+

+ The ostensible reason why Ahab did not go on board of the whaler we had + spoken was this: the wind and sea betokened storms. But even had this not + been the case, he would not after all, perhaps, have boarded her—judging + by his subsequent conduct on similar occasions—if so it had been + that, by the process of hailing, he had obtained a negative answer to the + question he put. For, as it eventually turned out, he cared not to + consort, even for five minutes, with any stranger captain, except he could + contribute some of that information he so absorbingly sought. But all this + might remain inadequately estimated, were not something said here of the + peculiar usages of whaling-vessels when meeting each other in foreign + seas, and especially on a common cruising-ground. +

+

+ If two strangers crossing the Pine Barrens in New York State, or the + equally desolate Salisbury Plain in England; if casually encountering each + other in such inhospitable wilds, these twain, for the life of them, + cannot well avoid a mutual salutation; and stopping for a moment to + interchange the news; and, perhaps, sitting down for a while and resting + in concert: then, how much more natural that upon the illimitable Pine + Barrens and Salisbury Plains of the sea, two whaling vessels descrying + each other at the ends of the earth—off lone Fanning’s Island, or + the far away King’s Mills; how much more natural, I say, that under such + circumstances these ships should not only interchange hails, but come into + still closer, more friendly and sociable contact. And especially would + this seem to be a matter of course, in the case of vessels owned in one + seaport, and whose captains, officers, and not a few of the men are + personally known to each other; and consequently, have all sorts of dear + domestic things to talk about. +

+

+ For the long absent ship, the outward-bounder, perhaps, has letters on + board; at any rate, she will be sure to let her have some papers of a date + a year or two later than the last one on her blurred and thumb-worn files. + And in return for that courtesy, the outward-bound ship would receive the + latest whaling intelligence from the cruising-ground to which she may be + destined, a thing of the utmost importance to her. And in degree, all this + will hold true concerning whaling vessels crossing each other’s track on + the cruising-ground itself, even though they are equally long absent from + home. For one of them may have received a transfer of letters from some + third, and now far remote vessel; and some of those letters may be for the + people of the ship she now meets. Besides, they would exchange the whaling + news, and have an agreeable chat. For not only would they meet with all + the sympathies of sailors, but likewise with all the peculiar + congenialities arising from a common pursuit and mutually shared + privations and perils. +

+

+ Nor would difference of country make any very essential difference; that + is, so long as both parties speak one language, as is the case with + Americans and English. Though, to be sure, from the small number of + English whalers, such meetings do not very often occur, and when they do + occur there is too apt to be a sort of shyness between them; for your + Englishman is rather reserved, and your Yankee, he does not fancy that + sort of thing in anybody but himself. Besides, the English whalers + sometimes affect a kind of metropolitan superiority over the American + whalers; regarding the long, lean Nantucketer, with his nondescript + provincialisms, as a sort of sea-peasant. But where this superiority in + the English whalemen does really consist, it would be hard to say, seeing + that the Yankees in one day, collectively, kill more whales than all the + English, collectively, in ten years. But this is a harmless little foible + in the English whale-hunters, which the Nantucketer does not take much to + heart; probably, because he knows that he has a few foibles himself. +

+

+ So, then, we see that of all ships separately sailing the sea, the whalers + have most reason to be sociable—and they are so. Whereas, some + merchant ships crossing each other’s wake in the mid-Atlantic, will + oftentimes pass on without so much as a single word of recognition, + mutually cutting each other on the high seas, like a brace of dandies in + Broadway; and all the time indulging, perhaps, in finical criticism upon + each other’s rig. As for Men-of-War, when they chance to meet at sea, they + first go through such a string of silly bowings and scrapings, such a + ducking of ensigns, that there does not seem to be much right-down hearty + good-will and brotherly love about it at all. As touching Slave-ships + meeting, why, they are in such a prodigious hurry, they run away from each + other as soon as possible. And as for Pirates, when they chance to cross + each other’s cross-bones, the first hail is—“How many skulls?”—the + same way that whalers hail—“How many barrels?” And that question + once answered, pirates straightway steer apart, for they are infernal + villains on both sides, and don’t like to see overmuch of each other’s + villanous likenesses. +

+

+ But look at the godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable, sociable, + free-and-easy whaler! What does the whaler do when she meets another + whaler in any sort of decent weather? She has a “Gam,” a thing so utterly + unknown to all other ships that they never heard of the name even; and if + by chance they should hear of it, they only grin at it, and repeat + gamesome stuff about “spouters” and “blubber-boilers,” and such like + pretty exclamations. Why it is that all Merchant-seamen, and also all + Pirates and Man-of-War’s men, and Slave-ship sailors, cherish such a + scornful feeling towards Whale-ships; this is a question it would be hard + to answer. Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know + whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it. It + sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows. And + besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper + foundation for his superior altitude. Hence, I conclude, that in boasting + himself to be high lifted above a whaleman, in that assertion the pirate + has no solid basis to stand on. +

+

+ But what is a Gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and + down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word. Dr. Johnson + never attained to that erudition; Noah Webster’s ark does not hold it. + Nevertheless, this same expressive word has now for many years been in + constant use among some fifteen thousand true born Yankees. Certainly, it + needs a definition, and should be incorporated into the Lexicon. With that + view, let me learnedly define it. +

+

+ GAM. NOUN—A social meeting of two (or more) Whaleships, + generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits + by boats’ crews: the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one + ship, and the two chief mates on the other. +

+

+ There is another little item about Gamming which must not be forgotten + here. All professions have their own little peculiarities of detail; so + has the whale fishery. In a pirate, man-of-war, or slave ship, when the + captain is rowed anywhere in his boat, he always sits in the stern sheets + on a comfortable, sometimes cushioned seat there, and often steers himself + with a pretty little milliner’s tiller decorated with gay cords and + ribbons. But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa of that sort + whatever, and no tiller at all. High times indeed, if whaling captains + were wheeled about the water on castors like gouty old aldermen in patent + chairs. And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never admits of any such + effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete boat’s crew must leave + the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or harpooneer is of the number, + that subordinate is the steersman upon the occasion, and the captain, + having no place to sit in, is pulled off to his visit all standing like a + pine tree. And often you will notice that being conscious of the eyes of + the whole visible world resting on him from the sides of the two ships, + this standing captain is all alive to the importance of sustaining his + dignity by maintaining his legs. Nor is this any very easy matter; for in + his rear is the immense projecting steering oar hitting him now and then + in the small of his back, the after-oar reciprocating by rapping his knees + in front. He is thus completely wedged before and behind, and can only + expand himself sideways by settling down on his stretched legs; but a + sudden, violent pitch of the boat will often go far to topple him, because + length of foundation is nothing without corresponding breadth. Merely make + a spread angle of two poles, and you cannot stand them up. Then, again, it + would never do in plain sight of the world’s riveted eyes, it would never + do, I say, for this straddling captain to be seen steadying himself the + slightest particle by catching hold of anything with his hands; indeed, as + token of his entire, buoyant self-command, he generally carries his hands + in his trowsers’ pockets; but perhaps being generally very large, heavy + hands, he carries them there for ballast. Nevertheless there have occurred + instances, well authenticated ones too, where the captain has been known + for an uncommonly critical moment or two, in a sudden squall say—to + seize hold of the nearest oarsman’s hair, and hold on there like grim + death. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho’s Story. +

+

+ (As told at the Golden Inn.) +

+

+ The Cape of Good Hope, and all the watery region round about there, is + much like some noted four corners of a great highway, where you meet more + travellers than in any other part. +

+

+ It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound + whaleman, the Town-Ho,* was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by + Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby + Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now wildly + heightened by a circumstance of the Town-Ho’s story, which seemed + obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted + visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are + said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own + particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of + the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab + or his mates. For that secret part of the story was unknown to the captain + of the Town-Ho himself. It was the private property of three confederate + white seamen of that ship, one of whom, it seems, communicated it to + Tashtego with Romish injunctions of secrecy, but the following night + Tashtego rambled in his sleep, and revealed so much of it in that way, + that when he was wakened he could not well withhold the rest. + Nevertheless, so potent an influence did this thing have on those seamen + in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange + delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept + the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod’s + main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the + story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I + now proceed to put on lasting record. +

+

+ *The ancient whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head, + still used by whalemen in hunting the famous Gallipagos terrapin. +

+

+ For my humor’s sake, I shall preserve the style in which I once narrated + it at Lima, to a lounging circle of my Spanish friends, one saint’s eve, + smoking upon the thick-gilt tiled piazza of the Golden Inn. Of those fine + cavaliers, the young Dons, Pedro and Sebastian, were on the closer terms + with me; and hence the interluding questions they occasionally put, and + which are duly answered at the time. +

+

+ “Some two years prior to my first learning the events which I am about + rehearsing to you, gentlemen, the Town-Ho, Sperm Whaler of Nantucket, was + cruising in your Pacific here, not very many days’ sail eastward from the + eaves of this good Golden Inn. She was somewhere to the northward of the + Line. One morning upon handling the pumps, according to daily usage, it + was observed that she made more water in her hold than common. They + supposed a sword-fish had stabbed her, gentlemen. But the captain, having + some unusual reason for believing that rare good luck awaited him in those + latitudes; and therefore being very averse to quit them, and the leak not + being then considered at all dangerous, though, indeed, they could not + find it after searching the hold as low down as was possible in rather + heavy weather, the ship still continued her cruisings, the mariners + working at the pumps at wide and easy intervals; but no good luck came; + more days went by, and not only was the leak yet undiscovered, but it + sensibly increased. So much so, that now taking some alarm, the captain, + making all sail, stood away for the nearest harbor among the islands, + there to have his hull hove out and repaired. +

+

+ “Though no small passage was before her, yet, if the commonest chance + favoured, he did not at all fear that his ship would founder by the way, + because his pumps were of the best, and being periodically relieved at + them, those six-and-thirty men of his could easily keep the ship free; + never mind if the leak should double on her. In truth, well nigh the whole + of this passage being attended by very prosperous breezes, the Town-Ho had + all but certainly arrived in perfect safety at her port without the + occurrence of the least fatality, had it not been for the brutal + overbearing of Radney, the mate, a Vineyarder, and the bitterly provoked + vengeance of Steelkilt, a Lakeman and desperado from Buffalo. +

+

+ “‘Lakeman!—Buffalo! Pray, what is a Lakeman, and where is Buffalo?’ + said Don Sebastian, rising in his swinging mat of grass. +

+

+ “On the eastern shore of our Lake Erie, Don; but—I crave your + courtesy—may be, you shall soon hear further of all that. Now, + gentlemen, in square-sail brigs and three-masted ships, well-nigh as large + and stout as any that ever sailed out of your old Callao to far Manilla; + this Lakeman, in the land-locked heart of our America, had yet been + nurtured by all those agrarian freebooting impressions popularly connected + with the open ocean. For in their interflowing aggregate, those grand + fresh-water seas of ours,—Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and + Superior, and Michigan,—possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with + many of the ocean’s noblest traits; with many of its rimmed varieties of + races and of climes. They contain round archipelagoes of romantic isles, + even as the Polynesian waters do; in large part, are shored by two great + contrasting nations, as the Atlantic is; they furnish long maritime + approaches to our numerous territorial colonies from the East, dotted all + round their banks; here and there are frowned upon by batteries, and by + the goat-like craggy guns of lofty Mackinaw; they have heard the fleet + thunderings of naval victories; at intervals, they yield their beaches to + wild barbarians, whose red painted faces flash from out their peltry + wigwams; for leagues and leagues are flanked by ancient and unentered + forests, where the gaunt pines stand like serried lines of kings in Gothic + genealogies; those same woods harboring wild Afric beasts of prey, and + silken creatures whose exported furs give robes to Tartar Emperors; they + mirror the paved capitals of Buffalo and Cleveland, as well as Winnebago + villages; they float alike the full-rigged merchant ship, the armed + cruiser of the State, the steamer, and the beech canoe; they are swept by + Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; + they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, + they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew. + Thus, gentlemen, though an inlander, Steelkilt was wild-ocean born, and + wild-ocean nurtured; as much of an audacious mariner as any. And for + Radney, though in his infancy he may have laid him down on the lone + Nantucket beach, to nurse at his maternal sea; though in after life he had + long followed our austere Atlantic and your contemplative Pacific; yet was + he quite as vengeful and full of social quarrel as the backwoods seaman, + fresh from the latitudes of buck-horn handled Bowie-knives. Yet was this + Nantucketer a man with some good-hearted traits; and this Lakeman, a + mariner, who though a sort of devil indeed, might yet by inflexible + firmness, only tempered by that common decency of human recognition which + is the meanest slave’s right; thus treated, this Steelkilt had long been + retained harmless and docile. At all events, he had proved so thus far; + but Radney was doomed and made mad, and Steelkilt—but, gentlemen, + you shall hear. +

+

+ “It was not more than a day or two at the furthest after pointing her prow + for her island haven, that the Town-Ho’s leak seemed again increasing, but + only so as to require an hour or more at the pumps every day. You must + know that in a settled and civilized ocean like our Atlantic, for example, + some skippers think little of pumping their whole way across it; though of + a still, sleepy night, should the officer of the deck happen to forget his + duty in that respect, the probability would be that he and his shipmates + would never again remember it, on account of all hands gently subsiding to + the bottom. Nor in the solitary and savage seas far from you to the + westward, gentlemen, is it altogether unusual for ships to keep clanging + at their pump-handles in full chorus even for a voyage of considerable + length; that is, if it lie along a tolerably accessible coast, or if any + other reasonable retreat is afforded them. It is only when a leaky vessel + is in some very out of the way part of those waters, some really landless + latitude, that her captain begins to feel a little anxious. +

+

+ “Much this way had it been with the Town-Ho; so when her leak was found + gaining once more, there was in truth some small concern manifested by + several of her company; especially by Radney the mate. He commanded the + upper sails to be well hoisted, sheeted home anew, and every way expanded + to the breeze. Now this Radney, I suppose, was as little of a coward, and + as little inclined to any sort of nervous apprehensiveness touching his + own person as any fearless, unthinking creature on land or on sea that you + can conveniently imagine, gentlemen. Therefore when he betrayed this + solicitude about the safety of the ship, some of the seamen declared that + it was only on account of his being a part owner in her. So when they were + working that evening at the pumps, there was on this head no small + gamesomeness slily going on among them, as they stood with their feet + continually overflowed by the rippling clear water; clear as any mountain + spring, gentlemen—that bubbling from the pumps ran across the deck, + and poured itself out in steady spouts at the lee scupper-holes. +

+

+ “Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional + world of ours—watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in + command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his + superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he + conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a chance + he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern’s tower, and make a little + heap of dust of it. Be this conceit of mine as it may, gentlemen, at all + events Steelkilt was a tall and noble animal with a head like a Roman, and + a flowing golden beard like the tasseled housings of your last viceroy’s + snorting charger; and a brain, and a heart, and a soul in him, gentlemen, + which had made Steelkilt Charlemagne, had he been born son to + Charlemagne’s father. But Radney, the mate, was ugly as a mule; yet as + hardy, as stubborn, as malicious. He did not love Steelkilt, and Steelkilt + knew it. +

+

+ “Espying the mate drawing near as he was toiling at the pump with the + rest, the Lakeman affected not to notice him, but unawed, went on with his + gay banterings. +

+

+ “‘Aye, aye, my merry lads, it’s a lively leak this; hold a cannikin, one + of ye, and let’s have a taste. By the Lord, it’s worth bottling! I tell ye + what, men, old Rad’s investment must go for it! he had best cut away his + part of the hull and tow it home. The fact is, boys, that sword-fish only + began the job; he’s come back again with a gang of ship-carpenters, + saw-fish, and file-fish, and what not; and the whole posse of ’em are now + hard at work cutting and slashing at the bottom; making improvements, I + suppose. If old Rad were here now, I’d tell him to jump overboard and + scatter ’em. They’re playing the devil with his estate, I can tell him. + But he’s a simple old soul,—Rad, and a beauty too. Boys, they say + the rest of his property is invested in looking-glasses. I wonder if he’d + give a poor devil like me the model of his nose.’ +

+

+ “‘Damn your eyes! what’s that pump stopping for?’ roared Radney, + pretending not to have heard the sailors’ talk. ‘Thunder away at it!’ +

+

+ “‘Aye, aye, sir,’ said Steelkilt, merry as a cricket. ‘Lively, boys, + lively, now!’ And with that the pump clanged like fifty fire-engines; the + men tossed their hats off to it, and ere long that peculiar gasping of the + lungs was heard which denotes the fullest tension of life’s utmost + energies. +

+

+ “Quitting the pump at last, with the rest of his band, the Lakeman went + forward all panting, and sat himself down on the windlass; his face fiery + red, his eyes bloodshot, and wiping the profuse sweat from his brow. Now + what cozening fiend it was, gentlemen, that possessed Radney to meddle + with such a man in that corporeally exasperated state, I know not; but so + it happened. Intolerably striding along the deck, the mate commanded him + to get a broom and sweep down the planks, and also a shovel, and remove + some offensive matters consequent upon allowing a pig to run at large. +

+

+ “Now, gentlemen, sweeping a ship’s deck at sea is a piece of household + work which in all times but raging gales is regularly attended to every + evening; it has been known to be done in the case of ships actually + foundering at the time. Such, gentlemen, is the inflexibility of + sea-usages and the instinctive love of neatness in seamen; some of whom + would not willingly drown without first washing their faces. But in all + vessels this broom business is the prescriptive province of the boys, if + boys there be aboard. Besides, it was the stronger men in the Town-Ho that + had been divided into gangs, taking turns at the pumps; and being the most + athletic seaman of them all, Steelkilt had been regularly assigned captain + of one of the gangs; consequently he should have been freed from any + trivial business not connected with truly nautical duties, such being the + case with his comrades. I mention all these particulars so that you may + understand exactly how this affair stood between the two men. +

+

+ “But there was more than this: the order about the shovel was almost as + plainly meant to sting and insult Steelkilt, as though Radney had spat in + his face. Any man who has gone sailor in a whale-ship will understand + this; and all this and doubtless much more, the Lakeman fully comprehended + when the mate uttered his command. But as he sat still for a moment, and + as he steadfastly looked into the mate’s malignant eye and perceived the + stacks of powder-casks heaped up in him and the slow-match silently + burning along towards them; as he instinctively saw all this, that strange + forbearance and unwillingness to stir up the deeper passionateness in any + already ireful being—a repugnance most felt, when felt at all, by + really valiant men even when aggrieved—this nameless phantom + feeling, gentlemen, stole over Steelkilt. +

+

+ “Therefore, in his ordinary tone, only a little broken by the bodily + exhaustion he was temporarily in, he answered him saying that sweeping the + deck was not his business, and he would not do it. And then, without at + all alluding to the shovel, he pointed to three lads as the customary + sweepers; who, not being billeted at the pumps, had done little or nothing + all day. To this, Radney replied with an oath, in a most domineering and + outrageous manner unconditionally reiterating his command; meanwhile + advancing upon the still seated Lakeman, with an uplifted cooper’s club + hammer which he had snatched from a cask near by. +

+

+ “Heated and irritated as he was by his spasmodic toil at the pumps, for + all his first nameless feeling of forbearance the sweating Steelkilt could + but ill brook this bearing in the mate; but somehow still smothering the + conflagration within him, without speaking he remained doggedly rooted to + his seat, till at last the incensed Radney shook the hammer within a few + inches of his face, furiously commanding him to do his bidding. +

+

+ “Steelkilt rose, and slowly retreating round the windlass, steadily + followed by the mate with his menacing hammer, deliberately repeated his + intention not to obey. Seeing, however, that his forbearance had not the + slightest effect, by an awful and unspeakable intimation with his twisted + hand he warned off the foolish and infatuated man; but it was to no + purpose. And in this way the two went once slowly round the windlass; + when, resolved at last no longer to retreat, bethinking him that he had + now forborne as much as comported with his humor, the Lakeman paused on + the hatches and thus spoke to the officer: +

+

+ “‘Mr. Radney, I will not obey you. Take that hammer away, or look to + yourself.’ But the predestinated mate coming still closer to him, where + the Lakeman stood fixed, now shook the heavy hammer within an inch of his + teeth; meanwhile repeating a string of insufferable maledictions. + Retreating not the thousandth part of an inch; stabbing him in the eye + with the unflinching poniard of his glance, Steelkilt, clenching his right + hand behind him and creepingly drawing it back, told his persecutor that + if the hammer but grazed his cheek he (Steelkilt) would murder him. But, + gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter by the gods. + Immediately the hammer touched the cheek; the next instant the lower jaw + of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch spouting blood + like a whale. +

+

+ “Ere the cry could go aft Steelkilt was shaking one of the backstays + leading far aloft to where two of his comrades were standing their + mastheads. They were both Canallers. +

+

+ “‘Canallers!’ cried Don Pedro. ‘We have seen many whale-ships in our + harbours, but never heard of your Canallers. Pardon: who and what are + they?’ +

+

+ “‘Canallers, Don, are the boatmen belonging to our grand Erie Canal. You + must have heard of it.’ +

+

+ “‘Nay, Senor; hereabouts in this dull, warm, most lazy, and hereditary + land, we know but little of your vigorous North.’ +

+

+ “‘Aye? Well then, Don, refill my cup. Your chicha’s very fine; and ere + proceeding further I will tell ye what our Canallers are; for such + information may throw side-light upon my story.’ +

+

+ “For three hundred and sixty miles, gentlemen, through the entire breadth + of the state of New York; through numerous populous cities and most + thriving villages; through long, dismal, uninhabited swamps, and affluent, + cultivated fields, unrivalled for fertility; by billiard-room and + bar-room; through the holy-of-holies of great forests; on Roman arches + over Indian rivers; through sun and shade; by happy hearts or broken; + through all the wide contrasting scenery of those noble Mohawk counties; + and especially, by rows of snow-white chapels, whose spires stand almost + like milestones, flows one continual stream of Venetianly corrupt and + often lawless life. There’s your true Ashantee, gentlemen; there howl your + pagans; where you ever find them, next door to you; under the long-flung + shadow, and the snug patronising lee of churches. For by some curious + fatality, as it is often noted of your metropolitan freebooters that they + ever encamp around the halls of justice, so sinners, gentlemen, most + abound in holiest vicinities. +

+

+ “‘Is that a friar passing?’ said Don Pedro, looking downwards into the + crowded plazza, with humorous concern. +

+

+ “‘Well for our northern friend, Dame Isabella’s Inquisition wanes in + Lima,’ laughed Don Sebastian. ‘Proceed, Senor.’ +

+

+ “‘A moment! Pardon!’ cried another of the company. ‘In the name of all us + Limeese, I but desire to express to you, sir sailor, that we have by no + means overlooked your delicacy in not substituting present Lima for + distant Venice in your corrupt comparison. Oh! do not bow and look + surprised; you know the proverb all along this coast—“Corrupt as + Lima.” It but bears out your saying, too; churches more plentiful than + billiard-tables, and for ever open—and “Corrupt as Lima.” So, too, + Venice; I have been there; the holy city of the blessed evangelist, St. + Mark!—St. Dominic, purge it! Your cup! Thanks: here I refill; now, + you pour out again.’ +

+

+ “Freely depicted in his own vocation, gentlemen, the Canaller would make a + fine dramatic hero, so abundantly and picturesquely wicked is he. Like + Mark Antony, for days and days along his green-turfed, flowery Nile, he + indolently floats, openly toying with his red-cheeked Cleopatra, ripening + his apricot thigh upon the sunny deck. But ashore, all this effeminacy is + dashed. The brigandish guise which the Canaller so proudly sports; his + slouched and gaily-ribboned hat betoken his grand features. A terror to + the smiling innocence of the villages through which he floats; his swart + visage and bold swagger are not unshunned in cities. Once a vagabond on + his own canal, I have received good turns from one of these Canallers; I + thank him heartily; would fain be not ungrateful; but it is often one of + the prime redeeming qualities of your man of violence, that at times he + has as stiff an arm to back a poor stranger in a strait, as to plunder a + wealthy one. In sum, gentlemen, what the wildness of this canal life is, + is emphatically evinced by this; that our wild whale-fishery contains so + many of its most finished graduates, and that scarce any race of mankind, + except Sydney men, are so much distrusted by our whaling captains. Nor + does it at all diminish the curiousness of this matter, that to many + thousands of our rural boys and young men born along its line, the + probationary life of the Grand Canal furnishes the sole transition between + quietly reaping in a Christian corn-field, and recklessly ploughing the + waters of the most barbaric seas. +

+

+ “‘I see! I see!’ impetuously exclaimed Don Pedro, spilling his chicha upon + his silvery ruffles. ‘No need to travel! The world’s one Lima. I had + thought, now, that at your temperate North the generations were cold and + holy as the hills.—But the story.’ +

+

+ “I left off, gentlemen, where the Lakeman shook the backstay. Hardly had + he done so, when he was surrounded by the three junior mates and the four + harpooneers, who all crowded him to the deck. But sliding down the ropes + like baleful comets, the two Canallers rushed into the uproar, and sought + to drag their man out of it towards the forecastle. Others of the sailors + joined with them in this attempt, and a twisted turmoil ensued; while + standing out of harm’s way, the valiant captain danced up and down with a + whale-pike, calling upon his officers to manhandle that atrocious + scoundrel, and smoke him along to the quarter-deck. At intervals, he ran + close up to the revolving border of the confusion, and prying into the + heart of it with his pike, sought to prick out the object of his + resentment. But Steelkilt and his desperadoes were too much for them all; + they succeeded in gaining the forecastle deck, where, hastily slewing + about three or four large casks in a line with the windlass, these + sea-Parisians entrenched themselves behind the barricade. +

+

+ “‘Come out of that, ye pirates!’ roared the captain, now menacing them + with a pistol in each hand, just brought to him by the steward. ‘Come out + of that, ye cut-throats!’ +

+

+ “Steelkilt leaped on the barricade, and striding up and down there, defied + the worst the pistols could do; but gave the captain to understand + distinctly, that his (Steelkilt’s) death would be the signal for a + murderous mutiny on the part of all hands. Fearing in his heart lest this + might prove but too true, the captain a little desisted, but still + commanded the insurgents instantly to return to their duty. +

+

+ “‘Will you promise not to touch us, if we do?’ demanded their ringleader. +

+

+ “‘Turn to! turn to!—I make no promise;—to your duty! Do you + want to sink the ship, by knocking off at a time like this? Turn to!’ and + he once more raised a pistol. +

+

+ “‘Sink the ship?’ cried Steelkilt. ‘Aye, let her sink. Not a man of us + turns to, unless you swear not to raise a rope-yarn against us. What say + ye, men?’ turning to his comrades. A fierce cheer was their response. +

+

+ “The Lakeman now patrolled the barricade, all the while keeping his eye on + the Captain, and jerking out such sentences as these:—‘It’s not our + fault; we didn’t want it; I told him to take his hammer away; it was boy’s + business; he might have known me before this; I told him not to prick the + buffalo; I believe I have broken a finger here against his cursed jaw; + ain’t those mincing knives down in the forecastle there, men? look to + those handspikes, my hearties. Captain, by God, look to yourself; say the + word; don’t be a fool; forget it all; we are ready to turn to; treat us + decently, and we’re your men; but we won’t be flogged.’ +

+

+ “‘Turn to! I make no promises, turn to, I say!’ +

+

+ “‘Look ye, now,’ cried the Lakeman, flinging out his arm towards him, + ‘there are a few of us here (and I am one of them) who have shipped for + the cruise, d’ye see; now as you well know, sir, we can claim our + discharge as soon as the anchor is down; so we don’t want a row; it’s not + our interest; we want to be peaceable; we are ready to work, but we won’t + be flogged.’ +

+

+ “‘Turn to!’ roared the Captain. +

+

+ “Steelkilt glanced round him a moment, and then said:—‘I tell you + what it is now, Captain, rather than kill ye, and be hung for such a + shabby rascal, we won’t lift a hand against ye unless ye attack us; but + till you say the word about not flogging us, we don’t do a hand’s turn.’ +

+

+ “‘Down into the forecastle then, down with ye, I’ll keep ye there till + ye’re sick of it. Down ye go.’ +

+

+ “‘Shall we?’ cried the ringleader to his men. Most of them were against + it; but at length, in obedience to Steelkilt, they preceded him down into + their dark den, growlingly disappearing, like bears into a cave. +

+

+ “As the Lakeman’s bare head was just level with the planks, the Captain + and his posse leaped the barricade, and rapidly drawing over the slide of + the scuttle, planted their group of hands upon it, and loudly called for + the steward to bring the heavy brass padlock belonging to the + companionway. Then opening the slide a little, the Captain whispered something + down the crack, closed it, and turned the key upon them—ten in + number—leaving on deck some twenty or more, who thus far had remained neutral. +

+

+ “All night a wide-awake watch was kept by all the officers, forward and + aft, especially about the forecastle scuttle and fore hatchway; at which + last place it was feared the insurgents might emerge, after breaking + through the bulkhead below. But the hours of darkness passed in peace; the + men who still remained at their duty toiling hard at the pumps, whose + clinking and clanking at intervals through the dreary night dismally + resounded through the ship. +

+

+ “At sunrise the Captain went forward, and knocking on the deck, summoned + the prisoners to work; but with a yell they refused. Water was then + lowered down to them, and a couple of handfuls of biscuit were tossed + after it; when again turning the key upon them and pocketing it, the + Captain returned to the quarter-deck. Twice every day for three days this + was repeated; but on the fourth morning a confused wrangling, and then a + scuffling was heard, as the customary summons was delivered; and suddenly + four men burst up from the forecastle, saying they were ready to turn to. + The fetid closeness of the air, and a famishing diet, united perhaps to + some fears of ultimate retribution, had constrained them to surrender at + discretion. Emboldened by this, the Captain reiterated his demand to the + rest, but Steelkilt shouted up to him a terrific hint to stop his babbling + and betake himself where he belonged. On the fifth morning three others of + the mutineers bolted up into the air from the desperate arms below that + sought to restrain them. Only three were left. +

+

+ “‘Better turn to, now?’ said the Captain with a heartless jeer. +

+

+ “‘Shut us up again, will ye!’ cried Steelkilt. +

+

+ “‘Oh certainly,’ said the Captain, and the key clicked. +

+

+ “It was at this point, gentlemen, that enraged by the defection of seven + of his former associates, and stung by the mocking voice that had last + hailed him, and maddened by his long entombment in a place as black as the + bowels of despair; it was then that Steelkilt proposed to the two + Canallers, thus far apparently of one mind with him, to burst out of their + hole at the next summoning of the garrison; and armed with their keen + mincing knives (long, crescentic, heavy implements with a handle at each + end) run amuck from the bowsprit to the taffrail; and if by any + devilishness of desperation possible, seize the ship. For himself, he + would do this, he said, whether they joined him or not. That was the last + night he should spend in that den. But the scheme met with no opposition + on the part of the other two; they swore they were ready for that, or for + any other mad thing, for anything in short but a surrender. And what was + more, they each insisted upon being the first man on deck, when the time + to make the rush should come. But to this their leader as fiercely + objected, reserving that priority for himself; particularly as his two + comrades would not yield, the one to the other, in the matter; and both of + them could not be first, for the ladder would but admit one man at a time. + And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out. +

+

+ “Upon hearing the frantic project of their leader, each in his own + separate soul had suddenly lighted, it would seem, upon the same piece of + treachery, namely: to be foremost in breaking out, in order to be the + first of the three, though the last of the ten, to surrender; and thereby + secure whatever small chance of pardon such conduct might merit. But when + Steelkilt made known his determination still to lead them to the last, + they in some way, by some subtle chemistry of villany, mixed their before + secret treacheries together; and when their leader fell into a doze, + verbally opened their souls to each other in three sentences; and bound + the sleeper with cords, and gagged him with cords; and shrieked out for + the Captain at midnight. +

+

+ “Thinking murder at hand, and smelling in the dark for the blood, he and + all his armed mates and harpooneers rushed for the forecastle. In a few + minutes the scuttle was opened, and, bound hand and foot, the still + struggling ringleader was shoved up into the air by his perfidious allies, + who at once claimed the honor of securing a man who had been fully ripe + for murder. But all these were collared, and dragged along the deck like + dead cattle; and, side by side, were seized up into the mizzen rigging, + like three quarters of meat, and there they hung till morning. ‘Damn ye,’ + cried the Captain, pacing to and fro before them, ‘the vultures would not + touch ye, ye villains!’ +

+

+ “At sunrise he summoned all hands; and separating those who had rebelled + from those who had taken no part in the mutiny, he told the former that he + had a good mind to flog them all round—thought, upon the whole, he + would do so—he ought to—justice demanded it; but for the + present, considering their timely surrender, he would let them go with a + reprimand, which he accordingly administered in the vernacular. +

+

+ “‘But as for you, ye carrion rogues,’ turning to the three men in the + rigging—‘for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;’ and, + seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two + traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their heads + sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn. +

+

+ “‘My wrist is sprained with ye!’ he cried, at last; ‘but there is still + rope enough left for you, my fine bantam, that wouldn’t give up. Take that + gag from his mouth, and let us hear what he can say for himself.’ +

+

+ “For a moment the exhausted mutineer made a tremulous motion of his + cramped jaws, and then painfully twisting round his head, said in a sort + of hiss, ‘What I say is this—and mind it well—if you flog me, + I murder you!’ +

+

+ “‘Say ye so? then see how ye frighten me’—and the Captain drew off + with the rope to strike. +

+

+ “‘Best not,’ hissed the Lakeman. +

+

+ “‘But I must,’—and the rope was once more drawn back for the stroke. +

+

+ “Steelkilt here hissed out something, inaudible to all but the Captain; + who, to the amazement of all hands, started back, paced the deck rapidly + two or three times, and then suddenly throwing down his rope, said, ‘I + won’t do it—let him go—cut him down: d’ye hear?’ +

+

+ “But as the junior mates were hurrying to execute the order, a pale man, + with a bandaged head, arrested them—Radney the chief mate. Ever + since the blow, he had lain in his berth; but that morning, hearing the + tumult on the deck, he had crept out, and thus far had watched the whole + scene. Such was the state of his mouth, that he could hardly speak; but + mumbling something about his being willing and able to do what the captain + dared not attempt, he snatched the rope and advanced to his pinioned foe. +

+

+ “‘You are a coward!’ hissed the Lakeman. +

+

+ “‘So I am, but take that.’ The mate was in the very act of striking, when + another hiss stayed his uplifted arm. He paused: and then pausing no more, + made good his word, spite of Steelkilt’s threat, whatever that might have + been. The three men were then cut down, all hands were turned to, and, + sullenly worked by the moody seamen, the iron pumps clanged as before. +

+

+ “Just after dark that day, when one watch had retired below, a clamor was + heard in the forecastle; and the two trembling traitors running up, + besieged the cabin door, saying they durst not consort with the crew. + Entreaties, cuffs, and kicks could not drive them back, so at their own + instance they were put down in the ship’s run for salvation. Still, no + sign of mutiny reappeared among the rest. On the contrary, it seemed, that + mainly at Steelkilt’s instigation, they had resolved to maintain the + strictest peacefulness, obey all orders to the last, and, when the ship + reached port, desert her in a body. But in order to insure the speediest + end to the voyage, they all agreed to another thing—namely, not to + sing out for whales, in case any should be discovered. For, spite of her + leak, and spite of all her other perils, the Town-Ho still maintained her + mast-heads, and her captain was just as willing to lower for a fish that + moment, as on the day his craft first struck the cruising ground; and + Radney the mate was quite as ready to change his berth for a boat, and + with his bandaged mouth seek to gag in death the vital jaw of the whale. +

+

+ “But though the Lakeman had induced the seamen to adopt this sort of + passiveness in their conduct, he kept his own counsel (at least till all + was over) concerning his own proper and private revenge upon the man who + had stung him in the ventricles of his heart. He was in Radney the chief + mate’s watch; and as if the infatuated man sought to run more than half + way to meet his doom, after the scene at the rigging, he insisted, against + the express counsel of the captain, upon resuming the head of his watch at + night. Upon this, and one or two other circumstances, Steelkilt + systematically built the plan of his revenge. +

+

+ “During the night, Radney had an unseamanlike way of sitting on the + bulwarks of the quarter-deck, and leaning his arm upon the gunwale of the + boat which was hoisted up there, a little above the ship’s side. In this + attitude, it was well known, he sometimes dozed. There was a considerable + vacancy between the boat and the ship, and down between this was the sea. + Steelkilt calculated his time, and found that his next trick at the helm + would come round at two o’clock, in the morning of the third day from that + in which he had been betrayed. At his leisure, he employed the interval in + braiding something very carefully in his watches below. +

+

+ “‘What are you making there?’ said a shipmate. +

+

+ “‘What do you think? what does it look like?’ +

+

+ “‘Like a lanyard for your bag; but it’s an odd one, seems to me.’ +

+

+ “‘Yes, rather oddish,’ said the Lakeman, holding it at arm’s length before + him; ‘but I think it will answer. Shipmate, I haven’t enough twine,—have + you any?’ +

+

+ “But there was none in the forecastle. +

+

+ “‘Then I must get some from old Rad;’ and he rose to go aft. +

+

+ “‘You don’t mean to go a begging to him!’ said a sailor. +

+

+ “‘Why not? Do you think he won’t do me a turn, when it’s to help himself + in the end, shipmate?’ and going to the mate, he looked at him quietly, + and asked him for some twine to mend his hammock. It was given him—neither + twine nor lanyard were seen again; but the next night an iron ball, + closely netted, partly rolled from the pocket of the Lakeman’s monkey + jacket, as he was tucking the coat into his hammock for a pillow. + Twenty-four hours after, his trick at the silent helm—nigh to the + man who was apt to doze over the grave always ready dug to the seaman’s + hand—that fatal hour was then to come; and in the fore-ordaining + soul of Steelkilt, the mate was already stark and stretched as a corpse, + with his forehead crushed in. +

+

+ “But, gentlemen, a fool saved the would-be murderer from the bloody deed + he had planned. Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the + avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in to + take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have done. +

+

+ “It was just between daybreak and sunrise of the morning of the second + day, when they were washing down the decks, that a stupid Teneriffe man, + drawing water in the main-chains, all at once shouted out, ‘There she + rolls! there she rolls!’ Jesu, what a whale! It was Moby Dick. +

+

+ “‘Moby Dick!’ cried Don Sebastian; ‘St. Dominic! Sir sailor, but do whales + have christenings? Whom call you Moby Dick?’ +

+

+ “‘A very white, and famous, and most deadly immortal monster, Don;—but + that would be too long a story.’ +

+

+ “‘How? how?’ cried all the young Spaniards, crowding. +

+

+ “‘Nay, Dons, Dons—nay, nay! I cannot rehearse that now. Let me get + more into the air, Sirs.’ +

+

+ “‘The chicha! the chicha!’ cried Don Pedro; ‘our vigorous friend looks + faint;—fill up his empty glass!’ +

+

+ “No need, gentlemen; one moment, and I proceed.—Now, gentlemen, so + suddenly perceiving the snowy whale within fifty yards of the ship—forgetful + of the compact among the crew—in the excitement of the moment, the + Teneriffe man had instinctively and involuntarily lifted his voice for the + monster, though for some little time past it had been plainly beheld from + the three sullen mast-heads. All was now a phrensy. ‘The White Whale—the + White Whale!’ was the cry from captain, mates, and harpooneers, who, + undeterred by fearful rumours, were all anxious to capture so famous and + precious a fish; while the dogged crew eyed askance, and with curses, the + appalling beauty of the vast milky mass, that lit up by a horizontal + spangling sun, shifted and glistened like a living opal in the blue + morning sea. Gentlemen, a strange fatality pervades the whole career of + these events, as if verily mapped out before the world itself was charted. + The mutineer was the bowsman of the mate, and when fast to a fish, it was + his duty to sit next him, while Radney stood up with his lance in the + prow, and haul in or slacken the line, at the word of command. Moreover, + when the four boats were lowered, the mate’s got the start; and none + howled more fiercely with delight than did Steelkilt, as he strained at + his oar. After a stiff pull, their harpooneer got fast, and, spear in + hand, Radney sprang to the bow. He was always a furious man, it seems, in + a boat. And now his bandaged cry was, to beach him on the whale’s topmost + back. Nothing loath, his bowsman hauled him up and up, through a blinding + foam that blent two whitenesses together; till of a sudden the boat struck + as against a sunken ledge, and keeling over, spilled out the standing + mate. That instant, as he fell on the whale’s slippery back, the boat + righted, and was dashed aside by the swell, while Radney was tossed over + into the sea, on the other flank of the whale. He struck out through the + spray, and, for an instant, was dimly seen through that veil, wildly + seeking to remove himself from the eye of Moby Dick. But the whale rushed + round in a sudden maelstrom; seized the swimmer between his jaws; and + rearing high up with him, plunged headlong again, and went down. +

+

+ “Meantime, at the first tap of the boat’s bottom, the Lakeman had + slackened the line, so as to drop astern from the whirlpool; calmly + looking on, he thought his own thoughts. But a sudden, terrific, downward + jerking of the boat, quickly brought his knife to the line. He cut it; and + the whale was free. But, at some distance, Moby Dick rose again, with some + tatters of Radney’s red woollen shirt, caught in the teeth that had + destroyed him. All four boats gave chase again; but the whale eluded them, + and finally wholly disappeared. +

+

+ “In good time, the Town-Ho reached her port—a savage, solitary place—where + no civilized creature resided. There, headed by the Lakeman, all but five + or six of the foremastmen deliberately deserted among the palms; + eventually, as it turned out, seizing a large double war-canoe of the + savages, and setting sail for some other harbor. +

+

+ “The ship’s company being reduced to but a handful, the captain called + upon the Islanders to assist him in the laborious business of heaving down + the ship to stop the leak. But to such unresting vigilance over their + dangerous allies was this small band of whites necessitated, both by night + and by day, and so extreme was the hard work they underwent, that upon the + vessel being ready again for sea, they were in such a weakened condition + that the captain durst not put off with them in so heavy a vessel. After + taking counsel with his officers, he anchored the ship as far off shore as + possible; loaded and ran out his two cannon from the bows; stacked his + muskets on the poop; and warning the Islanders not to approach the ship at + their peril, took one man with him, and setting the sail of his best + whale-boat, steered straight before the wind for Tahiti, five hundred + miles distant, to procure a reinforcement to his crew. +

+

+ “On the fourth day of the sail, a large canoe was descried, which seemed + to have touched at a low isle of corals. He steered away from it; but the + savage craft bore down on him; and soon the voice of Steelkilt hailed him + to heave to, or he would run him under water. The captain presented a + pistol. With one foot on each prow of the yoked war-canoes, the Lakeman + laughed him to scorn; assuring him that if the pistol so much as clicked + in the lock, he would bury him in bubbles and foam. +

+

+ “‘What do you want of me?’ cried the captain. +

+

+ “‘Where are you bound? and for what are you bound?’ demanded Steelkilt; + ‘no lies.’ +

+

+ “‘I am bound to Tahiti for more men.’ +

+

+ “‘Very good. Let me board you a moment—I come in peace.’ With that + he leaped from the canoe, swam to the boat; and climbing the gunwale, + stood face to face with the captain. +

+

+ “‘Cross your arms, sir; throw back your head. Now, repeat after me. As + soon as Steelkilt leaves me, I swear to beach this boat on yonder island, + and remain there six days. If I do not, may lightnings strike me!’ +

+

+ “‘A pretty scholar,’ laughed the Lakeman. ‘Adios, Senor!’ and leaping into + the sea, he swam back to his comrades. +

+

+ “Watching the boat till it was fairly beached, and drawn up to the roots + of the cocoa-nut trees, Steelkilt made sail again, and in due time arrived + at Tahiti, his own place of destination. There, luck befriended him; two + ships were about to sail for France, and were providentially in want of + precisely that number of men which the sailor headed. They embarked; and + so for ever got the start of their former captain, had he been at all + minded to work them legal retribution. +

+

+ “Some ten days after the French ships sailed, the whale-boat arrived, and + the captain was forced to enlist some of the more civilized Tahitians, who + had been somewhat used to the sea. Chartering a small native schooner, he + returned with them to his vessel; and finding all right there, again + resumed his cruisings. +

+

+ “Where Steelkilt now is, gentlemen, none know; but upon the island of + Nantucket, the widow of Radney still turns to the sea which refuses to + give up its dead; still in dreams sees the awful white whale that + destroyed him. * * * * +

+

+ “‘Are you through?’ said Don Sebastian, quietly. +

+

+ “‘I am, Don.’ +

+

+ “‘Then I entreat you, tell me if to the best of your own convictions, this + your story is in substance really true? It is so passing wonderful! Did + you get it from an unquestionable source? Bear with me if I seem to + press.’ +

+

+ “‘Also bear with all of us, sir sailor; for we all join in Don Sebastian’s + suit,’ cried the company, with exceeding interest. +

+

+ “‘Is there a copy of the Holy Evangelists in the Golden Inn, gentlemen?’ +

+

+ “‘Nay,’ said Don Sebastian; ‘but I know a worthy priest near by, who will + quickly procure one for me. I go for it; but are you well advised? this + may grow too serious.’ +

+

+ “‘Will you be so good as to bring the priest also, Don?’ +

+

+ “‘Though there are no Auto-da-Fés in Lima now,’ said one of the company + to another; ‘I fear our sailor friend runs risk of the archiepiscopacy. + Let us withdraw more out of the moonlight. I see no need of this.’ +

+

+ “‘Excuse me for running after you, Don Sebastian; but may I also beg that + you will be particular in procuring the largest sized Evangelists you + can.’ +

+

+ * * * * * * +

+

+ “‘This is the priest, he brings you the Evangelists,’ said Don Sebastian, + gravely, returning with a tall and solemn figure. +

+

+ “‘Let me remove my hat. Now, venerable priest, further into the light, and + hold the Holy Book before me that I may touch it. +

+

+ “‘So help me Heaven, and on my honor the story I have told ye, gentlemen, + is in substance and its great items, true. I know it to be true; it + happened on this ball; I trod the ship; I knew the crew; I have seen and + talked with Steelkilt since the death of Radney.’” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales. +

+

+ I shall ere long paint to you as well as one can without canvas, something + like the true form of the whale as he actually appears to the eye of the + whaleman when in his own absolute body the whale is moored alongside the + whale-ship so that he can be fairly stepped upon there. It may be worth + while, therefore, previously to advert to those curious imaginary + portraits of him which even down to the present day confidently challenge + the faith of the landsman. It is time to set the world right in this + matter, by proving such pictures of the whale all wrong. +

+

+ It may be that the primal source of all those pictorial delusions will be + found among the oldest Hindoo, Egyptian, and Grecian sculptures. For ever + since those inventive but unscrupulous times when on the marble panellings + of temples, the pedestals of statues, and on shields, medallions, cups, + and coins, the dolphin was drawn in scales of chain-armor like Saladin’s, + and a helmeted head like St. George’s; ever since then has something of + the same sort of license prevailed, not only in most popular pictures of + the whale, but in many scientific presentations of him. +

+

+ Now, by all odds, the most ancient extant portrait anyways purporting to + be the whale’s, is to be found in the famous cavern-pagoda of Elephanta, + in India. The Brahmins maintain that in the almost endless sculptures of + that immemorial pagoda, all the trades and pursuits, every conceivable + avocation of man, were prefigured ages before any of them actually came + into being. No wonder then, that in some sort our noble profession of + whaling should have been there shadowed forth. The Hindoo whale referred + to, occurs in a separate department of the wall, depicting the incarnation + of Vishnu in the form of leviathan, learnedly known as the Matse Avatar. + But though this sculpture is half man and half whale, so as only to give + the tail of the latter, yet that small section of him is all wrong. It + looks more like the tapering tail of an anaconda, than the broad palms of + the true whale’s majestic flukes. +

+

+ But go to the old Galleries, and look now at a great Christian painter’s + portrait of this fish; for he succeeds no better than the antediluvian + Hindoo. It is Guido’s picture of Perseus rescuing Andromeda from the + sea-monster or whale. Where did Guido get the model of such a strange + creature as that? Nor does Hogarth, in painting the same scene in his own + “Perseus Descending,” make out one whit better. The huge corpulence of + that Hogarthian monster undulates on the surface, scarcely drawing one + inch of water. It has a sort of howdah on its back, and its distended + tusked mouth into which the billows are rolling, might be taken for the + Traitors’ Gate leading from the Thames by water into the Tower. Then, + there are the Prodromus whales of old Scotch Sibbald, and Jonah’s whale, + as depicted in the prints of old Bibles and the cuts of old primers. What + shall be said of these? As for the book-binder’s whale winding like a + vine-stalk round the stock of a descending anchor—as stamped and + gilded on the backs and title-pages of many books both old and new—that + is a very picturesque but purely fabulous creature, imitated, I take it, + from the like figures on antique vases. Though universally denominated a + dolphin, I nevertheless call this book-binder’s fish an attempt at a + whale; because it was so intended when the device was first introduced. It + was introduced by an old Italian publisher somewhere about the 15th + century, during the Revival of Learning; and in those days, and even down + to a comparatively late period, dolphins were popularly supposed to be a + species of the Leviathan. +

+

+ In the vignettes and other embellishments of some ancient books you will + at times meet with very curious touches at the whale, where all manner of + spouts, jets d’eau, hot springs and cold, Saratoga and Baden-Baden, come + bubbling up from his unexhausted brain. In the title-page of the original + edition of the “Advancement of Learning” you will find some curious + whales. +

+

+ But quitting all these unprofessional attempts, let us glance at those + pictures of leviathan purporting to be sober, scientific delineations, by + those who know. In old Harris’s collection of voyages there are some + plates of whales extracted from a Dutch book of voyages, A.D. 1671, + entitled “A Whaling Voyage to Spitzbergen in the ship Jonas in the Whale, + Peter Peterson of Friesland, master.” In one of those plates the whales, + like great rafts of logs, are represented lying among ice-isles, with + white bears running over their living backs. In another plate, the + prodigious blunder is made of representing the whale with perpendicular + flukes. +

+

+ Then again, there is an imposing quarto, written by one Captain Colnett, a + Post Captain in the English navy, entitled “A Voyage round Cape Horn into + the South Seas, for the purpose of extending the Spermaceti Whale + Fisheries.” In this book is an outline purporting to be a “Picture of a + Physeter or Spermaceti whale, drawn by scale from one killed on the coast + of Mexico, August, 1793, and hoisted on deck.” I doubt not the captain had + this veracious picture taken for the benefit of his marines. To mention + but one thing about it, let me say that it has an eye which applied, + according to the accompanying scale, to a full grown sperm whale, would + make the eye of that whale a bow-window some five feet long. Ah, my + gallant captain, why did ye not give us Jonah looking out of that eye! +

+

+ Nor are the most conscientious compilations of Natural History for the + benefit of the young and tender, free from the same heinousness of + mistake. Look at that popular work “Goldsmith’s Animated Nature.” In the + abridged London edition of 1807, there are plates of an alleged “whale” + and a “narwhale.” I do not wish to seem inelegant, but this unsightly + whale looks much like an amputated sow; and, as for the narwhale, one + glimpse at it is enough to amaze one, that in this nineteenth century such + a hippogriff could be palmed for genuine upon any intelligent public of + schoolboys. +

+

+ Then, again, in 1825, Bernard Germain, Count de Lacépède, a great + naturalist, published a scientific systemized whale book, wherein are + several pictures of the different species of the Leviathan. All these are + not only incorrect, but the picture of the Mysticetus or Greenland whale + (that is to say, the Right whale), even Scoresby, a long experienced man + as touching that species, declares not to have its counterpart in nature. +

+

+ But the placing of the cap-sheaf to all this blundering business was + reserved for the scientific Frederick Cuvier, brother to the famous Baron. + In 1836, he published a Natural History of Whales, in which he gives what + he calls a picture of the Sperm Whale. Before showing that picture to any + Nantucketer, you had best provide for your summary retreat from Nantucket. + In a word, Frederick Cuvier’s Sperm Whale is not a Sperm Whale, but a + squash. Of course, he never had the benefit of a whaling voyage (such men + seldom have), but whence he derived that picture, who can tell? Perhaps he + got it as his scientific predecessor in the same field, Desmarest, got one + of his authentic abortions; that is, from a Chinese drawing. And what sort + of lively lads with the pencil those Chinese are, many queer cups and + saucers inform us. +

+

+ As for the sign-painters’ whales seen in the streets hanging over the + shops of oil-dealers, what shall be said of them? They are generally + Richard III. whales, with dromedary humps, and very savage; breakfasting + on three or four sailor tarts, that is whaleboats full of mariners: their + deformities floundering in seas of blood and blue paint. +

+

+ But these manifold mistakes in depicting the whale are not so very + surprising after all. Consider! Most of the scientific drawings have been + taken from the stranded fish; and these are about as correct as a drawing + of a wrecked ship, with broken back, would correctly represent the noble + animal itself in all its undashed pride of hull and spars. Though + elephants have stood for their full-lengths, the living Leviathan has + never yet fairly floated himself for his portrait. The living whale, in + his full majesty and significance, is only to be seen at sea in + unfathomable waters; and afloat the vast bulk of him is out of sight, like + a launched line-of-battle ship; and out of that element it is a thing + eternally impossible for mortal man to hoist him bodily into the air, so + as to preserve all his mighty swells and undulations. And, not to speak of + the highly presumable difference of contour between a young sucking whale + and a full-grown Platonian Leviathan; yet, even in the case of one of + those young sucking whales hoisted to a ship’s deck, such is then the + outlandish, eel-like, limbered, varying shape of him, that his precise + expression the devil himself could not catch. +

+

+ But it may be fancied, that from the naked skeleton of the stranded whale, + accurate hints may be derived touching his true form. Not at all. For it + is one of the more curious things about this Leviathan, that his skeleton + gives very little idea of his general shape. Though Jeremy Bentham’s + skeleton, which hangs for candelabra in the library of one of his + executors, correctly conveys the idea of a burly-browed utilitarian old + gentleman, with all Jeremy’s other leading personal characteristics; yet + nothing of this kind could be inferred from any leviathan’s articulated + bones. In fact, as the great Hunter says, the mere skeleton of the whale + bears the same relation to the fully invested and padded animal as the + insect does to the chrysalis that so roundingly envelopes it. This + peculiarity is strikingly evinced in the head, as in some part of this + book will be incidentally shown. It is also very curiously displayed in + the side fin, the bones of which almost exactly answer to the bones of the + human hand, minus only the thumb. This fin has four regular bone-fingers, + the index, middle, ring, and little finger. But all these are permanently + lodged in their fleshy covering, as the human fingers in an artificial + covering. “However recklessly the whale may sometimes serve us,” said + humorous Stubb one day, “he can never be truly said to handle us without + mittens.” +

+

+ For all these reasons, then, any way you may look at it, you must needs + conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which + must remain unpainted to the last. True, one portrait may hit the mark + much nearer than another, but none can hit it with any very considerable + degree of exactness. So there is no earthly way of finding out precisely + what the whale really looks like. And the only mode in which you can + derive even a tolerable idea of his living contour, is by going a whaling + yourself; but by so doing, you run no small risk of being eternally stove + and sunk by him. Wherefore, it seems to me you had best not be too + fastidious in your curiosity touching this Leviathan. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes. +

+

+ In connexion with the monstrous pictures of whales, I am strongly tempted + here to enter upon those still more monstrous stories of them which are to + be found in certain books, both ancient and modern, especially in Pliny, + Purchas, Hackluyt, Harris, Cuvier, etc. But I pass that matter by. +

+

+ I know of only four published outlines of the great Sperm Whale; + Colnett’s, Huggins’s, Frederick Cuvier’s, and Beale’s. In the previous + chapter Colnett and Cuvier have been referred to. Huggins’s is far better + than theirs; but, by great odds, Beale’s is the best. All Beale’s drawings + of this whale are good, excepting the middle figure in the picture of + three whales in various attitudes, capping his second chapter. His + frontispiece, boats attacking Sperm Whales, though no doubt calculated to + excite the civil scepticism of some parlor men, is admirably correct and + life-like in its general effect. Some of the Sperm Whale drawings in J. + Ross Browne are pretty correct in contour; but they are wretchedly + engraved. That is not his fault though. +

+

+ Of the Right Whale, the best outline pictures are in Scoresby; but they + are drawn on too small a scale to convey a desirable impression. He has + but one picture of whaling scenes, and this is a sad deficiency, because + it is by such pictures only, when at all well done, that you can derive + anything like a truthful idea of the living whale as seen by his living + hunters. +

+

+ But, taken for all in all, by far the finest, though in some details not + the most correct, presentations of whales and whaling scenes to be + anywhere found, are two large French engravings, well executed, and taken + from paintings by one Garnery. Respectively, they represent attacks on the + Sperm and Right Whale. In the first engraving a noble Sperm Whale is + depicted in full majesty of might, just risen beneath the boat from the + profundities of the ocean, and bearing high in the air upon his back the + terrific wreck of the stoven planks. The prow of the boat is partially + unbroken, and is drawn just balancing upon the monster’s spine; and + standing in that prow, for that one single incomputable flash of time, you + behold an oarsman, half shrouded by the incensed boiling spout of the + whale, and in the act of leaping, as if from a precipice. The action of + the whole thing is wonderfully good and true. The half-emptied line-tub + floats on the whitened sea; the wooden poles of the spilled harpoons + obliquely bob in it; the heads of the swimming crew are scattered about + the whale in contrasting expressions of affright; while in the black + stormy distance the ship is bearing down upon the scene. Serious fault + might be found with the anatomical details of this whale, but let that + pass; since, for the life of me, I could not draw so good a one. +

+

+ In the second engraving, the boat is in the act of drawing alongside the + barnacled flank of a large running Right Whale, that rolls his black weedy + bulk in the sea like some mossy rock-slide from the Patagonian cliffs. His + jets are erect, full, and black like soot; so that from so abounding a + smoke in the chimney, you would think there must be a brave supper cooking + in the great bowels below. Sea fowls are pecking at the small crabs, + shell-fish, and other sea candies and maccaroni, which the Right Whale + sometimes carries on his pestilent back. And all the while the + thick-lipped leviathan is rushing through the deep, leaving tons of + tumultuous white curds in his wake, and causing the slight boat to rock in + the swells like a skiff caught nigh the paddle-wheels of an ocean steamer. + Thus, the foreground is all raging commotion; but behind, in admirable + artistic contrast, is the glassy level of a sea becalmed, the drooping + unstarched sails of the powerless ship, and the inert mass of a dead + whale, a conquered fortress, with the flag of capture lazily hanging from + the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole. +

+

+ Who Garnery the painter is, or was, I know not. But my life for it he was + either practically conversant with his subject, or else marvellously + tutored by some experienced whaleman. The French are the lads for painting + action. Go and gaze upon all the paintings of Europe, and where will you + find such a gallery of living and breathing commotion on canvas, as in + that triumphal hall at Versailles; where the beholder fights his way, + pell-mell, through the consecutive great battles of France; where every + sword seems a flash of the Northern Lights, and the successive armed kings + and Emperors dash by, like a charge of crowned centaurs? Not wholly + unworthy of a place in that gallery, are these sea battle-pieces of + Garnery. +

+

+ The natural aptitude of the French for seizing the picturesqueness of + things seems to be peculiarly evinced in what paintings and engravings + they have of their whaling scenes. With not one tenth of England’s + experience in the fishery, and not the thousandth part of that of the + Americans, they have nevertheless furnished both nations with the only + finished sketches at all capable of conveying the real spirit of the whale + hunt. For the most part, the English and American whale draughtsmen seem + entirely content with presenting the mechanical outline of things, such as + the vacant profile of the whale; which, so far as picturesqueness of + effect is concerned, is about tantamount to sketching the profile of a + pyramid. Even Scoresby, the justly renowned Right whaleman, after giving + us a stiff full length of the Greenland whale, and three or four delicate + miniatures of narwhales and porpoises, treats us to a series of classical + engravings of boat hooks, chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the + microscopic diligence of a Leuwenhoeck submits to the inspection of a + shivering world ninety-six fac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals. + I mean no disparagement to the excellent voyager (I honor him for a + veteran), but in so important a matter it was certainly an oversight not + to have procured for every crystal a sworn affidavit taken before a + Greenland Justice of the Peace. +

+

+ In addition to those fine engravings from Garnery, there are two other + French engravings worthy of note, by some one who subscribes himself “H. + Durand.” One of them, though not precisely adapted to our present purpose, + nevertheless deserves mention on other accounts. It is a quiet noon-scene + among the isles of the Pacific; a French whaler anchored, inshore, in a + calm, and lazily taking water on board; the loosened sails of the ship, + and the long leaves of the palms in the background, both drooping together + in the breezeless air. The effect is very fine, when considered with + reference to its presenting the hardy fishermen under one of their few + aspects of oriental repose. The other engraving is quite a different + affair: the ship hove-to upon the open sea, and in the very heart of the + Leviathanic life, with a Right Whale alongside; the vessel (in the act of + cutting-in) hove over to the monster as if to a quay; and a boat, + hurriedly pushing off from this scene of activity, is about giving chase + to whales in the distance. The harpoons and lances lie levelled for use; + three oarsmen are just setting the mast in its hole; while from a sudden + roll of the sea, the little craft stands half-erect out of the water, like + a rearing horse. From the ship, the smoke of the torments of the boiling + whale is going up like the smoke over a village of smithies; and to + windward, a black cloud, rising up with earnest of squalls and rains, + seems to quicken the activity of the excited seamen. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars. +

+

+ On Tower-hill, as you go down to the London docks, you may have seen a + crippled beggar (or kedger, as the sailors say) holding a painted board + before him, representing the tragic scene in which he lost his leg. There + are three whales and three boats; and one of the boats (presumed to + contain the missing leg in all its original integrity) is being crunched + by the jaws of the foremost whale. Any time these ten years, they tell me, + has that man held up that picture, and exhibited that stump to an + incredulous world. But the time of his justification has now come. His + three whales are as good whales as were ever published in Wapping, at any + rate; and his stump as unquestionable a stump as any you will find in the + western clearings. But, though for ever mounted on that stump, never a + stump-speech does the poor whaleman make; but, with downcast eyes, stands + ruefully contemplating his own amputation. +

+

+ Throughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag + Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, + graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies’ busks + wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other like skrimshander articles, + as the whalemen call the numerous little ingenious contrivances they + elaborately carve out of the rough material, in their hours of ocean + leisure. Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, + specially intended for the skrimshandering business. But, in general, they + toil with their jack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool + of the sailor, they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a + mariner’s fancy. +

+

+ Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to + that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery. Your + true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois. I myself am a + savage, owning no allegiance but to the King of the Cannibals; and ready + at any moment to rebel against him. +

+

+ Now, one of the peculiar characteristics of the savage in his domestic + hours, is his wonderful patience of industry. An ancient Hawaiian war-club + or spear-paddle, in its full multiplicity and elaboration of carving, is + as great a trophy of human perseverance as a Latin lexicon. For, with but + a bit of broken sea-shell or a shark’s tooth, that miraculous intricacy of + wooden net-work has been achieved; and it has cost steady years of steady + application. +

+

+ As with the Hawaiian savage, so with the white sailor-savage. With the + same marvellous patience, and with the same single shark’s tooth, of his + one poor jack-knife, he will carve you a bit of bone sculpture, not quite + as workmanlike, but as close packed in its maziness of design, as the + Greek savage, Achilles’s shield; and full of barbaric spirit and + suggestiveness, as the prints of that fine old Dutch savage, Albert Durer. +

+

+ Wooden whales, or whales cut in profile out of the small dark slabs of the + noble South Sea war-wood, are frequently met with in the forecastles of + American whalers. Some of them are done with much accuracy. +

+

+ At some old gable-roofed country houses you will see brass whales hung by + the tail for knockers to the road-side door. When the porter is sleepy, + the anvil-headed whale would be best. But these knocking whales are seldom + remarkable as faithful essays. On the spires of some old-fashioned + churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weather-cocks; + but they are so elevated, and besides that are to all intents and purposes + so labelled with “Hands off!” you cannot examine them closely enough to + decide upon their merit. +

+

+ In bony, ribby regions of the earth, where at the base of high broken + cliffs masses of rock lie strewn in fantastic groupings upon the plain, + you will often discover images as of the petrified forms of the Leviathan + partly merged in grass, which of a windy day breaks against them in a surf + of green surges. +

+

+ Then, again, in mountainous countries where the traveller is continually + girdled by amphitheatrical heights; here and there from some lucky point + of view you will catch passing glimpses of the profiles of whales defined + along the undulating ridges. But you must be a thorough whaleman, to see + these sights; and not only that, but if you wish to return to such a sight + again, you must be sure and take the exact intersecting latitude and + longitude of your first stand-point, else so chance-like are such + observations of the hills, that your precise, previous stand-point would + require a laborious re-discovery; like the Soloma Islands, which still + remain incognita, though once high-ruffed Mendanna trod them and old + Figuera chronicled them. +

+

+ Nor when expandingly lifted by your subject, can you fail to trace out + great whales in the starry heavens, and boats in pursuit of them; as when + long filled with thoughts of war the Eastern nations saw armies locked in + battle among the clouds. Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round + and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first + defined him to me. And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have + boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far + beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish. +

+

+ With a frigate’s anchors for my bridle-bitts and fasces of harpoons for + spurs, would I could mount that whale and leap the topmost skies, to see + whether the fabled heavens with all their countless tents really lie + encamped beyond my mortal sight! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 58. Brit. +

+

+ Steering north-eastward from the Crozetts, we fell in with vast meadows of + brit, the minute, yellow substance, upon which the Right Whale largely + feeds. For leagues and leagues it undulated round us, so that we seemed to + be sailing through boundless fields of ripe and golden wheat. +

+

+ On the second day, numbers of Right Whales were seen, who, secure from the + attack of a Sperm Whaler like the Pequod, with open jaws sluggishly swam + through the brit, which, adhering to the fringing fibres of that wondrous + Venetian blind in their mouths, was in that manner separated from the + water that escaped at the lip. +

+

+ As morning mowers, who side by side slowly and seethingly advance their + scythes through the long wet grass of marshy meads; even so these monsters + swam, making a strange, grassy, cutting sound; and leaving behind them + endless swaths of blue upon the yellow sea.* +

+

+ *That part of the sea known among whalemen as the “Brazil Banks” does not + bear that name as the Banks of Newfoundland do, because of there being + shallows and soundings there, but because of this remarkable meadow-like + appearance, caused by the vast drifts of brit continually floating in + those latitudes, where the Right Whale is often chased. +

+

+ But it was only the sound they made as they parted the brit which at all + reminded one of mowers. Seen from the mast-heads, especially when they + paused and were stationary for a while, their vast black forms looked more + like lifeless masses of rock than anything else. And as in the great + hunting countries of India, the stranger at a distance will sometimes pass + on the plains recumbent elephants without knowing them to be such, taking + them for bare, blackened elevations of the soil; even so, often, with him, + who for the first time beholds this species of the leviathans of the sea. + And even when recognised at last, their immense magnitude renders it very + hard really to believe that such bulky masses of overgrowth can possibly + be instinct, in all parts, with the same sort of life that lives in a dog + or a horse. +

+

+ Indeed, in other respects, you can hardly regard any creatures of the deep + with the same feelings that you do those of the shore. For though some old + naturalists have maintained that all creatures of the land are of their + kind in the sea; and though taking a broad general view of the thing, this + may very well be; yet coming to specialties, where, for example, does the + ocean furnish any fish that in disposition answers to the sagacious + kindness of the dog? The accursed shark alone can in any generic respect + be said to bear comparative analogy to him. +

+

+ But though, to landsmen in general, the native inhabitants of the seas + have ever been regarded with emotions unspeakably unsocial and repelling; + though we know the sea to be an everlasting terra incognita, so that + Columbus sailed over numberless unknown worlds to discover his one + superficial western one; though, by vast odds, the most terrific of all + mortal disasters have immemorially and indiscriminately befallen tens and + hundreds of thousands of those who have gone upon the waters; though but a + moment’s consideration will teach, that however baby man may brag of his + science and skill, and however much, in a flattering future, that science + and skill may augment; yet for ever and for ever, to the crack of doom, + the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest + frigate he can make; nevertheless, by the continual repetition of these + very impressions, man has lost that sense of the full awfulness of the sea + which aboriginally belongs to it. +

+

+ The first boat we read of, floated on an ocean, that with Portuguese + vengeance had whelmed a whole world without leaving so much as a widow. + That same ocean rolls now; that same ocean destroyed the wrecked ships of + last year. Yea, foolish mortals, Noah’s flood is not yet subsided; two + thirds of the fair world it yet covers. +

+

+ Wherein differ the sea and the land, that a miracle upon one is not a + miracle upon the other? Preternatural terrors rested upon the Hebrews, + when under the feet of Korah and his company the live ground opened and + swallowed them up for ever; yet not a modern sun ever sets, but in + precisely the same manner the live sea swallows up ships and crews. +

+

+ But not only is the sea such a foe to man who is an alien to it, but it is + also a fiend to its own off-spring; worse than the Persian host who + murdered his own guests; sparing not the creatures which itself hath + spawned. Like a savage tigress that tossing in the jungle overlays her own + cubs, so the sea dashes even the mightiest whales against the rocks, and + leaves them there side by side with the split wrecks of ships. No mercy, + no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting like a mad battle + steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe. +

+

+ Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide + under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden + beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish + brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the + dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, + the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each + other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. +

+

+ Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile + earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a + strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean + surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular + Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the + half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst + never return! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 59. Squid. +

+

+ Slowly wading through the meadows of brit, the Pequod still held on her + way north-eastward towards the island of Java; a gentle air impelling her + keel, so that in the surrounding serenity her three tall tapering masts + mildly waved to that languid breeze, as three mild palms on a plain. And + still, at wide intervals in the silvery night, the lonely, alluring jet + would be seen. +

+

+ But one transparent blue morning, when a stillness almost preternatural + spread over the sea, however unattended with any stagnant calm; when the + long burnished sun-glade on the waters seemed a golden finger laid across + them, enjoining some secrecy; when the slippered waves whispered together + as they softly ran on; in this profound hush of the visible sphere a + strange spectre was seen by Daggoo from the main-mast-head. +

+

+ In the distance, a great white mass lazily rose, and rising higher and + higher, and disentangling itself from the azure, at last gleamed before + our prow like a snow-slide, new slid from the hills. Thus glistening for a + moment, as slowly it subsided, and sank. Then once more arose, and + silently gleamed. It seemed not a whale; and yet is this Moby Dick? + thought Daggoo. Again the phantom went down, but on re-appearing once + more, with a stiletto-like cry that startled every man from his nod, the + negro yelled out—“There! there again! there she breaches! right + ahead! The White Whale, the White Whale!” +

+

+ Upon this, the seamen rushed to the yard-arms, as in swarming-time the + bees rush to the boughs. Bare-headed in the sultry sun, Ahab stood on the + bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in readiness to wave his + orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance in the direction indicated + aloft by the outstretched motionless arm of Daggoo. +

+

+ Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had + gradually worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect the + ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the particular whale + he pursued; however this was, or whether his eagerness betrayed him; + whichever way it might have been, no sooner did he distinctly perceive the + white mass, than with a quick intensity he instantly gave orders for + lowering. +

+

+ The four boats were soon on the water; Ahab’s in advance, and all swiftly + pulling towards their prey. Soon it went down, and while, with oars + suspended, we were awaiting its reappearance, lo! in the same spot where + it sank, once more it slowly rose. Almost forgetting for the moment all + thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most wondrous phenomenon which + the secret seas have hitherto revealed to mankind. A vast pulpy mass, + furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-colour, lay floating + on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling + and twisting like a nest of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any + hapless object within reach. No perceptible face or front did it have; no + conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; but undulated there on + the billows, an unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life. +

+

+ As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck still + gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice + exclaimed—“Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than + to have seen thee, thou white ghost!” +

+

+ “What was it, Sir?” said Flask. +

+

+ “The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and + returned to their ports to tell of it.” +

+

+ But Ahab said nothing; turning his boat, he sailed back to the vessel; the + rest as silently following. +

+

+ Whatever superstitions the sperm whalemen in general have connected with + the sight of this object, certain it is, that a glimpse of it being so + very unusual, that circumstance has gone far to invest it with + portentousness. So rarely is it beheld, that though one and all of them + declare it to be the largest animated thing in the ocean, yet very few of + them have any but the most vague ideas concerning its true nature and + form; notwithstanding, they believe it to furnish to the sperm whale his + only food. For though other species of whales find their food above water, + and may be seen by man in the act of feeding, the spermaceti whale obtains + his whole food in unknown zones below the surface; and only by inference + is it that any one can tell of what, precisely, that food consists. At + times, when closely pursued, he will disgorge what are supposed to be the + detached arms of the squid; some of them thus exhibited exceeding twenty + and thirty feet in length. They fancy that the monster to which these arms + belonged ordinarily clings by them to the bed of the ocean; and that the + sperm whale, unlike other species, is supplied with teeth in order to + attack and tear it. +

+

+ There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop + Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid. The manner in which + the Bishop describes it, as alternately rising and sinking, with some + other particulars he narrates, in all this the two correspond. But much + abatement is necessary with respect to the incredible bulk he assigns it. +

+

+ By some naturalists who have vaguely heard rumors of the mysterious + creature, here spoken of, it is included among the class of cuttle-fish, + to which, indeed, in certain external respects it would seem to belong, + but only as the Anak of the tribe. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 60. The Line. +

+

+ With reference to the whaling scene shortly to be described, as well as + for the better understanding of all similar scenes elsewhere presented, I + have here to speak of the magical, sometimes horrible whale-line. +

+

+ The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly + vapored with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary + ropes; for while tar, as ordinarily used, makes the hemp more pliable to + the rope-maker, and also renders the rope itself more convenient to the + sailor for common ship use; yet, not only would the ordinary quantity too + much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which it must be + subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in general by no + means adds to the rope’s durability or strength, however much it may give + it compactness and gloss. +

+

+ Of late years the Manilla rope has in the American fishery almost entirely + superseded hemp as a material for whale-lines; for, though not so durable + as hemp, it is stronger, and far more soft and elastic; and I will add + (since there is an æsthetics in all things), is much more handsome and + becoming to the boat, than hemp. Hemp is a dusky, dark fellow, a sort of + Indian; but Manilla is as a golden-haired Circassian to behold. +

+

+ The whale-line is only two-thirds of an inch in thickness. At first sight, + you would not think it so strong as it really is. By experiment its one + and fifty yarns will each suspend a weight of one hundred and twenty + pounds; so that the whole rope will bear a strain nearly equal to three + tons. In length, the common sperm whale-line measures something over two + hundred fathoms. Towards the stern of the boat it is spirally coiled away + in the tub, not like the worm-pipe of a still though, but so as to form + one round, cheese-shaped mass of densely bedded “sheaves,” or layers of + concentric spiralizations, without any hollow but the “heart,” or minute + vertical tube formed at the axis of the cheese. As the least tangle or + kink in the coiling would, in running out, infallibly take somebody’s arm, + leg, or entire body off, the utmost precaution is used in stowing the line + in its tub. Some harpooneers will consume almost an entire morning in this + business, carrying the line high aloft and then reeving it downwards + through a block towards the tub, so as in the act of coiling to free it + from all possible wrinkles and twists. +

+

+ In the English boats two tubs are used instead of one; the same line being + continuously coiled in both tubs. There is some advantage in this; because + these twin-tubs being so small they fit more readily into the boat, and do + not strain it so much; whereas, the American tub, nearly three feet in + diameter and of proportionate depth, makes a rather bulky freight for a + craft whose planks are but one half-inch in thickness; for the bottom of + the whale-boat is like critical ice, which will bear up a considerable + distributed weight, but not very much of a concentrated one. When the + painted canvas cover is clapped on the American line-tub, the boat looks + as if it were pulling off with a prodigious great wedding-cake to present + to the whales. +

+

+ Both ends of the line are exposed; the lower end terminating in an + eye-splice or loop coming up from the bottom against the side of the tub, + and hanging over its edge completely disengaged from everything. This + arrangement of the lower end is necessary on two accounts. First: In order + to facilitate the fastening to it of an additional line from a neighboring + boat, in case the stricken whale should sound so deep as to threaten to + carry off the entire line originally attached to the harpoon. In these + instances, the whale of course is shifted like a mug of ale, as it were, + from the one boat to the other; though the first boat always hovers at + hand to assist its consort. Second: This arrangement is indispensable for + common safety’s sake; for were the lower end of the line in any way + attached to the boat, and were the whale then to run the line out to the + end almost in a single, smoking minute as he sometimes does, he would not + stop there, for the doomed boat would infallibly be dragged down after him + into the profundity of the sea; and in that case no town-crier would ever + find her again. +

+

+ Before lowering the boat for the chase, the upper end of the line is taken + aft from the tub, and passing round the loggerhead there, is again carried + forward the entire length of the boat, resting crosswise upon the loom or + handle of every man’s oar, so that it jogs against his wrist in rowing; + and also passing between the men, as they alternately sit at the opposite + gunwales, to the leaded chocks or grooves in the extreme pointed prow of + the boat, where a wooden pin or skewer the size of a common quill, + prevents it from slipping out. From the chocks it hangs in a slight + festoon over the bows, and is then passed inside the boat again; and some + ten or twenty fathoms (called box-line) being coiled upon the box in the + bows, it continues its way to the gunwale still a little further aft, and + is then attached to the short-warp—the rope which is immediately + connected with the harpoon; but previous to that connexion, the short-warp + goes through sundry mystifications too tedious to detail. +

+

+ Thus the whale-line folds the whole boat in its complicated coils, + twisting and writhing around it in almost every direction. All the oarsmen + are involved in its perilous contortions; so that to the timid eye of the + landsman, they seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes + sportively festooning their limbs. Nor can any son of mortal woman, for + the first time, seat himself amid those hempen intricacies, and while + straining his utmost at the oar, bethink him that at any unknown instant + the harpoon may be darted, and all these horrible contortions be put in + play like ringed lightnings; he cannot be thus circumstanced without a + shudder that makes the very marrow in his bones to quiver in him like a + shaken jelly. Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer + sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never + heard over your mahogany, than you will hear over the half-inch white + cedar of the whale-boat, when thus hung in hangman’s nooses; and, like the + six burghers of Calais before King Edward, the six men composing the crew + pull into the jaws of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may + say. +

+

+ Perhaps a very little thought will now enable you to account for those + repeated whaling disasters—some few of which are casually chronicled—of + this man or that man being taken out of the boat by the line, and lost. + For, when the line is darting out, to be seated then in the boat, is like + being seated in the midst of the manifold whizzings of a steam-engine in + full play, when every flying beam, and shaft, and wheel, is grazing you. + It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils, + because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way and + the other, without the slightest warning; and only by a certain + self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition and action, can + you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the all-seeing + sun himself could never pierce you out. +

+

+ Again: as the profound calm which only apparently precedes and prophesies + of the storm, is perhaps more awful than the storm itself; for, indeed, + the calm is but the wrapper and envelope of the storm; and contains it in + itself, as the seemingly harmless rifle holds the fatal powder, and the + ball, and the explosion; so the graceful repose of the line, as it + silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being brought into actual + play—this is a thing which carries more of true terror than any + other aspect of this dangerous affair. But why say more? All men live + enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but + it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals + realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a + philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel + one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with + a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 61. Stubb Kills a Whale. +

+

+ If to Starbuck the apparition of the Squid was a thing of portents, to + Queequeg it was quite a different object. +

+

+ “When you see him ’quid,” said the savage, honing his harpoon in the bow + of his hoisted boat, “then you quick see him ’parm whale.” +

+

+ The next day was exceedingly still and sultry, and with nothing special to + engage them, the Pequod’s crew could hardly resist the spell of sleep + induced by such a vacant sea. For this part of the Indian Ocean through + which we then were voyaging is not what whalemen call a lively ground; + that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises, dolphins, flying-fish, + and other vivacious denizens of more stirring waters, than those off the + Rio de la Plata, or the in-shore ground off Peru. +

+

+ It was my turn to stand at the foremast-head; and with my shoulders + leaning against the slackened royal shrouds, to and fro I idly swayed in + what seemed an enchanted air. No resolution could withstand it; in that + dreamy mood losing all consciousness, at last my soul went out of my body; + though my body still continued to sway as a pendulum will, long after the + power which first moved it is withdrawn. +

+

+ Ere forgetfulness altogether came over me, I had noticed that the seamen + at the main and mizzen-mast-heads were already drowsy. So that at last all + three of us lifelessly swung from the spars, and for every swing that we + made there was a nod from below from the slumbering helmsman. The waves, + too, nodded their indolent crests; and across the wide trance of the sea, + east nodded to west, and the sun over all. +

+

+ Suddenly bubbles seemed bursting beneath my closed eyes; like vices my + hands grasped the shrouds; some invisible, gracious agency preserved me; + with a shock I came back to life. And lo! close under our lee, not forty + fathoms off, a gigantic Sperm Whale lay rolling in the water like the + capsized hull of a frigate, his broad, glossy back, of an Ethiopian hue, + glistening in the sun’s rays like a mirror. But lazily undulating in the + trough of the sea, and ever and anon tranquilly spouting his vapory jet, + the whale looked like a portly burgher smoking his pipe of a warm + afternoon. But that pipe, poor whale, was thy last. As if struck by some + enchanter’s wand, the sleepy ship and every sleeper in it all at once + started into wakefulness; and more than a score of voices from all parts + of the vessel, simultaneously with the three notes from aloft, shouted + forth the accustomed cry, as the great fish slowly and regularly spouted + the sparkling brine into the air. +

+

+ “Clear away the boats! Luff!” cried Ahab. And obeying his own order, he + dashed the helm down before the helmsman could handle the spokes. +

+

+ The sudden exclamations of the crew must have alarmed the whale; and ere + the boats were down, majestically turning, he swam away to the leeward, + but with such a steady tranquillity, and making so few ripples as he swam, + that thinking after all he might not as yet be alarmed, Ahab gave orders + that not an oar should be used, and no man must speak but in whispers. So + seated like Ontario Indians on the gunwales of the boats, we swiftly but + silently paddled along; the calm not admitting of the noiseless sails + being set. Presently, as we thus glided in chase, the monster + perpendicularly flitted his tail forty feet into the air, and then sank + out of sight like a tower swallowed up. +

+

+ “There go flukes!” was the cry, an announcement immediately followed by + Stubb’s producing his match and igniting his pipe, for now a respite was + granted. After the full interval of his sounding had elapsed, the whale + rose again, and being now in advance of the smoker’s boat, and much nearer + to it than to any of the others, Stubb counted upon the honor of the + capture. It was obvious, now, that the whale had at length become aware of + his pursuers. All silence of cautiousness was therefore no longer of use. + Paddles were dropped, and oars came loudly into play. And still puffing at + his pipe, Stubb cheered on his crew to the assault. +

+

+ Yes, a mighty change had come over the fish. All alive to his jeopardy, he + was going “head out”; that part obliquely projecting from the mad yeast + which he brewed.* +

+

+ *It will be seen in some other place of what a very light substance the + entire interior of the sperm whale’s enormous head consists. Though + apparently the most massive, it is by far the most buoyant part about him. + So that with ease he elevates it in the air, and invariably does so when + going at his utmost speed. Besides, such is the breadth of the upper part + of the front of his head, and such the tapering cut-water formation of the + lower part, that by obliquely elevating his head, he thereby may be said + to transform himself from a bluff-bowed sluggish galliot into a + sharppointed New York pilot-boat. +

+

+ “Start her, start her, my men! Don’t hurry yourselves; take plenty of time—but + start her; start her like thunder-claps, that’s all,” cried Stubb, + spluttering out the smoke as he spoke. “Start her, now; give ’em the long + and strong stroke, Tashtego. Start her, Tash, my boy—start her, all; + but keep cool, keep cool—cucumbers is the word—easy, easy—only + start her like grim death and grinning devils, and raise the buried dead + perpendicular out of their graves, boys—that’s all. Start her!” +

+

+ “Woo-hoo! Wa-hee!” screamed the Gay-Header in reply, raising some old + war-whoop to the skies; as every oarsman in the strained boat + involuntarily bounced forward with the one tremendous leading stroke which + the eager Indian gave. +

+

+ But his wild screams were answered by others quite as wild. “Kee-hee! + Kee-hee!” yelled Daggoo, straining forwards and backwards on his seat, + like a pacing tiger in his cage. +

+

+ “Ka-la! Koo-loo!” howled Queequeg, as if smacking his lips over a mouthful + of Grenadier’s steak. And thus with oars and yells the keels cut the sea. + Meanwhile, Stubb retaining his place in the van, still encouraged his men + to the onset, all the while puffing the smoke from his mouth. Like + desperadoes they tugged and they strained, till the welcome cry was heard—“Stand + up, Tashtego!—give it to him!” The harpoon was hurled. “Stern all!” + The oarsmen backed water; the same moment something went hot and hissing + along every one of their wrists. It was the magical line. An instant + before, Stubb had swiftly caught two additional turns with it round the + loggerhead, whence, by reason of its increased rapid circlings, a hempen + blue smoke now jetted up and mingled with the steady fumes from his pipe. + As the line passed round and round the loggerhead; so also, just before + reaching that point, it blisteringly passed through and through both of + Stubb’s hands, from which the hand-cloths, or squares of quilted canvas + sometimes worn at these times, had accidentally dropped. It was like + holding an enemy’s sharp two-edged sword by the blade, and that enemy all + the time striving to wrest it out of your clutch. +

+

+ “Wet the line! wet the line!” cried Stubb to the tub oarsman (him seated + by the tub) who, snatching off his hat, dashed sea-water into it.* More + turns were taken, so that the line began holding its place. The boat now + flew through the boiling water like a shark all fins. Stubb and Tashtego + here changed places—stem for stern—a staggering business truly + in that rocking commotion. +

+

+ *Partly to show the indispensableness of this act, it may here be stated, + that, in the old Dutch fishery, a mop was used to dash the running line + with water; in many other ships, a wooden piggin, or bailer, is set apart + for that purpose. Your hat, however, is the most convenient. +

+

+ From the vibrating line extending the entire length of the upper part of + the boat, and from its now being more tight than a harpstring, you would + have thought the craft had two keels—one cleaving the water, the + other the air—as the boat churned on through both opposing elements + at once. A continual cascade played at the bows; a ceaseless whirling eddy + in her wake; and, at the slightest motion from within, even but of a + little finger, the vibrating, cracking craft canted over her spasmodic + gunwale into the sea. Thus they rushed; each man with might and main + clinging to his seat, to prevent being tossed to the foam; and the tall + form of Tashtego at the steering oar crouching almost double, in order to + bring down his centre of gravity. Whole Atlantics and Pacifics seemed + passed as they shot on their way, till at length the whale somewhat + slackened his flight. +

+

+ “Haul in—haul in!” cried Stubb to the bowsman! and, facing round + towards the whale, all hands began pulling the boat up to him, while yet + the boat was being towed on. Soon ranging up by his flank, Stubb, firmly + planting his knee in the clumsy cleat, darted dart after dart into the + flying fish; at the word of command, the boat alternately sterning out of + the way of the whale’s horrible wallow, and then ranging up for another + fling. +

+

+ The red tide now poured from all sides of the monster like brooks down a + hill. His tormented body rolled not in brine but in blood, which bubbled + and seethed for furlongs behind in their wake. The slanting sun playing + upon this crimson pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every + face, so that they all glowed to each other like red men. And all the + while, jet after jet of white smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle + of the whale, and vehement puff after puff from the mouth of the excited + headsman; as at every dart, hauling in upon his crooked lance (by the line + attached to it), Stubb straightened it again and again, by a few rapid + blows against the gunwale, then again and again sent it into the whale. +

+

+ “Pull up—pull up!” he now cried to the bowsman, as the waning whale + relaxed in his wrath. “Pull up!—close to!” and the boat ranged along + the fish’s flank. When reaching far over the bow, Stubb slowly churned his + long sharp lance into the fish, and kept it there, carefully churning and + churning, as if cautiously seeking to feel after some gold watch that the + whale might have swallowed, and which he was fearful of breaking ere he + could hook it out. But that gold watch he sought was the innermost life of + the fish. And now it is struck; for, starting from his trance into that + unspeakable thing called his “flurry,” the monster horribly wallowed in + his blood, overwrapped himself in impenetrable, mad, boiling spray, so + that the imperilled craft, instantly dropping astern, had much ado blindly + to struggle out from that phrensied twilight into the clear air of the + day. +

+

+ And now abating in his flurry, the whale once more rolled out into view; + surging from side to side; spasmodically dilating and contracting his + spout-hole, with sharp, cracking, agonized respirations. At last, gush + after gush of clotted red gore, as if it had been the purple lees of red + wine, shot into the frighted air; and falling back again, ran dripping + down his motionless flanks into the sea. His heart had burst! +

+

+ “He’s dead, Mr. Stubb,” said Daggoo. +

+

+ “Yes; both pipes smoked out!” and withdrawing his own from his mouth, + Stubb scattered the dead ashes over the water; and, for a moment, stood + thoughtfully eyeing the vast corpse he had made. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 62. The Dart. +

+

+ A word concerning an incident in the last chapter. +

+

+ According to the invariable usage of the fishery, the whale-boat pushes + off from the ship, with the headsman or whale-killer as temporary + steersman, and the harpooneer or whale-fastener pulling the foremost oar, + the one known as the harpooneer-oar. Now it needs a strong, nervous arm to + strike the first iron into the fish; for often, in what is called a long + dart, the heavy implement has to be flung to the distance of twenty or + thirty feet. But however prolonged and exhausting the chase, the + harpooneer is expected to pull his oar meanwhile to the uttermost; indeed, + he is expected to set an example of superhuman activity to the rest, not + only by incredible rowing, but by repeated loud and intrepid exclamations; + and what it is to keep shouting at the top of one’s compass, while all the + other muscles are strained and half started—what that is none know + but those who have tried it. For one, I cannot bawl very heartily and work + very recklessly at one and the same time. In this straining, bawling + state, then, with his back to the fish, all at once the exhausted + harpooneer hears the exciting cry—“Stand up, and give it to him!” He + now has to drop and secure his oar, turn round on his centre half way, + seize his harpoon from the crotch, and with what little strength may + remain, he essays to pitch it somehow into the whale. No wonder, taking + the whole fleet of whalemen in a body, that out of fifty fair chances for + a dart, not five are successful; no wonder that so many hapless + harpooneers are madly cursed and disrated; no wonder that some of them + actually burst their blood-vessels in the boat; no wonder that some sperm + whalemen are absent four years with four barrels; no wonder that to many + ship owners, whaling is but a losing concern; for it is the harpooneer + that makes the voyage, and if you take the breath out of his body how can + you expect to find it there when most wanted! +

+

+ Again, if the dart be successful, then at the second critical instant, + that is, when the whale starts to run, the boatheader and harpooneer + likewise start to running fore and aft, to the imminent jeopardy of + themselves and every one else. It is then they change places; and the + headsman, the chief officer of the little craft, takes his proper station + in the bows of the boat. +

+

+ Now, I care not who maintains the contrary, but all this is both foolish + and unnecessary. The headsman should stay in the bows from first to last; + he should both dart the harpoon and the lance, and no rowing whatever + should be expected of him, except under circumstances obvious to any + fisherman. I know that this would sometimes involve a slight loss of speed + in the chase; but long experience in various whalemen of more than one + nation has convinced me that in the vast majority of failures in the + fishery, it has not by any means been so much the speed of the whale as + the before described exhaustion of the harpooneer that has caused them. +

+

+ To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooneers of this + world must start to their feet from out of idleness, and not from out of + toil. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 63. The Crotch. +

+

+ Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in + productive subjects, grow the chapters. +

+

+ The crotch alluded to on a previous page deserves independent mention. It + is a notched stick of a peculiar form, some two feet in length, which is + perpendicularly inserted into the starboard gunwale near the bow, for the + purpose of furnishing a rest for the wooden extremity of the harpoon, + whose other naked, barbed end slopingly projects from the prow. Thereby + the weapon is instantly at hand to its hurler, who snatches it up as + readily from its rest as a backwoodsman swings his rifle from the wall. It + is customary to have two harpoons reposing in the crotch, respectively + called the first and second irons. +

+

+ But these two harpoons, each by its own cord, are both connected with the + line; the object being this: to dart them both, if possible, one instantly + after the other into the same whale; so that if, in the coming drag, one + should draw out, the other may still retain a hold. It is a doubling of + the chances. But it very often happens that owing to the instantaneous, + violent, convulsive running of the whale upon receiving the first iron, it + becomes impossible for the harpooneer, however lightning-like in his + movements, to pitch the second iron into him. Nevertheless, as the second + iron is already connected with the line, and the line is running, hence + that weapon must, at all events, be anticipatingly tossed out of the boat, + somehow and somewhere; else the most terrible jeopardy would involve all + hands. Tumbled into the water, it accordingly is in such cases; the spare + coils of box line (mentioned in a preceding chapter) making this feat, in + most instances, prudently practicable. But this critical act is not always + unattended with the saddest and most fatal casualties. +

+

+ Furthermore: you must know that when the second iron is thrown overboard, + it thenceforth becomes a dangling, sharp-edged terror, skittishly + curvetting about both boat and whale, entangling the lines, or cutting + them, and making a prodigious sensation in all directions. Nor, in + general, is it possible to secure it again until the whale is fairly + captured and a corpse. +

+

+ Consider, now, how it must be in the case of four boats all engaging one + unusually strong, active, and knowing whale; when owing to these qualities + in him, as well as to the thousand concurring accidents of such an + audacious enterprise, eight or ten loose second irons may be + simultaneously dangling about him. For, of course, each boat is supplied + with several harpoons to bend on to the line should the first one be + ineffectually darted without recovery. All these particulars are + faithfully narrated here, as they will not fail to elucidate several most + important, however intricate passages, in scenes hereafter to be painted. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 64. Stubb’s Supper. +

+

+ Stubb’s whale had been killed some distance from the ship. It was a calm; + so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of + towing the trophy to the Pequod. And now, as we eighteen men with our + thirty-six arms, and one hundred and eighty thumbs and fingers, slowly + toiled hour after hour upon that inert, sluggish corpse in the sea; and it + seemed hardly to budge at all, except at long intervals; good evidence was + hereby furnished of the enormousness of the mass we moved. For, upon the + great canal of Hang-Ho, or whatever they call it, in China, four or five + laborers on the foot-path will draw a bulky freighted junk at the rate of + a mile an hour; but this grand argosy we towed heavily forged along, as if + laden with pig-lead in bulk. +

+

+ Darkness came on; but three lights up and down in the Pequod’s + main-rigging dimly guided our way; till drawing nearer we saw Ahab + dropping one of several more lanterns over the bulwarks. Vacantly eyeing + the heaving whale for a moment, he issued the usual orders for securing it + for the night, and then handing his lantern to a seaman, went his way into + the cabin, and did not come forward again until morning. +

+

+ Though, in overseeing the pursuit of this whale, Captain Ahab had evinced + his customary activity, to call it so; yet now that the creature was dead, + some vague dissatisfaction, or impatience, or despair, seemed working in + him; as if the sight of that dead body reminded him that Moby Dick was yet + to be slain; and though a thousand other whales were brought to his ship, + all that would not one jot advance his grand, monomaniac object. Very soon + you would have thought from the sound on the Pequod’s decks, that all + hands were preparing to cast anchor in the deep; for heavy chains are + being dragged along the deck, and thrust rattling out of the port-holes. + But by those clanking links, the vast corpse itself, not the ship, is to + be moored. Tied by the head to the stern, and by the tail to the bows, the + whale now lies with its black hull close to the vessel’s and seen through + the darkness of the night, which obscured the spars and rigging aloft, the + two—ship and whale, seemed yoked together like colossal bullocks, + whereof one reclines while the other remains standing.* +

+

+ *A little item may as well be related here. The strongest and most + reliable hold which the ship has upon the whale when moored alongside, is + by the flukes or tail; and as from its greater density that part is + relatively heavier than any other (excepting the side-fins), its + flexibility even in death, causes it to sink low beneath the surface; so + that with the hand you cannot get at it from the boat, in order to put the + chain round it. But this difficulty is ingeniously overcome: a small, + strong line is prepared with a wooden float at its outer end, and a weight + in its middle, while the other end is secured to the ship. By adroit + management the wooden float is made to rise on the other side of the mass, + so that now having girdled the whale, the chain is readily made to follow + suit; and being slipped along the body, is at last locked fast round the + smallest part of the tail, at the point of junction with its broad flukes + or lobes. +

+

+ If moody Ahab was now all quiescence, at least so far as could be known on + deck, Stubb, his second mate, flushed with conquest, betrayed an unusual + but still good-natured excitement. Such an unwonted bustle was he in that + the staid Starbuck, his official superior, quietly resigned to him for the + time the sole management of affairs. One small, helping cause of all this + liveliness in Stubb, was soon made strangely manifest. Stubb was a high + liver; he was somewhat intemperately fond of the whale as a flavorish + thing to his palate. +

+

+ “A steak, a steak, ere I sleep! You, Daggoo! overboard you go, and cut me + one from his small!” +

+

+ Here be it known, that though these wild fishermen do not, as a general + thing, and according to the great military maxim, make the enemy defray + the current expenses of the war (at least before realizing the proceeds of + the voyage), yet now and then you find some of these Nantucketers who have + a genuine relish for that particular part of the Sperm Whale designated by + Stubb; comprising the tapering extremity of the body. +

+

+ About midnight that steak was cut and cooked; and lighted by two lanterns + of sperm oil, Stubb stoutly stood up to his spermaceti supper at the + capstan-head, as if that capstan were a sideboard. Nor was Stubb the only + banqueter on whale’s flesh that night. Mingling their mumblings with his + own mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the + dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness. The few sleepers below + in their bunks were often startled by the sharp slapping of their tails + against the hull, within a few inches of the sleepers’ hearts. Peering + over the side you could just see them (as before you heard them) wallowing + in the sullen, black waters, and turning over on their backs as they + scooped out huge globular pieces of the whale of the bigness of a human + head. This particular feat of the shark seems all but miraculous. How at + such an apparently unassailable surface, they contrive to gouge out such + symmetrical mouthfuls, remains a part of the universal problem of all + things. The mark they thus leave on the whale, may best be likened to the + hollow made by a carpenter in countersinking for a screw. +

+

+ Though amid all the smoking horror and diabolism of a sea-fight, sharks + will be seen longingly gazing up to the ship’s decks, like hungry dogs + round a table where red meat is being carved, ready to bolt down every + killed man that is tossed to them; and though, while the valiant butchers + over the deck-table are thus cannibally carving each other’s live meat + with carving-knives all gilded and tasselled, the sharks, also, with their + jewel-hilted mouths, are quarrelsomely carving away under the table at the + dead meat; and though, were you to turn the whole affair upside down, it + would still be pretty much the same thing, that is to say, a shocking + sharkish business enough for all parties; and though sharks also are the + invariable outriders of all slave ships crossing the Atlantic, + systematically trotting alongside, to be handy in case a parcel is to be + carried anywhere, or a dead slave to be decently buried; and though one or + two other like instances might be set down, touching the set terms, + places, and occasions, when sharks do most socially congregate, and most + hilariously feast; yet is there no conceivable time or occasion when you + will find them in such countless numbers, and in gayer or more jovial + spirits, than around a dead sperm whale, moored by night to a whaleship at + sea. If you have never seen that sight, then suspend your decision about + the propriety of devil-worship, and the expediency of conciliating the + devil. +

+

+ But, as yet, Stubb heeded not the mumblings of the banquet that was going + on so nigh him, no more than the sharks heeded the smacking of his own + epicurean lips. +

+

+ “Cook, cook!—where’s that old Fleece?” he cried at length, widening + his legs still further, as if to form a more secure base for his supper; + and, at the same time darting his fork into the dish, as if stabbing with + his lance; “cook, you cook!—sail this way, cook!” +

+

+ The old black, not in any very high glee at having been previously roused + from his warm hammock at a most unseasonable hour, came shambling along + from his galley, for, like many old blacks, there was something the matter + with his knee-pans, which he did not keep well scoured like his other + pans; this old Fleece, as they called him, came shuffling and limping + along, assisting his step with his tongs, which, after a clumsy fashion, + were made of straightened iron hoops; this old Ebony floundered along, and + in obedience to the word of command, came to a dead stop on the opposite + side of Stubb’s sideboard; when, with both hands folded before him, and + resting on his two-legged cane, he bowed his arched back still further + over, at the same time sideways inclining his head, so as to bring his + best ear into play. +

+

+ “Cook,” said Stubb, rapidly lifting a rather reddish morsel to his mouth, + “don’t you think this steak is rather overdone? You’ve been beating this + steak too much, cook; it’s too tender. Don’t I always say that to be good, + a whale-steak must be tough? There are those sharks now over the side, + don’t you see they prefer it tough and rare? What a shindy they are + kicking up! Cook, go and talk to ’em; tell ’em they are welcome to help + themselves civilly, and in moderation, but they must keep quiet. Blast me, + if I can hear my own voice. Away, cook, and deliver my message. Here, take + this lantern,” snatching one from his sideboard; “now then, go and preach + to ’em!” +

+

+ Sullenly taking the offered lantern, old Fleece limped across the deck to + the bulwarks; and then, with one hand dropping his light low over the sea, + so as to get a good view of his congregation, with the other hand he + solemnly flourished his tongs, and leaning far over the side in a mumbling + voice began addressing the sharks, while Stubb, softly crawling behind, + overheard all that was said. +

+

+ “Fellow-critters: I’se ordered here to say dat you must stop dat dam noise + dare. You hear? Stop dat dam smackin’ ob de lip! Massa Stubb say dat you + can fill your dam bellies up to de hatchings, but by Gor! you must stop + dat dam racket!” +

+

+ “Cook,” here interposed Stubb, accompanying the word with a sudden slap on + the shoulder,—“Cook! why, damn your eyes, you mustn’t swear that way + when you’re preaching. That’s no way to convert sinners, cook!” +

+

+ “Who dat? Den preach to him yourself,” sullenly turning to go. +

+

+ “No, cook; go on, go on.” +

+

+ “Well, den, Belubed fellow-critters:”— +

+

+ “Right!” exclaimed Stubb, approvingly, “coax ’em to it; try that,” and + Fleece continued. +

+

+ “Do you is all sharks, and by natur wery woracious, yet I zay to you, + fellow-critters, dat dat woraciousness—’top dat dam slappin’ ob de + tail! How you tink to hear, spose you keep up such a dam slappin’ and + bitin’ dare?” +

+

+ “Cook,” cried Stubb, collaring him, “I won’t have that swearing. Talk to + ’em gentlemanly.” +

+

+ Once more the sermon proceeded. +

+

+ “Your woraciousness, fellow-critters, I don’t blame ye so much for; + dat is natur, and can’t be helped; but to gobern dat wicked natur, dat is + de pint. You is sharks, sartin; but if you gobern de shark in you, why den + you be angel; for all angel is not’ing more dan de shark well goberned. + Now, look here, bred’ren, just try wonst to be cibil, a helping yourselbs + from dat whale. Don’t be tearin’ de blubber out your neighbour’s + mout, I say. Is not one shark dood right as toder to dat whale? And, by Gor, none + on you has de right to dat whale; dat whale belong to some one else. I + know some o’ you has berry brig mout, brigger dan oders; but den de brig + mouts sometimes has de small bellies; so dat de brigness of de mout is not + to swaller wid, but to bit off de blubber for de small fry ob sharks, dat + can’t get into de scrouge to help demselves.” +

+

+ “Well done, old Fleece!” cried Stubb, “that’s Christianity; go on.” +

+

+ “No use goin’ on; de dam willains will keep a scougin’ and slappin’ each + oder, Massa Stubb; dey don’t hear one word; no use a-preachin’ to such dam + g’uttons as you call ’em, till dare bellies is full, and dare bellies is + bottomless; and when dey do get ’em full, dey wont hear you den; for den + dey sink in de sea, go fast to sleep on de coral, and can’t hear not’ing + at all, no more, for eber and eber.” +

+

+ “Upon my soul, I am about of the same opinion; so give the benediction, + Fleece, and I’ll away to my supper.” +

+

+ Upon this, Fleece, holding both hands over the fishy mob, raised his + shrill voice, and cried— +

+

+ “Cussed fellow-critters! Kick up de damndest row as ever you can; fill + your dam’ bellies ’till dey bust—and den die.” +

+

+ “Now, cook,” said Stubb, resuming his supper at the capstan; “stand just + where you stood before, there, over against me, and pay particular + attention.” +

+

+ “All dention,” said Fleece, again stooping over upon his tongs in the + desired position. +

+

+ “Well,” said Stubb, helping himself freely meanwhile; “I shall now go back + to the subject of this steak. In the first place, how old are you, cook?” +

+

+ “What dat do wid de ’teak,” said the old black, testily. +

+

+ “Silence! How old are you, cook?” +

+

+ “’Bout ninety, dey say,” he gloomily muttered. +

+

+ “And you have lived in this world hard upon one hundred years, cook, and + don’t know yet how to cook a whale-steak?” rapidly bolting another + mouthful at the last word, so that morsel seemed a continuation of the + question. “Where were you born, cook?” +

+

+ “’Hind de hatchway, in ferry-boat, goin’ ober de Roanoke.” +

+

+ “Born in a ferry-boat! That’s queer, too. But I want to know what country + you were born in, cook!” +

+

+ “Didn’t I say de Roanoke country?” he cried sharply. +

+

+ “No, you didn’t, cook; but I’ll tell you what I’m coming to, cook. You + must go home and be born over again; you don’t know how to cook a + whale-steak yet.” +

+

+ “Bress my soul, if I cook noder one,” he growled, angrily, turning round + to depart. +

+

+ “Come back, cook;—here, hand me those tongs;—now take + that bit of steak there, and tell me if you think that steak cooked as it + should be? Take it, I say”—holding the tongs towards him—“take + it, and taste it.” +

+

+ Faintly smacking his withered lips over it for a moment, the old negro + muttered, “Best cooked ’teak I eber taste; joosy, berry joosy.” +

+

+ “Cook,” said Stubb, squaring himself once more; “do you belong to the + church?” +

+

+ “Passed one once in Cape-Down,” said the old man sullenly. +

+

+ “And you have once in your life passed a holy church in Cape-Town, where + you doubtless overheard a holy parson addressing his hearers as his + beloved fellow-creatures, have you, cook! And yet you come here, and tell + me such a dreadful lie as you did just now, eh?” said Stubb. “Where do you + expect to go to, cook?” +

+

+ “Go to bed berry soon,” he mumbled, half-turning as he spoke. +

+

+ “Avast! heave to! I mean when you die, cook. It’s an awful question. Now + what’s your answer?” +

+

+ “When dis old brack man dies,” said the negro slowly, changing his whole + air and demeanor, “he hisself won’t go nowhere; but some bressed angel + will come and fetch him.” +

+

+ “Fetch him? How? In a coach and four, as they fetched Elijah? And fetch + him where?” +

+

+ “Up dere,” said Fleece, holding his tongs straight over his head, and + keeping it there very solemnly. +

+

+ “So, then, you expect to go up into our main-top, do you, cook, when you + are dead? But don’t you know the higher you climb, the colder it gets? + Main-top, eh?” +

+

+ “Didn’t say dat t’all,” said Fleece, again in the sulks. +

+

+ “You said up there, didn’t you? and now look yourself, and see where your + tongs are pointing. But, perhaps you expect to get into heaven by crawling + through the lubber’s hole, cook; but, no, no, cook, you don’t get there, + except you go the regular way, round by the rigging. It’s a ticklish + business, but must be done, or else it’s no go. But none of us are in + heaven yet. Drop your tongs, cook, and hear my orders. Do ye hear? Hold + your hat in one hand, and clap t’other a’top of your heart, when I’m + giving my orders, cook. What! that your heart, there?—that’s your + gizzard! Aloft! aloft!—that’s it—now you have it. Hold it + there now, and pay attention.” +

+

+ “All ’dention,” said the old black, with both hands placed as desired, + vainly wriggling his grizzled head, as if to get both ears in front at one + and the same time. +

+

+ “Well then, cook, you see this whale-steak of yours was so very bad, that + I have put it out of sight as soon as possible; you see that, don’t you? + Well, for the future, when you cook another whale-steak for my private + table here, the capstan, I’ll tell you what to do so as not to spoil it by + overdoing. Hold the steak in one hand, and show a live coal to it with the + other; that done, dish it; d’ye hear? And now to-morrow, cook, when we are + cutting in the fish, be sure you stand by to get the tips of his fins; + have them put in pickle. As for the ends of the flukes, have them soused, + cook. There, now ye may go.” +

+

+ But Fleece had hardly got three paces off, when he was recalled. +

+

+ “Cook, give me cutlets for supper to-morrow night in the mid-watch. D’ye + hear? away you sail, then.—Halloa! stop! make a bow before you go.—Avast + heaving again! Whale-balls for breakfast—don’t forget.” +

+

+ “Wish, by gor! whale eat him, ’stead of him eat whale. I’m bressed if he + ain’t more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself,” muttered the old man, + limping away; with which sage ejaculation he went to his hammock. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 65. The Whale as a Dish. +

+

+ That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp, and, + like Stubb, eat him by his own light, as you may say; this seems so + outlandish a thing that one must needs go a little into the history and + philosophy of it. +

+

+ It is upon record, that three centuries ago the tongue of the Right Whale + was esteemed a great delicacy in France, and commanded large prices there. + Also, that in Henry VIIIth’s time, a certain cook of the court obtained a + handsome reward for inventing an admirable sauce to be eaten with + barbacued porpoises, which, you remember, are a species of whale. + Porpoises, indeed, are to this day considered fine eating. The meat is + made into balls about the size of billiard balls, and being well seasoned + and spiced might be taken for turtle-balls or veal balls. The old monks of + Dunfermline were very fond of them. They had a great porpoise grant from + the crown. +

+

+ The fact is, that among his hunters at least, the whale would by all hands + be considered a noble dish, were there not so much of him; but when you + come to sit down before a meat-pie nearly one hundred feet long, it takes + away your appetite. Only the most unprejudiced of men like Stubb, nowadays + partake of cooked whales; but the Esquimaux are not so fastidious. We all + know how they live upon whales, and have rare old vintages of prime old + train oil. Zogranda, one of their most famous doctors, recommends strips + of blubber for infants, as being exceedingly juicy and nourishing. And + this reminds me that certain Englishmen, who long ago were accidentally + left in Greenland by a whaling vessel—that these men actually lived + for several months on the mouldy scraps of whales which had been left + ashore after trying out the blubber. Among the Dutch whalemen these scraps + are called “fritters”; which, indeed, they greatly resemble, being brown + and crisp, and smelling something like old Amsterdam housewives’ + dough-nuts or oly-cooks, when fresh. They have such an eatable look that + the most self-denying stranger can hardly keep his hands off. +

+

+ But what further depreciates the whale as a civilized dish, is his + exceeding richness. He is the great prize ox of the sea, too fat to be + delicately good. Look at his hump, which would be as fine eating as the + buffalo’s (which is esteemed a rare dish), were it not such a solid + pyramid of fat. But the spermaceti itself, how bland and creamy that is; + like the transparent, half-jellied, white meat of a cocoanut in the third + month of its growth, yet far too rich to supply a substitute for butter. + Nevertheless, many whalemen have a method of absorbing it into some other + substance, and then partaking of it. In the long try watches of the night + it is a common thing for the seamen to dip their ship-biscuit into the + huge oil-pots and let them fry there awhile. Many a good supper have I + thus made. +

+

+ In the case of a small Sperm Whale the brains are accounted a fine dish. + The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the two plump, + whitish lobes being withdrawn (precisely resembling two large puddings), + they are then mixed with flour, and cooked into a most delectable mess, in + flavor somewhat resembling calves’ head, which is quite a dish among some + epicures; and every one knows that some young bucks among the epicures, by + continually dining upon calves’ brains, by and by get to have a little + brains of their own, so as to be able to tell a calf’s head from their own + heads; which, indeed, requires uncommon discrimination. And that is the + reason why a young buck with an intelligent looking calf’s head before + him, is somehow one of the saddest sights you can see. The head looks a + sort of reproachfully at him, with an “Et tu Brute!” expression. +

+

+ It is not, perhaps, entirely because the whale is so excessively unctuous + that landsmen seem to regard the eating of him with abhorrence; that + appears to result, in some way, from the consideration before mentioned: + i.e. that a man should eat a newly murdered thing of the sea, and eat it + too by its own light. But no doubt the first man that ever murdered an ox + was regarded as a murderer; perhaps he was hung; and if he had been put on + his trial by oxen, he certainly would have been; and he certainly deserved + it if any murderer does. Go to the meat-market of a Saturday night and see + the crowds of live bipeds staring up at the long rows of dead quadrupeds. + Does not that sight take a tooth out of the cannibal’s jaw? Cannibals? who + is not a cannibal? I tell you it will be more tolerable for the Fejee that + salted down a lean missionary in his cellar against a coming famine; it + will be more tolerable for that provident Fejee, I say, in the day of + judgment, than for thee, civilized and enlightened gourmand, who nailest + geese to the ground and feastest on their bloated livers in thy + paté-de-foie-gras. +

+

+ But Stubb, he eats the whale by its own light, does he? and that is adding + insult to injury, is it? Look at your knife-handle, there, my civilized + and enlightened gourmand dining off that roast beef, what is that handle + made of?—what but the bones of the brother of the very ox you are + eating? And what do you pick your teeth with, after devouring that fat + goose? With a feather of the same fowl. And with what quill did the + Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Cruelty to Ganders + formally indite his circulars? It is only within the last month or two + that that society passed a resolution to patronize nothing but steel pens. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 66. The Shark Massacre. +

+

+ When in the Southern Fishery, a captured Sperm Whale, after long and weary + toil, is brought alongside late at night, it is not, as a general thing at + least, customary to proceed at once to the business of cutting him in. For + that business is an exceedingly laborious one; is not very soon completed; + and requires all hands to set about it. Therefore, the common usage is to + take in all sail; lash the helm a’lee; and then send every one below to + his hammock till daylight, with the reservation that, until that time, + anchor-watches shall be kept; that is, two and two for an hour, each + couple, the crew in rotation shall mount the deck to see that all goes + well. +

+

+ But sometimes, especially upon the Line in the Pacific, this plan will not + answer at all; because such incalculable hosts of sharks gather round the + moored carcase, that were he left so for six hours, say, on a stretch, + little more than the skeleton would be visible by morning. In most other + parts of the ocean, however, where these fish do not so largely abound, + their wondrous voracity can be at times considerably diminished, by + vigorously stirring them up with sharp whaling-spades, a procedure + notwithstanding, which, in some instances, only seems to tickle them into + still greater activity. But it was not thus in the present case with the + Pequod’s sharks; though, to be sure, any man unaccustomed to such sights, + to have looked over her side that night, would have almost thought the + whole round sea was one huge cheese, and those sharks the maggots in it. +

+

+ Nevertheless, upon Stubb setting the anchor-watch after his supper was + concluded; and when, accordingly, Queequeg and a forecastle seaman came on + deck, no small excitement was created among the sharks; for immediately + suspending the cutting stages over the side, and lowering three lanterns, + so that they cast long gleams of light over the turbid sea, these two + mariners, darting their long whaling-spades, kept up an incessant + murdering of the sharks,* by striking the keen steel deep into their + skulls, seemingly their only vital part. But in the foamy confusion of + their mixed and struggling hosts, the marksmen could not always hit their + mark; and this brought about new revelations of the incredible ferocity of + the foe. They viciously snapped, not only at each other’s disembowelments, + but like flexible bows, bent round, and bit their own; till those entrails + seemed swallowed over and over again by the same mouth, to be oppositely + voided by the gaping wound. Nor was this all. It was unsafe to meddle with + the corpses and ghosts of these creatures. A sort of generic or + Pantheistic vitality seemed to lurk in their very joints and bones, after + what might be called the individual life had departed. Killed and hoisted + on deck for the sake of his skin, one of these sharks almost took poor + Queequeg’s hand off, when he tried to shut down the dead lid of his + murderous jaw. +

+

+ *The whaling-spade used for cutting-in is made of the very best steel; is + about the bigness of a man’s spread hand; and in general shape, + corresponds to the garden implement after which it is named; only its + sides are perfectly flat, and its upper end considerably narrower than the + lower. This weapon is always kept as sharp as possible; and when being + used is occasionally honed, just like a razor. In its socket, a stiff + pole, from twenty to thirty feet long, is inserted for a handle. +

+

+ “Queequeg no care what god made him shark,” said the savage, agonizingly + lifting his hand up and down; “wedder Fejee god or Nantucket god; but de + god wat made shark must be one dam Ingin.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 67. Cutting In. +

+

+ It was a Saturday night, and such a Sabbath as followed! Ex officio + professors of Sabbath breaking are all whalemen. The ivory Pequod was + turned into what seemed a shamble; every sailor a butcher. You would have + thought we were offering up ten thousand red oxen to the sea gods. +

+

+ In the first place, the enormous cutting tackles, among other ponderous + things comprising a cluster of blocks generally painted green, and which + no single man can possibly lift—this vast bunch of grapes was swayed + up to the main-top and firmly lashed to the lower mast-head, the strongest + point anywhere above a ship’s deck. The end of the hawser-like rope + winding through these intricacies, was then conducted to the windlass, and + the huge lower block of the tackles was swung over the whale; to this + block the great blubber hook, weighing some one hundred pounds, was + attached. And now suspended in stages over the side, Starbuck and Stubb, + the mates, armed with their long spades, began cutting a hole in the body + for the insertion of the hook just above the nearest of the two side-fins. + This done, a broad, semicircular line is cut round the hole, the hook is + inserted, and the main body of the crew striking up a wild chorus, now + commence heaving in one dense crowd at the windlass. When instantly, the + entire ship careens over on her side; every bolt in her starts like the + nail-heads of an old house in frosty weather; she trembles, quivers, and + nods her frighted mast-heads to the sky. More and more she leans over to + the whale, while every gasping heave of the windlass is answered by a + helping heave from the billows; till at last, a swift, startling snap is + heard; with a great swash the ship rolls upwards and backwards from the + whale, and the triumphant tackle rises into sight dragging after it the + disengaged semicircular end of the first strip of blubber. Now as the + blubber envelopes the whale precisely as the rind does an orange, so is it + stripped off from the body precisely as an orange is sometimes stripped by + spiralizing it. For the strain constantly kept up by the windlass + continually keeps the whale rolling over and over in the water, and as the + blubber in one strip uniformly peels off along the line called the + “scarf,” simultaneously cut by the spades of Starbuck and Stubb, the + mates; and just as fast as it is thus peeled off, and indeed by that very + act itself, it is all the time being hoisted higher and higher aloft till + its upper end grazes the main-top; the men at the windlass then cease + heaving, and for a moment or two the prodigious blood-dripping mass sways + to and fro as if let down from the sky, and every one present must take + good heed to dodge it when it swings, else it may box his ears and pitch + him headlong overboard. +

+

+ One of the attending harpooneers now advances with a long, keen weapon + called a boarding-sword, and watching his chance he dexterously slices out + a considerable hole in the lower part of the swaying mass. Into this hole, + the end of the second alternating great tackle is then hooked so as to + retain a hold upon the blubber, in order to prepare for what follows. + Whereupon, this accomplished swordsman, warning all hands to stand off, + once more makes a scientific dash at the mass, and with a few sidelong, + desperate, lunging slicings, severs it completely in twain; so that while + the short lower part is still fast, the long upper strip, called a + blanket-piece, swings clear, and is all ready for lowering. The heavers + forward now resume their song, and while the one tackle is peeling and + hoisting a second strip from the whale, the other is slowly slackened + away, and down goes the first strip through the main hatchway right + beneath, into an unfurnished parlor called the blubber-room. Into this + twilight apartment sundry nimble hands keep coiling away the long + blanket-piece as if it were a great live mass of plaited serpents. And + thus the work proceeds; the two tackles hoisting and lowering + simultaneously; both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing, the + blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing, the ship straining, + and all hands swearing occasionally, by way of assuaging the general + friction. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 68. The Blanket. +

+

+ I have given no small attention to that not unvexed subject, the skin of + the whale. I have had controversies about it with experienced whalemen + afloat, and learned naturalists ashore. My original opinion remains + unchanged; but it is only an opinion. +

+

+ The question is, what and where is the skin of the whale? Already you know + what his blubber is. That blubber is something of the consistence of firm, + close-grained beef, but tougher, more elastic and compact, and ranges from + eight or ten to twelve and fifteen inches in thickness. +

+

+ Now, however preposterous it may at first seem to talk of any creature’s + skin as being of that sort of consistence and thickness, yet in point of + fact these are no arguments against such a presumption; because you cannot + raise any other dense enveloping layer from the whale’s body but that same + blubber; and the outermost enveloping layer of any animal, if reasonably + dense, what can that be but the skin? True, from the unmarred dead body of + the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, + transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of + isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin; that is, + previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens, but + becomes rather hard and brittle. I have several such dried bits, which I + use for marks in my whale-books. It is transparent, as I said before; and + being laid upon the printed page, I have sometimes pleased myself with + fancying it exerted a magnifying influence. At any rate, it is pleasant to + read about whales through their own spectacles, as you may say. But what I + am driving at here is this. That same infinitely thin, isinglass + substance, which, I admit, invests the entire body of the whale, is not so + much to be regarded as the skin of the creature, as the skin of the skin, + so to speak; for it were simply ridiculous to say, that the proper skin of + the tremendous whale is thinner and more tender than the skin of a + new-born child. But no more of this. +

+

+ Assuming the blubber to be the skin of the whale; then, when this skin, as + in the case of a very large Sperm Whale, will yield the bulk of one + hundred barrels of oil; and, when it is considered that, in quantity, or + rather weight, that oil, in its expressed state, is only three fourths, + and not the entire substance of the coat; some idea may hence be had of + the enormousness of that animated mass, a mere part of whose mere + integument yields such a lake of liquid as that. Reckoning ten barrels to + the ton, you have ten tons for the net weight of only three quarters of + the stuff of the whale’s skin. +

+

+ In life, the visible surface of the Sperm Whale is not the least among the + many marvels he presents. Almost invariably it is all over obliquely + crossed and re-crossed with numberless straight marks in thick array, + something like those in the finest Italian line engravings. But these + marks do not seem to be impressed upon the isinglass substance above + mentioned, but seem to be seen through it, as if they were engraved upon + the body itself. Nor is this all. In some instances, to the quick, + observant eye, those linear marks, as in a veritable engraving, but afford + the ground for far other delineations. These are hieroglyphical; that is, + if you call those mysterious cyphers on the walls of pyramids + hieroglyphics, then that is the proper word to use in the present + connexion. By my retentive memory of the hieroglyphics upon one Sperm + Whale in particular, I was much struck with a plate representing the old + Indian characters chiselled on the famous hieroglyphic palisades on the + banks of the Upper Mississippi. Like those mystic rocks, too, the + mystic-marked whale remains undecipherable. This allusion to the Indian + rocks reminds me of another thing. Besides all the other phenomena which + the exterior of the Sperm Whale presents, he not seldom displays the back, + and more especially his flanks, effaced in great part of the regular + linear appearance, by reason of numerous rude scratches, altogether of an + irregular, random aspect. I should say that those New England rocks on the + sea-coast, which Agassiz imagines to bear the marks of violent scraping + contact with vast floating icebergs—I should say, that those rocks + must not a little resemble the Sperm Whale in this particular. It also + seems to me that such scratches in the whale are probably made by hostile + contact with other whales; for I have most remarked them in the large, + full-grown bulls of the species. +

+

+ A word or two more concerning this matter of the skin or blubber of the + whale. It has already been said, that it is stript from him in long + pieces, called blanket-pieces. Like most sea-terms, this one is very happy + and significant. For the whale is indeed wrapt up in his blubber as in a + real blanket or counterpane; or, still better, an Indian poncho slipt over + his head, and skirting his extremity. It is by reason of this cosy + blanketing of his body, that the whale is enabled to keep himself + comfortable in all weathers, in all seas, times, and tides. What would + become of a Greenland whale, say, in those shuddering, icy seas of the + North, if unsupplied with his cosy surtout? True, other fish are found + exceedingly brisk in those Hyperborean waters; but these, be it observed, + are your cold-blooded, lungless fish, whose very bellies are + refrigerators; creatures, that warm themselves under the lee of an + iceberg, as a traveller in winter would bask before an inn fire; whereas, + like man, the whale has lungs and warm blood. Freeze his blood, and he + dies. How wonderful is it then—except after explanation—that + this great monster, to whom corporeal warmth is as indispensable as it is + to man; how wonderful that he should be found at home, immersed to his + lips for life in those Arctic waters! where, when seamen fall overboard, + they are sometimes found, months afterwards, perpendicularly frozen into + the hearts of fields of ice, as a fly is found glued in amber. But more + surprising is it to know, as has been proved by experiment, that the blood + of a Polar whale is warmer than that of a Borneo negro in summer. +

+

+ It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong + individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare + virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after + the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this + world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at + the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s, and like the great whale, + retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own. +

+

+ But how easy and how hopeless to teach these fine things! Of erections, + how few are domed like St. Peter’s! of creatures, how few vast as the + whale! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 69. The Funeral. +

+

+ “Haul in the chains! Let the carcase go astern!” +

+

+ The vast tackles have now done their duty. The peeled white body of the + beheaded whale flashes like a marble sepulchre; though changed in hue, it + has not perceptibly lost anything in bulk. It is still colossal. Slowly it + floats more and more away, the water round it torn and splashed by the + insatiate sharks, and the air above vexed with rapacious flights of + screaming fowls, whose beaks are like so many insulting poniards in the + whale. The vast white headless phantom floats further and further from the + ship, and every rod that it so floats, what seem square roods of sharks + and cubic roods of fowls, augment the murderous din. For hours and hours + from the almost stationary ship that hideous sight is seen. Beneath the + unclouded and mild azure sky, upon the fair face of the pleasant sea, + wafted by the joyous breezes, that great mass of death floats on and on, + till lost in infinite perspectives. +

+

+ There’s a most doleful and most mocking funeral! The sea-vultures all in + pious mourning, the air-sharks all punctiliously in black or speckled. In + life but few of them would have helped the whale, I ween, if peradventure + he had needed it; but upon the banquet of his funeral they most piously do + pounce. Oh, horrible vultureism of earth! from which not the mightiest + whale is free. +

+

+ Nor is this the end. Desecrated as the body is, a vengeful ghost survives + and hovers over it to scare. Espied by some timid man-of-war or blundering + discovery-vessel from afar, when the distance obscuring the swarming + fowls, nevertheless still shows the white mass floating in the sun, and + the white spray heaving high against it; straightway the whale’s unharming + corpse, with trembling fingers is set down in the log—shoals, rocks, + and breakers hereabouts: beware! And for years afterwards, perhaps, ships + shun the place; leaping over it as silly sheep leap over a vacuum, because + their leader originally leaped there when a stick was held. There’s your + law of precedents; there’s your utility of traditions; there’s the story + of your obstinate survival of old beliefs never bottomed on the earth, and + now not even hovering in the air! There’s orthodoxy! +

+

+ Thus, while in life the great whale’s body may have been a real terror to + his foes, in his death his ghost becomes a powerless panic to a world. +

+

+ Are you a believer in ghosts, my friend? There are other ghosts than the + Cock-Lane one, and far deeper men than Doctor Johnson who believe in them. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx. +

+

+ It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the + body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. Now, the beheading of the Sperm + Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale + surgeons very much pride themselves: and not without reason. +

+

+ Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck; on + the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in that very + place, is the thickest part of him. Remember, also, that the surgeon must + operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening between him and his + subject, and that subject almost hidden in a discoloured, rolling, and + oftentimes tumultuous and bursting sea. Bear in mind, too, that under + these untoward circumstances he has to cut many feet deep in the flesh; + and in that subterraneous manner, without so much as getting one single + peep into the ever-contracting gash thus made, he must skilfully steer + clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts, and exactly divide the spine at + a critical point hard by its insertion into the skull. Do you not marvel, + then, at Stubb’s boast, that he demanded but ten minutes to behead a sperm + whale? +

+

+ When first severed, the head is dropped astern and held there by a cable + till the body is stripped. That done, if it belong to a small whale it is + hoisted on deck to be deliberately disposed of. But, with a full grown + leviathan this is impossible; for the sperm whale’s head embraces nearly + one third of his entire bulk, and completely to suspend such a burden as + that, even by the immense tackles of a whaler, this were as vain a thing + as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers’ scales. +

+

+ The Pequod’s whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the head was + hoisted against the ship’s side—about half way out of the sea, so + that it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element. And + there with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it, by reason of the + enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head, and every yard-arm on + that side projecting like a crane over the waves; there, that + blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod’s waist like the giant Holofernes’s + from the girdle of Judith. +

+

+ When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went + below to their dinner. Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now + deserted deck. An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was + more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea. +

+

+ A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from + his cabin. Taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, he paused to gaze over + the side, then slowly getting into the main-chains he took Stubb’s long + spade—still remaining there after the whale’s decapitation—and + striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended mass, placed its + other end crutch-wise under one arm, and so stood leaning over with eyes + attentively fixed on this head. +

+

+ It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so + intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast + and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a + beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, + and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast + dived the deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has + moved amid this world’s foundations. Where unrecorded names and navies + rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this + frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, + in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been + where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where + sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the + locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they + sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed + false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from + the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the + insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed—while + swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a + righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou hast seen + enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one + syllable is thine!” +

+

+ “Sail ho!” cried a triumphant voice from the main-mast-head. +

+

+ “Aye? Well, now, that’s cheering,” cried Ahab, suddenly erecting himself, + while whole thunder-clouds swept aside from his brow. “That lively cry + upon this deadly calm might almost convert a better man.—Where + away?” +

+

+ “Three points on the starboard bow, sir, and bringing down her breeze to + us! +

+

+ “Better and better, man. Would now St. Paul would come along that way, and + to my breezelessness bring his breeze! O Nature, and O soul of man! how + far beyond all utterance are your linked analogies! not the smallest atom + stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam’s Story. +

+

+ Hand in hand, ship and breeze blew on; but the breeze came faster than the + ship, and soon the Pequod began to rock. +

+

+ By and by, through the glass the stranger’s boats and manned mast-heads + proved her a whale-ship. But as she was so far to windward, and shooting + by, apparently making a passage to some other ground, the Pequod could not + hope to reach her. So the signal was set to see what response would be + made. +

+

+ Here be it said, that like the vessels of military marines, the ships of + the American Whale Fleet have each a private signal; all which signals + being collected in a book with the names of the respective vessels + attached, every captain is provided with it. Thereby, the whale commanders + are enabled to recognise each other upon the ocean, even at considerable + distances and with no small facility. +

+

+ The Pequod’s signal was at last responded to by the stranger’s setting her + own; which proved the ship to be the Jeroboam of Nantucket. Squaring her + yards, she bore down, ranged abeam under the Pequod’s lee, and lowered a + boat; it soon drew nigh; but, as the side-ladder was being rigged by + Starbuck’s order to accommodate the visiting captain, the stranger in + question waved his hand from his boat’s stern in token of that proceeding + being entirely unnecessary. It turned out that the Jeroboam had a + malignant epidemic on board, and that Mayhew, her captain, was fearful of + infecting the Pequod’s company. For, though himself and boat’s crew + remained untainted, and though his ship was half a rifle-shot off, and an + incorruptible sea and air rolling and flowing between; yet conscientiously + adhering to the timid quarantine of the land, he peremptorily refused to + come into direct contact with the Pequod. +

+

+ But this did by no means prevent all communications. Preserving an + interval of some few yards between itself and the ship, the Jeroboam’s + boat by the occasional use of its oars contrived to keep parallel to the + Pequod, as she heavily forged through the sea (for by this time it blew + very fresh), with her main-topsail aback; though, indeed, at times by the + sudden onset of a large rolling wave, the boat would be pushed some way + ahead; but would be soon skilfully brought to her proper bearings again. + Subject to this, and other the like interruptions now and then, a + conversation was sustained between the two parties; but at intervals not + without still another interruption of a very different sort. +

+

+ Pulling an oar in the Jeroboam’s boat, was a man of a singular appearance, + even in that wild whaling life where individual notabilities make up all + totalities. He was a small, short, youngish man, sprinkled all over his + face with freckles, and wearing redundant yellow hair. A long-skirted, + cabalistically-cut coat of a faded walnut tinge enveloped him; the + overlapping sleeves of which were rolled up on his wrists. A deep, + settled, fanatic delirium was in his eyes. +

+

+ So soon as this figure had been first descried, Stubb had exclaimed—“That’s + he! that’s he!—the long-togged scaramouch the Town-Ho’s company told + us of!” Stubb here alluded to a strange story told of the Jeroboam, and a + certain man among her crew, some time previous when the Pequod spoke the + Town-Ho. According to this account and what was subsequently learned, it + seemed that the scaramouch in question had gained a wonderful ascendency + over almost everybody in the Jeroboam. His story was this: +

+

+ He had been originally nurtured among the crazy society of Neskyeuna + Shakers, where he had been a great prophet; in their cracked, secret + meetings having several times descended from heaven by the way of a + trap-door, announcing the speedy opening of the seventh vial, which he + carried in his vest-pocket; but, which, instead of containing gunpowder, + was supposed to be charged with laudanum. A strange, apostolic whim having + seized him, he had left Neskyeuna for Nantucket, where, with that cunning + peculiar to craziness, he assumed a steady, common-sense exterior, and + offered himself as a green-hand candidate for the Jeroboam’s whaling + voyage. They engaged him; but straightway upon the ship’s getting out of + sight of land, his insanity broke out in a freshet. He announced himself + as the archangel Gabriel, and commanded the captain to jump overboard. He + published his manifesto, whereby he set himself forth as the deliverer of + the isles of the sea and vicar-general of all Oceanica. The unflinching + earnestness with which he declared these things;—the dark, daring + play of his sleepless, excited imagination, and all the preternatural + terrors of real delirium, united to invest this Gabriel in the minds of + the majority of the ignorant crew, with an atmosphere of sacredness. + Moreover, they were afraid of him. As such a man, however, was not of much + practical use in the ship, especially as he refused to work except when he + pleased, the incredulous captain would fain have been rid of him; but + apprised that that individual’s intention was to land him in the first + convenient port, the archangel forthwith opened all his seals and vials—devoting + the ship and all hands to unconditional perdition, in case this intention + was carried out. So strongly did he work upon his disciples among the + crew, that at last in a body they went to the captain and told him if + Gabriel was sent from the ship, not a man of them would remain. He was + therefore forced to relinquish his plan. Nor would they permit Gabriel to + be any way maltreated, say or do what he would; so that it came to pass + that Gabriel had the complete freedom of the ship. The consequence of all + this was, that the archangel cared little or nothing for the captain and + mates; and since the epidemic had broken out, he carried a higher hand + than ever; declaring that the plague, as he called it, was at his sole + command; nor should it be stayed but according to his good pleasure. The + sailors, mostly poor devils, cringed, and some of them fawned before him; + in obedience to his instructions, sometimes rendering him personal homage, + as to a god. Such things may seem incredible; but, however wondrous, they + are true. Nor is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to + the measureless self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless + power of deceiving and bedevilling so many others. But it is time to + return to the Pequod. +

+

+ “I fear not thy epidemic, man,” said Ahab from the bulwarks, to Captain + Mayhew, who stood in the boat’s stern; “come on board.” +

+

+ But now Gabriel started to his feet. +

+

+ “Think, think of the fevers, yellow and bilious! Beware of the horrible + plague!” +

+

+ “Gabriel! Gabriel!” cried Captain Mayhew; “thou must either—” But + that instant a headlong wave shot the boat far ahead, and its seethings + drowned all speech. +

+

+ “Hast thou seen the White Whale?” demanded Ahab, when the boat drifted + back. +

+

+ “Think, think of thy whale-boat, stoven and sunk! Beware of the horrible + tail!” +

+

+ “I tell thee again, Gabriel, that—” But again the boat tore ahead as + if dragged by fiends. Nothing was said for some moments, while a + succession of riotous waves rolled by, which by one of those occasional + caprices of the seas were tumbling, not heaving it. Meantime, the hoisted + sperm whale’s head jogged about very violently, and Gabriel was seen + eyeing it with rather more apprehensiveness than his archangel nature + seemed to warrant. +

+

+ When this interlude was over, Captain Mayhew began a dark story concerning + Moby Dick; not, however, without frequent interruptions from Gabriel, + whenever his name was mentioned, and the crazy sea that seemed leagued + with him. +

+

+ It seemed that the Jeroboam had not long left home, when upon speaking a + whale-ship, her people were reliably apprised of the existence of Moby + Dick, and the havoc he had made. Greedily sucking in this intelligence, + Gabriel solemnly warned the captain against attacking the White Whale, in + case the monster should be seen; in his gibbering insanity, pronouncing + the White Whale to be no less a being than the Shaker God incarnated; the + Shakers receiving the Bible. But when, some year or two afterwards, Moby + Dick was fairly sighted from the mast-heads, Macey, the chief mate, burned + with ardour to encounter him; and the captain himself being not unwilling + to let him have the opportunity, despite all the archangel’s denunciations + and forewarnings, Macey succeeded in persuading five men to man his boat. + With them he pushed off; and, after much weary pulling, and many perilous, + unsuccessful onsets, he at last succeeded in getting one iron fast. + Meantime, Gabriel, ascending to the main-royal mast-head, was tossing one + arm in frantic gestures, and hurling forth prophecies of speedy doom to + the sacrilegious assailants of his divinity. Now, while Macey, the mate, + was standing up in his boat’s bow, and with all the reckless energy of his + tribe was venting his wild exclamations upon the whale, and essaying to + get a fair chance for his poised lance, lo! a broad white shadow rose from + the sea; by its quick, fanning motion, temporarily taking the breath out + of the bodies of the oarsmen. Next instant, the luckless mate, so full of + furious life, was smitten bodily into the air, and making a long arc in + his descent, fell into the sea at the distance of about fifty yards. Not a + chip of the boat was harmed, nor a hair of any oarsman’s head; but the + mate for ever sank. +

+

+ It is well to parenthesize here, that of the fatal accidents in the + Sperm-Whale Fishery, this kind is perhaps almost as frequent as any. + Sometimes, nothing is injured but the man who is thus annihilated; oftener + the boat’s bow is knocked off, or the thigh-board, in which the headsman + stands, is torn from its place and accompanies the body. But strangest of + all is the circumstance, that in more instances than one, when the body + has been recovered, not a single mark of violence is discernible; the man + being stark dead. +

+

+ The whole calamity, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried + from the ship. Raising a piercing shriek—“The vial! the vial!” + Gabriel called off the terror-stricken crew from the further hunting of + the whale. This terrible event clothed the archangel with added influence; + because his credulous disciples believed that he had specifically + fore-announced it, instead of only making a general prophecy, which any + one might have done, and so have chanced to hit one of many marks in the + wide margin allowed. He became a nameless terror to the ship. +

+

+ Mayhew having concluded his narration, Ahab put such questions to him, + that the stranger captain could not forbear inquiring whether he intended + to hunt the White Whale, if opportunity should offer. To which Ahab + answered—“Aye.” Straightway, then, Gabriel once more started to his + feet, glaring upon the old man, and vehemently exclaimed, with downward + pointed finger—“Think, think of the blasphemer—dead, and down + there!—beware of the blasphemer’s end!” +

+

+ Ahab stolidly turned aside; then said to Mayhew, “Captain, I have just + bethought me of my letter-bag; there is a letter for one of thy officers, + if I mistake not. Starbuck, look over the bag.” +

+

+ Every whale-ship takes out a goodly number of letters for various ships, + whose delivery to the persons to whom they may be addressed, depends upon + the mere chance of encountering them in the four oceans. Thus, most + letters never reach their mark; and many are only received after attaining + an age of two or three years or more. +

+

+ Soon Starbuck returned with a letter in his hand. It was sorely tumbled, + damp, and covered with a dull, spotted, green mould, in consequence of + being kept in a dark locker of the cabin. Of such a letter, Death himself + might well have been the post-boy. +

+

+ “Can’st not read it?” cried Ahab. “Give it me, man. Aye, aye, it’s but a + dim scrawl;—what’s this?” As he was studying it out, Starbuck took a + long cutting-spade pole, and with his knife slightly split the end, to + insert the letter there, and in that way, hand it to the boat, without its + coming any closer to the ship. +

+

+ Meantime, Ahab holding the letter, muttered, “Mr. Har—yes, Mr. Harry—(a + woman’s pinny hand,—the man’s wife, I’ll wager)—Aye—Mr. + Harry Macey, Ship Jeroboam;—why it’s Macey, and he’s dead!” +

+

+ “Poor fellow! poor fellow! and from his wife,” sighed Mayhew; “but let me + have it.” +

+

+ “Nay, keep it thyself,” cried Gabriel to Ahab; “thou art soon going that + way.” +

+

+ “Curses throttle thee!” yelled Ahab. “Captain Mayhew, stand by now to + receive it”; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck’s hands, he caught + it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat. But as + he did so, the oarsmen expectantly desisted from rowing; the boat drifted + a little towards the ship’s stern; so that, as if by magic, the letter + suddenly ranged along with Gabriel’s eager hand. He clutched it in an + instant, seized the boat-knife, and impaling the letter on it, sent it + thus loaded back into the ship. It fell at Ahab’s feet. Then Gabriel + shrieked out to his comrades to give way with their oars, and in that + manner the mutinous boat rapidly shot away from the Pequod. +

+

+ As, after this interlude, the seamen resumed their work upon the jacket of + the whale, many strange things were hinted in reference to this wild + affair. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope. +

+

+ In the tumultuous business of cutting-in and attending to a whale, there + is much running backwards and forwards among the crew. Now hands are + wanted here, and then again hands are wanted there. There is no staying in + any one place; for at one and the same time everything has to be done + everywhere. It is much the same with him who endeavors the description of + the scene. We must now retrace our way a little. It was mentioned that + upon first breaking ground in the whale’s back, the blubber-hook was + inserted into the original hole there cut by the spades of the mates. But + how did so clumsy and weighty a mass as that same hook get fixed in that + hole? It was inserted there by my particular friend Queequeg, whose duty + it was, as harpooneer, to descend upon the monster’s back for the special + purpose referred to. But in very many cases, circumstances require that + the harpooneer shall remain on the whale till the whole flensing or + stripping operation is concluded. The whale, be it observed, lies almost + entirely submerged, excepting the immediate parts operated upon. So down + there, some ten feet below the level of the deck, the poor harpooneer + flounders about, half on the whale and half in the water, as the vast mass + revolves like a tread-mill beneath him. On the occasion in question, + Queequeg figured in the Highland costume—a shirt and socks—in + which to my eyes, at least, he appeared to uncommon advantage; and no one + had a better chance to observe him, as will presently be seen. +

+

+ Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in + his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend + upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s + back. You have seen Italian organ-boys holding a dancing-ape by a long + cord. Just so, from the ship’s steep side, did I hold Queequeg down there + in the sea, by what is technically called in the fishery a monkey-rope, + attached to a strong strip of canvas belted round his waist. +

+

+ It was a humorously perilous business for both of us. For, before we + proceed further, it must be said that the monkey-rope was fast at both + ends; fast to Queequeg’s broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather + one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; + and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, then both usage and honor + demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down in his + wake. So, then, an elongated Siamese ligature united us. Queequeg was my + own inseparable twin brother; nor could I any way get rid of the dangerous + liabilities which the hempen bond entailed. +

+

+ So strongly and metaphysically did I conceive of my situation then, that + while earnestly watching his motions, I seemed distinctly to perceive that + my own individuality was now merged in a joint stock company of two; that + my free will had received a mortal wound; and that another’s mistake or + misfortune might plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death. + Therefore, I saw that here was a sort of interregnum in Providence; for + its even-handed equity never could have so gross an injustice. And yet + still further pondering—while I jerked him now and then from between + the whale and ship, which would threaten to jam him—still further + pondering, I say, I saw that this situation of mine was the precise + situation of every mortal that breathes; only, in most cases, he, one way + or other, has this Siamese connexion with a plurality of other mortals. If + your banker breaks, you snap; if your apothecary by mistake sends you + poison in your pills, you die. True, you may say that, by exceeding + caution, you may possibly escape these and the multitudinous other evil + chances of life. But handle Queequeg’s monkey-rope heedfully as I would, + sometimes he jerked it so, that I came very near sliding overboard. Nor + could I possibly forget that, do what I would, I only had the management + of one end of it.* +

+

+ *The monkey-rope is found in all whalers; but it was only in the Pequod + that the monkey and his holder were ever tied together. This improvement + upon the original usage was introduced by no less a man than Stubb, in + order to afford the imperilled harpooneer the strongest possible guarantee + for the faithfulness and vigilance of his monkey-rope holder. +

+

+ I have hinted that I would often jerk poor Queequeg from between the whale + and the ship—where he would occasionally fall, from the incessant + rolling and swaying of both. But this was not the only jamming jeopardy he + was exposed to. Unappalled by the massacre made upon them during the + night, the sharks now freshly and more keenly allured by the before pent + blood which began to flow from the carcass—the rabid creatures + swarmed round it like bees in a beehive. +

+

+ And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed them aside + with his floundering feet. A thing altogether incredible were it not that + attracted by such prey as a dead whale, the otherwise miscellaneously + carnivorous shark will seldom touch a man. +

+

+ Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have such a ravenous + finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise to look sharp to them. + Accordingly, besides the monkey-rope, with which I now and then jerked the + poor fellow from too close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a + peculiarly ferocious shark—he was provided with still another + protection. Suspended over the side in one of the stages, Tashtego and + Daggoo continually flourished over his head a couple of keen whale-spades, + wherewith they slaughtered as many sharks as they could reach. This + procedure of theirs, to be sure, was very disinterested and benevolent of + them. They meant Queequeg’s best happiness, I admit; but in their hasty + zeal to befriend him, and from the circumstance that both he and the + sharks were at times half hidden by the blood-muddled water, those + indiscreet spades of theirs would come nearer amputating a leg than a + tail. But poor Queequeg, I suppose, straining and gasping there with that + great iron hook—poor Queequeg, I suppose, only prayed to his Yojo, + and gave up his life into the hands of his gods. +

+

+ Well, well, my dear comrade and twin-brother, thought I, as I drew in and + then slacked off the rope to every swell of the sea—what matters it, + after all? Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in + this whaling world? That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those + sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and + spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad. +

+

+ But courage! there is good cheer in store for you, Queequeg. For now, as + with blue lips and blood-shot eyes the exhausted savage at last climbs up + the chains and stands all dripping and involuntarily trembling over the + side; the steward advances, and with a benevolent, consolatory glance + hands him—what? Some hot Cognac? No! hands him, ye gods! hands him a + cup of tepid ginger and water! +

+

+ “Ginger? Do I smell ginger?” suspiciously asked Stubb, coming near. “Yes, + this must be ginger,” peering into the as yet untasted cup. Then standing + as if incredulous for a while, he calmly walked towards the astonished + steward slowly saying, “Ginger? ginger? and will you have the goodness to + tell me, Mr. Dough-Boy, where lies the virtue of ginger? Ginger! is ginger + the sort of fuel you use, Dough-boy, to kindle a fire in this shivering + cannibal? Ginger!—what the devil is ginger? Sea-coal? firewood?—lucifer + matches?—tinder?—gunpowder?—what the devil is ginger, I + say, that you offer this cup to our poor Queequeg here.” +

+

+ “There is some sneaking Temperance Society movement about this business,” + he suddenly added, now approaching Starbuck, who had just come from + forward. “Will you look at that kannakin, sir: smell of it, if you + please.” Then watching the mate’s countenance, he added, “The steward, Mr. + Starbuck, had the face to offer that calomel and jalap to Queequeg, there, + this instant off the whale. Is the steward an apothecary, sir? and may I + ask whether this is the sort of bitters by which he blows back the life + into a half-drowned man?” +

+

+ “I trust not,” said Starbuck, “it is poor stuff enough.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, steward,” cried Stubb, “we’ll teach you to drug a harpooneer; + none of your apothecary’s medicine here; you want to poison us, do ye? You + have got out insurances on our lives and want to murder us all, and pocket + the proceeds, do ye?” +

+

+ “It was not me,” cried Dough-Boy, “it was Aunt Charity that brought the + ginger on board; and bade me never give the harpooneers any spirits, but + only this ginger-jub—so she called it.” +

+

+ “Ginger-jub! you gingerly rascal! take that! and run along with ye to the + lockers, and get something better. I hope I do no wrong, Mr. Starbuck. It + is the captain’s orders—grog for the harpooneer on a whale.” +

+

+ “Enough,” replied Starbuck, “only don’t hit him again, but—” +

+

+ “Oh, I never hurt when I hit, except when I hit a whale or something of + that sort; and this fellow’s a weazel. What were you about saying, sir?” +

+

+ “Only this: go down with him, and get what thou wantest thyself.” +

+

+ When Stubb reappeared, he came with a dark flask in one hand, and a sort + of tea-caddy in the other. The first contained strong spirits, and was + handed to Queequeg; the second was Aunt Charity’s gift, and that was + freely given to the waves. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 73. Stubb and Flask kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk over Him. +

+

+ It must be borne in mind that all this time we have a Sperm Whale’s + prodigious head hanging to the Pequod’s side. But we must let it continue + hanging there a while till we can get a chance to attend to it. For the + present other matters press, and the best we can do now for the head, is + to pray heaven the tackles may hold. +

+

+ Now, during the past night and forenoon, the Pequod had gradually drifted + into a sea, which, by its occasional patches of yellow brit, gave unusual + tokens of the vicinity of Right Whales, a species of the Leviathan that + but few supposed to be at this particular time lurking anywhere near. And + though all hands commonly disdained the capture of those inferior + creatures; and though the Pequod was not commissioned to cruise for them + at all, and though she had passed numbers of them near the Crozetts + without lowering a boat; yet now that a Sperm Whale had been brought + alongside and beheaded, to the surprise of all, the announcement was made + that a Right Whale should be captured that day, if opportunity offered. +

+

+ Nor was this long wanting. Tall spouts were seen to leeward; and two + boats, Stubb’s and Flask’s, were detached in pursuit. Pulling further and + further away, they at last became almost invisible to the men at the + mast-head. But suddenly in the distance, they saw a great heap of + tumultuous white water, and soon after news came from aloft that one or + both the boats must be fast. An interval passed and the boats were in + plain sight, in the act of being dragged right towards the ship by the + towing whale. So close did the monster come to the hull, that at first it + seemed as if he meant it malice; but suddenly going down in a maelstrom, + within three rods of the planks, he wholly disappeared from view, as if + diving under the keel. “Cut, cut!” was the cry from the ship to the boats, + which, for one instant, seemed on the point of being brought with a deadly + dash against the vessel’s side. But having plenty of line yet in the tubs, + and the whale not sounding very rapidly, they paid out abundance of rope, + and at the same time pulled with all their might so as to get ahead of the + ship. For a few minutes the struggle was intensely critical; for while + they still slacked out the tightened line in one direction, and still + plied their oars in another, the contending strain threatened to take them + under. But it was only a few feet advance they sought to gain. And they + stuck to it till they did gain it; when instantly, a swift tremor was felt + running like lightning along the keel, as the strained line, scraping + beneath the ship, suddenly rose to view under her bows, snapping and + quivering; and so flinging off its drippings, that the drops fell like + bits of broken glass on the water, while the whale beyond also rose to + sight, and once more the boats were free to fly. But the fagged whale + abated his speed, and blindly altering his course, went round the stern of + the ship towing the two boats after him, so that they performed a complete + circuit. +

+

+ Meantime, they hauled more and more upon their lines, till close flanking + him on both sides, Stubb answered Flask with lance for lance; and thus + round and round the Pequod the battle went, while the multitudes of sharks + that had before swum round the Sperm Whale’s body, rushed to the fresh + blood that was spilled, thirstily drinking at every new gash, as the eager + Israelites did at the new bursting fountains that poured from the smitten + rock. +

+

+ At last his spout grew thick, and with a frightful roll and vomit, he + turned upon his back a corpse. +

+

+ While the two headsmen were engaged in making fast cords to his flukes, + and in other ways getting the mass in readiness for towing, some + conversation ensued between them. +

+

+ “I wonder what the old man wants with this lump of foul lard,” said Stubb, + not without some disgust at the thought of having to do with so ignoble a + leviathan. +

+

+ “Wants with it?” said Flask, coiling some spare line in the boat’s bow, + “did you never hear that the ship which but once has a Sperm Whale’s head + hoisted on her starboard side, and at the same time a Right Whale’s on the + larboard; did you never hear, Stubb, that that ship can never afterwards + capsize?” +

+

+ “Why not? +

+

+ “I don’t know, but I heard that gamboge ghost of a Fedallah saying so, and + he seems to know all about ships’ charms. But I sometimes think he’ll + charm the ship to no good at last. I don’t half like that chap, Stubb. Did + you ever notice how that tusk of his is a sort of carved into a snake’s + head, Stubb?” +

+

+ “Sink him! I never look at him at all; but if ever I get a chance of a + dark night, and he standing hard by the bulwarks, and no one by; look down + there, Flask”—pointing into the sea with a peculiar motion of both + hands—“Aye, will I! Flask, I take that Fedallah to be the devil in + disguise. Do you believe that cock and bull story about his having been + stowed away on board ship? He’s the devil, I say. The reason why you don’t + see his tail, is because he tucks it up out of sight; he carries it coiled + away in his pocket, I guess. Blast him! now that I think of it, he’s + always wanting oakum to stuff into the toes of his boots.” +

+

+ “He sleeps in his boots, don’t he? He hasn’t got any hammock; but I’ve + seen him lay of nights in a coil of rigging.” +

+

+ “No doubt, and it’s because of his cursed tail; he coils it down, do ye + see, in the eye of the rigging.” +

+

+ “What’s the old man have so much to do with him for?” +

+

+ “Striking up a swap or a bargain, I suppose.” +

+

+ “Bargain?—about what?” +

+

+ “Why, do ye see, the old man is hard bent after that White Whale, and the + devil there is trying to come round him, and get him to swap away his + silver watch, or his soul, or something of that sort, and then he’ll + surrender Moby Dick.” +

+

+ “Pooh! Stubb, you are skylarking; how can Fedallah do that?” +

+

+ “I don’t know, Flask, but the devil is a curious chap, and a wicked one, I + tell ye. Why, they say as how he went a sauntering into the old flag-ship + once, switching his tail about devilish easy and gentlemanlike, and + inquiring if the old governor was at home. Well, he was at home, and asked + the devil what he wanted. The devil, switching his hoofs, up and says, ‘I + want John.’ ‘What for?’ says the old governor. ‘What business is that of + yours,’ says the devil, getting mad,—‘I want to use him.’ ‘Take + him,’ says the governor—and by the Lord, Flask, if the devil didn’t + give John the Asiatic cholera before he got through with him, I’ll eat + this whale in one mouthful. But look sharp—ain’t you all ready + there? Well, then, pull ahead, and let’s get the whale alongside.” +

+

+ “I think I remember some such story as you were telling,” said Flask, when + at last the two boats were slowly advancing with their burden towards the + ship, “but I can’t remember where.” +

+

+ “Three Spaniards? Adventures of those three bloody-minded soldadoes? Did ye + read it there, Flask? I guess ye did?” +

+

+ “No: never saw such a book; heard of it, though. But now, tell me, Stubb, + do you suppose that that devil you was speaking of just now, was the same + you say is now on board the Pequod?” +

+

+ “Am I the same man that helped kill this whale? Doesn’t the devil live for + ever; who ever heard that the devil was dead? Did you ever see any parson + a wearing mourning for the devil? And if the devil has a latch-key to get + into the admiral’s cabin, don’t you suppose he can crawl into a porthole? + Tell me that, Mr. Flask?” +

+

+ “How old do you suppose Fedallah is, Stubb?” +

+

+ “Do you see that mainmast there?” pointing to the ship; “well, that’s the + figure one; now take all the hoops in the Pequod’s hold, and string along + in a row with that mast, for oughts, do you see; well, that wouldn’t begin + to be Fedallah’s age. Nor all the coopers in creation couldn’t show hoops + enough to make oughts enough.” +

+

+ “But see here, Stubb, I thought you a little boasted just now, that you + meant to give Fedallah a sea-toss, if you got a good chance. Now, if he’s + so old as all those hoops of yours come to, and if he is going to live for + ever, what good will it do to pitch him overboard—tell me that? +

+

+ “Give him a good ducking, anyhow.” +

+

+ “But he’d crawl back.” +

+

+ “Duck him again; and keep ducking him.” +

+

+ “Suppose he should take it into his head to duck you, though—yes, + and drown you—what then?” +

+

+ “I should like to see him try it; I’d give him such a pair of black eyes + that he wouldn’t dare to show his face in the admiral’s cabin again for a + long while, let alone down in the orlop there, where he lives, and + hereabouts on the upper decks where he sneaks so much. Damn the devil, + Flask; so you suppose I’m afraid of the devil? Who’s afraid of him, except + the old governor who daresn’t catch him and put him in double-darbies, as + he deserves, but lets him go about kidnapping people; aye, and signed a + bond with him, that all the people the devil kidnapped, he’d roast for + him? There’s a governor!” +

+

+ “Do you suppose Fedallah wants to kidnap Captain Ahab?” +

+

+ “Do I suppose it? You’ll know it before long, Flask. But I am going now to + keep a sharp look-out on him; and if I see anything very suspicious going + on, I’ll just take him by the nape of his neck, and say—Look here, + Beelzebub, you don’t do it; and if he makes any fuss, by the Lord I’ll + make a grab into his pocket for his tail, take it to the capstan, and give + him such a wrenching and heaving, that his tail will come short off at the + stump—do you see; and then, I rather guess when he finds himself + docked in that queer fashion, he’ll sneak off without the poor + satisfaction of feeling his tail between his legs.” +

+

+ “And what will you do with the tail, Stubb?” +

+

+ “Do with it? Sell it for an ox whip when we get home;—what else?” +

+

+ “Now, do you mean what you say, and have been saying all along, Stubb?” +

+

+ “Mean or not mean, here we are at the ship.” +

+

+ The boats were here hailed, to tow the whale on the larboard side, where + fluke chains and other necessaries were already prepared for securing him. +

+

+ “Didn’t I tell you so?” said Flask; “yes, you’ll soon see this right + whale’s head hoisted up opposite that parmacetti’s.” +

+

+ In good time, Flask’s saying proved true. As before, the Pequod steeply + leaned over towards the sperm whale’s head, now, by the counterpoise of + both heads, she regained her even keel; though sorely strained, you may + well believe. So, when on one side you hoist in Locke’s head, you go over + that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant’s and you come back + again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming + boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then + you will float light and right. +

+

+ In disposing of the body of a right whale, when brought alongside the + ship, the same preliminary proceedings commonly take place as in the case + of a sperm whale; only, in the latter instance, the head is cut off whole, + but in the former the lips and tongue are separately removed and hoisted + on deck, with all the well known black bone attached to what is called the + crown-piece. But nothing like this, in the present case, had been done. + The carcases of both whales had dropped astern; and the head-laden ship + not a little resembled a mule carrying a pair of overburdening panniers. +

+

+ Meantime, Fedallah was calmly eyeing the right whale’s head, and ever and + anon glancing from the deep wrinkles there to the lines in his own hand. + And Ahab chanced so to stand, that the Parsee occupied his shadow; while, + if the Parsee’s shadow was there at all it seemed only to blend with, and + lengthen Ahab’s. As the crew toiled on, Laplandish speculations were + bandied among them, concerning all these passing things. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View. +

+

+ Here, now, are two great whales, laying their heads together; let us join + them, and lay together our own. +

+

+ Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right + Whale are by far the most noteworthy. They are the only whales regularly + hunted by man. To the Nantucketer, they present the two extremes of all + the known varieties of the whale. As the external difference between them + is mainly observable in their heads; and as a head of each is this moment + hanging from the Pequod’s side; and as we may freely go from one to the + other, by merely stepping across the deck:—where, I should like to + know, will you obtain a better chance to study practical cetology than + here? +

+

+ In the first place, you are struck by the general contrast between these + heads. Both are massive enough in all conscience; but there is a certain + mathematical symmetry in the Sperm Whale’s which the Right Whale’s sadly + lacks. There is more character in the Sperm Whale’s head. As you behold + it, you involuntarily yield the immense superiority to him, in point of + pervading dignity. In the present instance, too, this dignity is + heightened by the pepper and salt colour of his head at the summit, giving + token of advanced age and large experience. In short, he is what the + fishermen technically call a “grey-headed whale.” +

+

+ Let us now note what is least dissimilar in these heads—namely, the + two most important organs, the eye and the ear. Far back on the side of + the head, and low down, near the angle of either whale’s jaw, if you + narrowly search, you will at last see a lashless eye, which you would + fancy to be a young colt’s eye; so out of all proportion is it to the + magnitude of the head. +

+

+ Now, from this peculiar sideway position of the whale’s eyes, it is plain + that he can never see an object which is exactly ahead, no more than he + can one exactly astern. In a word, the position of the whale’s eyes + corresponds to that of a man’s ears; and you may fancy, for yourself, how + it would fare with you, did you sideways survey objects through your ears. + You would find that you could only command some thirty degrees of vision + in advance of the straight side-line of sight; and about thirty more + behind it. If your bitterest foe were walking straight towards you, with + dagger uplifted in broad day, you would not be able to see him, any more + than if he were stealing upon you from behind. In a word, you would have + two backs, so to speak; but, at the same time, also, two fronts (side + fronts): for what is it that makes the front of a man—what, indeed, + but his eyes? +

+

+ Moreover, while in most other animals that I can now think of, the eyes + are so planted as imperceptibly to blend their visual power, so as to + produce one picture and not two to the brain; the peculiar position of the + whale’s eyes, effectually divided as they are by many cubic feet of solid + head, which towers between them like a great mountain separating two lakes + in valleys; this, of course, must wholly separate the impressions which + each independent organ imparts. The whale, therefore, must see one + distinct picture on this side, and another distinct picture on that side; + while all between must be profound darkness and nothingness to him. Man + may, in effect, be said to look out on the world from a sentry-box with + two joined sashes for his window. But with the whale, these two sashes are + separately inserted, making two distinct windows, but sadly impairing the + view. This peculiarity of the whale’s eyes is a thing always to be borne + in mind in the fishery; and to be remembered by the reader in some + subsequent scenes. +

+

+ A curious and most puzzling question might be started concerning this + visual matter as touching the Leviathan. But I must be content with a + hint. So long as a man’s eyes are open in the light, the act of seeing is + involuntary; that is, he cannot then help mechanically seeing whatever + objects are before him. Nevertheless, any one’s experience will teach him, + that though he can take in an undiscriminating sweep of things at one + glance, it is quite impossible for him, attentively, and completely, to + examine any two things—however large or however small—at one + and the same instant of time; never mind if they lie side by side and + touch each other. But if you now come to separate these two objects, and + surround each by a circle of profound darkness; then, in order to see one + of them, in such a manner as to bring your mind to bear on it, the other + will be utterly excluded from your contemporary consciousness. How is it, + then, with the whale? True, both his eyes, in themselves, must + simultaneously act; but is his brain so much more comprehensive, + combining, and subtle than man’s, that he can at the same moment of time + attentively examine two distinct prospects, one on one side of him, and + the other in an exactly opposite direction? If he can, then is it as + marvellous a thing in him, as if a man were able simultaneously to go + through the demonstrations of two distinct problems in Euclid. Nor, + strictly investigated, is there any incongruity in this comparison. +

+

+ It may be but an idle whim, but it has always seemed to me, that the + extraordinary vacillations of movement displayed by some whales when beset + by three or four boats; the timidity and liability to queer frights, so + common to such whales; I think that all this indirectly proceeds from the + helpless perplexity of volition, in which their divided and diametrically + opposite powers of vision must involve them. +

+

+ But the ear of the whale is full as curious as the eye. If you are an + entire stranger to their race, you might hunt over these two heads for + hours, and never discover that organ. The ear has no external leaf + whatever; and into the hole itself you can hardly insert a quill, so + wondrously minute is it. It is lodged a little behind the eye. With + respect to their ears, this important difference is to be observed between + the sperm whale and the right. While the ear of the former has an external + opening, that of the latter is entirely and evenly covered over with a + membrane, so as to be quite imperceptible from without. +

+

+ Is it not curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world + through so small an eye, and hear the thunder through an ear which is + smaller than a hare’s? But if his eyes were broad as the lens of + Herschel’s great telescope; and his ears capacious as the porches of + cathedrals; would that make him any longer of sight, or sharper of + hearing? Not at all.—Why then do you try to “enlarge” your mind? + Subtilize it. +

+

+ Let us now with whatever levers and steam-engines we have at hand, cant + over the sperm whale’s head, that it may lie bottom up; then, ascending by + a ladder to the summit, have a peep down the mouth; and were it not that + the body is now completely separated from it, with a lantern we might + descend into the great Kentucky Mammoth Cave of his stomach. But let us + hold on here by this tooth, and look about us where we are. What a really + beautiful and chaste-looking mouth! from floor to ceiling, lined, or + rather papered with a glistening white membrane, glossy as bridal satins. +

+

+ But come out now, and look at this portentous lower jaw, which seems like + the long narrow lid of an immense snuff-box, with the hinge at one end, + instead of one side. If you pry it up, so as to get it overhead, and + expose its rows of teeth, it seems a terrific portcullis; and such, alas! + it proves to many a poor wight in the fishery, upon whom these spikes fall + with impaling force. But far more terrible is it to behold, when fathoms + down in the sea, you see some sulky whale, floating there suspended, with + his prodigious jaw, some fifteen feet long, hanging straight down at + right-angles with his body, for all the world like a ship’s jib-boom. This + whale is not dead; he is only dispirited; out of sorts, perhaps; + hypochondriac; and so supine, that the hinges of his jaw have relaxed, + leaving him there in that ungainly sort of plight, a reproach to all his + tribe, who must, no doubt, imprecate lock-jaws upon him. +

+

+ In most cases this lower jaw—being easily unhinged by a practised + artist—is disengaged and hoisted on deck for the purpose of + extracting the ivory teeth, and furnishing a supply of that hard white + whalebone with which the fishermen fashion all sorts of curious articles, + including canes, umbrella-stocks, and handles to riding-whips. +

+

+ With a long, weary hoist the jaw is dragged on board, as if it were an + anchor; and when the proper time comes—some few days after the other + work—Queequeg, Daggoo, and Tashtego, being all accomplished + dentists, are set to drawing teeth. With a keen cutting-spade, Queequeg + lances the gums; then the jaw is lashed down to ringbolts, and a tackle + being rigged from aloft, they drag out these teeth, as Michigan oxen drag + stumps of old oaks out of wild wood lands. There are generally forty-two + teeth in all; in old whales, much worn down, but undecayed; nor filled + after our artificial fashion. The jaw is afterwards sawn into slabs, and + piled away like joists for building houses. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale’s Head—Contrasted View. +

+

+ Crossing the deck, let us now have a good long look at the Right Whale’s + head. +

+

+ As in general shape the noble Sperm Whale’s head may be compared to a + Roman war-chariot (especially in front, where it is so broadly rounded); + so, at a broad view, the Right Whale’s head bears a rather inelegant + resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe. Two hundred years ago an old + Dutch voyager likened its shape to that of a shoemaker’s last. And in this + same last or shoe, that old woman of the nursery tale, with the swarming + brood, might very comfortably be lodged, she and all her progeny. +

+

+ But as you come nearer to this great head it begins to assume different + aspects, according to your point of view. If you stand on its summit and + look at these two F-shaped spoutholes, you would take the whole head for + an enormous bass-viol, and these spiracles, the apertures in its + sounding-board. Then, again, if you fix your eye upon this strange, + crested, comb-like incrustation on the top of the mass—this green, + barnacled thing, which the Greenlanders call the “crown,” and the Southern + fishers the “bonnet” of the Right Whale; fixing your eyes solely on this, + you would take the head for the trunk of some huge oak, with a bird’s nest + in its crotch. At any rate, when you watch those live crabs that nestle + here on this bonnet, such an idea will be almost sure to occur to you; + unless, indeed, your fancy has been fixed by the technical term “crown” + also bestowed upon it; in which case you will take great interest in + thinking how this mighty monster is actually a diademed king of the sea, + whose green crown has been put together for him in this marvellous manner. + But if this whale be a king, he is a very sulky looking fellow to grace a + diadem. Look at that hanging lower lip! what a huge sulk and pout is + there! a sulk and pout, by carpenter’s measurement, about twenty feet long + and five feet deep; a sulk and pout that will yield you some 500 gallons + of oil and more. +

+

+ A great pity, now, that this unfortunate whale should be hare-lipped. The + fissure is about a foot across. Probably the mother during an important + interval was sailing down the Peruvian coast, when earthquakes caused the + beach to gape. Over this lip, as over a slippery threshold, we now slide + into the mouth. Upon my word were I at Mackinaw, I should take this to be + the inside of an Indian wigwam. Good Lord! is this the road that Jonah + went? The roof is about twelve feet high, and runs to a pretty sharp + angle, as if there were a regular ridge-pole there; while these ribbed, + arched, hairy sides, present us with those wondrous, half vertical, + scimetar-shaped slats of whalebone, say three hundred on a side, which + depending from the upper part of the head or crown bone, form those + Venetian blinds which have elsewhere been cursorily mentioned. The edges + of these bones are fringed with hairy fibres, through which the Right + Whale strains the water, and in whose intricacies he retains the small + fish, when openmouthed he goes through the seas of brit in feeding time. + In the central blinds of bone, as they stand in their natural order, there + are certain curious marks, curves, hollows, and ridges, whereby some + whalemen calculate the creature’s age, as the age of an oak by its + circular rings. Though the certainty of this criterion is far from + demonstrable, yet it has the savor of analogical probability. At any rate, + if we yield to it, we must grant a far greater age to the Right Whale than + at first glance will seem reasonable. +

+

+ In old times, there seem to have prevailed the most curious fancies + concerning these blinds. One voyager in Purchas calls them the wondrous + “whiskers” inside of the whale’s mouth;* another, “hogs’ bristles”; a + third old gentleman in Hackluyt uses the following elegant language: + “There are about two hundred and fifty fins growing on each side of his + upper chop, which arch over his tongue on each side of his mouth.” +

+

+ *This reminds us that the Right Whale really has a sort of whisker, or + rather a moustache, consisting of a few scattered white hairs on the upper + part of the outer end of the lower jaw. Sometimes these tufts impart a + rather brigandish expression to his otherwise solemn countenance. +

+

+ As every one knows, these same “hogs’ bristles,” “fins,” “whiskers,” + “blinds,” or whatever you please, furnish to the ladies their busks and + other stiffening contrivances. But in this particular, the demand has long + been on the decline. It was in Queen Anne’s time that the bone was in its + glory, the farthingale being then all the fashion. And as those ancient + dames moved about gaily, though in the jaws of the whale, as you may say; + even so, in a shower, with the like thoughtlessness, do we nowadays fly + under the same jaws for protection; the umbrella being a tent spread over + the same bone. +

+

+ But now forget all about blinds and whiskers for a moment, and, standing + in the Right Whale’s mouth, look around you afresh. Seeing all these + colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you + were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand + pipes? For a carpet to the organ we have a rug of the softest Turkey—the + tongue, which is glued, as it were, to the floor of the mouth. It is very + fat and tender, and apt to tear in pieces in hoisting it on deck. This + particular tongue now before us; at a passing glance I should say it was a + six-barreler; that is, it will yield you about that amount of oil. +

+

+ Ere this, you must have plainly seen the truth of what I started with—that + the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale have almost entirely different heads. + To sum up, then: in the Right Whale’s there is no great well of sperm; no + ivory teeth at all; no long, slender mandible of a lower jaw, like the + Sperm Whale’s. Nor in the Sperm Whale are there any of those blinds of + bone; no huge lower lip; and scarcely anything of a tongue. Again, the + Right Whale has two external spout-holes, the Sperm Whale only one. +

+

+ Look your last, now, on these venerable hooded heads, while they yet lie + together; for one will soon sink, unrecorded, in the sea; the other will + not be very long in following. +

+

+ Can you catch the expression of the Sperm Whale’s there? It is the same he + died with, only some of the longer wrinkles in the forehead seem now faded + away. I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born + of a speculative indifference as to death. But mark the other head’s + expression. See that amazing lower lip, pressed by accident against the + vessel’s side, so as firmly to embrace the jaw. Does not this whole head + seem to speak of an enormous practical resolution in facing death? This + Right Whale I take to have been a Stoic; the Sperm Whale, a Platonian, who + might have taken up Spinoza in his latter years. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 76. The Battering-Ram. +

+

+ Ere quitting, for the nonce, the Sperm Whale’s head, I would have you, as + a sensible physiologist, simply—particularly remark its front + aspect, in all its compacted collectedness. I would have you investigate + it now with the sole view of forming to yourself some unexaggerated, + intelligent estimate of whatever battering-ram power may be lodged there. + Here is a vital point; for you must either satisfactorily settle this + matter with yourself, or for ever remain an infidel as to one of the most + appalling, but not the less true events, perhaps anywhere to be found in + all recorded history. +

+

+ You observe that in the ordinary swimming position of the Sperm Whale, the + front of his head presents an almost wholly vertical plane to the water; + you observe that the lower part of that front slopes considerably + backwards, so as to furnish more of a retreat for the long socket which + receives the boom-like lower jaw; you observe that the mouth is entirely + under the head, much in the same way, indeed, as though your own mouth + were entirely under your chin. Moreover you observe that the whale has no + external nose; and that what nose he has—his spout hole—is on + the top of his head; you observe that his eyes and ears are at the sides + of his head, nearly one third of his entire length from the front. + Wherefore, you must now have perceived that the front of the Sperm Whale’s + head is a dead, blind wall, without a single organ or tender prominence of + any sort whatsoever. Furthermore, you are now to consider that only in the + extreme, lower, backward sloping part of the front of the head, is there + the slightest vestige of bone; and not till you get near twenty feet from + the forehead do you come to the full cranial development. So that this + whole enormous boneless mass is as one wad. Finally, though, as will soon + be revealed, its contents partly comprise the most delicate oil; yet, you + are now to be apprised of the nature of the substance which so impregnably + invests all that apparent effeminacy. In some previous place I have + described to you how the blubber wraps the body of the whale, as the rind + wraps an orange. Just so with the head; but with this difference: about + the head this envelope, though not so thick, is of a boneless toughness, + inestimable by any man who has not handled it. The severest pointed + harpoon, the sharpest lance darted by the strongest human arm, impotently + rebounds from it. It is as though the forehead of the Sperm Whale were + paved with horses’ hoofs. I do not think that any sensation lurks in it. +

+

+ Bethink yourself also of another thing. When two large, loaded Indiamen + chance to crowd and crush towards each other in the docks, what do the + sailors do? They do not suspend between them, at the point of coming + contact, any merely hard substance, like iron or wood. No, they hold there + a large, round wad of tow and cork, enveloped in the thickest and toughest + of ox-hide. That bravely and uninjured takes the jam which would have + snapped all their oaken handspikes and iron crow-bars. By itself this + sufficiently illustrates the obvious fact I drive at. But supplementary to + this, it has hypothetically occurred to me, that as ordinary fish possess + what is called a swimming bladder in them, capable, at will, of distension + or contraction; and as the Sperm Whale, as far as I know, has no such + provision in him; considering, too, the otherwise inexplicable manner in + which he now depresses his head altogether beneath the surface, and anon + swims with it high elevated out of the water; considering the unobstructed + elasticity of its envelope; considering the unique interior of his head; + it has hypothetically occurred to me, I say, that those mystical + lung-celled honeycombs there may possibly have some hitherto unknown and + unsuspected connexion with the outer air, so as to be susceptible to + atmospheric distension and contraction. If this be so, fancy the + irresistibleness of that might, to which the most impalpable and + destructive of all elements contributes. +

+

+ Now, mark. Unerringly impelling this dead, impregnable, uninjurable wall, + and this most buoyant thing within; there swims behind it all a mass of + tremendous life, only to be adequately estimated as piled wood is—by + the cord; and all obedient to one volition, as the smallest insect. So + that when I shall hereafter detail to you all the specialities and + concentrations of potency everywhere lurking in this expansive monster; + when I shall show you some of his more inconsiderable braining feats; I + trust you will have renounced all ignorant incredulity, and be ready to + abide by this; that though the Sperm Whale stove a passage through the + Isthmus of Darien, and mixed the Atlantic with the Pacific, you would not + elevate one hair of your eye-brow. For unless you own the whale, you are + but a provincial and sentimentalist in Truth. But clear Truth is a thing + for salamander giants only to encounter; how small the chances for the + provincials then? What befell the weakling youth lifting the dread + goddess’s veil at Lais? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun. +

+

+ Now comes the Baling of the Case. But to comprehend it aright, you must + know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated + upon. +

+

+ Regarding the Sperm Whale’s head as a solid oblong, you may, on an + inclined plane, sideways divide it into two quoins,* whereof the lower is + the bony structure, forming the cranium and jaws, and the upper an + unctuous mass wholly free from bones; its broad forward end forming the + expanded vertical apparent forehead of the whale. At the middle of the + forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin, and then you have two + almost equal parts, which before were naturally divided by an internal + wall of a thick tendinous substance. +

+

+ *Quoin is not a Euclidean term. It belongs to the pure nautical + mathematics. I know not that it has been defined before. A quoin is a + solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the + steep inclination of one side, instead of the mutual tapering of both + sides. +

+

+ The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of + oil, formed by the crossing and recrossing, into ten thousand infiltrated + cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent. The + upper part, known as the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh + Tun of the Sperm Whale. And as that famous great tierce is mystically + carved in front, so the whale’s vast plaited forehead forms innumerable + strange devices for the emblematical adornment of his wondrous tun. + Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most + excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale + contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the + highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous + state. Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part of + the creature. Though in life it remains perfectly fluid, yet, upon + exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending + forth beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is + just forming in water. A large whale’s case generally yields about five + hundred gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, + considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise + irrevocably lost in the ticklish business of securing what you can. +

+

+ I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was + coated within, but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly + have compared with the silken pearl-coloured membrane, like the lining of + a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale’s case. +

+

+ It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale + embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since—as + has been elsewhere set forth—the head embraces one third of the + whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet + for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth + of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship’s + side. +

+

+ As in decapitating the whale, the operator’s instrument is brought close + to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti + magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, + untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its + invaluable contents. It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which + is at last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the + enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make + quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter. +

+

+ Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and—in + this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm + Whale’s great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 78. Cistern and Buckets. +

+

+ Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect + posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part + where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a + light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling + through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down + from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and + firmly held by a hand on deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, + the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit + of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the + company, to whom he vivaciously cries—he seems some Turkish Muezzin + calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A + short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for + the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he + proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, + sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this + cautious search is over, a stout iron-bound bucket, precisely like a + well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other + end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert + hands. These last now hoist the bucket within grasp of the Indian, to whom + another person has reached up a very long pole. Inserting this pole into + the bucket, Tashtego downward guides the bucket into the Tun, till it + entirely disappears; then giving the word to the seamen at the whip, up + comes the bucket again, all bubbling like a dairy-maid’s pail of new milk. + Carefully lowered from its height, the full-freighted vessel is caught by + an appointed hand, and quickly emptied into a large tub. Then remounting + aloft, it again goes through the same round until the deep cistern will + yield no more. Towards the end, Tashtego has to ram his long pole harder + and harder, and deeper and deeper into the Tun, until some twenty feet of + the pole have gone down. +

+

+ Now, the people of the Pequod had been baling some time in this way; + several tubs had been filled with the fragrant sperm; when all at once a + queer accident happened. Whether it was that Tashtego, that wild Indian, + was so heedless and reckless as to let go for a moment his one-handed hold + on the great cabled tackles suspending the head; or whether the place + where he stood was so treacherous and oozy; or whether the Evil One + himself would have it to fall out so, without stating his particular + reasons; how it was exactly, there is no telling now; but, on a sudden, as + the eightieth or ninetieth bucket came suckingly up—my God! poor + Tashtego—like the twin reciprocating bucket in a veritable well, + dropped head-foremost down into this great Tun of Heidelburgh, and with a + horrible oily gurgling, went clean out of sight! +

+

+ “Man overboard!” cried Daggoo, who amid the general consternation first + came to his senses. “Swing the bucket this way!” and putting one foot into + it, so as the better to secure his slippery hand-hold on the whip itself, + the hoisters ran him high up to the top of the head, almost before + Tashtego could have reached its interior bottom. Meantime, there was a + terrible tumult. Looking over the side, they saw the before lifeless head + throbbing and heaving just below the surface of the sea, as if that moment + seized with some momentous idea; whereas it was only the poor Indian + unconsciously revealing by those struggles the perilous depth to which he + had sunk. +

+

+ At this instant, while Daggoo, on the summit of the head, was clearing the + whip—which had somehow got foul of the great cutting tackles—a + sharp cracking noise was heard; and to the unspeakable horror of all, one + of the two enormous hooks suspending the head tore out, and with a vast + vibration the enormous mass sideways swung, till the drunk ship reeled and + shook as if smitten by an iceberg. The one remaining hook, upon which the + entire strain now depended, seemed every instant to be on the point of + giving way; an event still more likely from the violent motions of the + head. +

+

+ “Come down, come down!” yelled the seamen to Daggoo, but with one hand + holding on to the heavy tackles, so that if the head should drop, he would + still remain suspended; the negro having cleared the foul line, rammed + down the bucket into the now collapsed well, meaning that the buried + harpooneer should grasp it, and so be hoisted out. +

+

+ “In heaven’s name, man,” cried Stubb, “are you ramming home a cartridge + there?—Avast! How will that help him; jamming that iron-bound bucket + on top of his head? Avast, will ye!” +

+

+ “Stand clear of the tackle!” cried a voice like the bursting of a rocket. +

+

+ Almost in the same instant, with a thunder-boom, the enormous mass dropped + into the sea, like Niagara’s Table-Rock into the whirlpool; the suddenly + relieved hull rolled away from it, to far down her glittering copper; and + all caught their breath, as half swinging—now over the sailors’ + heads, and now over the water—Daggoo, through a thick mist of spray, + was dimly beheld clinging to the pendulous tackles, while poor, + buried-alive Tashtego was sinking utterly down to the bottom of the sea! + But hardly had the blinding vapor cleared away, when a naked figure with + a boarding-sword in his hand, was for one swift moment seen hovering over + the bulwarks. The next, a loud splash announced that my brave Queequeg had + dived to the rescue. One packed rush was made to the side, and every eye + counted every ripple, as moment followed moment, and no sign of either the + sinker or the diver could be seen. Some hands now jumped into a boat + alongside, and pushed a little off from the ship. +

+

+ “Ha! ha!” cried Daggoo, all at once, from his now quiet, swinging perch + overhead; and looking further off from the side, we saw an arm thrust + upright from the blue waves; a sight strange to see, as an arm thrust + forth from the grass over a grave. +

+

+ “Both! both!—it is both!”—cried Daggoo again with a joyful + shout; and soon after, Queequeg was seen boldly striking out with one + hand, and with the other clutching the long hair of the Indian. Drawn into + the waiting boat, they were quickly brought to the deck; but Tashtego was + long in coming to, and Queequeg did not look very brisk. +

+

+ Now, how had this noble rescue been accomplished? Why, diving after the + slowly descending head, Queequeg with his keen sword had made side lunges + near its bottom, so as to scuttle a large hole there; then dropping his + sword, had thrust his long arm far inwards and upwards, and so hauled out + poor Tash by the head. He averred, that upon first thrusting in for him, a + leg was presented; but well knowing that that was not as it ought to be, + and might occasion great trouble;—he had thrust back the leg, and by + a dexterous heave and toss, had wrought a somerset upon the Indian; so + that with the next trial, he came forth in the good old way—head + foremost. As for the great head itself, that was doing as well as could be + expected. +

+

+ And thus, through the courage and great skill in obstetrics of Queequeg, + the deliverance, or rather, delivery of Tashtego, was successfully + accomplished, in the teeth, too, of the most untoward and apparently + hopeless impediments; which is a lesson by no means to be forgotten. + Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, + riding and rowing. +

+

+ I know that this queer adventure of the Gay-Header’s will be sure to seem + incredible to some landsmen, though they themselves may have either seen + or heard of some one’s falling into a cistern ashore; an accident which + not seldom happens, and with much less reason too than the Indian’s, + considering the exceeding slipperiness of the curb of the Sperm Whale’s + well. +

+

+ But, peradventure, it may be sagaciously urged, how is this? We thought + the tissued, infiltrated head of the Sperm Whale, was the lightest and + most corky part about him; and yet thou makest it sink in an element of a + far greater specific gravity than itself. We have thee there. Not at all, + but I have ye; for at the time poor Tash fell in, the case had been nearly + emptied of its lighter contents, leaving little but the dense tendinous + wall of the well—a double welded, hammered substance, as I have + before said, much heavier than the sea water, and a lump of which sinks in + it like lead almost. But the tendency to rapid sinking in this substance + was in the present instance materially counteracted by the other parts of + the head remaining undetached from it, so that it sank very slowly and + deliberately indeed, affording Queequeg a fair chance for performing his + agile obstetrics on the run, as you may say. Yes, it was a running + delivery, so it was. +

+

+ Now, had Tashtego perished in that head, it had been a very precious + perishing; smothered in the very whitest and daintiest of fragrant + spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and tombed in the secret inner chamber and + sanctum sanctorum of the whale. Only one sweeter end can readily be + recalled—the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who seeking + honey in the crotch of a hollow tree, found such exceeding store of it, + that leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed. How + many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato’s honey head, and sweetly + perished there? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 79. The Prairie. +

+

+ To scan the lines of his face, or feel the bumps on the head of this + Leviathan; this is a thing which no Physiognomist or Phrenologist has as + yet undertaken. Such an enterprise would seem almost as hopeful as for + Lavater to have scrutinized the wrinkles on the Rock of Gibraltar, or for + Gall to have mounted a ladder and manipulated the Dome of the Pantheon. + Still, in that famous work of his, Lavater not only treats of the various + faces of men, but also attentively studies the faces of horses, birds, + serpents, and fish; and dwells in detail upon the modifications of + expression discernible therein. Nor have Gall and his disciple Spurzheim + failed to throw out some hints touching the phrenological characteristics + of other beings than man. Therefore, though I am but ill qualified for a + pioneer, in the application of these two semi-sciences to the whale, I + will do my endeavor. I try all things; I achieve what I can. +

+

+ Physiognomically regarded, the Sperm Whale is an anomalous creature. He + has no proper nose. And since the nose is the central and most conspicuous + of the features; and since it perhaps most modifies and finally controls + their combined expression; hence it would seem that its entire absence, as + an external appendage, must very largely affect the countenance of the + whale. For as in landscape gardening, a spire, cupola, monument, or tower + of some sort, is deemed almost indispensable to the completion of the + scene; so no face can be physiognomically in keeping without the elevated + open-work belfry of the nose. Dash the nose from Phidias’s marble Jove, + and what a sorry remainder! Nevertheless, Leviathan is of so mighty a + magnitude, all his proportions are so stately, that the same deficiency + which in the sculptured Jove were hideous, in him is no blemish at all. + Nay, it is an added grandeur. A nose to the whale would have been + impertinent. As on your physiognomical voyage you sail round his vast head + in your jolly-boat, your noble conceptions of him are never insulted by + the reflection that he has a nose to be pulled. A pestilent conceit, which + so often will insist upon obtruding even when beholding the mightiest + royal beadle on his throne. +

+

+ In some particulars, perhaps the most imposing physiognomical view to be + had of the Sperm Whale, is that of the full front of his head. This aspect + is sublime. +

+

+ In thought, a fine human brow is like the East when troubled with the + morning. In the repose of the pasture, the curled brow of the bull has a + touch of the grand in it. Pushing heavy cannon up mountain defiles, the + elephant’s brow is majestic. Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that + great golden seal affixed by the German emperors to their decrees. It + signifies—“God: done this day by my hand.” But in most creatures, + nay in man himself, very often the brow is but a mere strip of alpine land + lying along the snow line. Few are the foreheads which like Shakespeare’s + or Melancthon’s rise so high, and descend so low, that the eyes themselves + seem clear, eternal, tideless mountain lakes; and all above them in the + forehead’s wrinkles, you seem to track the antlered thoughts descending + there to drink, as the Highland hunters track the snow prints of the deer. + But in the great Sperm Whale, this high and mighty god-like dignity + inherent in the brow is so immensely amplified, that gazing on it, in that + full front view, you feel the Deity and the dread powers more forcibly + than in beholding any other object in living nature. For you see no one + point precisely; not one distinct feature is revealed; no nose, eyes, + ears, or mouth; no face; he has none, proper; nothing but that one broad + firmament of a forehead, pleated with riddles; dumbly lowering with the + doom of boats, and ships, and men. Nor, in profile, does this wondrous + brow diminish; though that way viewed its grandeur does not domineer upon + you so. In profile, you plainly perceive that horizontal, semi-crescentic + depression in the forehead’s middle, which, in man, is Lavater’s mark of + genius. +

+

+ But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale? Has the Sperm Whale ever written a + book, spoken a speech? No, his great genius is declared in his doing + nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical + silence. And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to + the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian + thoughts. They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is + tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so + exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. If hereafter any + highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the + merry May-day gods of old; and livingly enthrone them again in the now + egotistical sky; in the now unhaunted hill; then be sure, exalted to + Jove’s high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it. +

+

+ Champollion deciphered the wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. But there is no + Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man’s and every being’s face. + Physiognomy, like every other human science, is but a passing fable. If + then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the + simplest peasant’s face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how + may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale’s + brow? I but put that brow before you. Read it if you can. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 80. The Nut. +

+

+ If the Sperm Whale be physiognomically a Sphinx, to the phrenologist his + brain seems that geometrical circle which it is impossible to square. +

+

+ In the full-grown creature the skull will measure at least twenty feet in + length. Unhinge the lower jaw, and the side view of this skull is as the + side of a moderately inclined plane resting throughout on a level base. + But in life—as we have elsewhere seen—this inclined plane is + angularly filled up, and almost squared by the enormous superincumbent + mass of the junk and sperm. At the high end the skull forms a crater to + bed that part of the mass; while under the long floor of this crater—in + another cavity seldom exceeding ten inches in length and as many in depth—reposes + the mere handful of this monster’s brain. The brain is at least twenty + feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast + outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications + of Quebec. So like a choice casket is it secreted in him, that I have + known some whalemen who peremptorily deny that the Sperm Whale has any + other brain than that palpable semblance of one formed by the cubic-yards + of his sperm magazine. Lying in strange folds, courses, and convolutions, + to their apprehensions, it seems more in keeping with the idea of his + general might to regard that mystic part of him as the seat of his + intelligence. +

+

+ It is plain, then, that phrenologically the head of this Leviathan, in the + creature’s living intact state, is an entire delusion. As for his true + brain, you can then see no indications of it, nor feel any. The whale, + like all things that are mighty, wears a false brow to the common world. +

+

+ If you unload his skull of its spermy heaps and then take a rear view of + its rear end, which is the high end, you will be struck by its resemblance + to the human skull, beheld in the same situation, and from the same point + of view. Indeed, place this reversed skull (scaled down to the human + magnitude) among a plate of men’s skulls, and you would involuntarily + confound it with them; and remarking the depressions on one part of its + summit, in phrenological phrase you would say—This man had no + self-esteem, and no veneration. And by those negations, considered along + with the affirmative fact of his prodigious bulk and power, you can best + form to yourself the truest, though not the most exhilarating conception + of what the most exalted potency is. +

+

+ But if from the comparative dimensions of the whale’s proper brain, you + deem it incapable of being adequately charted, then I have another idea + for you. If you attentively regard almost any quadruped’s spine, you will + be struck with the resemblance of its vertebræ to a strung necklace of + dwarfed skulls, all bearing rudimental resemblance to the skull proper. It + is a German conceit, that the vertebræ are absolutely undeveloped skulls. + But the curious external resemblance, I take it the Germans were not the + first men to perceive. A foreign friend once pointed it out to me, in the + skeleton of a foe he had slain, and with the vertebræ of which he was + inlaying, in a sort of basso-relievo, the beaked prow of his canoe. Now, I + consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not + pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal. + For I believe that much of a man’s character will be found betokened in + his backbone. I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you + are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I + rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I + fling half out to the world. +

+

+ Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale. His cranial + cavity is continuous with the first neck-vertebra; and in that vertebra + the bottom of the spinal canal will measure ten inches across, being eight + in height, and of a triangular figure with the base downwards. As it + passes through the remaining vertebræ the canal tapers in size, but for a + considerable distance remains of large capacity. Now, of course, this + canal is filled with much the same strangely fibrous substance—the + spinal cord—as the brain; and directly communicates with the brain. + And what is still more, for many feet after emerging from the brain’s + cavity, the spinal cord remains of an undecreasing girth, almost equal to + that of the brain. Under all these circumstances, would it be unreasonable + to survey and map out the whale’s spine phrenologically? For, viewed in + this light, the wonderful comparative smallness of his brain proper is + more than compensated by the wonderful comparative magnitude of his spinal + cord. +

+

+ But leaving this hint to operate as it may with the phrenologists, I would + merely assume the spinal theory for a moment, in reference to the Sperm + Whale’s hump. This august hump, if I mistake not, rises over one of the + larger vertebræ, and is, therefore, in some sort, the outer convex mould + of it. From its relative situation then, I should call this high hump the + organ of firmness or indomitableness in the Sperm Whale. And that the + great monster is indomitable, you will yet have reason to know. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin. +

+

+ The predestinated day arrived, and we duly met the ship Jungfrau, Derick + De Deer, master, of Bremen. +

+

+ At one time the greatest whaling people in the world, the Dutch and + Germans are now among the least; but here and there at very wide intervals + of latitude and longitude, you still occasionally meet with their flag in + the Pacific. +

+

+ For some reason, the Jungfrau seemed quite eager to pay her respects. + While yet some distance from the Pequod, she rounded to, and dropping a + boat, her captain was impelled towards us, impatiently standing in the + bows instead of the stern. +

+

+ “What has he in his hand there?” cried Starbuck, pointing to something + wavingly held by the German. “Impossible!—a lamp-feeder!” +

+

+ “Not that,” said Stubb, “no, no, it’s a coffee-pot, Mr. Starbuck; he’s + coming off to make us our coffee, is the Yarman; don’t you see that big + tin can there alongside of him?—that’s his boiling water. Oh! he’s + all right, is the Yarman.” +

+

+ “Go along with you,” cried Flask, “it’s a lamp-feeder and an oil-can. He’s + out of oil, and has come a-begging.” +

+

+ However curious it may seem for an oil-ship to be borrowing oil on the + whale-ground, and however much it may invertedly contradict the old + proverb about carrying coals to Newcastle, yet sometimes such a thing + really happens; and in the present case Captain Derick De Deer did + indubitably conduct a lamp-feeder as Flask did declare. +

+

+ As he mounted the deck, Ahab abruptly accosted him, without at all heeding + what he had in his hand; but in his broken lingo, the German soon evinced + his complete ignorance of the White Whale; immediately turning the + conversation to his lamp-feeder and oil can, with some remarks touching + his having to turn into his hammock at night in profound darkness—his + last drop of Bremen oil being gone, and not a single flying-fish yet + captured to supply the deficiency; concluding by hinting that his ship was + indeed what in the Fishery is technically called a clean one (that is, an + empty one), well deserving the name of Jungfrau or the Virgin. +

+

+ His necessities supplied, Derick departed; but he had not gained his + ship’s side, when whales were almost simultaneously raised from the + mast-heads of both vessels; and so eager for the chase was Derick, that + without pausing to put his oil-can and lamp-feeder aboard, he slewed round + his boat and made after the leviathan lamp-feeders. +

+

+ Now, the game having risen to leeward, he and the other three German boats + that soon followed him, had considerably the start of the Pequod’s keels. + There were eight whales, an average pod. Aware of their danger, they were + going all abreast with great speed straight before the wind, rubbing their + flanks as closely as so many spans of horses in harness. They left a + great, wide wake, as though continually unrolling a great wide parchment + upon the sea. +

+

+ Full in this rapid wake, and many fathoms in the rear, swam a huge, humped + old bull, which by his comparatively slow progress, as well as by the + unusual yellowish incrustations overgrowing him, seemed afflicted with the + jaundice, or some other infirmity. Whether this whale belonged to the pod + in advance, seemed questionable; for it is not customary for such + venerable leviathans to be at all social. Nevertheless, he stuck to their + wake, though indeed their back water must have retarded him, because the + white-bone or swell at his broad muzzle was a dashed one, like the swell + formed when two hostile currents meet. His spout was short, slow, and + laborious; coming forth with a choking sort of gush, and spending itself + in torn shreds, followed by strange subterranean commotions in him, which + seemed to have egress at his other buried extremity, causing the waters + behind him to upbubble. +

+

+ “Who’s got some paregoric?” said Stubb, “he has the stomach-ache, I’m + afraid. Lord, think of having half an acre of stomach-ache! Adverse winds + are holding mad Christmas in him, boys. It’s the first foul wind I ever + knew to blow from astern; but look, did ever whale yaw so before? it must + be, he’s lost his tiller.” +

+

+ As an overladen Indiaman bearing down the Hindostan coast with a deck load + of frightened horses, careens, buries, rolls, and wallows on her way; so + did this old whale heave his aged bulk, and now and then partly turning + over on his cumbrous rib-ends, expose the cause of his devious wake in the + unnatural stump of his starboard fin. Whether he had lost that fin in + battle, or had been born without it, it were hard to say. +

+

+ “Only wait a bit, old chap, and I’ll give ye a sling for that wounded + arm,” cried cruel Flask, pointing to the whale-line near him. +

+

+ “Mind he don’t sling thee with it,” cried Starbuck. “Give way, or the + German will have him.” +

+

+ With one intent all the combined rival boats were pointed for this one + fish, because not only was he the largest, and therefore the most valuable + whale, but he was nearest to them, and the other whales were going with + such great velocity, moreover, as almost to defy pursuit for the time. At + this juncture the Pequod’s keels had shot by the three German boats last + lowered; but from the great start he had had, Derick’s boat still led the + chase, though every moment neared by his foreign rivals. The only thing + they feared, was, that from being already so nigh to his mark, he would be + enabled to dart his iron before they could completely overtake and pass + him. As for Derick, he seemed quite confident that this would be the case, + and occasionally with a deriding gesture shook his lamp-feeder at the + other boats. +

+

+ “The ungracious and ungrateful dog!” cried Starbuck; “he mocks and dares + me with the very poor-box I filled for him not five minutes ago!”—then + in his old intense whisper—“Give way, greyhounds! Dog to it!” +

+

+ “I tell ye what it is, men”—cried Stubb to his crew—“it’s + against my religion to get mad; but I’d like to eat that villainous Yarman—Pull—won’t + ye? Are ye going to let that rascal beat ye? Do ye love brandy? A hogshead + of brandy, then, to the best man. Come, why don’t some of ye burst a + blood-vessel? Who’s that been dropping an anchor overboard—we don’t + budge an inch—we’re becalmed. Halloo, here’s grass growing in the + boat’s bottom—and by the Lord, the mast there’s budding. This won’t + do, boys. Look at that Yarman! The short and long of it is, men, will ye + spit fire or not?” +

+

+ “Oh! see the suds he makes!” cried Flask, dancing up and down—“What + a hump—Oh, do pile on the beef—lays like a log! Oh! my lads, + do spring—slap-jacks and quahogs for supper, you know, my lads—baked + clams and muffins—oh, do, do, spring,—he’s a hundred barreller—don’t + lose him now—don’t oh, don’t!—see that Yarman—Oh, won’t + ye pull for your duff, my lads—such a sog! such a sogger! Don’t ye + love sperm? There goes three thousand dollars, men!—a bank!—a + whole bank! The bank of England!—Oh, do, do, do!—What’s that + Yarman about now?” +

+

+ At this moment Derick was in the act of pitching his lamp-feeder at the + advancing boats, and also his oil-can; perhaps with the double view of + retarding his rivals’ way, and at the same time economically accelerating + his own by the momentary impetus of the backward toss. +

+

+ “The unmannerly Dutch dogger!” cried Stubb. “Pull now, men, like fifty + thousand line-of-battle-ship loads of red-haired devils. What d’ye say, + Tashtego; are you the man to snap your spine in two-and-twenty pieces for + the honor of old Gayhead? What d’ye say?” +

+

+ “I say, pull like god-dam,”—cried the Indian. +

+

+ Fiercely, but evenly incited by the taunts of the German, the Pequod’s + three boats now began ranging almost abreast; and, so disposed, + momentarily neared him. In that fine, loose, chivalrous attitude of the + headsman when drawing near to his prey, the three mates stood up proudly, + occasionally backing the after oarsman with an exhilarating cry of, “There + she slides, now! Hurrah for the white-ash breeze! Down with the Yarman! + Sail over him!” +

+

+ But so decided an original start had Derick had, that spite of all their + gallantry, he would have proved the victor in this race, had not a + righteous judgment descended upon him in a crab which caught the blade of + his midship oarsman. While this clumsy lubber was striving to free his + white-ash, and while, in consequence, Derick’s boat was nigh to capsizing, + and he thundering away at his men in a mighty rage;—that was a good + time for Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask. With a shout, they took a mortal + start forwards, and slantingly ranged up on the German’s quarter. An + instant more, and all four boats were diagonically in the whale’s + immediate wake, while stretching from them, on both sides, was the foaming + swell that he made. +

+

+ It was a terrific, most pitiable, and maddening sight. The whale was now + going head out, and sending his spout before him in a continual tormented + jet; while his one poor fin beat his side in an agony of fright. Now to + this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering flight, and still at + every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank in the sea, or sideways + rolled towards the sky his one beating fin. So have I seen a bird with + clipped wing making affrighted broken circles in the air, vainly striving + to escape the piratical hawks. But the bird has a voice, and with + plaintive cries will make known her fear; but the fear of this vast dumb + brute of the sea, was chained up and enchanted in him; he had no voice, + save that choking respiration through his spiracle, and this made the + sight of him unspeakably pitiable; while still, in his amazing bulk, + portcullis jaw, and omnipotent tail, there was enough to appal the + stoutest man who so pitied. +

+

+ Seeing now that but a very few moments more would give the Pequod’s boats + the advantage, and rather than be thus foiled of his game, Derick chose to + hazard what to him must have seemed a most unusually long dart, ere the + last chance would for ever escape. +

+

+ But no sooner did his harpooneer stand up for the stroke, than all three + tigers—Queequeg, Tashtego, Daggoo—instinctively sprang to + their feet, and standing in a diagonal row, simultaneously pointed their + barbs; and darted over the head of the German harpooneer, their three + Nantucket irons entered the whale. Blinding vapors of foam and + white-fire! The three boats, in the first fury of the whale’s headlong + rush, bumped the German’s aside with such force, that both Derick and his + baffled harpooneer were spilled out, and sailed over by the three flying + keels. +

+

+ “Don’t be afraid, my butter-boxes,” cried Stubb, casting a passing glance + upon them as he shot by; “ye’ll be picked up presently—all right—I + saw some sharks astern—St. Bernard’s dogs, you know—relieve + distressed travellers. Hurrah! this is the way to sail now. Every keel a + sunbeam! Hurrah!—Here we go like three tin kettles at the tail of a + mad cougar! This puts me in mind of fastening to an elephant in a tilbury + on a plain—makes the wheel-spokes fly, boys, when you fasten to him + that way; and there’s danger of being pitched out too, when you strike a + hill. Hurrah! this is the way a fellow feels when he’s going to Davy Jones—all + a rush down an endless inclined plane! Hurrah! this whale carries the + everlasting mail!” +

+

+ But the monster’s run was a brief one. Giving a sudden gasp, he + tumultuously sounded. With a grating rush, the three lines flew round the + loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them; while so + fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding would soon exhaust + the lines, that using all their dexterous might, they caught repeated + smoking turns with the rope to hold on; till at last—owing to the + perpendicular strain from the lead-lined chocks of the boats, whence the + three ropes went straight down into the blue—the gunwales of the + bows were almost even with the water, while the three sterns tilted high + in the air. And the whale soon ceasing to sound, for some time they + remained in that attitude, fearful of expending more line, though the + position was a little ticklish. But though boats have been taken down and + lost in this way, yet it is this “holding on,” as it is called; this + hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live flesh from the back; this it is + that often torments the Leviathan into soon rising again to meet the sharp + lance of his foes. Yet not to speak of the peril of the thing, it is to be + doubted whether this course is always the best; for it is but reasonable + to presume, that the longer the stricken whale stays under water, the more + he is exhausted. Because, owing to the enormous surface of him—in a + full grown sperm whale something less than 2000 square feet—the + pressure of the water is immense. We all know what an astonishing + atmospheric weight we ourselves stand up under; even here, above-ground, + in the air; how vast, then, the burden of a whale, bearing on his back a + column of two hundred fathoms of ocean! It must at least equal the weight + of fifty atmospheres. One whaleman has estimated it at the weight of + twenty line-of-battle ships, with all their guns, and stores, and men on + board. +

+

+ As the three boats lay there on that gently rolling sea, gazing down into + its eternal blue noon; and as not a single groan or cry of any sort, nay, + not so much as a ripple or a bubble came up from its depths; what landsman + would have thought, that beneath all that silence and placidity, the + utmost monster of the seas was writhing and wrenching in agony! Not eight + inches of perpendicular rope were visible at the bows. Seems it credible + that by three such thin threads the great Leviathan was suspended like the + big weight to an eight day clock. Suspended? and to what? To three bits of + board. Is this the creature of whom it was once so triumphantly said—“Canst + thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears? The + sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold, the spear, the dart, nor the + habergeon: he esteemeth iron as straw; the arrow cannot make him flee; + darts are counted as stubble; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear!” This + the creature? this he? Oh! that unfulfilments should follow the prophets. + For with the strength of a thousand thighs in his tail, Leviathan had run + his head under the mountains of the sea, to hide him from the Pequod’s + fish-spears! +

+

+ In that sloping afternoon sunlight, the shadows that the three boats sent + down beneath the surface, must have been long enough and broad enough to + shade half Xerxes’ army. Who can tell how appalling to the wounded whale + must have been such huge phantoms flitting over his head! +

+

+ “Stand by, men; he stirs,” cried Starbuck, as the three lines suddenly + vibrated in the water, distinctly conducting upwards to them, as by + magnetic wires, the life and death throbs of the whale, so that every + oarsman felt them in his seat. The next moment, relieved in great part + from the downward strain at the bows, the boats gave a sudden bounce + upwards, as a small icefield will, when a dense herd of white bears are + scared from it into the sea. +

+

+ “Haul in! Haul in!” cried Starbuck again; “he’s rising.” +

+

+ The lines, of which, hardly an instant before, not one hand’s breadth + could have been gained, were now in long quick coils flung back all + dripping into the boats, and soon the whale broke water within two ship’s + lengths of the hunters. +

+

+ His motions plainly denoted his extreme exhaustion. In most land animals + there are certain valves or flood-gates in many of their veins, whereby + when wounded, the blood is in some degree at least instantly shut off in + certain directions. Not so with the whale; one of whose peculiarities it + is to have an entire non-valvular structure of the blood-vessels, so that + when pierced even by so small a point as a harpoon, a deadly drain is at + once begun upon his whole arterial system; and when this is heightened by + the extraordinary pressure of water at a great distance below the surface, + his life may be said to pour from him in incessant streams. Yet so vast is + the quantity of blood in him, and so distant and numerous its interior + fountains, that he will keep thus bleeding and bleeding for a considerable + period; even as in a drought a river will flow, whose source is in the + well-springs of far-off and undiscernible hills. Even now, when the boats + pulled upon this whale, and perilously drew over his swaying flukes, and + the lances were darted into him, they were followed by steady jets from + the new made wound, which kept continually playing, while the natural + spout-hole in his head was only at intervals, however rapid, sending its + affrighted moisture into the air. From this last vent no blood yet came, + because no vital part of him had thus far been struck. His life, as they + significantly call it, was untouched. +

+

+ As the boats now more closely surrounded him, the whole upper part of his + form, with much of it that is ordinarily submerged, was plainly revealed. + His eyes, or rather the places where his eyes had been, were beheld. As + strange misgrown masses gather in the knot-holes of the noblest oaks when + prostrate, so from the points which the whale’s eyes had once occupied, + now protruded blind bulbs, horribly pitiable to see. But pity there was + none. For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must + die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other + merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that + preach unconditional inoffensiveness by all to all. Still rolling in his + blood, at last he partially disclosed a strangely discoloured bunch or + protuberance, the size of a bushel, low down on the flank. +

+

+ “A nice spot,” cried Flask; “just let me prick him there once.” +

+

+ “Avast!” cried Starbuck, “there’s no need of that!” +

+

+ But humane Starbuck was too late. At the instant of the dart an ulcerous + jet shot from this cruel wound, and goaded by it into more than sufferable + anguish, the whale now spouting thick blood, with swift fury blindly + darted at the craft, bespattering them and their glorying crews all over + with showers of gore, capsizing Flask’s boat and marring the bows. It was + his death stroke. For, by this time, so spent was he by loss of blood, + that he helplessly rolled away from the wreck he had made; lay panting on + his side, impotently flapped with his stumped fin, then over and over + slowly revolved like a waning world; turned up the white secrets of his + belly; lay like a log, and died. It was most piteous, that last expiring + spout. As when by unseen hands the water is gradually drawn off from some + mighty fountain, and with half-stifled melancholy gurglings the + spray-column lowers and lowers to the ground—so the last long dying + spout of the whale. +

+

+ Soon, while the crews were awaiting the arrival of the ship, the body + showed symptoms of sinking with all its treasures unrifled. Immediately, + by Starbuck’s orders, lines were secured to it at different points, so + that ere long every boat was a buoy; the sunken whale being suspended a + few inches beneath them by the cords. By very heedful management, when the + ship drew nigh, the whale was transferred to her side, and was strongly + secured there by the stiffest fluke-chains, for it was plain that unless + artificially upheld, the body would at once sink to the bottom. +

+

+ It so chanced that almost upon first cutting into him with the spade, the + entire length of a corroded harpoon was found imbedded in his flesh, on + the lower part of the bunch before described. But as the stumps of + harpoons are frequently found in the dead bodies of captured whales, with + the flesh perfectly healed around them, and no prominence of any kind to + denote their place; therefore, there must needs have been some other + unknown reason in the present case fully to account for the ulceration + alluded to. But still more curious was the fact of a lance-head of stone + being found in him, not far from the buried iron, the flesh perfectly firm + about it. Who had darted that stone lance? And when? It might have been + darted by some Nor’ West Indian long before America was discovered. +

+

+ What other marvels might have been rummaged out of this monstrous cabinet + there is no telling. But a sudden stop was put to further discoveries, by + the ship’s being unprecedentedly dragged over sideways to the sea, owing + to the body’s immensely increasing tendency to sink. However, Starbuck, + who had the ordering of affairs, hung on to it to the last; hung on to it + so resolutely, indeed, that when at length the ship would have been + capsized, if still persisting in locking arms with the body; then, when + the command was given to break clear from it, such was the immovable + strain upon the timber-heads to which the fluke-chains and cables were + fastened, that it was impossible to cast them off. Meantime everything in + the Pequod was aslant. To cross to the other side of the deck was like + walking up the steep gabled roof of a house. The ship groaned and gasped. + Many of the ivory inlayings of her bulwarks and cabins were started from + their places, by the unnatural dislocation. In vain handspikes and crows + were brought to bear upon the immovable fluke-chains, to pry them adrift + from the timberheads; and so low had the whale now settled that the + submerged ends could not be at all approached, while every moment whole + tons of ponderosity seemed added to the sinking bulk, and the ship seemed + on the point of going over. +

+

+ “Hold on, hold on, won’t ye?” cried Stubb to the body, “don’t be in such a + devil of a hurry to sink! By thunder, men, we must do something or go for + it. No use prying there; avast, I say with your handspikes, and run one of + ye for a prayer book and a pen-knife, and cut the big chains.” +

+

+ “Knife? Aye, aye,” cried Queequeg, and seizing the carpenter’s heavy + hatchet, he leaned out of a porthole, and steel to iron, began slashing at + the largest fluke-chains. But a few strokes, full of sparks, were given, + when the exceeding strain effected the rest. With a terrific snap, every + fastening went adrift; the ship righted, the carcase sank. +

+

+ Now, this occasional inevitable sinking of the recently killed Sperm Whale + is a very curious thing; nor has any fisherman yet adequately accounted + for it. Usually the dead Sperm Whale floats with great buoyancy, with its + side or belly considerably elevated above the surface. If the only whales + that thus sank were old, meagre, and broken-hearted creatures, their pads + of lard diminished and all their bones heavy and rheumatic; then you might + with some reason assert that this sinking is caused by an uncommon + specific gravity in the fish so sinking, consequent upon this absence of + buoyant matter in him. But it is not so. For young whales, in the highest + health, and swelling with noble aspirations, prematurely cut off in the + warm flush and May of life, with all their panting lard about them; even + these brawny, buoyant heroes do sometimes sink. +

+

+ Be it said, however, that the Sperm Whale is far less liable to this + accident than any other species. Where one of that sort go down, twenty + Right Whales do. This difference in the species is no doubt imputable in + no small degree to the greater quantity of bone in the Right Whale; his + Venetian blinds alone sometimes weighing more than a ton; from this + incumbrance the Sperm Whale is wholly free. But there are instances where, + after the lapse of many hours or several days, the sunken whale again + rises, more buoyant than in life. But the reason of this is obvious. Gases + are generated in him; he swells to a prodigious magnitude; becomes a sort + of animal balloon. A line-of-battle ship could hardly keep him under then. + In the Shore Whaling, on soundings, among the Bays of New Zealand, when a + Right Whale gives token of sinking, they fasten buoys to him, with plenty + of rope; so that when the body has gone down, they know where to look for + it when it shall have ascended again. +

+

+ It was not long after the sinking of the body that a cry was heard from + the Pequod’s mast-heads, announcing that the Jungfrau was again lowering + her boats; though the only spout in sight was that of a Fin-Back, + belonging to the species of uncapturable whales, because of its incredible + power of swimming. Nevertheless, the Fin-Back’s spout is so similar to the + Sperm Whale’s, that by unskilful fishermen it is often mistaken for it. + And consequently Derick and all his host were now in valiant chase of this + unnearable brute. The Virgin crowding all sail, made after her four young + keels, and thus they all disappeared far to leeward, still in bold, + hopeful chase. +

+

+ Oh! many are the Fin-Backs, and many are the Dericks, my friend. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 82. The Honor and Glory of Whaling. +

+

+ There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true + method. +

+

+ The more I dive into this matter of whaling, and push my researches up to + the very spring-head of it so much the more am I impressed with its great + honorableness and antiquity; and especially when I find so many great + demi-gods and heroes, prophets of all sorts, who one way or other have + shed distinction upon it, I am transported with the reflection that I + myself belong, though but subordinately, to so emblazoned a fraternity. +

+

+ The gallant Perseus, a son of Jupiter, was the first whaleman; and to the + eternal honor of our calling be it said, that the first whale attacked by + our brotherhood was not killed with any sordid intent. Those were the + knightly days of our profession, when we only bore arms to succor the + distressed, and not to fill men’s lamp-feeders. Every one knows the fine + story of Perseus and Andromeda; how the lovely Andromeda, the daughter of + a king, was tied to a rock on the sea-coast, and as Leviathan was in the + very act of carrying her off, Perseus, the prince of whalemen, intrepidly + advancing, harpooned the monster, and delivered and married the maid. It + was an admirable artistic exploit, rarely achieved by the best harpooneers + of the present day; inasmuch as this Leviathan was slain at the very first + dart. And let no man doubt this Arkite story; for in the ancient Joppa, + now Jaffa, on the Syrian coast, in one of the Pagan temples, there stood + for many ages the vast skeleton of a whale, which the city’s legends and + all the inhabitants asserted to be the identical bones of the monster that + Perseus slew. When the Romans took Joppa, the same skeleton was carried to + Italy in triumph. What seems most singular and suggestively important in + this story, is this: it was from Joppa that Jonah set sail. +

+

+ Akin to the adventure of Perseus and Andromeda—indeed, by some + supposed to be indirectly derived from it—is that famous story of + St. George and the Dragon; which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; + for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled + together, and often stand for each other. “Thou art as a lion of the + waters, and as a dragon of the sea,” saith Ezekiel; hereby, plainly + meaning a whale; in truth, some versions of the Bible use that word + itself. Besides, it would much subtract from the glory of the exploit had + St. George but encountered a crawling reptile of the land, instead of + doing battle with the great monster of the deep. Any man may kill a snake, + but only a Perseus, a St. George, a Coffin, have the heart in them to + march boldly up to a whale. +

+

+ Let not the modern paintings of this scene mislead us; for though the + creature encountered by that valiant whaleman of old is vaguely + represented of a griffin-like shape, and though the battle is depicted on + land and the saint on horseback, yet considering the great ignorance of + those times, when the true form of the whale was unknown to artists; and + considering that as in Perseus’ case, St. George’s whale might have + crawled up out of the sea on the beach; and considering that the animal + ridden by St. George might have been only a large seal, or sea-horse; + bearing all this in mind, it will not appear altogether incompatible with + the sacred legend and the ancientest draughts of the scene, to hold this + so-called dragon no other than the great Leviathan himself. In fact, + placed before the strict and piercing truth, this whole story will fare + like that fish, flesh, and fowl idol of the Philistines, Dagon by name; + who being planted before the ark of Israel, his horse’s head and both the + palms of his hands fell off from him, and only the stump or fishy part of + him remained. Thus, then, one of our own noble stamp, even a whaleman, is + the tutelary guardian of England; and by good rights, we harpooneers of + Nantucket should be enrolled in the most noble order of St. George. And + therefore, let not the knights of that honorable company (none of whom, I + venture to say, have ever had to do with a whale like their great patron), + let them never eye a Nantucketer with disdain, since even in our woollen + frocks and tarred trowsers we are much better entitled to St. George’s + decoration than they. +

+

+ Whether to admit Hercules among us or not, concerning this I long remained + dubious: for though according to the Greek mythologies, that antique + Crockett and Kit Carson—that brawny doer of rejoicing good deeds, + was swallowed down and thrown up by a whale; still, whether that strictly + makes a whaleman of him, that might be mooted. It nowhere appears that he + ever actually harpooned his fish, unless, indeed, from the inside. + Nevertheless, he may be deemed a sort of involuntary whaleman; at any rate + the whale caught him, if he did not the whale. I claim him for one of our + clan. +

+

+ But, by the best contradictory authorities, this Grecian story of Hercules + and the whale is considered to be derived from the still more ancient + Hebrew story of Jonah and the whale; and vice versâ; certainly they are + very similar. If I claim the demi-god then, why not the prophet? +

+

+ Nor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole + roll of our order. Our grand master is still to be named; for like royal + kings of old times, we find the head waters of our fraternity in nothing + short of the great gods themselves. That wondrous oriental story is now to + be rehearsed from the Shaster, which gives us the dread Vishnoo, one of + the three persons in the godhead of the Hindoos; gives us this divine + Vishnoo himself for our Lord;—Vishnoo, who, by the first of his ten + earthly incarnations, has for ever set apart and sanctified the whale. + When Brahma, or the God of Gods, saith the Shaster, resolved to recreate + the world after one of its periodical dissolutions, he gave birth to + Vishnoo, to preside over the work; but the Vedas, or mystical books, whose + perusal would seem to have been indispensable to Vishnoo before beginning + the creation, and which therefore must have contained something in the + shape of practical hints to young architects, these Vedas were lying at + the bottom of the waters; so Vishnoo became incarnate in a whale, and + sounding down in him to the uttermost depths, rescued the sacred volumes. + Was not this Vishnoo a whaleman, then? even as a man who rides a horse is + called a horseman? +

+

+ Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a member-roll + for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like that? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded. +

+

+ Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in the + preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather distrust this historical + story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were some sceptical Greeks + and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, + equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and the + dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those + traditions one whit the less facts, for all that. +

+

+ One old Sag-Harbor whaleman’s chief reason for questioning the Hebrew + story was this:—He had one of those quaint old-fashioned Bibles, + embellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which represented + Jonah’s whale with two spouts in his head—a peculiarity only true + with respect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale, and the + varieties of that order), concerning which the fishermen have this saying, + “A penny roll would choke him”; his swallow is so very small. But, to + this, Bishop Jebb’s anticipative answer is ready. It is not necessary, + hints the Bishop, that we consider Jonah as tombed in the whale’s belly, + but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And this seems + reasonable enough in the good Bishop. For truly, the Right Whale’s mouth + would accommodate a couple of whist-tables, and comfortably seat all the + players. Possibly, too, Jonah might have ensconced himself in a hollow + tooth; but, on second thoughts, the Right Whale is toothless. +

+

+ Another reason which Sag-Harbor (he went by that name) urged for his want + of faith in this matter of the prophet, was something obscurely in + reference to his incarcerated body and the whale’s gastric juices. But + this objection likewise falls to the ground, because a German exegetist + supposes that Jonah must have taken refuge in the floating body of a dead + whale—even as the French soldiers in the Russian campaign turned + their dead horses into tents, and crawled into them. Besides, it has been + divined by other continental commentators, that when Jonah was thrown + overboard from the Joppa ship, he straightway effected his escape to + another vessel near by, some vessel with a whale for a figure-head; and, I + would add, possibly called “The Whale,” as some craft are nowadays + christened the “Shark,” the “Gull,” the “Eagle.” Nor have there been + wanting learned exegetists who have opined that the whale mentioned in the + book of Jonah merely meant a life-preserver—an inflated bag of wind—which + the endangered prophet swam to, and so was saved from a watery doom. Poor + Sag-Harbor, therefore, seems worsted all round. But he had still another + reason for his want of faith. It was this, if I remember right: Jonah was + swallowed by the whale in the Mediterranean Sea, and after three days he + was vomited up somewhere within three days’ journey of Nineveh, a city on + the Tigris, very much more than three days’ journey across from the + nearest point of the Mediterranean coast. How is that? +

+

+ But was there no other way for the whale to land the prophet within that + short distance of Nineveh? Yes. He might have carried him round by the way + of the Cape of Good Hope. But not to speak of the passage through the + whole length of the Mediterranean, and another passage up the Persian Gulf + and Red Sea, such a supposition would involve the complete + circumnavigation of all Africa in three days, not to speak of the Tigris + waters, near the site of Nineveh, being too shallow for any whale to swim + in. Besides, this idea of Jonah’s weathering the Cape of Good Hope at so + early a day would wrest the honor of the discovery of that great headland + from Bartholomew Diaz, its reputed discoverer, and so make modern history + a liar. +

+

+ But all these foolish arguments of old Sag-Harbor only evinced his foolish + pride of reason—a thing still more reprehensible in him, seeing that + he had but little learning except what he had picked up from the sun and + the sea. I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride, and abominable, + devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy. For by a Portuguese + Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah’s going to Nineveh via the Cape + of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification of the general + miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day, the highly enlightened Turks + devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah. And some three + centuries ago, an English traveller in old Harris’s Voyages, speaks of a + Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah, in which Mosque was a miraculous + lamp that burnt without any oil. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling. +

+

+ To make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages are anointed; + and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform an analogous operation + upon their boat; they grease the bottom. Nor is it to be doubted that as + such a procedure can do no harm, it may possibly be of no contemptible + advantage; considering that oil and water are hostile; that oil is a + sliding thing, and that the object in view is to make the boat slide + bravely. Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat, and one morning + not long after the German ship Jungfrau disappeared, took more than + customary pains in that occupation; crawling under its bottom, where it + hung over the side, and rubbing in the unctuousness as though diligently + seeking to insure a crop of hair from the craft’s bald keel. He seemed to + be working in obedience to some particular presentiment. Nor did it remain + unwarranted by the event. +

+

+ Towards noon whales were raised; but so soon as the ship sailed down to + them, they turned and fled with swift precipitancy; a disordered flight, + as of Cleopatra’s barges from Actium. +

+

+ Nevertheless, the boats pursued, and Stubb’s was foremost. By great + exertion, Tashtego at last succeeded in planting one iron; but the + stricken whale, without at all sounding, still continued his horizontal + flight, with added fleetness. Such unintermitted strainings upon the + planted iron must sooner or later inevitably extract it. It became + imperative to lance the flying whale, or be content to lose him. But to + haul the boat up to his flank was impossible, he swam so fast and furious. + What then remained? +

+

+ Of all the wondrous devices and dexterities, the sleights of hand and + countless subtleties, to which the veteran whaleman is so often forced, + none exceed that fine manÅ“uvre with the lance called pitchpoling. Small + sword, or broad sword, in all its exercises boasts nothing like it. It is + only indispensable with an inveterate running whale; its grand fact and + feature is the wonderful distance to which the long lance is accurately + darted from a violently rocking, jerking boat, under extreme headway. + Steel and wood included, the entire spear is some ten or twelve feet in + length; the staff is much slighter than that of the harpoon, and also of a + lighter material—pine. It is furnished with a small rope called a + warp, of considerable length, by which it can be hauled back to the hand + after darting. +

+

+ But before going further, it is important to mention here, that though the + harpoon may be pitchpoled in the same way with the lance, yet it is seldom + done; and when done, is still less frequently successful, on account of + the greater weight and inferior length of the harpoon as compared with the + lance, which in effect become serious drawbacks. As a general thing, + therefore, you must first get fast to a whale, before any pitchpoling + comes into play. +

+

+ Look now at Stubb; a man who from his humorous, deliberate coolness and + equanimity in the direst emergencies, was specially qualified to excel in + pitchpoling. Look at him; he stands upright in the tossed bow of the + flying boat; wrapt in fleecy foam, the towing whale is forty feet ahead. + Handling the long lance lightly, glancing twice or thrice along its length + to see if it be exactly straight, Stubb whistlingly gathers up the coil of + the warp in one hand, so as to secure its free end in his grasp, leaving + the rest unobstructed. Then holding the lance full before his waistband’s + middle, he levels it at the whale; when, covering him with it, he steadily + depresses the butt-end in his hand, thereby elevating the point till the + weapon stands fairly balanced upon his palm, fifteen feet in the air. He + minds you somewhat of a juggler, balancing a long staff on his chin. Next + moment with a rapid, nameless impulse, in a superb lofty arch the bright + steel spans the foaming distance, and quivers in the life spot of the + whale. Instead of sparkling water, he now spouts red blood. +

+

+ “That drove the spigot out of him!” cried Stubb. “’Tis July’s immortal + Fourth; all fountains must run wine today! Would now, it were old Orleans + whiskey, or old Ohio, or unspeakable old Monongahela! Then, Tashtego, lad, + I’d have ye hold a canakin to the jet, and we’d drink round it! Yea, + verily, hearts alive, we’d brew choice punch in the spread of his + spout-hole there, and from that live punch-bowl quaff the living stuff.” +

+

+ Again and again to such gamesome talk, the dexterous dart is repeated, the + spear returning to its master like a greyhound held in skilful leash. The + agonized whale goes into his flurry; the tow-line is slackened, and the + pitchpoler dropping astern, folds his hands, and mutely watches the + monster die. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 85. The Fountain. +

+

+ That for six thousand years—and no one knows how many millions of + ages before—the great whales should have been spouting all over the + sea, and sprinkling and mistifying the gardens of the deep, as with so + many sprinkling or mistifying pots; and that for some centuries back, + thousands of hunters should have been close by the fountain of the whale, + watching these sprinklings and spoutings—that all this should be, + and yet, that down to this blessed minute (fifteen and a quarter minutes + past one o’clock P.M. of this sixteenth day of December, A.D. 1851), it + should still remain a problem, whether these spoutings are, after all, + really water, or nothing but vapor—this is surely a noteworthy + thing. +

+

+ Let us, then, look at this matter, along with some interesting items + contingent. Every one knows that by the peculiar cunning of their gills, + the finny tribes in general breathe the air which at all times is combined + with the element in which they swim; hence, a herring or a cod might live + a century, and never once raise its head above the surface. But owing to + his marked internal structure which gives him regular lungs, like a human + being’s, the whale can only live by inhaling the disengaged air in the + open atmosphere. Wherefore the necessity for his periodical visits to the + upper world. But he cannot in any degree breathe through his mouth, for, + in his ordinary attitude, the Sperm Whale’s mouth is buried at least eight + feet beneath the surface; and what is still more, his windpipe has no + connexion with his mouth. No, he breathes through his spiracle alone; and + this is on the top of his head. +

+

+ If I say, that in any creature breathing is only a function indispensable + to vitality, inasmuch as it withdraws from the air a certain element, + which being subsequently brought into contact with the blood imparts to + the blood its vivifying principle, I do not think I shall err; though I + may possibly use some superfluous scientific words. Assume it, and it + follows that if all the blood in a man could be aerated with one breath, + he might then seal up his nostrils and not fetch another for a + considerable time. That is to say, he would then live without breathing. + Anomalous as it may seem, this is precisely the case with the whale, who + systematically lives, by intervals, his full hour and more (when at the + bottom) without drawing a single breath, or so much as in any way inhaling + a particle of air; for, remember, he has no gills. How is this? Between + his ribs and on each side of his spine he is supplied with a remarkable + involved Cretan labyrinth of vermicelli-like vessels, which vessels, when + he quits the surface, are completely distended with oxygenated blood. So + that for an hour or more, a thousand fathoms in the sea, he carries a + surplus stock of vitality in him, just as the camel crossing the waterless + desert carries a surplus supply of drink for future use in its four + supplementary stomachs. The anatomical fact of this labyrinth is + indisputable; and that the supposition founded upon it is reasonable and + true, seems the more cogent to me, when I consider the otherwise + inexplicable obstinacy of that leviathan in having his spoutings out, as + the fishermen phrase it. This is what I mean. If unmolested, upon rising + to the surface, the Sperm Whale will continue there for a period of time + exactly uniform with all his other unmolested risings. Say he stays eleven + minutes, and jets seventy times, that is, respires seventy breaths; then + whenever he rises again, he will be sure to have his seventy breaths over + again, to a minute. Now, if after he fetches a few breaths you alarm him, + so that he sounds, he will be always dodging up again to make good his + regular allowance of air. And not till those seventy breaths are told, + will he finally go down to stay out his full term below. Remark, however, + that in different individuals these rates are different; but in any one + they are alike. Now, why should the whale thus insist upon having his + spoutings out, unless it be to replenish his reservoir of air, ere + descending for good? How obvious is it, too, that this necessity for the + whale’s rising exposes him to all the fatal hazards of the chase. For not + by hook or by net could this vast leviathan be caught, when sailing a + thousand fathoms beneath the sunlight. Not so much thy skill, then, O + hunter, as the great necessities that strike the victory to thee! +

+

+ In man, breathing is incessantly going on—one breath only serving + for two or three pulsations; so that whatever other business he has to + attend to, waking or sleeping, breathe he must, or die he will. But the + Sperm Whale only breathes about one seventh or Sunday of his time. +

+

+ It has been said that the whale only breathes through his spout-hole; if + it could truthfully be added that his spouts are mixed with water, then I + opine we should be furnished with the reason why his sense of smell seems + obliterated in him; for the only thing about him that at all answers to + his nose is that identical spout-hole; and being so clogged with two + elements, it could not be expected to have the power of smelling. But + owing to the mystery of the spout—whether it be water or whether it + be vapor—no absolute certainty can as yet be arrived at on this + head. Sure it is, nevertheless, that the Sperm Whale has no proper + olfactories. But what does he want of them? No roses, no violets, no + Cologne-water in the sea. +

+

+ Furthermore, as his windpipe solely opens into the tube of his spouting + canal, and as that long canal—like the grand Erie Canal—is + furnished with a sort of locks (that open and shut) for the downward + retention of air or the upward exclusion of water, therefore the whale has + no voice; unless you insult him by saying, that when he so strangely + rumbles, he talks through his nose. But then again, what has the whale to + say? Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to + this world, unless forced to stammer out something by way of getting a + living. Oh! happy that the world is such an excellent listener! +

+

+ Now, the spouting canal of the Sperm Whale, chiefly intended as it is for + the conveyance of air, and for several feet laid along, horizontally, just + beneath the upper surface of his head, and a little to one side; this + curious canal is very much like a gas-pipe laid down in a city on one side + of a street. But the question returns whether this gas-pipe is also a + water-pipe; in other words, whether the spout of the Sperm Whale is the + mere vapor of the exhaled breath, or whether that exhaled breath is mixed + with water taken in at the mouth, and discharged through the spiracle. It + is certain that the mouth indirectly communicates with the spouting canal; + but it cannot be proved that this is for the purpose of discharging water + through the spiracle. Because the greatest necessity for so doing would + seem to be, when in feeding he accidentally takes in water. But the Sperm + Whale’s food is far beneath the surface, and there he cannot spout even if + he would. Besides, if you regard him very closely, and time him with your + watch, you will find that when unmolested, there is an undeviating rhyme + between the periods of his jets and the ordinary periods of respiration. +

+

+ But why pester one with all this reasoning on the subject? Speak out! You + have seen him spout; then declare what the spout is; can you not tell + water from air? My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle + these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of + all. And as for this whale spout, you might almost stand in it, and yet be + undecided as to what it is precisely. +

+

+ The central body of it is hidden in the snowy sparkling mist enveloping + it; and how can you certainly tell whether any water falls from it, when, + always, when you are close enough to a whale to get a close view of his + spout, he is in a prodigious commotion, the water cascading all around + him. And if at such times you should think that you really perceived drops + of moisture in the spout, how do you know that they are not merely + condensed from its vapor; or how do you know that they are not those + identical drops superficially lodged in the spout-hole fissure, which is + countersunk into the summit of the whale’s head? For even when tranquilly + swimming through the mid-day sea in a calm, with his elevated hump + sun-dried as a dromedary’s in the desert; even then, the whale always + carries a small basin of water on his head, as under a blazing sun you + will sometimes see a cavity in a rock filled up with rain. +

+

+ Nor is it at all prudent for the hunter to be over curious touching the + precise nature of the whale spout. It will not do for him to be peering + into it, and putting his face in it. You cannot go with your pitcher to + this fountain and fill it, and bring it away. For even when coming into + slight contact with the outer, vapory shreds of the jet, which will often + happen, your skin will feverishly smart, from the acridness of the thing + so touching it. And I know one, who coming into still closer contact with + the spout, whether with some scientific object in view, or otherwise, I + cannot say, the skin peeled off from his cheek and arm. Wherefore, among + whalemen, the spout is deemed poisonous; they try to evade it. Another + thing; I have heard it said, and I do not much doubt it, that if the jet + is fairly spouted into your eyes, it will blind you. The wisest thing the + investigator can do then, it seems to me, is to let this deadly spout + alone. +

+

+ Still, we can hypothesize, even if we cannot prove and establish. My + hypothesis is this: that the spout is nothing but mist. And besides other + reasons, to this conclusion I am impelled, by considerations touching the + great inherent dignity and sublimity of the Sperm Whale; I account him no + common, shallow being, inasmuch as it is an undisputed fact that he is + never found on soundings, or near shores; all other whales sometimes are. + He is both ponderous and profound. And I am convinced that from the heads + of all ponderous profound beings, such as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, + Jupiter, Dante, and so on, there always goes up a certain semi-visible + steam, while in the act of thinking deep thoughts. While composing a + little treatise on Eternity, I had the curiosity to place a mirror before + me; and ere long saw reflected there, a curious involved worming and + undulation in the atmosphere over my head. The invariable moisture of my + hair, while plunged in deep thought, after six cups of hot tea in my thin + shingled attic, of an August noon; this seems an additional argument for + the above supposition. +

+

+ And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to + behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; his vast, mild + head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable + contemplations, and that vapor—as you will sometimes see it—glorified + by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts. For, + d’ye see, rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapor. + And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine + intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And + for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or + denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things + earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes + neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with + equal eye. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 86. The Tail. +

+

+ Other poets have warbled the praises of the soft eye of the antelope, and + the lovely plumage of the bird that never alights; less celestial, I + celebrate a tail. +

+

+ Reckoning the largest sized Sperm Whale’s tail to begin at that point of + the trunk where it tapers to about the girth of a man, it comprises upon + its upper surface alone, an area of at least fifty square feet. The + compact round body of its root expands into two broad, firm, flat palms or + flukes, gradually shoaling away to less than an inch in thickness. At the + crotch or junction, these flukes slightly overlap, then sideways recede + from each other like wings, leaving a wide vacancy between. In no living + thing are the lines of beauty more exquisitely defined than in the + crescentic borders of these flukes. At its utmost expansion in the full + grown whale, the tail will considerably exceed twenty feet across. +

+

+ The entire member seems a dense webbed bed of welded sinews; but cut into + it, and you find that three distinct strata compose it:—upper, + middle, and lower. The fibres in the upper and lower layers, are long and + horizontal; those of the middle one, very short, and running crosswise + between the outside layers. This triune structure, as much as anything + else, imparts power to the tail. To the student of old Roman walls, the + middle layer will furnish a curious parallel to the thin course of tiles + always alternating with the stone in those wonderful relics of the + antique, and which undoubtedly contribute so much to the great strength of + the masonry. +

+

+ But as if this vast local power in the tendinous tail were not enough, the + whole bulk of the leviathan is knit over with a warp and woof of muscular + fibres and filaments, which passing on either side the loins and running + down into the flukes, insensibly blend with them, and largely contribute + to their might; so that in the tail the confluent measureless force of the + whole whale seems concentrated to a point. Could annihilation occur to + matter, this were the thing to do it. +

+

+ Nor does this—its amazing strength, at all tend to cripple the + graceful flexion of its motions; where infantileness of ease undulates + through a Titanism of power. On the contrary, those motions derive their + most appalling beauty from it. Real strength never impairs beauty or + harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, + strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied tendons that + all over seem bursting from the marble in the carved Hercules, and its + charm would be gone. As devout Eckerman lifted the linen sheet from the + naked corpse of Goethe, he was overwhelmed with the massive chest of the + man, that seemed as a Roman triumphal arch. When Angelo paints even God + the Father in human form, mark what robustness is there. And whatever they + may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, curled, + hermaphroditical Italian pictures, in which his idea has been most + successfully embodied; these pictures, so destitute as they are of all + brawniness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere negative, feminine one + of submission and endurance, which on all hands it is conceded, form the + peculiar practical virtues of his teachings. +

+

+ Such is the subtle elasticity of the organ I treat of, that whether + wielded in sport, or in earnest, or in anger, whatever be the mood it be + in, its flexions are invariably marked by exceeding grace. Therein no + fairy’s arm can transcend it. +

+

+ Five great motions are peculiar to it. First, when used as a fin for + progression; Second, when used as a mace in battle; Third, in sweeping; + Fourth, in lobtailing; Fifth, in peaking flukes. +

+

+ First: Being horizontal in its position, the Leviathan’s tail acts in a + different manner from the tails of all other sea creatures. It never + wriggles. In man or fish, wriggling is a sign of inferiority. To the + whale, his tail is the sole means of propulsion. Scroll-wise coiled + forwards beneath the body, and then rapidly sprung backwards, it is this + which gives that singular darting, leaping motion to the monster when + furiously swimming. His side-fins only serve to steer by. +

+

+ Second: It is a little significant, that while one sperm whale only fights + another sperm whale with his head and jaw, nevertheless, in his conflicts + with man, he chiefly and contemptuously uses his tail. In striking at a + boat, he swiftly curves away his flukes from it, and the blow is only + inflicted by the recoil. If it be made in the unobstructed air, especially + if it descend to its mark, the stroke is then simply irresistible. No ribs + of man or boat can withstand it. Your only salvation lies in eluding it; + but if it comes sideways through the opposing water, then partly owing to + the light buoyancy of the whale-boat, and the elasticity of its materials, + a cracked rib or a dashed plank or two, a sort of stitch in the side, is + generally the most serious result. These submerged side blows are so often + received in the fishery, that they are accounted mere child’s play. Some + one strips off a frock, and the hole is stopped. +

+

+ Third: I cannot demonstrate it, but it seems to me, that in the whale the + sense of touch is concentrated in the tail; for in this respect there is a + delicacy in it only equalled by the daintiness of the elephant’s trunk. + This delicacy is chiefly evinced in the action of sweeping, when in + maidenly gentleness the whale with a certain soft slowness moves his + immense flukes from side to side upon the surface of the sea; and if he + feel but a sailor’s whisker, woe to that sailor, whiskers and all. What + tenderness there is in that preliminary touch! Had this tail any + prehensile power, I should straightway bethink me of Darmonodes’ elephant + that so frequented the flower-market, and with low salutations presented + nosegays to damsels, and then caressed their zones. On more accounts than + one, a pity it is that the whale does not possess this prehensile virtue + in his tail; for I have heard of yet another elephant, that when wounded + in the fight, curved round his trunk and extracted the dart. +

+

+ Fourth: Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the + middle of solitary seas, you find him unbent from the vast corpulence of + his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a + hearth. But still you see his power in his play. The broad palms of his + tail are flirted high into the air; then smiting the surface, the + thunderous concussion resounds for miles. You would almost think a great + gun had been discharged; and if you noticed the light wreath of vapor + from the spiracle at his other extremity, you would think that that was + the smoke from the touch-hole. +

+

+ Fifth: As in the ordinary floating posture of the leviathan the flukes lie + considerably below the level of his back, they are then completely out of + sight beneath the surface; but when he is about to plunge into the deeps, + his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are tossed erect + in the air, and so remain vibrating a moment, till they downwards shoot + out of view. Excepting the sublime breach—somewhere else to be + described—this peaking of the whale’s flukes is perhaps the grandest + sight to be seen in all animated nature. Out of the bottomless + profundities the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the + highest heaven. So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting forth + his tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. But in gazing + at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; if in the Dantean, + the devils will occur to you; if in that of Isaiah, the archangels. + Standing at the mast-head of my ship during a sunrise that crimsoned sky + and sea, I once saw a large herd of whales in the east, all heading + towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with peaked flukes. + As it seemed to me at the time, such a grand embodiment of adoration of + the gods was never beheld, even in Persia, the home of the fire + worshippers. As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the African elephant, I + then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most devout of all + beings. For according to King Juba, the military elephants of antiquity + often hailed the morning with their trunks uplifted in the profoundest + silence. +

+

+ The chance comparison in this chapter, between the whale and the elephant, + so far as some aspects of the tail of the one and the trunk of the other + are concerned, should not tend to place those two opposite organs on an + equality, much less the creatures to which they respectively belong. For + as the mightiest elephant is but a terrier to Leviathan, so, compared with + Leviathan’s tail, his trunk is but the stalk of a lily. The most direful + blow from the elephant’s trunk were as the playful tap of a fan, compared + with the measureless crush and crash of the sperm whale’s ponderous + flukes, which in repeated instances have one after the other hurled entire + boats with all their oars and crews into the air, very much as an Indian + juggler tosses his balls.* +

+

+ *Though all comparison in the way of general bulk between the whale and + the elephant is preposterous, inasmuch as in that particular the elephant + stands in much the same respect to the whale that a dog does to the + elephant; nevertheless, there are not wanting some points of curious + similitude; among these is the spout. It is well known that the elephant + will often draw up water or dust in his trunk, and then elevating it, jet + it forth in a stream. +

+

+ The more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my inability + to express it. At times there are gestures in it, which, though they would + well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable. In an extensive + herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are these mystic gestures, that I have + heard hunters who have declared them akin to Free-Mason signs and symbols; + that the whale, indeed, by these methods intelligently conversed with the + world. Nor are there wanting other motions of the whale in his general + body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced + assailant. Dissect him how I may, then, I but go skin deep; I know him + not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale, how + understand his head? much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has + none? Thou shalt see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face + shall not be seen. But I cannot completely make out his back parts; and + hint what he will about his face, I say again he has no face. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada. +

+

+ The long and narrow peninsula of Malacca, extending south-eastward from + the territories of Birmah, forms the most southerly point of all Asia. In + a continuous line from that peninsula stretch the long islands of Sumatra, + Java, Bally, and Timor; which, with many others, form a vast mole, or + rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and dividing the long + unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded oriental archipelagoes. + This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports for the convenience of + ships and whales; conspicuous among which are the straits of Sunda and + Malacca. By the straits of Sunda, chiefly, vessels bound to China from the + west, emerge into the China seas. +

+

+ Those narrow straits of Sunda divide Sumatra from Java; and standing + midway in that vast rampart of islands, buttressed by that bold green + promontory, known to seamen as Java Head; they not a little correspond to + the central gateway opening into some vast walled empire: and considering + the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels, and gold, and + ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental sea are enriched, + it seems a significant provision of nature, that such treasures, by the + very formation of the land, should at least bear the appearance, however + ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping western world. The + shores of the Straits of Sunda are unsupplied with those domineering + fortresses which guard the entrances to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and + the Propontis. Unlike the Danes, these Orientals do not demand the + obsequious homage of lowered top-sails from the endless procession of + ships before the wind, which for centuries past, by night and by day, have + passed between the islands of Sumatra and Java, freighted with the + costliest cargoes of the east. But while they freely waive a ceremonial + like this, they do by no means renounce their claim to more solid tribute. +

+

+ Time out of mind the piratical proas of the Malays, lurking among the low + shaded coves and islets of Sumatra, have sallied out upon the vessels + sailing through the straits, fiercely demanding tribute at the point of + their spears. Though by the repeated bloody chastisements they have + received at the hands of European cruisers, the audacity of these corsairs + has of late been somewhat repressed; yet, even at the present day, we + occasionally hear of English and American vessels, which, in those waters, + have been remorselessly boarded and pillaged. +

+

+ With a fair, fresh wind, the Pequod was now drawing nigh to these straits; + Ahab purposing to pass through them into the Javan sea, and thence, + cruising northwards, over waters known to be frequented here and there by + the Sperm Whale, sweep inshore by the Philippine Islands, and gain the far + coast of Japan, in time for the great whaling season there. By these + means, the circumnavigating Pequod would sweep almost all the known Sperm + Whale cruising grounds of the world, previous to descending upon the Line + in the Pacific; where Ahab, though everywhere else foiled in his pursuit, + firmly counted upon giving battle to Moby Dick, in the sea he was most + known to frequent; and at a season when he might most reasonably be + presumed to be haunting it. +

+

+ But how now? in this zoned quest, does Ahab touch no land? does his crew + drink air? Surely, he will stop for water. Nay. For a long time, now, the + circus-running sun has raced within his fiery ring, and needs no + sustenance but what’s in himself. So Ahab. Mark this, too, in the whaler. + While other hulls are loaded down with alien stuff, to be transferred to + foreign wharves; the world-wandering whale-ship carries no cargo but + herself and crew, their weapons and their wants. She has a whole lake’s + contents bottled in her ample hold. She is ballasted with utilities; not + altogether with unusable pig-lead and kentledge. She carries years’ water + in her. Clear old prime Nantucket water; which, when three years afloat, + the Nantucketer, in the Pacific, prefers to drink before the brackish + fluid, but yesterday rafted off in casks, from the Peruvian or Indian + streams. Hence it is, that, while other ships may have gone to China from + New York, and back again, touching at a score of ports, the whale-ship, in + all that interval, may not have sighted one grain of soil; her crew having + seen no man but floating seamen like themselves. So that did you carry + them the news that another flood had come; they would only answer—“Well, + boys, here’s the ark!” +

+

+ Now, as many Sperm Whales had been captured off the western coast of Java, + in the near vicinity of the Straits of Sunda; indeed, as most of the + ground, roundabout, was generally recognised by the fishermen as an + excellent spot for cruising; therefore, as the Pequod gained more and more + upon Java Head, the look-outs were repeatedly hailed, and admonished to + keep wide awake. But though the green palmy cliffs of the land soon loomed + on the starboard bow, and with delighted nostrils the fresh cinnamon was + snuffed in the air, yet not a single jet was descried. Almost renouncing + all thought of falling in with any game hereabouts, the ship had well nigh + entered the straits, when the customary cheering cry was heard from aloft, + and ere long a spectacle of singular magnificence saluted us. +

+

+ But here be it premised, that owing to the unwearied activity with which + of late they have been hunted over all four oceans, the Sperm Whales, + instead of almost invariably sailing in small detached companies, as in + former times, are now frequently met with in extensive herds, sometimes + embracing so great a multitude, that it would almost seem as if numerous + nations of them had sworn solemn league and covenant for mutual assistance + and protection. To this aggregation of the Sperm Whale into such immense + caravans, may be imputed the circumstance that even in the best cruising + grounds, you may now sometimes sail for weeks and months together, without + being greeted by a single spout; and then be suddenly saluted by what + sometimes seems thousands on thousands. +

+

+ Broad on both bows, at the distance of some two or three miles, and + forming a great semicircle, embracing one half of the level horizon, a + continuous chain of whale-jets were up-playing and sparkling in the + noon-day air. Unlike the straight perpendicular twin-jets of the Right + Whale, which, dividing at top, fall over in two branches, like the cleft + drooping boughs of a willow, the single forward-slanting spout of the + Sperm Whale presents a thick curled bush of white mist, continually rising + and falling away to leeward. +

+

+ Seen from the Pequod’s deck, then, as she would rise on a high hill of the + sea, this host of vapory spouts, individually curling up into the air, + and beheld through a blending atmosphere of bluish haze, showed like the + thousand cheerful chimneys of some dense metropolis, descried of a balmy + autumnal morning, by some horseman on a height. +

+

+ As marching armies approaching an unfriendly defile in the mountains, + accelerate their march, all eagerness to place that perilous passage in + their rear, and once more expand in comparative security upon the plain; + even so did this vast fleet of whales now seem hurrying forward through + the straits; gradually contracting the wings of their semicircle, and + swimming on, in one solid, but still crescentic centre. +

+

+ Crowding all sail the Pequod pressed after them; the harpooneers handling + their weapons, and loudly cheering from the heads of their yet suspended + boats. If the wind only held, little doubt had they, that chased through + these Straits of Sunda, the vast host would only deploy into the Oriental + seas to witness the capture of not a few of their number. And who could + tell whether, in that congregated caravan, Moby Dick himself might not + temporarily be swimming, like the worshipped white-elephant in the + coronation procession of the Siamese! So with stun-sail piled on + stun-sail, we sailed along, driving these leviathans before us; when, of a + sudden, the voice of Tashtego was heard, loudly directing attention to + something in our wake. +

+

+ Corresponding to the crescent in our van, we beheld another in our rear. + It seemed formed of detached white vapors, rising and falling something + like the spouts of the whales; only they did not so completely come and + go; for they constantly hovered, without finally disappearing. Levelling + his glass at this sight, Ahab quickly revolved in his pivot-hole, crying, + “Aloft there, and rig whips and buckets to wet the sails;—Malays, + sir, and after us!” +

+

+ As if too long lurking behind the headlands, till the Pequod should fairly + have entered the straits, these rascally Asiatics were now in hot pursuit, + to make up for their over-cautious delay. But when the swift Pequod, with + a fresh leading wind, was herself in hot chase; how very kind of these + tawny philanthropists to assist in speeding her on to her own chosen + pursuit,—mere riding-whips and rowels to her, that they were. As + with glass under arm, Ahab to-and-fro paced the deck; in his forward turn + beholding the monsters he chased, and in the after one the bloodthirsty + pirates chasing him; some such fancy as the above seemed his. And when he + glanced upon the green walls of the watery defile in which the ship was + then sailing, and bethought him that through that gate lay the route to + his vengeance, and beheld, how that through that same gate he was now both + chasing and being chased to his deadly end; and not only that, but a herd + of remorseless wild pirates and inhuman atheistical devils were infernally + cheering him on with their curses;—when all these conceits had + passed through his brain, Ahab’s brow was left gaunt and ribbed, like the + black sand beach after some stormy tide has been gnawing it, without being + able to drag the firm thing from its place. +

+

+ But thoughts like these troubled very few of the reckless crew; and when, + after steadily dropping and dropping the pirates astern, the Pequod at + last shot by the vivid green Cockatoo Point on the Sumatra side, emerging + at last upon the broad waters beyond; then, the harpooneers seemed more to + grieve that the swift whales had been gaining upon the ship, than to + rejoice that the ship had so victoriously gained upon the Malays. But + still driving on in the wake of the whales, at length they seemed abating + their speed; gradually the ship neared them; and the wind now dying away, + word was passed to spring to the boats. But no sooner did the herd, by + some presumed wonderful instinct of the Sperm Whale, become notified of + the three keels that were after them,—though as yet a mile in their + rear,—than they rallied again, and forming in close ranks and + battalions, so that their spouts all looked like flashing lines of stacked + bayonets, moved on with redoubled velocity. +

+

+ Stripped to our shirts and drawers, we sprang to the white-ash, and after + several hours’ pulling were almost disposed to renounce the chase, when a + general pausing commotion among the whales gave animating token that they + were now at last under the influence of that strange perplexity of inert + irresolution, which, when the fishermen perceive it in the whale, they say + he is gallied. The compact martial columns in which they had been hitherto + rapidly and steadily swimming, were now broken up in one measureless rout; + and like King Porus’ elephants in the Indian battle with Alexander, they + seemed going mad with consternation. In all directions expanding in vast + irregular circles, and aimlessly swimming hither and thither, by their + short thick spoutings, they plainly betrayed their distraction of panic. + This was still more strangely evinced by those of their number, who, + completely paralysed as it were, helplessly floated like water-logged + dismantled ships on the sea. Had these Leviathans been but a flock of + simple sheep, pursued over the pasture by three fierce wolves, they could + not possibly have evinced such excessive dismay. But this occasional + timidity is characteristic of almost all herding creatures. Though banding + together in tens of thousands, the lion-maned buffaloes of the West have + fled before a solitary horseman. Witness, too, all human beings, how when + herded together in the sheepfold of a theatre’s pit, they will, at the + slightest alarm of fire, rush helter-skelter for the outlets, crowding, + trampling, jamming, and remorselessly dashing each other to death. Best, + therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before + us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not + infinitely outdone by the madness of men. +

+

+ Though many of the whales, as has been said, were in violent motion, yet + it is to be observed that as a whole the herd neither advanced nor + retreated, but collectively remained in one place. As is customary in + those cases, the boats at once separated, each making for some one lone + whale on the outskirts of the shoal. In about three minutes’ time, + Queequeg’s harpoon was flung; the stricken fish darted blinding spray in + our faces, and then running away with us like light, steered straight for + the heart of the herd. Though such a movement on the part of the whale + struck under such circumstances, is in no wise unprecedented; and indeed + is almost always more or less anticipated; yet does it present one of the + more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. For as the swift monster drags + you deeper and deeper into the frantic shoal, you bid adieu to circumspect + life and only exist in a delirious throb. +

+

+ As, blind and deaf, the whale plunged forward, as if by sheer power of + speed to rid himself of the iron leech that had fastened to him; as we + thus tore a white gash in the sea, on all sides menaced as we flew, by the + crazed creatures to and fro rushing about us; our beset boat was like a + ship mobbed by ice-isles in a tempest, and striving to steer through their + complicated channels and straits, knowing not at what moment it may be + locked in and crushed. +

+

+ But not a bit daunted, Queequeg steered us manfully; now sheering off from + this monster directly across our route in advance; now edging away from + that, whose colossal flukes were suspended overhead, while all the time, + Starbuck stood up in the bows, lance in hand, pricking out of our way + whatever whales he could reach by short darts, for there was no time to + make long ones. Nor were the oarsmen quite idle, though their wonted duty + was now altogether dispensed with. They chiefly attended to the shouting + part of the business. “Out of the way, Commodore!” cried one, to a great + dromedary that of a sudden rose bodily to the surface, and for an instant + threatened to swamp us. “Hard down with your tail, there!” cried a second + to another, which, close to our gunwale, seemed calmly cooling himself + with his own fan-like extremity. +

+

+ All whaleboats carry certain curious contrivances, originally invented by + the Nantucket Indians, called druggs. Two thick squares of wood of equal + size are stoutly clenched together, so that they cross each other’s grain + at right angles; a line of considerable length is then attached to the + middle of this block, and the other end of the line being looped, it can + in a moment be fastened to a harpoon. It is chiefly among gallied whales + that this drugg is used. For then, more whales are close round you than + you can possibly chase at one time. But sperm whales are not every day + encountered; while you may, then, you must kill all you can. And if you + cannot kill them all at once, you must wing them, so that they can be + afterwards killed at your leisure. Hence it is, that at times like these + the drugg, comes into requisition. Our boat was furnished with three of + them. The first and second were successfully darted, and we saw the whales + staggeringly running off, fettered by the enormous sidelong resistance of + the towing drugg. They were cramped like malefactors with the chain and + ball. But upon flinging the third, in the act of tossing overboard the + clumsy wooden block, it caught under one of the seats of the boat, and in + an instant tore it out and carried it away, dropping the oarsman in the + boat’s bottom as the seat slid from under him. On both sides the sea came + in at the wounded planks, but we stuffed two or three drawers and shirts + in, and so stopped the leaks for the time. +

+

+ It had been next to impossible to dart these drugged-harpoons, were it not + that as we advanced into the herd, our whale’s way greatly diminished; + moreover, that as we went still further and further from the circumference + of commotion, the direful disorders seemed waning. So that when at last + the jerking harpoon drew out, and the towing whale sideways vanished; + then, with the tapering force of his parting momentum, we glided between + two whales into the innermost heart of the shoal, as if from some mountain + torrent we had slid into a serene valley lake. Here the storms in the + roaring glens between the outermost whales, were heard but not felt. In + this central expanse the sea presented that smooth satin-like surface, + called a sleek, produced by the subtle moisture thrown off by the whale in + his more quiet moods. Yes, we were now in that enchanted calm which they + say lurks at the heart of every commotion. 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. +

+

+ 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. I mention this + circumstance, because, as if the cows and calves had been purposely locked + up in this innermost fold; and as if the wide extent of the herd had + hitherto prevented them from learning the precise cause of its stopping; + or, possibly, being so young, unsophisticated, and every way innocent and + inexperienced; however it may have been, these smaller whales—now + and then visiting our becalmed boat from the margin of the lake—evinced + a wondrous fearlessness and confidence, or else a still becharmed panic + which it was impossible not to marvel at. Like household dogs they came + snuffling round us, right up to our gunwales, and touching them; till it + almost seemed that some spell had suddenly domesticated them. Queequeg + patted their foreheads; Starbuck scratched their backs with his lance; but + fearful of the consequences, for the time refrained from darting it. +

+

+ But far beneath this wondrous world upon the surface, another and still + stranger world met our eyes as we gazed over the side. For, suspended in + those watery vaults, floated the forms of the nursing mothers of the + whales, and those that by their enormous girth seemed shortly to become + mothers. The lake, as I have hinted, was to a considerable depth + exceedingly transparent; and as human infants while suckling will calmly + and fixedly gaze away from the breast, as if leading two different lives + at the time; and while yet drawing mortal nourishment, be still + spiritually feasting upon some unearthly reminiscence;—even so did + the young of these whales seem looking up towards us, but not at us, as if + we were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight. Floating on their + sides, the mothers also seemed quietly eyeing us. One of these little + infants, that from certain queer tokens seemed hardly a day old, might + have measured some fourteen feet in length, and some six feet in girth. He + was a little frisky; though as yet his body seemed scarce yet recovered + from that irksome position it had so lately occupied in the maternal + reticule; where, tail to head, and all ready for the final spring, the + unborn whale lies bent like a Tartar’s bow. The delicate side-fins, and + the palms of his flukes, still freshly retained the plaited crumpled + appearance of a baby’s ears newly arrived from foreign parts. +

+

+ “Line! line!” cried Queequeg, looking over the gunwale; “him fast! him + fast!—Who line him! Who struck?—Two whale; one big, one + little!” +

+

+ “What ails ye, man?” cried Starbuck. +

+

+ “Look-e here,” said Queequeg, pointing down. +

+

+ As when the stricken whale, that from the tub has reeled out hundreds of + fathoms of rope; as, after deep sounding, he floats up again, and shows + the slackened curling line buoyantly rising and spiralling towards the + air; so now, Starbuck saw long coils of the umbilical cord of Madame + Leviathan, by which the young cub seemed still tethered to its dam. Not + seldom in the rapid vicissitudes of the chase, this natural line, with the + maternal end loose, becomes entangled with the hempen one, so that the cub + is thereby trapped. Some of the subtlest secrets of the seas seemed + divulged to us in this enchanted pond. We saw young Leviathan amours in + the deep.* +

+

+ *The sperm whale, as with all other species of the Leviathan, but unlike + most other fish, breeds indifferently at all seasons; after a gestation + which may probably be set down at nine months, producing but one at a + time; though in some few known instances giving birth to an Esau and + Jacob:—a contingency provided for in suckling by two teats, + curiously situated, one on each side of the anus; but the breasts + themselves extend upwards from that. When by chance these precious parts + in a nursing whale are cut by the hunter’s lance, the mother’s pouring + milk and blood rivallingly discolour the sea for rods. The milk is very + sweet and rich; it has been tasted by man; it might do well with + strawberries. When overflowing with mutual esteem, the whales salute more + hominum. +

+

+ And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and + affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and + fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yea, serenely revelled in + dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my + being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm; and + while ponderous planets of unwaning woe revolve round me, deep down and + deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy. +

+

+ Meanwhile, as we thus lay entranced, the occasional sudden frantic + spectacles in the distance evinced the activity of the other boats, still + engaged in drugging the whales on the frontier of the host; or possibly + carrying on the war within the first circle, where abundance of room and + some convenient retreats were afforded them. But the sight of the enraged + drugged whales now and then blindly darting to and fro across the circles, + was nothing to what at last met our eyes. It is sometimes the custom when + fast to a whale more than commonly powerful and alert, to seek to + hamstring him, as it were, by sundering or maiming his gigantic + tail-tendon. It is done by darting a short-handled cutting-spade, to which + is attached a rope for hauling it back again. A whale wounded (as we + afterwards learned) in this part, but not effectually, as it seemed, had + broken away from the boat, carrying along with him half of the harpoon + line; and in the extraordinary agony of the wound, he was now dashing + among the revolving circles like the lone mounted desperado Arnold, at the + battle of Saratoga, carrying dismay wherever he went. +

+

+ But agonizing as was the wound of this whale, and an appalling spectacle + enough, any way; yet the peculiar horror with which he seemed to inspire + the rest of the herd, was owing to a cause which at first the intervening + distance obscured from us. But at length we perceived that by one of the + unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale had become entangled in + the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run away with the + cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope attached to that + weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the harpoon-line round his + tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose from his flesh. So that + tormented to madness, he was now churning through the water, violently + flailing with his flexible tail, and tossing the keen spade about him, + wounding and murdering his own comrades. +

+

+ This terrific object seemed to recall the whole herd from their stationary + fright. First, the whales forming the margin of our lake began to crowd a + little, and tumble against each other, as if lifted by half spent billows + from afar; then the lake itself began faintly to heave and swell; the + submarine bridal-chambers and nurseries vanished; in more and more + contracting orbits the whales in the more central circles began to swim in + thickening clusters. Yes, the long calm was departing. A low advancing hum + was soon heard; and then like to the tumultuous masses of block-ice when + the great river Hudson breaks up in Spring, the entire host of whales came + tumbling upon their inner centre, as if to pile themselves up in one + common mountain. Instantly Starbuck and Queequeg changed places; Starbuck + taking the stern. +

+

+ “Oars! Oars!” he intensely whispered, seizing the helm—“gripe your + oars, and clutch your souls, now! My God, men, stand by! Shove him off, + you Queequeg—the whale there!—prick him!—hit him! Stand + up—stand up, and stay so! Spring, men—pull, men; never mind + their backs—scrape them!—scrape away!” +

+

+ The boat was now all but jammed between two vast black bulks, leaving a + narrow Dardanelles between their long lengths. But by desperate endeavor + we at last shot into a temporary opening; then giving way rapidly, and at + the same time earnestly watching for another outlet. After many similar + hair-breadth escapes, we at last swiftly glided into what had just been + one of the outer circles, but now crossed by random whales, all violently + making for one centre. This lucky salvation was cheaply purchased by the + loss of Queequeg’s hat, who, while standing in the bows to prick the + fugitive whales, had his hat taken clean from his head by the air-eddy + made by the sudden tossing of a pair of broad flukes close by. +

+

+ Riotous and disordered as the universal commotion now was, it soon + resolved itself into what seemed a systematic movement; for having clumped + together at last in one dense body, they then renewed their onward flight + with augmented fleetness. Further pursuit was useless; but the boats still + lingered in their wake to pick up what drugged whales might be dropped + astern, and likewise to secure one which Flask had killed and waifed. The + waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of which are carried by every boat; + and which, when additional game is at hand, are inserted upright into the + floating body of a dead whale, both to mark its place on the sea, and also + as token of prior possession, should the boats of any other ship draw + near. +

+

+ The result of this lowering was somewhat illustrative of that sagacious + saying in the Fishery,—the more whales the less fish. Of all the + drugged whales only one was captured. The rest contrived to escape for the + time, but only to be taken, as will hereafter be seen, by some other craft + than the Pequod. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters. +

+

+ The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm + Whales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those + vast aggregations. +

+

+ Now, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must have + been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are occasionally + observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each. Such bands are + known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those composed almost + entirely of females, and those mustering none but young vigorous males, or + bulls, as they are familiarly designated. +

+

+ In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a + male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces + his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his + ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about + over the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and + endearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his + concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest + leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more + than one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male. They are + comparatively delicate, indeed; I dare say, not to exceed half a dozen + yards round the waist. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that upon the + whole they are hereditarily entitled to en bon point. +

+

+ It is very curious to watch this harem and its lord in their indolent + ramblings. Like fashionables, they are for ever on the move in leisurely + search of variety. You meet them on the Line in time for the full flower + of the Equatorial feeding season, having just returned, perhaps, from + spending the summer in the Northern seas, and so cheating summer of all + unpleasant weariness and warmth. By the time they have lounged up and down + the promenade of the Equator awhile, they start for the Oriental waters in + anticipation of the cool season there, and so evade the other excessive + temperature of the year. +

+

+ When serenely advancing on one of these journeys, if any strange + suspicious sights are seen, my lord whale keeps a wary eye on his + interesting family. Should any unwarrantably pert young Leviathan coming + that way, presume to draw confidentially close to one of the ladies, with + what prodigious fury the Bashaw assails him, and chases him away! High + times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are to be permitted to + invade the sanctity of domestic bliss; though do what the Bashaw will, he + cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of his bed; for, alas! all + fish bed in common. As ashore, the ladies often cause the most terrible + duels among their rival admirers; just so with the whales, who sometimes + come to deadly battle, and all for love. They fence with their long lower + jaws, sometimes locking them together, and so striving for the supremacy + like elks that warringly interweave their antlers. Not a few are captured + having the deep scars of these encounters,—furrowed heads, broken + teeth, scolloped fins; and in some instances, wrenched and dislocated + mouths. +

+

+ But supposing the invader of domestic bliss to betake himself away at the + first rush of the harem’s lord, then is it very diverting to watch that + lord. Gently he insinuates his vast bulk among them again and revels there + awhile, still in tantalizing vicinity to young Lothario, like pious + Solomon devoutly worshipping among his thousand concubines. Granting other + whales to be in sight, the fishermen will seldom give chase to one of + these Grand Turks; for these Grand Turks are too lavish of their strength, + and hence their unctuousness is small. As for the sons and the daughters + they beget, why, those sons and daughters must take care of themselves; at + least, with only the maternal help. For like certain other omnivorous + roving lovers that might be named, my Lord Whale has no taste for the + nursery, however much for the bower; and so, being a great traveller, he + leaves his anonymous babies all over the world; every baby an exotic. In + good time, nevertheless, as the ardour of youth declines; as years and + dumps increase; as reflection lends her solemn pauses; in short, as a + general lassitude overtakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue + supplants the love for maidens; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, + repentant, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and + grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the + meridians and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young + Leviathan from his amorous errors. +

+

+ Now, as the harem of whales is called by the fishermen a school, so is the + lord and master of that school technically known as the schoolmaster. It + is therefore not in strict character, however admirably satirical, that + after going to school himself, he should then go abroad inculcating not + what he learned there, but the folly of it. His title, schoolmaster, would + very naturally seem derived from the name bestowed upon the harem itself, + but some have surmised that the man who first thus entitled this sort of + Ottoman whale, must have read the memoirs of Vidocq, and informed himself + what sort of a country-schoolmaster that famous Frenchman was in his + younger days, and what was the nature of those occult lessons he + inculcated into some of his pupils. +

+

+ The same secludedness and isolation to which the schoolmaster whale + betakes himself in his advancing years, is true of all aged Sperm Whales. + Almost universally, a lone whale—as a solitary Leviathan is called—proves + an ancient one. Like venerable moss-bearded Daniel Boone, he will have no + one near him but Nature herself; and her he takes to wife in the + wilderness of waters, and the best of wives she is, though she keeps so + many moody secrets. +

+

+ The schools composing none but young and vigorous males, previously + mentioned, offer a strong contrast to the harem schools. For while those + female whales are characteristically timid, the young males, or + forty-barrel-bulls, as they call them, are by far the most pugnacious of + all Leviathans, and proverbially the most dangerous to encounter; + excepting those wondrous grey-headed, grizzled whales, sometimes met, and + these will fight you like grim fiends exasperated by a penal gout. +

+

+ The Forty-barrel-bull schools are larger than the harem schools. Like a + mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, + tumbling round the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate, that no + prudent underwriter would insure them any more than he would a riotous lad + at Yale or Harvard. They soon relinquish this turbulence though, and when + about three-fourths grown, break up, and separately go about in quest of + settlements, that is, harems. +

+

+ Another point of difference between the male and female schools is still + more characteristic of the sexes. Say you strike a Forty-barrel-bull—poor + devil! all his comrades quit him. But strike a member of the harem school, + and her companions swim around her with every token of concern, sometimes + lingering so near her and so long, as themselves to fall a prey. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish. +

+

+ The allusion to the waif and waif-poles in the last chapter but one, + necessitates some account of the laws and regulations of the whale + fishery, of which the waif may be deemed the grand symbol and badge. +

+

+ It frequently happens that when several ships are cruising in company, a + whale may be struck by one vessel, then escape, and be finally killed and + captured by another vessel; and herein are indirectly comprised many minor + contingencies, all partaking of this one grand feature. For example,—after + a weary and perilous chase and capture of a whale, the body may get loose + from the ship by reason of a violent storm; and drifting far away to + leeward, be retaken by a second whaler, who, in a calm, snugly tows it + alongside, without risk of life or line. Thus the most vexatious and + violent disputes would often arise between the fishermen, were there not + some written or unwritten, universal, undisputed law applicable to all + cases. +

+

+ Perhaps the only formal whaling code authorized by legislative enactment, + was that of Holland. It was decreed by the States-General in A.D. 1695. + But though no other nation has ever had any written whaling law, yet the + American fishermen have been their own legislators and lawyers in this + matter. They have provided a system which for terse comprehensiveness + surpasses Justinian’s Pandects and the By-laws of the Chinese Society for + the Suppression of Meddling with other People’s Business. Yes; these laws + might be engraven on a Queen Anne’s farthing, or the barb of a harpoon, + and worn round the neck, so small are they. +

+

+ I. A Fast-Fish belongs to the party fast to it. +

+

+ II. A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it. +

+

+ But what plays the mischief with this masterly code is the admirable + brevity of it, which necessitates a vast volume of commentaries to expound + it. +

+

+ First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast, when + it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all + controllable by the occupant or occupants,—a mast, an oar, a + nine-inch cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the + same. Likewise a fish is technically fast when it bears a waif, or any + other recognised symbol of possession; so long as the party waifing it + plainly evince their ability at any time to take it alongside, as well as + their intention so to do. +

+

+ These are scientific commentaries; but the commentaries of the whalemen + themselves sometimes consist in hard words and harder knocks—the + Coke-upon-Littleton of the fist. True, among the more upright and + honorable whalemen allowances are always made for peculiar cases, where + it would be an outrageous moral injustice for one party to claim + possession of a whale previously chased or killed by another party. But + others are by no means so scrupulous. +

+

+ Some fifty years ago there was a curious case of whale-trover litigated in + England, wherein the plaintiffs set forth that after a hard chase of a + whale in the Northern seas; and when indeed they (the plaintiffs) had + succeeded in harpooning the fish; they were at last, through peril of + their lives, obliged to forsake not only their lines, but their boat + itself. Ultimately the defendants (the crew of another ship) came up with + the whale, struck, killed, seized, and finally appropriated it before the + very eyes of the plaintiffs. And when those defendants were remonstrated + with, their captain snapped his fingers in the plaintiffs’ teeth, and + assured them that by way of doxology to the deed he had done, he would now + retain their line, harpoons, and boat, which had remained attached to the + whale at the time of the seizure. Wherefore the plaintiffs now sued for + the recovery of the value of their whale, line, harpoons, and boat. +

+

+ Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defendants; Lord Ellenborough was the + judge. In the course of the defence, the witty Erskine went on to + illustrate his position, by alluding to a recent crim. con. case, wherein + a gentleman, after in vain trying to bridle his wife’s viciousness, had at + last abandoned her upon the seas of life; but in the course of years, + repenting of that step, he instituted an action to recover possession of + her. Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying, + that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once + had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging + viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that + she became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman + re-harpooned her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman’s + property, along with whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in + her. +

+

+ Now in the present case Erskine contended that the examples of the whale + and the lady were reciprocally illustrative of each other. +

+

+ These pleadings, and the counter pleadings, being duly heard, the very + learned judge in set terms decided, to wit,—That as for the boat, he + awarded it to the plaintiffs, because they had merely abandoned it to save + their lives; but that with regard to the controverted whale, harpoons, and + line, they belonged to the defendants; the whale, because it was a + Loose-Fish at the time of the final capture; and the harpoons and line + because when the fish made off with them, it (the fish) acquired a + property in those articles; and hence anybody who afterwards took the fish + had a right to them. Now the defendants afterwards took the fish; ergo, + the aforesaid articles were theirs. +

+

+ A common man looking at this decision of the very learned Judge, might + possibly object to it. But ploughed up to the primary rock of the matter, + the two great principles laid down in the twin whaling laws previously + quoted, and applied and elucidated by Lord Ellenborough in the above cited + case; these two laws touching Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, I say, will, on + reflection, be found the fundamentals of all human jurisprudence; for + notwithstanding its complicated tracery of sculpture, the Temple of the + Law, like the Temple of the Philistines, has but two props to stand on. +

+

+ Is it not a saying in every one’s mouth, Possession is half of the law: + that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often + possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of + Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is + the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow’s last + mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain’s marble mansion + with a door-plate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish? What is the + ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from poor Woebegone, the + bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone’s family from starvation; what is + that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the Archbishop of + Savesoul’s income of £100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of + hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven + without any of Savesoul’s help) what is that globular £100,000 but a + Fast-Fish? What are the Duke of Dunder’s hereditary towns and hamlets but + Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, + but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas + but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of + the law? +

+

+ But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the + kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is + internationally and universally applicable. +

+

+ What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the + Spanish standard by way of waifing it for his royal master and mistress? + What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to + England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish. +

+

+ What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? + What all men’s minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the principle of + religious belief in them but a Loose-Fish? What to the ostentatious + smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish? What is + the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a + Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails. +

+

+ “De balena vero sufficit, si rex habeat caput, et regina caudam.” Bracton, + l. 3, c. 3. +

+

+ Latin from the books of the Laws of England, which taken along with the + context, means, that of all whales captured by anybody on the coast of + that land, the King, as Honorary Grand Harpooneer, must have the head, + and the Queen be respectfully presented with the tail. A division which, + in the whale, is much like halving an apple; there is no intermediate + remainder. Now as this law, under a modified form, is to this day in force + in England; and as it offers in various respects a strange anomaly + touching the general law of Fast and Loose-Fish, it is here treated of in + a separate chapter, on the same courteous principle that prompts the + English railways to be at the expense of a separate car, specially + reserved for the accommodation of royalty. In the first place, in curious + proof of the fact that the above-mentioned law is still in force, I + proceed to lay before you a circumstance that happened within the last two + years. +

+

+ It seems that some honest mariners of Dover, or Sandwich, or some one of + the Cinque Ports, had after a hard chase succeeded in killing and beaching + a fine whale which they had originally descried afar off from the shore. + Now the Cinque Ports are partially or somehow under the jurisdiction of a + sort of policeman or beadle, called a Lord Warden. Holding the office + directly from the crown, I believe, all the royal emoluments incident to + the Cinque Port territories become by assignment his. By some writers this + office is called a sinecure. But not so. Because the Lord Warden is busily + employed at times in fobbing his perquisites; which are his chiefly by + virtue of that same fobbing of them. +

+

+ Now when these poor sun-burnt mariners, bare-footed, and with their + trowsers rolled high up on their eely legs, had wearily hauled their fat + fish high and dry, promising themselves a good £150 from the precious oil + and bone; and in fantasy sipping rare tea with their wives, and good ale + with their cronies, upon the strength of their respective shares; up steps + a very learned and most Christian and charitable gentleman, with a copy of + Blackstone under his arm; and laying it upon the whale’s head, he says—“Hands + off! this fish, my masters, is a Fast-Fish. I seize it as the Lord + Warden’s.” Upon this the poor mariners in their respectful consternation—so + truly English—knowing not what to say, fall to vigorously scratching + their heads all round; meanwhile ruefully glancing from the whale to the + stranger. But that did in nowise mend the matter, or at all soften the + hard heart of the learned gentleman with the copy of Blackstone. At length + one of them, after long scratching about for his ideas, made bold to + speak, +

+

+ “Please, sir, who is the Lord Warden?” +

+

+ “The Duke.” +

+

+ “But the duke had nothing to do with taking this fish?” +

+

+ “It is his.” +

+

+ “We have been at great trouble, and peril, and some expense, and is all + that to go to the Duke’s benefit; we getting nothing at all for our pains + but our blisters?” +

+

+ “It is his.” +

+

+ “Is the Duke so very poor as to be forced to this desperate mode of + getting a livelihood?” +

+

+ “It is his.” +

+

+ “I thought to relieve my old bed-ridden mother by part of my share of this + whale.” +

+

+ “It is his.” +

+

+ “Won’t the Duke be content with a quarter or a half?” +

+

+ “It is his.” +

+

+ In a word, the whale was seized and sold, and his Grace the Duke of + Wellington received the money. Thinking that viewed in some particular + lights, the case might by a bare possibility in some small degree be + deemed, under the circumstances, a rather hard one, an honest clergyman of + the town respectfully addressed a note to his Grace, begging him to take + the case of those unfortunate mariners into full consideration. To which + my Lord Duke in substance replied (both letters were published) that he + had already done so, and received the money, and would be obliged to the + reverend gentleman if for the future he (the reverend gentleman) would + decline meddling with other people’s business. Is this the still militant + old man, standing at the corners of the three kingdoms, on all hands + coercing alms of beggars? +

+

+ It will readily be seen that in this case the alleged right of the Duke to + the whale was a delegated one from the Sovereign. We must needs inquire + then on what principle the Sovereign is originally invested with that + right. The law itself has already been set forth. But Plowdon gives us the + reason for it. Says Plowdon, the whale so caught belongs to the King and + Queen, “because of its superior excellence.” And by the soundest + commentators this has ever been held a cogent argument in such matters. +

+

+ But why should the King have the head, and the Queen the tail? A reason + for that, ye lawyers! +

+

+ In his treatise on “Queen-Gold,” or Queen-pinmoney, an old King’s Bench + author, one William Prynne, thus discourseth: “Ye tail is ye Queen’s, that + ye Queen’s wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone.” Now this was + written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right + whale was largely used in ladies’ bodices. But this same bone is not in + the tail; it is in the head, which is a sad mistake for a sagacious lawyer + like Prynne. But is the Queen a mermaid, to be presented with a tail? An + allegorical meaning may lurk here. +

+

+ There are two royal fish so styled by the English law writers—the + whale and the sturgeon; both royal property under certain limitations, and + nominally supplying the tenth branch of the crown’s ordinary revenue. I + know not that any other author has hinted of the matter; but by inference + it seems to me that the sturgeon must be divided in the same way as the + whale, the King receiving the highly dense and elastic head peculiar to + that fish, which, symbolically regarded, may possibly be humorously + grounded upon some presumed congeniality. And thus there seems a reason in + all things, even in law. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud. +

+

+ “In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan, + insufferable fetor denying not inquiry.” Sir T. Browne, V.E. +

+

+ It was a week or two after the last whaling scene recounted, and when we + were slowly sailing over a sleepy, vapory, mid-day sea, that the many + noses on the Pequod’s deck proved more vigilant discoverers than the three + pairs of eyes aloft. A peculiar and not very pleasant smell was smelt in + the sea. +

+

+ “I will bet something now,” said Stubb, “that somewhere hereabouts are + some of those drugged whales we tickled the other day. I thought they + would keel up before long.” +

+

+ Presently, the vapors in advance slid aside; and there in the distance + lay a ship, whose furled sails betokened that some sort of whale must be + alongside. As we glided nearer, the stranger showed French colours from + his peak; and by the eddying cloud of vulture sea-fowl that circled, and + hovered, and swooped around him, it was plain that the whale alongside + must be what the fishermen call a blasted whale, that is, a whale that has + died unmolested on the sea, and so floated an unappropriated corpse. It + may well be conceived, what an unsavory odor such a mass must exhale; + worse than an Assyrian city in the plague, when the living are incompetent + to bury the departed. So intolerable indeed is it regarded by some, that + no cupidity could persuade them to moor alongside of it. Yet are there + those who will still do it; notwithstanding the fact that the oil obtained + from such subjects is of a very inferior quality, and by no means of the + nature of attar-of-rose. +

+

+ Coming still nearer with the expiring breeze, we saw that the Frenchman + had a second whale alongside; and this second whale seemed even more of a + nosegay than the first. In truth, it turned out to be one of those + problematical whales that seem to dry up and die with a sort of prodigious + dyspepsia, or indigestion; leaving their defunct bodies almost entirely + bankrupt of anything like oil. Nevertheless, in the proper place we shall + see that no knowing fisherman will ever turn up his nose at such a whale + as this, however much he may shun blasted whales in general. +

+

+ The Pequod had now swept so nigh to the stranger, that Stubb vowed he + recognised his cutting spade-pole entangled in the lines that were knotted + round the tail of one of these whales. +

+

+ “There’s a pretty fellow, now,” he banteringly laughed, standing in the + ship’s bows, “there’s a jackal for ye! I well know that these Crappoes of + Frenchmen are but poor devils in the fishery; sometimes lowering their + boats for breakers, mistaking them for Sperm Whale spouts; yes, and + sometimes sailing from their port with their hold full of boxes of tallow + candles, and cases of snuffers, foreseeing that all the oil they will get + won’t be enough to dip the Captain’s wick into; aye, we all know these + things; but look ye, here’s a Crappo that is content with our leavings, + the drugged whale there, I mean; aye, and is content too with scraping the + dry bones of that other precious fish he has there. Poor devil! I say, + pass round a hat, some one, and let’s make him a present of a little oil + for dear charity’s sake. For what oil he’ll get from that drugged whale + there, wouldn’t be fit to burn in a jail; no, not in a condemned cell. And + as for the other whale, why, I’ll agree to get more oil by chopping up and + trying out these three masts of ours, than he’ll get from that bundle of + bones; though, now that I think of it, it may contain something worth a + good deal more than oil; yes, ambergris. I wonder now if our old man has + thought of that. It’s worth trying. Yes, I’m for it;” and so saying he + started for the quarter-deck. +

+

+ By this time the faint air had become a complete calm; so that whether or + no, the Pequod was now fairly entrapped in the smell, with no hope of + escaping except by its breezing up again. Issuing from the cabin, Stubb + now called his boat’s crew, and pulled off for the stranger. Drawing + across her bow, he perceived that in accordance with the fanciful French + taste, the upper part of her stem-piece was carved in the likeness of a + huge drooping stalk, was painted green, and for thorns had copper spikes + projecting from it here and there; the whole terminating in a symmetrical + folded bulb of a bright red colour. Upon her head boards, in large gilt + letters, he read “Bouton de Rose,”—Rose-button, or Rose-bud; and + this was the romantic name of this aromatic ship. +

+

+ Though Stubb did not understand the Bouton part of the inscription, yet + the word rose, and the bulbous figure-head put together, sufficiently + explained the whole to him. +

+

+ “A wooden rose-bud, eh?” he cried with his hand to his nose, “that will do + very well; but how like all creation it smells!” +

+

+ Now in order to hold direct communication with the people on deck, he had + to pull round the bows to the starboard side, and thus come close to the + blasted whale; and so talk over it. +

+

+ Arrived then at this spot, with one hand still to his nose, he bawled—“Bouton-de-Rose, + ahoy! are there any of you Bouton-de-Roses that speak English?” +

+

+ “Yes,” rejoined a Guernsey-man from the bulwarks, who turned out to be the + chief-mate. +

+

+ “Well, then, my Bouton-de-Rose-bud, have you seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ “What whale?” +

+

+ “The White Whale—a Sperm Whale—Moby Dick, have ye seen him? +

+

+ “Never heard of such a whale. Cachalot Blanche! White Whale—no.” +

+

+ “Very good, then; good bye now, and I’ll call again in a minute.” +

+

+ Then rapidly pulling back towards the Pequod, and seeing Ahab leaning over + the quarter-deck rail awaiting his report, he moulded his two hands into a + trumpet and shouted—“No, Sir! No!” Upon which Ahab retired, and + Stubb returned to the Frenchman. +

+

+ He now perceived that the Guernsey-man, who had just got into the chains, + and was using a cutting-spade, had slung his nose in a sort of bag. +

+

+ “What’s the matter with your nose, there?” said Stubb. “Broke it?” +

+

+ “I wish it was broken, or that I didn’t have any nose at all!” answered + the Guernsey-man, who did not seem to relish the job he was at very much. + “But what are you holding yours for?” +

+

+ “Oh, nothing! It’s a wax nose; I have to hold it on. Fine day, ain’t it? + Air rather gardenny, I should say; throw us a bunch of posies, will ye, + Bouton-de-Rose?” +

+

+ “What in the devil’s name do you want here?” roared the Guernseyman, + flying into a sudden passion. +

+

+ “Oh! keep cool—cool? yes, that’s the word! why don’t you pack those + whales in ice while you’re working at ’em? But joking aside, though; do + you know, Rose-bud, that it’s all nonsense trying to get any oil out of + such whales? As for that dried up one, there, he hasn’t a gill in his + whole carcase.” +

+

+ “I know that well enough; but, d’ye see, the Captain here won’t believe + it; this is his first voyage; he was a Cologne manufacturer before. But + come aboard, and mayhap he’ll believe you, if he won’t me; and so I’ll get + out of this dirty scrape.” +

+

+ “Anything to oblige ye, my sweet and pleasant fellow,” rejoined Stubb, and + with that he soon mounted to the deck. There a queer scene presented + itself. The sailors, in tasselled caps of red worsted, were getting the + heavy tackles in readiness for the whales. But they worked rather slow and + talked very fast, and seemed in anything but a good humor. All their noses + upwardly projected from their faces like so many jib-booms. Now and then + pairs of them would drop their work, and run up to the mast-head to get + some fresh air. Some thinking they would catch the plague, dipped oakum in + coal-tar, and at intervals held it to their nostrils. Others having broken + the stems of their pipes almost short off at the bowl, were vigorously + puffing tobacco-smoke, so that it constantly filled their olfactories. +

+

+ Stubb was struck by a shower of outcries and anathemas proceeding from the + Captain’s round-house abaft; and looking in that direction saw a fiery + face thrust from behind the door, which was held ajar from within. This + was the tormented surgeon, who, after in vain remonstrating against the + proceedings of the day, had betaken himself to the Captain’s round-house + (cabinet he called it) to avoid the pest; but still, could not help + yelling out his entreaties and indignations at times. +

+

+ Marking all this, Stubb argued well for his scheme, and turning to the + Guernsey-man had a little chat with him, during which the stranger mate + expressed his detestation of his Captain as a conceited ignoramus, who had + brought them all into so unsavory and unprofitable a pickle. Sounding him + carefully, Stubb further perceived that the Guernsey-man had not the + slightest suspicion concerning the ambergris. He therefore held his peace + on that head, but otherwise was quite frank and confidential with him, so + that the two quickly concocted a little plan for both circumventing and + satirizing the Captain, without his at all dreaming of distrusting their + sincerity. According to this little plan of theirs, the Guernsey-man, + under cover of an interpreter’s office, was to tell the Captain what he + pleased, but as coming from Stubb; and as for Stubb, he was to utter any + nonsense that should come uppermost in him during the interview. +

+

+ By this time their destined victim appeared from his cabin. He was a small + and dark, but rather delicate looking man for a sea-captain, with large + whiskers and moustache, however; and wore a red cotton velvet vest with + watch-seals at his side. To this gentleman, Stubb was now politely + introduced by the Guernsey-man, who at once ostentatiously put on the + aspect of interpreting between them. +

+

+ “What shall I say to him first?” said he. +

+

+ “Why,” said Stubb, eyeing the velvet vest and the watch and seals, “you + may as well begin by telling him that he looks a sort of babyish to me, + though I don’t pretend to be a judge.” +

+

+ “He says, Monsieur,” said the Guernsey-man, in French, turning to his + captain, “that only yesterday his ship spoke a vessel, whose captain and + chief-mate, with six sailors, had all died of a fever caught from a + blasted whale they had brought alongside.” +

+

+ Upon this the captain started, and eagerly desired to know more. +

+

+ “What now?” said the Guernsey-man to Stubb. +

+

+ “Why, since he takes it so easy, tell him that now I have eyed him + carefully, I’m quite certain that he’s no more fit to command a whale-ship + than a St. Jago monkey. In fact, tell him from me he’s a baboon.” +

+

+ “He vows and declares, Monsieur, that the other whale, the dried one, is + far more deadly than the blasted one; in fine, Monsieur, he conjures us, + as we value our lives, to cut loose from these fish.” +

+

+ Instantly the captain ran forward, and in a loud voice commanded his crew + to desist from hoisting the cutting-tackles, and at once cast loose the + cables and chains confining the whales to the ship. +

+

+ “What now?” said the Guernsey-man, when the Captain had returned to them. +

+

+ “Why, let me see; yes, you may as well tell him now that—that—in + fact, tell him I’ve diddled him, and (aside to himself) perhaps somebody + else.” +

+

+ “He says, Monsieur, that he’s very happy to have been of any service to + us.” +

+

+ Hearing this, the captain vowed that they were the grateful parties + (meaning himself and mate) and concluded by inviting Stubb down into his + cabin to drink a bottle of Bordeaux. +

+

+ “He wants you to take a glass of wine with him,” said the interpreter. +

+

+ “Thank him heartily; but tell him it’s against my principles to drink with + the man I’ve diddled. In fact, tell him I must go.” +

+

+ “He says, Monsieur, that his principles won’t admit of his drinking; but + that if Monsieur wants to live another day to drink, then Monsieur had + best drop all four boats, and pull the ship away from these whales, for + it’s so calm they won’t drift.” +

+

+ By this time Stubb was over the side, and getting into his boat, hailed + the Guernsey-man to this effect,—that having a long tow-line in his + boat, he would do what he could to help them, by pulling out the lighter + whale of the two from the ship’s side. While the Frenchman’s boats, then, + were engaged in towing the ship one way, Stubb benevolently towed away at + his whale the other way, ostentatiously slacking out a most unusually long + tow-line. +

+

+ Presently a breeze sprang up; Stubb feigned to cast off from the whale; + hoisting his boats, the Frenchman soon increased his distance, while the + Pequod slid in between him and Stubb’s whale. Whereupon Stubb quickly + pulled to the floating body, and hailing the Pequod to give notice of his + intentions, at once proceeded to reap the fruit of his unrighteous + cunning. Seizing his sharp boat-spade, he commenced an excavation in the + body, a little behind the side fin. You would almost have thought he was + digging a cellar there in the sea; and when at length his spade struck + against the gaunt ribs, it was like turning up old Roman tiles and pottery + buried in fat English loam. His boat’s crew were all in high excitement, + eagerly helping their chief, and looking as anxious as gold-hunters. +

+

+ And all the time numberless fowls were diving, and ducking, and screaming, + and yelling, and fighting around them. Stubb was beginning to look + disappointed, especially as the horrible nosegay increased, when suddenly + from out the very heart of this plague, there stole a faint stream of + perfume, which flowed through the tide of bad smells without being + absorbed by it, as one river will flow into and then along with another, + without at all blending with it for a time. +

+

+ “I have it, I have it,” cried Stubb, with delight, striking something in + the subterranean regions, “a purse! a purse!” +

+

+ Dropping his spade, he thrust both hands in, and drew out handfuls of + something that looked like ripe Windsor soap, or rich mottled old cheese; + very unctuous and savory withal. You might easily dent it with your thumb; + it is of a hue between yellow and ash colour. And this, good friends, is + ambergris, worth a gold guinea an ounce to any druggist. Some six handfuls + were obtained; but more was unavoidably lost in the sea, and still more, + perhaps, might have been secured were it not for impatient Ahab’s loud + command to Stubb to desist, and come on board, else the ship would bid + them good bye. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 92. Ambergris. +

+

+ Now this ambergris is a very curious substance, and so important as an + article of commerce, that in 1791 a certain Nantucket-born Captain Coffin + was examined at the bar of the English House of Commons on that subject. + For at that time, and indeed until a comparatively late day, the precise + origin of ambergris remained, like amber itself, a problem to the learned. + Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet + the two substances are quite distinct. For amber, though at times found on + the sea-coast, is also dug up in some far inland soils, whereas ambergris + is never found except upon the sea. Besides, amber is a hard, transparent, + brittle, odorless substance, used for mouth-pieces to pipes, for beads and + ornaments; but ambergris is soft, waxy, and so highly fragrant and spicy, + that it is largely used in perfumery, in pastiles, precious candles, + hair-powders, and pomatum. The Turks use it in cooking, and also carry it + to Mecca, for the same purpose that frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s + in Rome. Some wine merchants drop a few grains into claret, to flavor it. +

+

+ Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale + themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale! + Yet so it is. By some, ambergris is supposed to be the cause, and by + others the effect, of the dyspepsia in the whale. How to cure such a + dyspepsia it were hard to say, unless by administering three or four boat + loads of Brandreth’s pills, and then running out of harm’s way, as + laborers do in blasting rocks. +

+

+ I have forgotten to say that there were found in this ambergris, certain + hard, round, bony plates, which at first Stubb thought might be sailors’ + trowsers buttons; but it afterwards turned out that they were nothing more + than pieces of small squid bones embalmed in that manner. +

+

+ Now that the incorruption of this most fragrant ambergris should be found + in the heart of such decay; is this nothing? Bethink thee of that saying + of St. Paul in Corinthians, about corruption and incorruption; how that we + are sown in dishonor, but raised in glory. And likewise call to mind that + saying of Paracelsus about what it is that maketh the best musk. Also + forget not the strange fact that of all things of ill-savor, + Cologne-water, in its rudimental manufacturing stages, is the worst. +

+

+ I should like to conclude the chapter with the above appeal, but cannot, + owing to my anxiety to repel a charge often made against whalemen, and + which, in the estimation of some already biased minds, might be considered + as indirectly substantiated by what has been said of the Frenchman’s two + whales. Elsewhere in this volume the slanderous aspersion has been + disproved, that the vocation of whaling is throughout a slatternly, untidy + business. But there is another thing to rebut. They hint that all whales + always smell bad. Now how did this odious stigma originate? +

+

+ I opine, that it is plainly traceable to the first arrival of the + Greenland whaling ships in London, more than two centuries ago. Because + those whalemen did not then, and do not now, try out their oil at sea as + the Southern ships have always done; but cutting up the fresh blubber in + small bits, thrust it through the bung holes of large casks, and carry it + home in that manner; the shortness of the season in those Icy Seas, and + the sudden and violent storms to which they are exposed, forbidding any + other course. The consequence is, that upon breaking into the hold, and + unloading one of these whale cemeteries, in the Greenland dock, a savor is + given forth somewhat similar to that arising from excavating an old city + grave-yard, for the foundations of a Lying-in Hospital. +

+

+ I partly surmise also, that this wicked charge against whalers may be + likewise imputed to the existence on the coast of Greenland, in former + times, of a Dutch village called Schmerenburgh or Smeerenberg, which + latter name is the one used by the learned Fogo Von Slack, in his great + work on Smells, a text-book on that subject. As its name imports (smeer, + fat; berg, to put up), this village was founded in order to afford a place + for the blubber of the Dutch whale fleet to be tried out, without being + taken home to Holland for that purpose. It was a collection of furnaces, + fat-kettles, and oil sheds; and when the works were in full operation + certainly gave forth no very pleasant savor. But all this is quite + different with a South Sea Sperm Whaler; which in a voyage of four years + perhaps, after completely filling her hold with oil, does not, perhaps, + consume fifty days in the business of boiling out; and in the state that + it is casked, the oil is nearly scentless. The truth is, that living or + dead, if but decently treated, whales as a species are by no means + creatures of ill odor; nor can whalemen be recognised, as the people of + the middle ages affected to detect a Jew in the company, by the nose. Nor + indeed can the whale possibly be otherwise than fragrant, when, as a + general thing, he enjoys such high health; taking abundance of exercise; + always out of doors; though, it is true, seldom in the open air. I say, + that the motion of a Sperm Whale’s flukes above water dispenses a perfume, + as when a musk-scented lady rustles her dress in a warm parlor. What then + shall I liken the Sperm Whale to for fragrance, considering his magnitude? + Must it not be to that famous elephant, with jewelled tusks, and redolent + with myrrh, which was led out of an Indian town to do honor to Alexander + the Great? +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 93. The Castaway. +

+

+ It was but some few days after encountering the Frenchman, that a most + significant event befell the most insignificant of the Pequod’s crew; an + event most lamentable; and which ended in providing the sometimes madly + merry and predestinated craft with a living and ever accompanying prophecy + of whatever shattered sequel might prove her own. +

+

+ Now, in the whale ship, it is not every one that goes in the boats. Some + few hands are reserved called ship-keepers, whose province it is to work + the vessel while the boats are pursuing the whale. As a general thing, + these ship-keepers are as hardy fellows as the men comprising the boats’ + crews. But if there happen to be an unduly slender, clumsy, or timorous + wight in the ship, that wight is certain to be made a ship-keeper. It was + so in the Pequod with the little negro Pippin by nick-name, Pip by + abbreviation. Poor Pip! ye have heard of him before; ye must remember his + tambourine on that dramatic midnight, so gloomy-jolly. +

+

+ In outer aspect, Pip and Dough-Boy made a match, like a black pony and a + white one, of equal developments, though of dissimilar colour, driven in + one eccentric span. But while hapless Dough-Boy was by nature dull and + torpid in his intellects, Pip, though over tender-hearted, was at bottom + very bright, with that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his + tribe; a tribe, which ever enjoy all holidays and festivities with finer, + freer relish than any other race. For blacks, the year’s calendar should + show naught but three hundred and sixty-five Fourth of Julys and New + Year’s Days. Nor smile so, while I write that this little black was + brilliant, for even blackness has its brilliancy; behold yon lustrous + ebony, panelled in king’s cabinets. But Pip loved life, and all life’s + peaceable securities; so that the panic-striking business in which he had + somehow unaccountably become entrapped, had most sadly blurred his + brightness; though, as ere long will be seen, what was thus temporarily + subdued in him, in the end was destined to be luridly illumined by strange + wild fires, that fictitiously showed him off to ten times the natural + lustre with which in his native Tolland County in Connecticut, he had once + enlivened many a fiddler’s frolic on the green; and at melodious + even-tide, with his gay ha-ha! had turned the round horizon into one + star-belled tambourine. So, though in the clear air of day, suspended + against a blue-veined neck, the pure-watered diamond drop will healthful + glow; yet, when the cunning jeweller would show you the diamond in its + most impressive lustre, he lays it against a gloomy ground, and then + lights it up, not by the sun, but by some unnatural gases. Then come out + those fiery effulgences, infernally superb; then the evil-blazing diamond, + once the divinest symbol of the crystal skies, looks like some crown-jewel + stolen from the King of Hell. But let us to the story. +

+

+ It came to pass, that in the ambergris affair Stubb’s after-oarsman + chanced so to sprain his hand, as for a time to become quite maimed; and, + temporarily, Pip was put into his place. +

+

+ The first time Stubb lowered with him, Pip evinced much nervousness; but + happily, for that time, escaped close contact with the whale; and + therefore came off not altogether discreditably; though Stubb observing + him, took care, afterwards, to exhort him to cherish his courageousness to + the utmost, for he might often find it needful. +

+

+ Now upon the second lowering, the boat paddled upon the whale; and as the + fish received the darted iron, it gave its customary rap, which happened, + in this instance, to be right under poor Pip’s seat. The involuntary + consternation of the moment caused him to leap, paddle in hand, out of the + boat; and in such a way, that part of the slack whale line coming against + his chest, he breasted it overboard with him, so as to become entangled in + it, when at last plumping into the water. That instant the stricken whale + started on a fierce run, the line swiftly straightened; and presto! poor + Pip came all foaming up to the chocks of the boat, remorselessly dragged + there by the line, which had taken several turns around his chest and + neck. +

+

+ Tashtego stood in the bows. He was full of the fire of the hunt. He hated + Pip for a poltroon. Snatching the boat-knife from its sheath, he suspended + its sharp edge over the line, and turning towards Stubb, exclaimed + interrogatively, “Cut?” Meantime Pip’s blue, choked face plainly looked, + Do, for God’s sake! All passed in a flash. In less than half a minute, + this entire thing happened. +

+

+ “Damn him, cut!” roared Stubb; and so the whale was lost and Pip was + saved. +

+

+ So soon as he recovered himself, the poor little negro was assailed by + yells and execrations from the crew. Tranquilly permitting these irregular + cursings to evaporate, Stubb then in a plain, business-like, but still + half humorous manner, cursed Pip officially; and that done, unofficially + gave him much wholesome advice. The substance was, Never jump from a boat, + Pip, except—but all the rest was indefinite, as the soundest advice + ever is. Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in + whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still + better. Moreover, as if perceiving at last that if he should give + undiluted conscientious advice to Pip, he would be leaving him too wide a + margin to jump in for the future; Stubb suddenly dropped all advice, and + concluded with a peremptory command, “Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the + Lord, I won’t pick you up if you jump; mind that. We can’t afford to lose + whales by the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you + would, Pip, in Alabama. Bear that in mind, and don’t jump any more.” + Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted, that though man loved his fellow, + yet man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes + with his benevolence. +

+

+ But we are all in the hands of the Gods; and Pip jumped again. It was + under very similar circumstances to the first performance; but this time + he did not breast out the line; and hence, when the whale started to run, + Pip was left behind on the sea, like a hurried traveller’s trunk. Alas! + Stubb was but too true to his word. It was a beautiful, bounteous, blue + day; the spangled sea calm and cool, and flatly stretching away, all + round, to the horizon, like gold-beater’s skin hammered out to the + extremest. Bobbing up and down in that sea, Pip’s ebon head showed like a + head of cloves. No boat-knife was lifted when he fell so rapidly astern. + Stubb’s inexorable back was turned upon him; and the whale was winged. In + three minutes, a whole mile of shoreless ocean was between Pip and Stubb. + Out from the centre of the sea, poor Pip turned his crisp, curling, black + head to the sun, another lonely castaway, though the loftiest and the + brightest. +

+

+ Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the + practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore. But the awful + lonesomeness is intolerable. The intense concentration of self in the + middle of such a heartless immensity, my God! who can tell it? Mark, how + when sailors in a dead calm bathe in the open sea—mark how closely + they hug their ship and only coast along her sides. +

+

+ But had Stubb really abandoned the poor little negro to his fate? No; he + did not mean to, at least. Because there were two boats in his wake, and + he supposed, no doubt, that they would of course come up to Pip very + quickly, and pick him up; though, indeed, such considerations towards + oarsmen jeopardized through their own timidity, is not always manifested + by the hunters in all similar instances; and such instances not + unfrequently occur; almost invariably in the fishery, a coward, so called, + is marked with the same ruthless detestation peculiar to military navies + and armies. +

+

+ But it so happened, that those boats, without seeing Pip, suddenly spying + whales close to them on one side, turned, and gave chase; and Stubb’s boat + was now so far away, and he and all his crew so intent upon his fish, that + Pip’s ringed horizon began to expand around him miserably. By the merest + chance the ship itself at last rescued him; but from that hour the little + negro went about the deck an idiot; such, at least, they said he was. The + sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his + soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous + depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and + fro before his passive eyes; and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his + hoarded heaps; and among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, + Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the + firmament of waters heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God’s foot upon the + treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him + mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal + reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is + absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent + as his God. +

+

+ For the rest, blame not Stubb too hardly. The thing is common in that + fishery; and in the sequel of the narrative, it will then be seen what + like abandonment befell myself. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 94. A Squeeze of the Hand. +

+

+ That whale of Stubb’s, so dearly purchased, was duly brought to the + Pequod’s side, where all those cutting and hoisting operations previously + detailed, were regularly gone through, even to the baling of the + Heidelburgh Tun, or Case. +

+

+ While some were occupied with this latter duty, others were employed in + dragging away the larger tubs, so soon as filled with the sperm; and when + the proper time arrived, this same sperm was carefully manipulated ere + going to the try-works, of which anon. +

+

+ It had cooled and crystallized to such a degree, that when, with several + others, I sat down before a large Constantine’s bath of it, I found it + strangely concreted into lumps, here and there rolling about in the liquid + part. It was our business to squeeze these lumps back into fluid. A sweet + and unctuous duty! No wonder that in old times this sperm was such a + favourite cosmetic. Such a clearer! such a sweetener! such a softener! + such a delicious molifier! After having my hands in it for only a few + minutes, my fingers felt like eels, and began, as it were, to serpentine + and spiralise. +

+

+ As I sat there at my ease, cross-legged on the deck; after the bitter + exertion at the windlass; under a blue tranquil sky; the ship under + indolent sail, and gliding so serenely along; as I bathed my hands among + those soft, gentle globules of infiltrated tissues, woven almost within + the hour; as they richly broke to my fingers, and discharged all their + opulence, like fully ripe grapes their wine; as I snuffed up that + uncontaminated aroma,—literally and truly, like the smell of spring + violets; I declare to you, that for the time I lived as in a musky meadow; + I forgot all about our horrible oath; in that inexpressible sperm, I + washed my hands and my heart of it; I almost began to credit the old + Paracelsan superstition that sperm is of rare virtue in allaying the heat + of anger; while bathing in that bath, I felt divinely free from all + ill-will, or petulance, or malice, of any sort whatsoever. +

+

+ Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm + till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange + sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my + co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. + Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this + avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and + looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,—Oh! my + dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or + know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all + round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze + ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness. +

+

+ Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by + many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases + man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable + felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in + the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the + country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case + eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of + angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti. +

+

+ Now, while discoursing of sperm, it behooves to speak of other things akin + to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works. +

+

+ First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering + part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is + tough with congealed tendons—a wad of muscle—but still + contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is + first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer. They look much + like blocks of Berkshire marble. +

+

+ Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of the + whale’s flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber, and + often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness. It is a + most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold. As its name + imports, it is of an exceedingly rich, mottled tint, with a bestreaked + snowy and golden ground, dotted with spots of the deepest crimson and + purple. It is plums of rubies, in pictures of citron. Spite of reason, it + is hard to keep yourself from eating it. I confess, that once I stole + behind the foremast to try it. It tasted something as I should conceive a + royal cutlet from the thigh of Louis le Gros might have tasted, supposing + him to have been killed the first day after the venison season, and that + particular venison season contemporary with an unusually fine vintage of + the vineyards of Champagne. +

+

+ There is another substance, and a very singular one, which turns up in the + course of this business, but which I feel it to be very puzzling + adequately to describe. It is called slobgollion; an appellation original + with the whalemen, and even so is the nature of the substance. It is an + ineffably oozy, stringy affair, most frequently found in the tubs of + sperm, after a prolonged squeezing, and subsequent decanting. I hold it to + be the wondrously thin, ruptured membranes of the case, coalescing. +

+

+ Gurry, so called, is a term properly belonging to right whalemen, but + sometimes incidentally used by the sperm fishermen. It designates the + dark, glutinous substance which is scraped off the back of the Greenland + or right whale, and much of which covers the decks of those inferior souls + who hunt that ignoble Leviathan. +

+

+ Nippers. Strictly this word is not indigenous to the whale’s vocabulary. + But as applied by whalemen, it becomes so. A whaleman’s nipper is a short + firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan’s + tail: it averages an inch in thickness, and for the rest, is about the + size of the iron part of a hoe. Edgewise moved along the oily deck, it + operates like a leathern squilgee; and by nameless blandishments, as of + magic, allures along with it all impurities. +

+

+ But to learn all about these recondite matters, your best way is at once + to descend into the blubber-room, and have a long talk with its inmates. + This place has previously been mentioned as the receptacle for the + blanket-pieces, when stript and hoisted from the whale. When the proper + time arrives for cutting up its contents, this apartment is a scene of + terror to all tyros, especially by night. On one side, lit by a dull + lantern, a space has been left clear for the workmen. They generally go in + pairs,—a pike-and-gaffman and a spade-man. The whaling-pike is + similar to a frigate’s boarding-weapon of the same name. The gaff is + something like a boat-hook. With his gaff, the gaffman hooks on to a sheet + of blubber, and strives to hold it from slipping, as the ship pitches and + lurches about. Meanwhile, the spade-man stands on the sheet itself, + perpendicularly chopping it into the portable horse-pieces. This spade is + sharp as hone can make it; the spademan’s feet are shoeless; the thing he + stands on will sometimes irresistibly slide away from him, like a sledge. + If he cuts off one of his own toes, or one of his assistants’, would you + be very much astonished? Toes are scarce among veteran blubber-room men. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 95. The Cassock. +

+

+ Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this + post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the + windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small + curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen + there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers. Not the wondrous + cistern in the whale’s huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower + jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so + surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,—longer + than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and + jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg. And an idol, indeed, it is; + or, rather, in old times, its likeness was. Such an idol as that found in + the secret groves of Queen Maachah in Judea; and for worshipping which, + King Asa, her son, did depose her, and destroyed the idol, and burnt it + for an abomination at the brook Kedron, as darkly set forth in the 15th + chapter of the First Book of Kings. +

+

+ Look at the sailor, called the mincer, who now comes along, and assisted + by two allies, heavily backs the grandissimus, as the mariners call it, + and with bowed shoulders, staggers off with it as if he were a grenadier + carrying a dead comrade from the field. Extending it upon the forecastle + deck, he now proceeds cylindrically to remove its dark pelt, as an African + hunter the pelt of a boa. This done he turns the pelt inside out, like a + pantaloon leg; gives it a good stretching, so as almost to double its + diameter; and at last hangs it, well spread, in the rigging, to dry. Ere + long, it is taken down; when removing some three feet of it, towards the + pointed extremity, and then cutting two slits for arm-holes at the other + end, he lengthwise slips himself bodily into it. The mincer now stands + before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling. Immemorial to + all his order, this investiture alone will adequately protect him, while + employed in the peculiar functions of his office. +

+

+ That office consists in mincing the horse-pieces of blubber for the pots; + an operation which is conducted at a curious wooden horse, planted endwise + against the bulwarks, and with a capacious tub beneath it, into which the + minced pieces drop, fast as the sheets from a rapt orator’s desk. Arrayed + in decent black; occupying a conspicuous pulpit; intent on bible leaves; + what a candidate for an archbishopric, what a lad for a Pope were this + mincer!* +

+

+ *Bible leaves! Bible leaves! This is the invariable cry from the mates to + the mincer. It enjoins him to be careful, and cut his work into as thin + slices as possible, inasmuch as by so doing the business of boiling out + the oil is much accelerated, and its quantity considerably increased, + besides perhaps improving it in quality. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works. +

+

+ Besides her hoisted boats, an American whaler is outwardly distinguished + by her try-works. She presents the curious anomaly of the most solid + masonry joining with oak and hemp in constituting the completed ship. It + is as if from the open field a brick-kiln were transported to her planks. +

+

+ The try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, the most + roomy part of the deck. The timbers beneath are of a peculiar strength, + fitted to sustain the weight of an almost solid mass of brick and mortar, + some ten feet by eight square, and five in height. The foundation does not + penetrate the deck, but the masonry is firmly secured to the surface by + ponderous knees of iron bracing it on all sides, and screwing it down to + the timbers. On the flanks it is cased with wood, and at top completely + covered by a large, sloping, battened hatchway. Removing this hatch we + expose the great try-pots, two in number, and each of several barrels’ + capacity. When not in use, they are kept remarkably clean. Sometimes they + are polished with soapstone and sand, till they shine within like silver + punch-bowls. During the night-watches some cynical old sailors will crawl + into them and coil themselves away there for a nap. While employed in + polishing them—one man in each pot, side by side—many + confidential communications are carried on, over the iron lips. It is a + place also for profound mathematical meditation. It was in the left hand + try-pot of the Pequod, with the soapstone diligently circling round me, + that I was first indirectly struck by the remarkable fact, that in + geometry all bodies gliding along the cycloid, my soapstone for example, + will descend from any point in precisely the same time. +

+

+ Removing the fire-board from the front of the try-works, the bare masonry + of that side is exposed, penetrated by the two iron mouths of the + furnaces, directly underneath the pots. These mouths are fitted with heavy + doors of iron. The intense heat of the fire is prevented from + communicating itself to the deck, by means of a shallow reservoir + extending under the entire inclosed surface of the works. By a tunnel + inserted at the rear, this reservoir is kept replenished with water as + fast as it evaporates. There are no external chimneys; they open direct + from the rear wall. And here let us go back for a moment. +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ “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. Would + that he consumed his own smoke! for his smoke is horrible to inhale, and + inhale it you must, and not only that, but you must live in it for the + time. It has an unspeakable, wild, Hindoo odor about it, such as may lurk + in the vicinity of funereal pyres. It smells like the left wing of the day + of judgment; it is an argument for the pit. +

+

+ By midnight the works were in full operation. We were clear from the + carcase; sail had been made; the wind was freshening; the wild ocean + darkness was intense. But that darkness was licked up by the fierce + flames, which at intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and + illuminated every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire. + The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned to some + vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs of the bold + Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors, with broad sheets + of flame for sails, bore down upon the Turkish frigates, and folded them + in conflagrations. +

+

+ The hatch, removed from the top of the works, now afforded a wide hearth + in front of them. Standing on this were the Tartarean shapes of the pagan + harpooneers, always the whale-ship’s stokers. With huge pronged poles they + pitched hissing masses of blubber into the scalding pots, or stirred up + the fires beneath, till the snaky flames darted, curling, out of the doors + to catch them by the feet. The smoke rolled away in sullen heaps. To every + pitch of the ship there was a pitch of the boiling oil, which seemed all + eagerness to leap into their faces. Opposite the mouth of the works, on + the further side of the wide wooden hearth, was the windlass. This served + for a sea-sofa. Here lounged the watch, when not otherwise employed, + looking into the red heat of the fire, till their eyes felt scorched in + their heads. Their tawny features, now all begrimed with smoke and sweat, + their matted beards, and the contrasting barbaric brilliancy of their + teeth, all these were strangely revealed in the capricious emblazonings of + the works. As they narrated to each other their unholy adventures, their + tales of terror told in words of mirth; as their uncivilized laughter + forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace; as to and + fro, in their front, the harpooneers wildly gesticulated with their huge + pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and + the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly shot her red hell further + and further into the blackness of the sea and the night, and scornfully + champed the white bone in her mouth, and viciously spat round her on all + sides; then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with + fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, + seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander’s soul. +

+

+ So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long hours silently + guided the way of this fire-ship on the sea. Wrapped, for that interval, + in darkness myself, I but the better saw the redness, the madness, the + ghastliness of others. The continual sight of the fiend shapes before me, + capering half in smoke and half in fire, these at last begat kindred + visions in my soul, so soon as I began to yield to that unaccountable + drowsiness which ever would come over me at a midnight helm. +

+

+ But that night, in particular, a strange (and ever since inexplicable) + thing occurred to me. Starting from a brief standing sleep, I was horribly + conscious of something fatally wrong. The jaw-bone tiller smote my side, + which leaned against it; in my ears was the low hum of sails, just + beginning to shake in the wind; I thought my eyes were open; I was half + conscious of putting my fingers to the lids and mechanically stretching + them still further apart. But, spite of all this, I could see no compass + before me to steer by; though it seemed but a minute since I had been + watching the card, by the steady binnacle lamp illuminating it. Nothing + seemed before me but a jet gloom, now and then made ghastly by flashes of + redness. Uppermost was the impression, that whatever swift, rushing thing + I stood on was not so much bound to any haven ahead as rushing from all + havens astern. A stark, bewildered feeling, as of death, came over me. + Convulsively my hands grasped the tiller, but with the crazy conceit that + the tiller was, somehow, in some enchanted way, inverted. My God! what is + the matter with me? thought I. Lo! in my brief sleep I had turned myself + about, and was fronting the ship’s stern, with my back to her prow and the + compass. In an instant I faced back, just in time to prevent the vessel + from flying up into the wind, and very probably capsizing her. How glad + and how grateful the relief from this unnatural hallucination of the + night, and the fatal contingency of being brought by the lee! +

+

+ Look not too long in the face of the fire, O man! Never dream with thy + hand on the helm! Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint + of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness + makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies + will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the + morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, + golden, glad sun, the only true lamp—all others but liars! +

+

+ Nevertheless the sun hides not Virginia’s Dismal Swamp, nor Rome’s + accursed Campagna, nor wide Sahara, nor all the millions of miles of + deserts and of griefs beneath the moon. The sun hides not the ocean, which + is the dark side of this earth, and which is two thirds of this earth. So, + therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that + mortal man cannot be true—not true, or undeveloped. With books the + same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all + books is Solomon’s, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe. + “All is vanity.” ALL. This wilful world hath not got hold of unchristian + Solomon’s wisdom yet. But he who dodges hospitals and jails, and walks + fast crossing graveyards, and would rather talk of operas than hell; calls + Cowper, Young, Pascal, Rousseau, poor devils all of sick men; and + throughout a care-free lifetime swears by Rabelais as passing wise, and + therefore jolly;—not that man is fitted to sit down on tomb-stones, + and break the green damp mould with unfathomably wondrous Solomon. +

+

+ But even Solomon, he says, “the man that wandereth out of the way of + understanding shall remain” (i.e., even while living) “in the congregation + of the dead.” Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, + deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but + there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some + souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of + them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for + ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even + in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds + upon the plain, even though they soar. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 97. The Lamp. +

+

+ Had you descended from the Pequod’s try-works to the Pequod’s forecastle, + where the off duty watch were sleeping, for one single moment you would + have almost thought you were standing in some illuminated shrine of + canonized kings and counsellors. There they lay in their triangular oaken + vaults, each mariner a chiselled muteness; a score of lamps flashing upon + his hooded eyes. +

+

+ In merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens. + To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in darkness to his + pallet, this is his usual lot. But the whaleman, as he seeks the food of + light, so he lives in light. He makes his berth an Aladdin’s lamp, and + lays him down in it; so that in the pitchiest night the ship’s black hull + still houses an illumination. +

+

+ See with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of lamps—often + but old bottles and vials, though—to the copper cooler at the + try-works, and replenishes them there, as mugs of ale at a vat. He burns, + too, the purest of oil, in its unmanufactured, and, therefore, unvitiated + state; a fluid unknown to solar, lunar, or astral contrivances ashore. It + is sweet as early grass butter in April. He goes and hunts for his oil, so + as to be sure of its freshness and genuineness, even as the traveller on + the prairie hunts up his own supper of game. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up. +

+

+ Already has it been related how the great leviathan is afar off descried + from the mast-head; how he is chased over the watery moors, and + slaughtered in the valleys of the deep; how he is then towed alongside and + beheaded; and how (on the principle which entitled the headsman of old to + the garments in which the beheaded was killed) his great padded surtout + becomes the property of his executioner; how, in due time, he is condemned + to the pots, and, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti, + oil, and bone pass unscathed through the fire;—but now it remains to + conclude the last chapter of this part of the description by rehearsing—singing, + if I may—the romantic proceeding of decanting off his oil into the + casks and striking them down into the hold, where once again leviathan + returns to his native profundities, sliding along beneath the surface as + before; but, alas! never more to rise and blow. +

+

+ While still warm, the oil, like hot punch, is received into the six-barrel + casks; and while, perhaps, the ship is pitching and rolling this way and + that in the midnight sea, the enormous casks are slewed round and headed + over, end for end, and sometimes perilously scoot across the slippery + deck, like so many land slides, till at last man-handled and stayed in + their course; and all round the hoops, rap, rap, go as many hammers as can + play upon them, for now, ex officio, every sailor is a cooper. +

+

+ At length, when the last pint is casked, and all is cool, then the great + hatchways are unsealed, the bowels of the ship are thrown open, and down + go the casks to their final rest in the sea. This done, the hatches are + replaced, and hermetically closed, like a closet walled up. +

+

+ In the sperm fishery, this is perhaps one of the most remarkable incidents + in all the business of whaling. One day the planks stream with freshets of + blood and oil; on the sacred quarter-deck enormous masses of the whale’s + head are profanely piled; great rusty casks lie about, as in a brewery + yard; the smoke from the try-works has besooted all the bulwarks; the + mariners go about suffused with unctuousness; the entire ship seems great + leviathan himself; while on all hands the din is deafening. +

+

+ But a day or two after, you look about you, and prick your ears in this + self-same ship; and were it not for the tell-tale boats and try-works, you + would all but swear you trod some silent merchant vessel, with a most + scrupulously neat commander. The unmanufactured sperm oil possesses a + singularly cleansing virtue. This is the reason why the decks never look + so white as just after what they call an affair of oil. Besides, from the + ashes of the burned scraps of the whale, a potent lye is readily made; and + whenever any adhesiveness from the back of the whale remains clinging to + the side, that lye quickly exterminates it. Hands go diligently along the + bulwarks, and with buckets of water and rags restore them to their full + tidiness. The soot is brushed from the lower rigging. All the numerous + implements which have been in use are likewise faithfully cleansed and put + away. The great hatch is scrubbed and placed upon the try-works, + completely hiding the pots; every cask is out of sight; all tackles are + coiled in unseen nooks; and when by the combined and simultaneous industry + of almost the entire ship’s company, the whole of this conscientious duty + is at last concluded, then the crew themselves proceed to their own + ablutions; shift themselves from top to toe; and finally issue to the + immaculate deck, fresh and all aglow, as bridegrooms new-leaped from out + the daintiest Holland. +

+

+ Now, with elated step, they pace the planks in twos and threes, and + humorously discourse of parlors, sofas, carpets, and fine cambrics; + propose to mat the deck; think of having hanging to the top; object not to + taking tea by moonlight on the piazza of the forecastle. To hint to such + musked mariners of oil, and bone, and blubber, were little short of + audacity. They know not the thing you distantly allude to. Away, and bring + us napkins! +

+

+ But mark: aloft there, at the three mast heads, stand three men intent on + spying out more whales, which, if caught, infallibly will again soil the + old oaken furniture, and drop at least one small grease-spot somewhere. + Yes; and many is the time, when, after the severest uninterrupted labors, + which know no night; continuing straight through for ninety-six hours; + when from the boat, where they have swelled their wrists with all day + rowing on the Line,—they only step to the deck to carry vast chains, + and heave the heavy windlass, and cut and slash, yea, and in their very + sweatings to be smoked and burned anew by the combined fires of the + equatorial sun and the equatorial try-works; when, on the heel of all + this, they have finally bestirred themselves to cleanse the ship, and make + a spotless dairy room of it; many is the time the poor fellows, just + buttoning the necks of their clean frocks, are startled by the cry of + “There she blows!” and away they fly to fight another whale, and go + through the whole weary thing again. Oh! my friends, but this is + man-killing! Yet this is life. For hardly have we mortals by long toilings + extracted from this world’s vast bulk its small but valuable sperm; and + then, with weary patience, cleansed ourselves from its defilements, and + learned to live here in clean tabernacles of the soul; hardly is this + done, when—There she blows!—the ghost is spouted up, and away + we sail to fight some other world, and go through young life’s old routine + again. +

+

+ Oh! the metempsychosis! Oh! Pythagoras, that in bright Greece, two + thousand years ago, did die, so good, so wise, so mild; I sailed with thee + along the Peruvian coast last voyage—and, foolish as I am, taught + thee, a green simple boy, how to splice a rope! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon. +

+

+ Ere now it has been related how Ahab was wont to pace his quarter-deck, + taking regular turns at either limit, the binnacle and mainmast; but in + the multiplicity of other things requiring narration it has not been added + how that sometimes in these walks, when most plunged in his mood, he was + wont to pause in turn at each spot, and stand there strangely eyeing the + particular object before him. When he halted before the binnacle, with his + glance fastened on the pointed needle in the compass, that glance shot + like a javelin with the pointed intensity of his purpose; and when + resuming his walk he again paused before the mainmast, then, as the same + riveted glance fastened upon the riveted gold coin there, he still wore + the same aspect of nailed firmness, only dashed with a certain wild + longing, if not hopefulness. +

+

+ But one morning, turning to pass the doubloon, he seemed to be newly + attracted by the strange figures and inscriptions stamped on it, as though + now for the first time beginning to interpret for himself in some + monomaniac way whatever significance might lurk in them. And some certain + significance lurks in all things, else all things are little worth, and + the round world itself but an empty cipher, except to sell by the + cartload, as they do hills about Boston, to fill up some morass in the + Milky Way. +

+

+ Now this doubloon was of purest, virgin gold, raked somewhere out of the + heart of gorgeous hills, whence, east and west, over golden sands, the + head-waters of many a Pactolus flows. And though now nailed amidst all the + rustiness of iron bolts and the verdigris of copper spikes, yet, + untouchable and immaculate to any foulness, it still preserved its Quito + glow. Nor, though placed amongst a ruthless crew and every hour passed by + ruthless hands, and through the livelong nights shrouded with thick + darkness which might cover any pilfering approach, nevertheless every + sunrise found the doubloon where the sunset left it last. For it was set + apart and sanctified to one awe-striking end; and however wanton in their + sailor ways, one and all, the mariners revered it as the white whale’s + talisman. Sometimes they talked it over in the weary watch by night, + wondering whose it was to be at last, and whether he would ever live to + spend it. +

+

+ Now those noble golden coins of South America are as medals of the sun and + tropic token-pieces. Here palms, alpacas, and volcanoes; sun’s disks and + stars; ecliptics, horns-of-plenty, and rich banners waving, are in + luxuriant profusion stamped; so that the precious gold seems almost to + derive an added preciousness and enhancing glories, by passing through + those fancy mints, so Spanishly poetic. +

+

+ It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example + of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL + ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the + middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; + and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows + no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes’ + summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing + cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the + signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun + entering the equinoctial point at Libra. +

+

+ Before this equatorial coin, Ahab, not unobserved by others, was now + pausing. +

+

+ “There’s something ever egotistical in mountain-tops and towers, and all + other grand and lofty things; look here,—three peaks as proud as + Lucifer. The firm tower, that is Ahab; the volcano, that is Ahab; the + courageous, the undaunted, and victorious fowl, that, too, is Ahab; all + are Ahab; and this round gold is but the image of the rounder globe, + which, like a magician’s glass, to each and every man in turn but mirrors + back his own mysterious self. Great pains, small gains for those who ask + the world to solve them; it cannot solve itself. Methinks now this coined + sun wears a ruddy face; but see! aye, he enters the sign of storms, the + equinox! and but six months before he wheeled out of a former equinox at + Aries! From storm to storm! So be it, then. Born in throes, ’tis fit that + man should live in pains and die in pangs! So be it, then! Here’s stout + stuff for woe to work on. So be it, then.” +

+

+ “No fairy fingers can have pressed the gold, but devil’s claws must have + left their mouldings there since yesterday,” murmured Starbuck to himself, + leaning against the bulwarks. “The old man seems to read Belshazzar’s + awful writing. I have never marked the coin inspectingly. He goes below; + let me read. A dark valley between three mighty, heaven-abiding peaks, + that almost seem the Trinity, in some faint earthly symbol. So in this + vale of Death, God girds us round; and over all our gloom, the sun of + Righteousness still shines a beacon and a hope. If we bend down our eyes, + the dark vale shows her mouldy soil; but if we lift them, the bright sun + meets our glance half way, to cheer. Yet, oh, the great sun is no fixture; + and if, at midnight, we would fain snatch some sweet solace from him, we + gaze for him in vain! This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still + sadly to me. I will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely.” +

+

+ “There now’s the old Mogul,” soliloquized Stubb by the try-works, “he’s + been twigging it; and there goes Starbuck from the same, and both with + faces which I should say might be somewhere within nine fathoms long. And + all from looking at a piece of gold, which did I have it now on Negro Hill + or in Corlaer’s Hook, I’d not look at it very long ere spending it. Humph! + in my poor, insignificant opinion, I regard this as queer. I have seen + doubloons before now in my voyagings; your doubloons of old Spain, your + doubloons of Peru, your doubloons of Chili, your doubloons of Bolivia, + your doubloons of Popayan; with plenty of gold moidores and pistoles, and + joes, and half joes, and quarter joes. What then should there be in this + doubloon of the Equator that is so killing wonderful? By Golconda! let me + read it once. Halloa! here’s signs and wonders truly! That, now, is what + old Bowditch in his Epitome calls the zodiac, and what my almanac below + calls ditto. I’ll get the almanac and as I have heard devils can be raised + with Daboll’s arithmetic, I’ll try my hand at raising a meaning out of + these queer curvicues here with the Massachusetts calendar. Here’s the + book. Let’s see now. Signs and wonders; and the sun, he’s always among + ’em. Hem, hem, hem; here they are—here they go—all alive:—Aries, + or the Ram; Taurus, or the Bull and Jimimi! here’s Gemini himself, or the + Twins. Well; the sun he wheels among ’em. Aye, here on the coin he’s just + crossing the threshold between two of twelve sitting-rooms all in a ring. + Book! you lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You’ll + do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the + thoughts. That’s my small experience, so far as the Massachusetts + calendar, and Bowditch’s navigator, and Daboll’s arithmetic go. Signs and + wonders, eh? Pity if there is nothing wonderful in signs, and significant + in wonders! There’s a clue somewhere; wait a bit; hist—hark! By + Jove, I have it! Look you, Doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man + in one round chapter; and now I’ll read it off, straight out of the book. + Come, Almanack! To begin: there’s Aries, or the Ram—lecherous dog, + he begets us; then, Taurus, or the Bull—he bumps us the first thing; + then Gemini, or the Twins—that is, Virtue and Vice; we try to reach + Virtue, when lo! comes Cancer the Crab, and drags us back; and here, going + from Virtue, Leo, a roaring Lion, lies in the path—he gives a few + fierce bites and surly dabs with his paw; we escape, and hail Virgo, the + Virgin! that’s our first love; we marry and think to be happy for aye, + when pop comes Libra, or the Scales—happiness weighed and found + wanting; and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, + as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in the rear; we are curing the + wound, when whang come the arrows all round; Sagittarius, or the Archer, + is amusing himself. As we pluck out the shafts, stand aside! here’s the + battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and + headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, pours out his + whole deluge and drowns us; and to wind up with Pisces, or the Fishes, we + sleep. There’s a sermon now, writ in high heaven, and the sun goes through + it every year, and yet comes out of it all alive and hearty. Jollily he, + aloft there, wheels through toil and trouble; and so, alow here, does + jolly Stubb. Oh, jolly’s the word for aye! Adieu, Doubloon! But stop; here + comes little King-Post; dodge round the try-works, now, and let’s hear + what he’ll have to say. There; he’s before it; he’ll out with something + presently. So, so; he’s beginning.” +

+

+ “I see nothing here, but a round thing made of gold, and whoever raises a + certain whale, this round thing belongs to him. So, what’s all this + staring been about? It is worth sixteen dollars, that’s true; and at two + cents the cigar, that’s nine hundred and sixty cigars. I won’t smoke dirty + pipes like Stubb, but I like cigars, and here’s nine hundred and sixty of + them; so here goes Flask aloft to spy ’em out.” +

+

+ “Shall I call that wise or foolish, now; if it be really wise it has a + foolish look to it; yet, if it be really foolish, then has it a sort of + wiseish look to it. But, avast; here comes our old Manxman—the old + hearse-driver, he must have been, that is, before he took to the sea. He + luffs up before the doubloon; halloa, and goes round on the other side of + the mast; why, there’s a horse-shoe nailed on that side; and now he’s back + again; what does that mean? Hark! he’s muttering—voice like an old + worn-out coffee-mill. Prick ears, and listen!” +

+

+ “If the White Whale be raised, it must be in a month and a day, when the + sun stands in some one of these signs. I’ve studied signs, and know their + marks; they were taught me two score years ago, by the old witch in + Copenhagen. Now, in what sign will the sun then be? The horse-shoe sign; + for there it is, right opposite the gold. And what’s the horse-shoe sign? + The lion is the horse-shoe sign—the roaring and devouring lion. + Ship, old ship! my old head shakes to think of thee.” +

+

+ “There’s another rendering now; but still one text. All sorts of men in + one kind of world, you see. Dodge again! here comes Queequeg—all + tattooing—looks like the signs of the Zodiac himself. What says the + Cannibal? As I live he’s comparing notes; looking at his thigh bone; + thinks the sun is in the thigh, or in the calf, or in the bowels, I + suppose, as the old women talk Surgeon’s Astronomy in the back country. + And by Jove, he’s found something there in the vicinity of his thigh—I + guess it’s Sagittarius, or the Archer. No: he don’t know what to make of + the doubloon; he takes it for an old button off some king’s trowsers. But, + aside again! here comes that ghost-devil, Fedallah; tail coiled out of + sight as usual, oakum in the toes of his pumps as usual. What does he say, + with that look of his? Ah, only makes a sign to the sign and bows himself; + there is a sun on the coin—fire worshipper, depend upon it. Ho! more + and more. This way comes Pip—poor boy! would he had died, or I; he’s + half horrible to me. He too has been watching all of these interpreters—myself + included—and look now, he comes to read, with that unearthly idiot + face. Stand away again and hear him. Hark!” +

+

+ “I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look.” +

+

+ “Upon my soul, he’s been studying Murray’s Grammar! Improving his mind, + poor fellow! But what’s that he says now—hist!” +

+

+ “I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look.” +

+

+ “Why, he’s getting it by heart—hist! again.” +

+

+ “I look, you look, he looks; we look, ye look, they look.” +

+

+ “Well, that’s funny.” +

+

+ “And I, you, and he; and we, ye, and they, are all bats; and I’m a crow, + especially when I stand a’top of this pine tree here. Caw! caw! caw! caw! + caw! caw! Ain’t I a crow? And where’s the scare-crow? There he stands; two + bones stuck into a pair of old trowsers, and two more poked into the + sleeves of an old jacket.” +

+

+ “Wonder if he means me?—complimentary!—poor lad!—I could + go hang myself. Any way, for the present, I’ll quit Pip’s vicinity. I can + stand the rest, for they have plain wits; but he’s too crazy-witty for my + sanity. So, so, I leave him muttering.” +

+

+ “Here’s the ship’s navel, this doubloon here, and they are all on fire to + unscrew it. But, unscrew your navel, and what’s the consequence? Then + again, if it stays here, that is ugly, too, for when aught’s nailed to the + mast it’s a sign that things grow desperate. Ha, ha! old Ahab! the White + Whale; he’ll nail ye! This is a pine tree. My father, in old Tolland + county, cut down a pine tree once, and found a silver ring grown over in + it; some old darkey’s wedding ring. How did it get there? And so they’ll + say in the resurrection, when they come to fish up this old mast, and find + a doubloon lodged in it, with bedded oysters for the shaggy bark. Oh, the + gold! the precious, precious, gold! the green miser’ll hoard ye soon! + Hish! hish! God goes ’mong the worlds blackberrying. Cook! ho, cook! and + cook us! Jenny! hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Jenny, Jenny! and get your + hoe-cake done!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 100. Leg and Arm. +

+

+ The Pequod, of Nantucket, Meets the Samuel Enderby, of London. +

+

+ “Ship, ahoy! Hast seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ So cried Ahab, once more hailing a ship showing English colours, bearing + down under the stern. Trumpet to mouth, the old man was standing in his + hoisted quarter-boat, his ivory leg plainly revealed to the stranger + captain, who was carelessly reclining in his own boat’s bow. He was a + darkly-tanned, burly, good-natured, fine-looking man, of sixty or + thereabouts, dressed in a spacious roundabout, that hung round him in + festoons of blue pilot-cloth; and one empty arm of this jacket streamed + behind him like the broidered arm of a hussar’s surcoat. +

+

+ “Hast seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ “See you this?” and withdrawing it from the folds that had hidden it, he + held up a white arm of sperm whale bone, terminating in a wooden head like + a mallet. +

+

+ “Man my boat!” cried Ahab, impetuously, and tossing about the oars near + him—“Stand by to lower!” +

+

+ In less than a minute, without quitting his little craft, he and his crew + were dropped to the water, and were soon alongside of the stranger. But + here a curious difficulty presented itself. In the excitement of the + moment, Ahab had forgotten that since the loss of his leg he had never + once stepped on board of any vessel at sea but his own, and then it was + always by an ingenious and very handy mechanical contrivance peculiar to + the Pequod, and a thing not to be rigged and shipped in any other vessel + at a moment’s warning. Now, it is no very easy matter for anybody—except + those who are almost hourly used to it, like whalemen—to clamber up + a ship’s side from a boat on the open sea; for the great swells now lift + the boat high up towards the bulwarks, and then instantaneously drop it + half way down to the kelson. So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship + of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now + found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again; hopelessly + eyeing the uncertain changeful height he could hardly hope to attain. +

+

+ It has before been hinted, perhaps, that every little untoward + circumstance that befell him, and which indirectly sprang from his + luckless mishap, almost invariably irritated or exasperated Ahab. And in + the present instance, all this was heightened by the sight of the two + officers of the strange ship, leaning over the side, by the perpendicular + ladder of nailed cleets there, and swinging towards him a pair of + tastefully-ornamented man-ropes; for at first they did not seem to bethink + them that a one-legged man must be too much of a cripple to use their sea + bannisters. But this awkwardness only lasted a minute, because the strange + captain, observing at a glance how affairs stood, cried out, “I see, I + see!—avast heaving there! Jump, boys, and swing over the + cutting-tackle.” +

+

+ As good luck would have it, they had had a whale alongside a day or two + previous, and the great tackles were still aloft, and the massive curved + blubber-hook, now clean and dry, was still attached to the end. This was + quickly lowered to Ahab, who at once comprehending it all, slid his + solitary thigh into the curve of the hook (it was like sitting in the + fluke of an anchor, or the crotch of an apple tree), and then giving the + word, held himself fast, and at the same time also helped to hoist his own + weight, by pulling hand-over-hand upon one of the running parts of the + tackle. Soon he was carefully swung inside the high bulwarks, and gently + landed upon the capstan head. With his ivory arm frankly thrust forth in + welcome, the other captain advanced, and Ahab, putting out his ivory leg, + and crossing the ivory arm (like two sword-fish blades) cried out in his + walrus way, “Aye, aye, hearty! let us shake bones together!—an arm + and a leg!—an arm that never can shrink, d’ye see; and a leg that + never can run. Where did’st thou see the White Whale?—how long ago?” +

+

+ “The White Whale,” said the Englishman, pointing his ivory arm towards the + East, and taking a rueful sight along it, as if it had been a telescope; + “there I saw him, on the Line, last season.” +

+

+ “And he took that arm off, did he?” asked Ahab, now sliding down from the + capstan, and resting on the Englishman’s shoulder, as he did so. +

+

+ “Aye, he was the cause of it, at least; and that leg, too?” +

+

+ “Spin me the yarn,” said Ahab; “how was it?” +

+

+ “It was the first time in my life that I ever cruised on the Line,” began + the Englishman. “I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time. Well, one + day we lowered for a pod of four or five whales, and my boat fastened to + one of them; a regular circus horse he was, too, that went milling and + milling round so, that my boat’s crew could only trim dish, by sitting all + their sterns on the outer gunwale. Presently up breaches from the bottom + of the sea a bouncing great whale, with a milky-white head and hump, all + crows’ feet and wrinkles.” +

+

+ “It was he, it was he!” cried Ahab, suddenly letting out his suspended + breath. +

+

+ “And harpoons sticking in near his starboard fin.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye—they were mine—my irons,” cried Ahab, exultingly—“but + on!” +

+

+ “Give me a chance, then,” said the Englishman, good-humoredly. “Well, this + old great-grandfather, with the white head and hump, runs all afoam into + the pod, and goes to snapping furiously at my fast-line! +

+

+ “Aye, I see!—wanted to part it; free the fast-fish—an old + trick—I know him.” +

+

+ “How it was exactly,” continued the one-armed commander, “I do not know; + but in biting the line, it got foul of his teeth, caught there somehow; + but we didn’t know it then; so that when we afterwards pulled on the line, + bounce we came plump on to his hump! instead of the other whale’s; that + went off to windward, all fluking. Seeing how matters stood, and what a + noble great whale it was—the noblest and biggest I ever saw, sir, in + my life—I resolved to capture him, spite of the boiling rage he + seemed to be in. And thinking the hap-hazard line would get loose, or the + tooth it was tangled to might draw (for I have a devil of a boat’s crew + for a pull on a whale-line); seeing all this, I say, I jumped into my + first mate’s boat—Mr. Mounttop’s here (by the way, Captain—Mounttop; + Mounttop—the captain);—as I was saying, I jumped into + Mounttop’s boat, which, d’ye see, was gunwale and gunwale with mine, then; + and snatching the first harpoon, let this old great-grandfather have it. + But, Lord, look you, sir—hearts and souls alive, man—the next + instant, in a jiff, I was blind as a bat—both eyes out—all + befogged and bedeadened with black foam—the whale’s tail looming + straight up out of it, perpendicular in the air, like a marble steeple. No + use sterning all, then; but as I was groping at midday, with a blinding + sun, all crown-jewels; as I was groping, I say, after the second iron, to + toss it overboard—down comes the tail like a Lima tower, cutting my + boat in two, leaving each half in splinters; and, flukes first, the white + hump backed through the wreck, as though it was all chips. We all struck + out. To escape his terrible flailings, I seized hold of my harpoon-pole + sticking in him, and for a moment clung to that like a sucking fish. But a + combing sea dashed me off, and at the same instant, the fish, taking one + good dart forwards, went down like a flash; and the barb of that cursed + second iron towing along near me caught me here” (clapping his hand just + below his shoulder); “yes, caught me just here, I say, and bore me down to + Hell’s flames, I was thinking; when, when, all of a sudden, thank the good + God, the barb ript its way along the flesh—clear along the whole + length of my arm—came out nigh my wrist, and up I floated;—and + that gentleman there will tell you the rest (by the way, captain—Dr. + Bunger, ship’s surgeon: Bunger, my lad,—the captain). Now, Bunger + boy, spin your part of the yarn.” +

+

+ The professional gentleman thus familiarly pointed out, had been all the + time standing near them, with nothing specific visible, to denote his + gentlemanly rank on board. His face was an exceedingly round but sober + one; he was dressed in a faded blue woollen frock or shirt, and patched + trowsers; and had thus far been dividing his attention between a + marlingspike he held in one hand, and a pill-box held in the other, + occasionally casting a critical glance at the ivory limbs of the two + crippled captains. But, at his superior’s introduction of him to Ahab, he + politely bowed, and straightway went on to do his captain’s bidding. +

+

+ “It was a shocking bad wound,” began the whale-surgeon; “and, taking my + advice, Captain Boomer here, stood our old Sammy—” +

+

+ “Samuel Enderby is the name of my ship,” interrupted the one-armed + captain, addressing Ahab; “go on, boy.” +

+

+ “Stood our old Sammy off to the northward, to get out of the blazing hot + weather there on the Line. But it was no use—I did all I could; sat + up with him nights; was very severe with him in the matter of diet—” +

+

+ “Oh, very severe!” chimed in the patient himself; then suddenly altering + his voice, “Drinking hot rum toddies with me every night, till he couldn’t + see to put on the bandages; and sending me to bed, half seas over, about + three o’clock in the morning. Oh, ye stars! he sat up with me indeed, and + was very severe in my diet. Oh! a great watcher, and very dietetically + severe, is Dr. Bunger. (Bunger, you dog, laugh out! why don’t ye? You know + you’re a precious jolly rascal.) But, heave ahead, boy, I’d rather be + killed by you than kept alive by any other man.” +

+

+ “My captain, you must have ere this perceived, respected sir”—said + the imperturbable godly-looking Bunger, slightly bowing to Ahab—“is + apt to be facetious at times; he spins us many clever things of that sort. + But I may as well say—en passant, as the French remark—that I + myself—that is to say, Jack Bunger, late of the reverend clergy—am + a strict total abstinence man; I never drink—” +

+

+ “Water!” cried the captain; “he never drinks it; it’s a sort of fits to + him; fresh water throws him into the hydrophobia; but go on—go on + with the arm story.” +

+

+ “Yes, I may as well,” said the surgeon, coolly. “I was about observing, + sir, before Captain Boomer’s facetious interruption, that spite of my best + and severest endeavors, the wound kept getting worse and worse; the truth + was, sir, it was as ugly gaping wound as surgeon ever saw; more than two + feet and several inches long. I measured it with the lead line. In short, + it grew black; I knew what was threatened, and off it came. But I had no + hand in shipping that ivory arm there; that thing is against all rule”—pointing + at it with the marlingspike—“that is the captain’s work, not mine; + he ordered the carpenter to make it; he had that club-hammer there put to + the end, to knock some one’s brains out with, I suppose, as he tried mine + once. He flies into diabolical passions sometimes. Do ye see this dent, + sir”—removing his hat, and brushing aside his hair, and exposing a + bowl-like cavity in his skull, but which bore not the slightest scarry + trace, or any token of ever having been a wound—“Well, the captain + there will tell you how that came here; he knows.” +

+

+ “No, I don’t,” said the captain, “but his mother did; he was born with it. + Oh, you solemn rogue, you—you Bunger! was there ever such another + Bunger in the watery world? Bunger, when you die, you ought to die in + pickle, you dog; you should be preserved to future ages, you rascal.” +

+

+ “What became of the White Whale?” now cried Ahab, who thus far had been + impatiently listening to this by-play between the two Englishmen. +

+

+ “Oh!” cried the one-armed captain, “oh, yes! Well; after he sounded, we + didn’t see him again for some time; in fact, as I before hinted, I didn’t + then know what whale it was that had served me such a trick, till some + time afterwards, when coming back to the Line, we heard about Moby Dick—as + some call him—and then I knew it was he.” +

+

+ “Did’st thou cross his wake again?” +

+

+ “Twice.” +

+

+ “But could not fasten?” +

+

+ “Didn’t want to try to: ain’t one limb enough? What should I do without + this other arm? And I’m thinking Moby Dick doesn’t bite so much as he + swallows.” +

+

+ “Well, then,” interrupted Bunger, “give him your left arm for bait to get + the right. Do you know, gentlemen”—very gravely and mathematically + bowing to each Captain in succession—“Do you know, gentlemen, that + the digestive organs of the whale are so inscrutably constructed by Divine + Providence, that it is quite impossible for him to completely digest even + a man’s arm? And he knows it too. So that what you take for the White + Whale’s malice is only his awkwardness. For he never means to swallow a + single limb; he only thinks to terrify by feints. But sometimes he is like + the old juggling fellow, formerly a patient of mine in Ceylon, that making + believe swallow jack-knives, once upon a time let one drop into him in + good earnest, and there it stayed for a twelvemonth or more; when I gave + him an emetic, and he heaved it up in small tacks, d’ye see. No possible + way for him to digest that jack-knife, and fully incorporate it into his + general bodily system. Yes, Captain Boomer, if you are quick enough about + it, and have a mind to pawn one arm for the sake of the privilege of + giving decent burial to the other, why in that case the arm is yours; only + let the whale have another chance at you shortly, that’s all.” +

+

+ “No, thank ye, Bunger,” said the English Captain, “he’s welcome to the arm + he has, since I can’t help it, and didn’t know him then; but not to + another one. No more White Whales for me; I’ve lowered for him once, and + that has satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I know + that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, + he’s best let alone; don’t you think so, Captain?”—glancing at the + ivory leg. +

+

+ “He is. But he will still be hunted, for all that. What is best let alone, + that accursed thing is not always what least allures. He’s all a magnet! + How long since thou saw’st him last? Which way heading?” +

+

+ “Bless my soul, and curse the foul fiend’s,” cried Bunger, stoopingly + walking round Ahab, and like a dog, strangely snuffing; “this man’s blood—bring + the thermometer!—it’s at the boiling point!—his pulse makes + these planks beat!—sir!”—taking a lancet from his pocket, and + drawing near to Ahab’s arm. +

+

+ “Avast!” roared Ahab, dashing him against the bulwarks—“Man the + boat! Which way heading?” +

+

+ “Good God!” cried the English Captain, to whom the question was put. + “What’s the matter? He was heading east, I think.—Is your Captain + crazy?” whispering Fedallah. +

+

+ But Fedallah, putting a finger on his lip, slid over the bulwarks to take + the boat’s steering oar, and Ahab, swinging the cutting-tackle towards + him, commanded the ship’s sailors to stand by to lower. +

+

+ In a moment he was standing in the boat’s stern, and the Manilla men were + springing to their oars. In vain the English Captain hailed him. With back + to the stranger ship, and face set like a flint to his own, Ahab stood + upright till alongside of the Pequod. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 101. The Decanter. +

+

+ Ere the English ship fades from sight, be it set down here, that she + hailed from London, and was named after the late Samuel Enderby, merchant + of that city, the original of the famous whaling house of Enderby & + Sons; a house which in my poor whaleman’s opinion, comes not far behind + the united royal houses of the Tudors and Bourbons, in point of real + historical interest. How long, prior to the year of our Lord 1775, this + great whaling house was in existence, my numerous fish-documents do not + make plain; but in that year (1775) it fitted out the first English ships + that ever regularly hunted the Sperm Whale; though for some score of years + previous (ever since 1726) our valiant Coffins and Maceys of Nantucket and + the Vineyard had in large fleets pursued that Leviathan, but only in the + North and South Atlantic: not elsewhere. Be it distinctly recorded here, + that the Nantucketers were the first among mankind to harpoon with + civilized steel the great Sperm Whale; and that for half a century they + were the only people of the whole globe who so harpooned him. +

+

+ In 1778, a fine ship, the Amelia, fitted out for the express purpose, and + at the sole charge of the vigorous Enderbys, boldly rounded Cape Horn, and + was the first among the nations to lower a whale-boat of any sort in the + great South Sea. The voyage was a skilful and lucky one; and returning to + her berth with her hold full of the precious sperm, the Amelia’s example + was soon followed by other ships, English and American, and thus the vast + Sperm Whale grounds of the Pacific were thrown open. But not content with + this good deed, the indefatigable house again bestirred itself: Samuel and + all his Sons—how many, their mother only knows—and under their + immediate auspices, and partly, I think, at their expense, the British + government was induced to send the sloop-of-war Rattler on a whaling + voyage of discovery into the South Sea. Commanded by a naval Post-Captain, + the Rattler made a rattling voyage of it, and did some service; how much + does not appear. But this is not all. In 1819, the same house fitted out a + discovery whale ship of their own, to go on a tasting cruise to the remote + waters of Japan. That ship—well called the “Syren”—made a + noble experimental cruise; and it was thus that the great Japanese Whaling + Ground first became generally known. The Syren in this famous voyage was + commanded by a Captain Coffin, a Nantucketer. +

+

+ All honor to the Enderbies, therefore, whose house, I think, exists to + the present day; though doubtless the original Samuel must long ago have + slipped his cable for the great South Sea of the other world. +

+

+ The ship named after him was worthy of the honor, being a very fast + sailer and a noble craft every way. I boarded her once at midnight + somewhere off the Patagonian coast, and drank good flip down in the + forecastle. It was a fine gam we had, and they were all trumps—every + soul on board. A short life to them, and a jolly death. And that fine gam + I had—long, very long after old Ahab touched her planks with his + ivory heel—it minds me of the noble, solid, Saxon hospitality of + that ship; and may my parson forget me, and the devil remember me, if I + ever lose sight of it. Flip? Did I say we had flip? Yes, and we flipped it + at the rate of ten gallons the hour; and when the squall came (for it’s + squally off there by Patagonia), and all hands—visitors and all—were + called to reef topsails, we were so top-heavy that we had to swing each + other aloft in bowlines; and we ignorantly furled the skirts of our + jackets into the sails, so that we hung there, reefed fast in the howling + gale, a warning example to all drunken tars. However, the masts did not go + overboard; and by and by we scrambled down, so sober, that we had to pass + the flip again, though the savage salt spray bursting down the forecastle + scuttle, rather too much diluted and pickled it to my taste. +

+

+ The beef was fine—tough, but with body in it. They said it was + bull-beef; others, that it was dromedary beef; but I do not know, for + certain, how that was. They had dumplings too; small, but substantial, + symmetrically globular, and indestructible dumplings. I fancied that you + could feel them, and roll them about in you after they were swallowed. If + you stooped over too far forward, you risked their pitching out of you + like billiard-balls. The bread—but that couldn’t be helped; besides, + it was an anti-scorbutic; in short, the bread contained the only fresh + fare they had. But the forecastle was not very light, and it was very easy + to step over into a dark corner when you ate it. But all in all, taking + her from truck to helm, considering the dimensions of the cook’s boilers, + including his own live parchment boilers; fore and aft, I say, the Samuel + Enderby was a jolly ship; of good fare and plenty; fine flip and strong; + crack fellows all, and capital from boot heels to hat-band. +

+

+ But why was it, think ye, that the Samuel Enderby, and some other English + whalers I know of—not all though—were such famous, hospitable + ships; that passed round the beef, and the bread, and the can, and the + joke; and were not soon weary of eating, and drinking, and laughing? I + will tell you. The abounding good cheer of these English whalers is matter + for historical research. Nor have I been at all sparing of historical + whale research, when it has seemed needed. +

+

+ The English were preceded in the whale fishery by the Hollanders, + Zealanders, and Danes; from whom they derived many terms still extant in + the fishery; and what is yet more, their fat old fashions, touching plenty + to eat and drink. For, as a general thing, the English merchant-ship + scrimps her crew; but not so the English whaler. Hence, in the English, + this thing of whaling good cheer is not normal and natural, but incidental + and particular; and, therefore, must have some special origin, which is + here pointed out, and will be still further elucidated. +

+

+ During my researches in the Leviathanic histories, I stumbled upon an + ancient Dutch volume, which, by the musty whaling smell of it, I knew must + be about whalers. The title was, “Dan Coopman,” wherefore I concluded that + this must be the invaluable memoirs of some Amsterdam cooper in the + fishery, as every whale ship must carry its cooper. I was reinforced in + this opinion by seeing that it was the production of one “Fitz + Swackhammer.” But my friend Dr. Snodhead, a very learned man, professor of + Low Dutch and High German in the college of Santa Claus and St. Pott’s, to + whom I handed the work for translation, giving him a box of sperm candles + for his trouble—this same Dr. Snodhead, so soon as he spied the + book, assured me that “Dan Coopman” did not mean “The Cooper,” but “The + Merchant.” In short, this ancient and learned Low Dutch book treated of + the commerce of Holland; and, among other subjects, contained a very + interesting account of its whale fishery. And in this chapter it was, + headed, “Smeer,” or “Fat,” that I found a long detailed list of the + outfits for the larders and cellars of 180 sail of Dutch whalemen; from + which list, as translated by Dr. Snodhead, I transcribe the following: +

+

+ 400,000 lbs. of beef. 60,000 lbs. Friesland pork. 150,000 lbs. of stock + fish. 550,000 lbs. of biscuit. 72,000 lbs. of soft bread. 2,800 firkins of + butter. 20,000 lbs. Texel & Leyden cheese. 144,000 lbs. cheese + (probably an inferior article). 550 ankers of Geneva. 10,800 barrels of + beer. +

+

+ Most statistical tables are parchingly dry in the reading; not so in the + present case, however, where the reader is flooded with whole pipes, + barrels, quarts, and gills of good gin and good cheer. +

+

+ At the time, I devoted three days to the studious digesting of all this + beer, beef, and bread, during which many profound thoughts were + incidentally suggested to me, capable of a transcendental and Platonic + application; and, furthermore, I compiled supplementary tables of my own, + touching the probable quantity of stock-fish, etc., consumed by every Low + Dutch harpooneer in that ancient Greenland and Spitzbergen whale fishery. + In the first place, the amount of butter, and Texel and Leyden cheese + consumed, seems amazing. I impute it, though, to their naturally unctuous + natures, being rendered still more unctuous by the nature of their + vocation, and especially by their pursuing their game in those frigid + Polar Seas, on the very coasts of that Esquimaux country where the + convivial natives pledge each other in bumpers of train oil. +

+

+ The quantity of beer, too, is very large, 10,800 barrels. Now, as those + polar fisheries could only be prosecuted in the short summer of that + climate, so that the whole cruise of one of these Dutch whalemen, + including the short voyage to and from the Spitzbergen sea, did not much + exceed three months, say, and reckoning 30 men to each of their fleet of + 180 sail, we have 5,400 Low Dutch seamen in all; therefore, I say, we have + precisely two barrels of beer per man, for a twelve weeks’ allowance, + exclusive of his fair proportion of that 550 ankers of gin. Now, whether + these gin and beer harpooneers, so fuddled as one might fancy them to have + been, were the right sort of men to stand up in a boat’s head, and take + good aim at flying whales; this would seem somewhat improbable. Yet they + did aim at them, and hit them too. But this was very far North, be it + remembered, where beer agrees well with the constitution; upon the + Equator, in our southern fishery, beer would be apt to make the harpooneer + sleepy at the mast-head and boozy in his boat; and grievous loss might + ensue to Nantucket and New Bedford. +

+

+ But no more; enough has been said to show that the old Dutch whalers of + two or three centuries ago were high livers; and that the English whalers + have not neglected so excellent an example. For, say they, when cruising + in an empty ship, if you can get nothing better out of the world, get a + good dinner out of it, at least. And this empties the decanter. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides. +

+

+ Hitherto, in descriptively treating of the Sperm Whale, I have chiefly + dwelt upon the marvels of his outer aspect; or separately and in detail + upon some few interior structural features. But to a large and thorough + sweeping comprehension of him, it behooves me now to unbutton him still + further, and untagging the points of his hose, unbuckling his garters, and + casting loose the hooks and the eyes of the joints of his innermost bones, + set him before you in his ultimatum; that is to say, in his unconditional + skeleton. +

+

+ But how now, Ishmael? How is it, that you, a mere oarsman in the fishery, + pretend to know aught about the subterranean parts of the whale? Did + erudite Stubb, mounted upon your capstan, deliver lectures on the anatomy + of the Cetacea; and by help of the windlass, hold up a specimen rib for + exhibition? Explain thyself, Ishmael. Can you land a full-grown whale on + your deck for examination, as a cook dishes a roast-pig? Surely not. A + veritable witness have you hitherto been, Ishmael; but have a care how you + seize the privilege of Jonah alone; the privilege of discoursing upon the + joists and beams; the rafters, ridge-pole, sleepers, and under-pinnings, + making up the frame-work of leviathan; and belike of the tallow-vats, + dairy-rooms, butteries, and cheeseries in his bowels. +

+

+ I confess, that since Jonah, few whalemen have penetrated very far beneath + the skin of the adult whale; nevertheless, I have been blessed with an + opportunity to dissect him in miniature. In a ship I belonged to, a small + cub Sperm Whale was once bodily hoisted to the deck for his poke or bag, + to make sheaths for the barbs of the harpoons, and for the heads of the + lances. Think you I let that chance go, without using my boat-hatchet and + jack-knife, and breaking the seal and reading all the contents of that + young cub? +

+

+ And as for my exact knowledge of the bones of the leviathan in their + gigantic, full grown development, for that rare knowledge I am indebted to + my late royal friend Tranquo, king of Tranque, one of the Arsacides. For + being at Tranque, years ago, when attached to the trading-ship Dey of + Algiers, I was invited to spend part of the Arsacidean holidays with the + lord of Tranque, at his retired palm villa at Pupella; a sea-side glen not + very far distant from what our sailors called Bamboo-Town, his capital. +

+

+ Among many other fine qualities, my royal friend Tranquo, being gifted + with a devout love for all matters of barbaric vertu, had brought together + in Pupella whatever rare things the more ingenious of his people could + invent; chiefly carved woods of wonderful devices, chiselled shells, + inlaid spears, costly paddles, aromatic canoes; and all these distributed + among whatever natural wonders, the wonder-freighted, tribute-rendering + waves had cast upon his shores. +

+

+ Chief among these latter was a great Sperm Whale, which, after an + unusually long raging gale, had been found dead and stranded, with his + head against a cocoa-nut tree, whose plumage-like, tufted droopings seemed + his verdant jet. When the vast body had at last been stripped of its + fathom-deep enfoldings, and the bones become dust dry in the sun, then the + skeleton was carefully transported up the Pupella glen, where a grand + temple of lordly palms now sheltered it. +

+

+ The ribs were hung with trophies; the vertebræ were carved with + Arsacidean annals, in strange hieroglyphics; in the skull, the priests + kept up an unextinguished aromatic flame, so that the mystic head again + sent forth its vapory spout; while, suspended from a bough, the terrific + lower jaw vibrated over all the devotees, like the hair-hung sword that so + affrighted Damocles. +

+

+ It was a wondrous sight. The wood was green as mosses of the Icy Glen; the + trees stood high and haughty, feeling their living sap; the industrious + earth beneath was as a weaver’s loom, with a gorgeous carpet on it, + whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and woof, and the living + flowers the figures. All the trees, with all their laden branches; all the + shrubs, and ferns, and grasses; the message-carrying air; all these + unceasingly were active. Through the lacings of the leaves, the great sun + seemed a flying shuttle weaving the unwearied verdure. Oh, busy weaver! + unseen weaver!—pause!—one word!—whither flows the + fabric? what palace may it deck? wherefore all these ceaseless toilings? + Speak, weaver!—stay thy hand!—but one single word with thee! + Nay—the shuttle flies—the figures float from forth the loom; + the freshet-rushing carpet for ever slides away. The weaver-god, he + weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened, that he hears no mortal voice; + and by that humming, we, too, who look on the loom are deafened; and only + when we escape it shall we hear the thousand voices that speak through it. + For even so it is in all material factories. The spoken words that are + inaudible among the flying spindles; those same words are plainly heard + without the walls, bursting from the opened casements. Thereby have + villainies been detected. Ah, mortal! then, be heedful; for so, in all + this din of the great world’s loom, thy subtlest thinkings may be + overheard afar. +

+

+ Now, amid the green, life-restless loom of that Arsacidean wood, the + great, white, worshipped skeleton lay lounging—a gigantic idler! + Yet, as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around + him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over + with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure; but himself + a skeleton. Life folded Death; Death trellised Life; the grim god wived + with youthful Life, and begat him curly-headed glories. +

+

+ Now, when with royal Tranquo I visited this wondrous whale, and saw the + skull an altar, and the artificial smoke ascending from where the real jet + had issued, I marvelled that the king should regard a chapel as an object + of vertu. He laughed. But more I marvelled that the priests should swear + that smoky jet of his was genuine. To and fro I paced before this skeleton—brushed + the vines aside—broke through the ribs—and with a ball of + Arsacidean twine, wandered, eddied long amid its many winding, shaded + colonnades and arbours. But soon my line was out; and following it back, I + emerged from the opening where I entered. I saw no living thing within; + naught was there but bones. +

+

+ Cutting me a green measuring-rod, I once more dived within the skeleton. + From their arrow-slit in the skull, the priests perceived me taking the + altitude of the final rib, “How now!” they shouted; “Dar’st thou measure + this our god! That’s for us.” “Aye, priests—well, how long do ye + make him, then?” But hereupon a fierce contest rose among them, concerning + feet and inches; they cracked each other’s sconces with their yard-sticks—the + great skull echoed—and seizing that lucky chance, I quickly + concluded my own admeasurements. +

+

+ These admeasurements I now propose to set before you. But first, be it + recorded, that, in this matter, I am not free to utter any fancied + measurement I please. Because there are skeleton authorities you can refer + to, to test my accuracy. There is a Leviathanic Museum, they tell me, in + Hull, England, one of the whaling ports of that country, where they have + some fine specimens of fin-backs and other whales. Likewise, I have heard + that in the museum of Manchester, in New Hampshire, they have what the + proprietors call “the only perfect specimen of a Greenland or River Whale + in the United States.” Moreover, at a place in Yorkshire, England, Burton + Constable by name, a certain Sir Clifford Constable has in his possession + the skeleton of a Sperm Whale, but of moderate size, by no means of the + full-grown magnitude of my friend King Tranquo’s. +

+

+ In both cases, the stranded whales to which these two skeletons belonged, + were originally claimed by their proprietors upon similar grounds. King + Tranquo seizing his because he wanted it; and Sir Clifford, because he was + lord of the seignories of those parts. Sir Clifford’s whale has been + articulated throughout; so that, like a great chest of drawers, you can + open and shut him, in all his bony cavities—spread out his ribs like + a gigantic fan—and swing all day upon his lower jaw. Locks are to be + put upon some of his trap-doors and shutters; and a footman will show + round future visitors with a bunch of keys at his side. Sir Clifford + thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the + spinal column; threepence to hear the echo in the hollow of his + cerebellum; and sixpence for the unrivalled view from his forehead. +

+

+ The skeleton dimensions I shall now proceed to set down are copied + verbatim from my right arm, where I had them tattooed; as in my wild + wanderings at that period, there was no other secure way of preserving + such valuable statistics. But as I was crowded for space, and wished the + other parts of my body to remain a blank page for a poem I was then + composing—at least, what untattooed parts might remain—I did + not trouble myself with the odd inches; nor, indeed, should inches at all + enter into a congenial admeasurement of the whale. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 103. Measurement of The Whale’s Skeleton. +

+

+ In the first place, I wish to lay before you a particular, plain + statement, touching the living bulk of this leviathan, whose skeleton we + are briefly to exhibit. Such a statement may prove useful here. +

+

+ According to a careful calculation I have made, and which I partly base + upon Captain Scoresby’s estimate, of seventy tons for the largest sized + Greenland whale of sixty feet in length; according to my careful + calculation, I say, a Sperm Whale of the largest magnitude, between + eighty-five and ninety feet in length, and something less than forty feet + in its fullest circumference, such a whale will weigh at least ninety + tons; so that, reckoning thirteen men to a ton, he would considerably + outweigh the combined population of a whole village of one thousand one + hundred inhabitants. +

+

+ Think you not then that brains, like yoked cattle, should be put to this + leviathan, to make him at all budge to any landsman’s imagination? +

+

+ Having already in various ways put before you his skull, spout-hole, jaw, + teeth, tail, forehead, fins, and divers other parts, I shall now simply + point out what is most interesting in the general bulk of his unobstructed + bones. But as the colossal skull embraces so very large a proportion of + the entire extent of the skeleton; as it is by far the most complicated + part; and as nothing is to be repeated concerning it in this chapter, you + must not fail to carry it in your mind, or under your arm, as we proceed, + otherwise you will not gain a complete notion of the general structure we + are about to view. +

+

+ In length, the Sperm Whale’s skeleton at Tranque measured seventy-two + feet; so that when fully invested and extended in life, he must have been + ninety feet long; for in the whale, the skeleton loses about one fifth in + length compared with the living body. Of this seventy-two feet, his skull + and jaw comprised some twenty feet, leaving some fifty feet of plain + back-bone. Attached to this back-bone, for something less than a third of + its length, was the mighty circular basket of ribs which once enclosed his + vitals. +

+

+ To me this vast ivory-ribbed chest, with the long, unrelieved spine, + extending far away from it in a straight line, not a little resembled the + hull of a great ship new-laid upon the stocks, when only some twenty of + her naked bow-ribs are inserted, and the keel is otherwise, for the time, + but a long, disconnected timber. +

+

+ The ribs were ten on a side. The first, to begin from the neck, was nearly + six feet long; the second, third, and fourth were each successively + longer, till you came to the climax of the fifth, or one of the middle + ribs, which measured eight feet and some inches. From that part, the + remaining ribs diminished, till the tenth and last only spanned five feet + and some inches. In general thickness, they all bore a seemly + correspondence to their length. The middle ribs were the most arched. In + some of the Arsacides they are used for beams whereon to lay footpath + bridges over small streams. +

+

+ In considering these ribs, I could not but be struck anew with the + circumstance, so variously repeated in this book, that the skeleton of the + whale is by no means the mould of his invested form. The largest of the + Tranque ribs, one of the middle ones, occupied that part of the fish + which, in life, is greatest in depth. Now, the greatest depth of the + invested body of this particular whale must have been at least sixteen + feet; whereas, the corresponding rib measured but little more than eight + feet. So that this rib only conveyed half of the true notion of the living + magnitude of that part. Besides, for some way, where I now saw but a naked + spine, all that had been once wrapped round with tons of added bulk in + flesh, muscle, blood, and bowels. Still more, for the ample fins, I here + saw but a few disordered joints; and in place of the weighty and majestic, + but boneless flukes, an utter blank! +

+

+ How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for timid untravelled man to try to + comprehend aright this wondrous whale, by merely poring over his dead + attenuated skeleton, stretched in this peaceful wood. No. Only in the + heart of quickest perils; only when within the eddyings of his angry + flukes; only on the profound unbounded sea, can the fully invested whale + be truly and livingly found out. +

+

+ But the spine. For that, the best way we can consider it is, with a crane, + to pile its bones high up on end. No speedy enterprise. But now it’s done, + it looks much like Pompey’s Pillar. +

+

+ There are forty and odd vertebræ in all, which in the skeleton are not + locked together. They mostly lie like the great knobbed blocks on a Gothic + spire, forming solid courses of heavy masonry. The largest, a middle one, + is in width something less than three feet, and in depth more than four. + The smallest, where the spine tapers away into the tail, is only two + inches in width, and looks something like a white billiard-ball. I was + told that there were still smaller ones, but they had been lost by some + little cannibal urchins, the priest’s children, who had stolen them to + play marbles with. Thus we see how that the spine of even the hugest of + living things tapers off at last into simple child’s play. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 104. The Fossil Whale. +

+

+ From his mighty bulk the whale affords a most congenial theme whereon to + enlarge, amplify, and generally expatiate. Would you, you could not + compress him. By good rights he should only be treated of in imperial + folio. Not to tell over again his furlongs from spiracle to tail, and the + yards he measures about the waist; only think of the gigantic involutions + of his intestines, where they lie in him like great cables and hawsers + coiled away in the subterranean orlop-deck of a line-of-battle-ship. +

+

+ Since I have undertaken to manhandle this Leviathan, it behooves me to + approve myself omnisciently exhaustive in the enterprise; not overlooking + the minutest seminal germs of his blood, and spinning him out to the + uttermost coil of his bowels. Having already described him in most of his + present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify + him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view. + Applied to any other creature than the Leviathan—to an ant or a flea—such + portly terms might justly be deemed unwarrantably grandiloquent. But when + Leviathan is the text, the case is altered. Fain am I to stagger to this + emprise under the weightiest words of the dictionary. And here be it said, + that whenever it has been convenient to consult one in the course of these + dissertations, I have invariably used a huge quarto edition of Johnson, + expressly purchased for that purpose; because that famous lexicographer’s + uncommon personal bulk more fitted him to compile a lexicon to be used by + a whale author like me. +

+

+ One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though + it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this + Leviathan? Unconsciously my chirography expands into placard capitals. + Give me a condor’s quill! Give me Vesuvius’ crater for an inkstand! + Friends, hold my arms! For in the mere act of penning my thoughts of this + Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with their outreaching + comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the + sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, + present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, + and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs. Such, and so + magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its + bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great + and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be + who have tried it. +

+

+ Ere entering upon the subject of Fossil Whales, I present my credentials + as a geologist, by stating that in my miscellaneous time I have been a + stone-mason, and also a great digger of ditches, canals and wells, + wine-vaults, cellars, and cisterns of all sorts. Likewise, by way of + preliminary, I desire to remind the reader, that while in the earlier + geological strata there are found the fossils of monsters now almost + completely extinct; the subsequent relics discovered in what are called + the Tertiary formations seem the connecting, or at any rate intercepted + links, between the antichronical creatures, and those whose remote + posterity are said to have entered the Ark; all the Fossil Whales hitherto + discovered belong to the Tertiary period, which is the last preceding the + superficial formations. And though none of them precisely answer to any + known species of the present time, they are yet sufficiently akin to them + in general respects, to justify their taking rank as Cetacean fossils. +

+

+ Detached broken fossils of pre-adamite whales, fragments of their bones + and skeletons, have within thirty years past, at various intervals, been + found at the base of the Alps, in Lombardy, in France, in England, in + Scotland, and in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Among + the more curious of such remains is part of a skull, which in the year + 1779 was disinterred in the Rue Dauphine in Paris, a short street opening + almost directly upon the palace of the Tuileries; and bones disinterred in + excavating the great docks of Antwerp, in Napoleon’s time. Cuvier + pronounced these fragments to have belonged to some utterly unknown + Leviathanic species. +

+

+ But by far the most wonderful of all Cetacean relics was the almost + complete vast skeleton of an extinct monster, found in the year 1842, on + the plantation of Judge Creagh, in Alabama. The awe-stricken credulous + slaves in the vicinity took it for the bones of one of the fallen angels. + The Alabama doctors declared it a huge reptile, and bestowed upon it the + name of Basilosaurus. But some specimen bones of it being taken across the + sea to Owen, the English Anatomist, it turned out that this alleged + reptile was a whale, though of a departed species. A significant + illustration of the fact, again and again repeated in this book, that the + skeleton of the whale furnishes but little clue to the shape of his fully + invested body. So Owen rechristened the monster Zeuglodon; and in his + paper read before the London Geological Society, pronounced it, in + substance, one of the most extraordinary creatures which the mutations of + the globe have blotted out of existence. +

+

+ When I stand among these mighty Leviathan skeletons, skulls, tusks, jaws, + ribs, and vertebræ, all characterized by partial resemblances to the + existing breeds of sea-monsters; but at the same time bearing on the other + hand similar affinities to the annihilated antichronical Leviathans, their + incalculable seniors; I am, by a flood, borne back to that wondrous + period, ere time itself can be said to have begun; for time began with + man. Here Saturn’s grey chaos rolls over me, and I obtain dim, shuddering + glimpses into those Polar eternities; when wedged bastions of ice pressed + hard upon what are now the Tropics; and in all the 25,000 miles of this + world’s circumference, not an inhabitable hand’s breadth of land was + visible. Then the whole world was the whale’s; and, king of creation, he + left his wake along the present lines of the Andes and the Himmalehs. Who + can show a pedigree like Leviathan? Ahab’s harpoon had shed older blood + than the Pharaoh’s. Methuselah seems a school-boy. I look round to shake + hands with Shem. I am horror-struck at this antemosaic, unsourced + existence of the unspeakable terrors of the whale, which, having been + before all time, must needs exist after all humane ages are over. +

+

+ But not alone has this Leviathan left his pre-adamite traces in the + stereotype plates of nature, and in limestone and marl bequeathed his + ancient bust; but upon Egyptian tablets, whose antiquity seems to claim + for them an almost fossiliferous character, we find the unmistakable print + of his fin. In an apartment of the great temple of Denderah, some fifty + years ago, there was discovered upon the granite ceiling a sculptured and + painted planisphere, abounding in centaurs, griffins, and dolphins, + similar to the grotesque figures on the celestial globe of the moderns. + Gliding among them, old Leviathan swam as of yore; was there swimming in + that planisphere, centuries before Solomon was cradled. +

+

+ Nor must there be omitted another strange attestation of the antiquity of + the whale, in his own osseous post-diluvian reality, as set down by the + venerable John Leo, the old Barbary traveller. +

+

+ “Not far from the Sea-side, they have a Temple, the Rafters and Beams of + which are made of Whale-Bones; for Whales of a monstrous size are + oftentimes cast up dead upon that shore. The Common People imagine, that + by a secret Power bestowed by God upon the Temple, no Whale can pass it + without immediate death. But the truth of the Matter is, that on either + side of the Temple, there are Rocks that shoot two Miles into the Sea, and + wound the Whales when they light upon ’em. They keep a Whale’s Rib of an + incredible length for a Miracle, which lying upon the Ground with its + convex part uppermost, makes an Arch, the Head of which cannot be reached + by a Man upon a Camel’s Back. This Rib (says John Leo) is said to have + layn there a hundred Years before I saw it. Their Historians affirm, that + a Prophet who prophesy’d of Mahomet, came from this Temple, and some do + not stand to assert, that the Prophet Jonas was cast forth by the Whale at + the Base of the Temple.” +

+

+ In this Afric Temple of the Whale I leave you, reader, and if you be a + Nantucketer, and a whaleman, you will silently worship there. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 105. Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish?—Will He Perish? +

+

+ Inasmuch, then, as this Leviathan comes floundering down upon us from the + head-waters of the Eternities, it may be fitly inquired, whether, in the + long course of his generations, he has not degenerated from the original + bulk of his sires. +

+

+ But upon investigation we find, that not only are the whales of the + present day superior in magnitude to those whose fossil remains are found + in the Tertiary system (embracing a distinct geological period prior to + man), but of the whales found in that Tertiary system, those belonging to + its latter formations exceed in size those of its earlier ones. +

+

+ Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed, by far the largest is the + Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy + feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the + tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized + modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen’s authority, that Sperm Whales + have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture. +

+

+ But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an + advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it + not be, that since Adam’s time they have degenerated? +

+

+ Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such + gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists generally. For Pliny tells + us of whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others + which measured eight hundred feet in length—Rope Walks and Thames + Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke’s + naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting + down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one + hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And + Lacépède, the French naturalist, in his elaborate history of whales, in + the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one + hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was + published so late as A.D. 1825. +

+

+ But will any whaleman believe these stories? No. The whale of to-day is as + big as his ancestors in Pliny’s time. And if ever I go where Pliny is, I, + a whaleman (more than he was), will make bold to tell him so. Because I + cannot understand how it is, that while the Egyptian mummies that were + buried thousands of years before even Pliny was born, do not measure so + much in their coffins as a modern Kentuckian in his socks; and while the + cattle and other animals sculptured on the oldest Egyptian and Nineveh + tablets, by the relative proportions in which they are drawn, just as + plainly prove that the high-bred, stall-fed, prize cattle of Smithfield, + not only equal, but far exceed in magnitude the fattest of Pharaoh’s fat + kine; in the face of all this, I will not admit that of all animals the + whale alone should have degenerated. +

+

+ But still another inquiry remains; one often agitated by the more + recondite Nantucketers. Whether owing to the almost omniscient look-outs + at the mast-heads of the whale-ships, now penetrating even through + Behring’s straits, and into the remotest secret drawers and lockers of the + world; and the thousand harpoons and lances darted along all continental + coasts; the moot point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a + chase, and so remorseless a havoc; whether he must not at last be + exterminated from the waters, and the last whale, like the last man, smoke + his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff. +

+

+ Comparing the humped herds of whales with the humped herds of buffalo, + which, not forty years ago, overspread by tens of thousands the prairies + of Illinois and Missouri, and shook their iron manes and scowled with + their thunder-clotted brows upon the sites of populous river-capitals, + where now the polite broker sells you land at a dollar an inch; in such a + comparison an irresistible argument would seem furnished, to show that the + hunted whale cannot now escape speedy extinction. +

+

+ But you must look at this matter in every light. Though so short a period + ago—not a good lifetime—the census of the buffalo in Illinois + exceeded the census of men now in London, and though at the present day + not one horn or hoof of them remains in all that region; and though the + cause of this wondrous extermination was the spear of man; yet the far + different nature of the whale-hunt peremptorily forbids so inglorious an + end to the Leviathan. Forty men in one ship hunting the Sperm Whales for + forty-eight months think they have done extremely well, and thank God, if + at last they carry home the oil of forty fish. Whereas, in the days of the + old Canadian and Indian hunters and trappers of the West, when the far + west (in whose sunset suns still rise) was a wilderness and a virgin, the + same number of moccasined men, for the same number of months, mounted on + horse instead of sailing in ships, would have slain not forty, but forty + thousand and more buffaloes; a fact that, if need were, could be + statistically stated. +

+

+ Nor, considered aright, does it seem any argument in favour of the gradual + extinction of the Sperm Whale, for example, that in former years (the + latter part of the last century, say) these Leviathans, in small pods, + were encountered much oftener than at present, and, in consequence, the + voyages were not so prolonged, and were also much more remunerative. + Because, as has been elsewhere noticed, those whales, influenced by some + views to safety, now swim the seas in immense caravans, so that to a large + degree the scattered solitaries, yokes, and pods, and schools of other + days are now aggregated into vast but widely separated, unfrequent armies. + That is all. And equally fallacious seems the conceit, that because the + so-called whale-bone whales no longer haunt many grounds in former years + abounding with them, hence that species also is declining. For they are + only being driven from promontory to cape; and if one coast is no longer + enlivened with their jets, then, be sure, some other and remoter strand + has been very recently startled by the unfamiliar spectacle. +

+

+ Furthermore: concerning these last mentioned Leviathans, they have two + firm fortresses, which, in all human probability, will for ever remain + impregnable. And as upon the invasion of their valleys, the frosty Swiss + have retreated to their mountains; so, hunted from the savannas and glades + of the middle seas, the whale-bone whales can at last resort to their + Polar citadels, and diving under the ultimate glassy barriers and walls + there, come up among icy fields and floes; and in a charmed circle of + everlasting December, bid defiance to all pursuit from man. +

+

+ But as perhaps fifty of these whale-bone whales are harpooned for one + cachalot, some philosophers of the forecastle have concluded that this + positive havoc has already very seriously diminished their battalions. But + though for some time past a number of these whales, not less than 13,000, + have been annually slain on the nor’ west coast by the Americans alone; + yet there are considerations which render even this circumstance of little + or no account as an opposing argument in this matter. +

+

+ Natural as it is to be somewhat incredulous concerning the populousness of + the more enormous creatures of the globe, yet what shall we say to Harto, + the historian of Goa, when he tells us that at one hunting the King of + Siam took 4,000 elephants; that in those regions elephants are numerous as + droves of cattle in the temperate climes. And there seems no reason to + doubt that if these elephants, which have now been hunted for thousands of + years, by Semiramis, by Porus, by Hannibal, and by all the successive + monarchs of the East—if they still survive there in great numbers, + much more may the great whale outlast all hunting, since he has a pasture + to expatiate in, which is precisely twice as large as all Asia, both + Americas, Europe and Africa, New Holland, and all the Isles of the sea + combined. +

+

+ Moreover: we are to consider, that from the presumed great longevity of + whales, their probably attaining the age of a century and more, therefore + at any one period of time, several distinct adult generations must be + contemporary. And what that is, we may soon gain some idea of, by + imagining all the grave-yards, cemeteries, and family vaults of creation + yielding up the live bodies of all the men, women, and children who were + alive seventy-five years ago; and adding this countless host to the + present human population of the globe. +

+

+ Wherefore, for all these things, we account the whale immortal in his + species, however perishable in his individuality. He swam the seas before + the continents broke water; he once swam over the site of the Tuileries, + and Windsor Castle, and the Kremlin. In Noah’s flood he despised Noah’s + Ark; and if ever the world is to be again flooded, like the Netherlands, + to kill off its rats, then the eternal whale will still survive, and + rearing upon the topmost crest of the equatorial flood, spout his frothed + defiance to the skies. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 106. Ahab’s Leg. +

+

+ The precipitating manner in which Captain Ahab had quitted the Samuel + Enderby of London, had not been unattended with some small violence to his + own person. He had lighted with such energy upon a thwart of his boat that + his ivory leg had received a half-splintering shock. And when after + gaining his own deck, and his own pivot-hole there, he so vehemently + wheeled round with an urgent command to the steersman (it was, as ever, + something about his not steering inflexibly enough); then, the already + shaken ivory received such an additional twist and wrench, that though it + still remained entire, and to all appearances lusty, yet Ahab did not deem + it entirely trustworthy. +

+

+ And, indeed, it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his + pervading, mad recklessness, Ahab did at times give careful heed to the + condition of that dead bone upon which he partly stood. For it had not + been very long prior to the Pequod’s sailing from Nantucket, that he had + been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some + unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb + having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and + all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the + agonizing wound was entirely cured. +

+

+ Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind, that all the + anguish of that then present suffering was but the direct issue of a + former woe; and he too plainly seemed to see, that as the most poisonous + reptile of the marsh perpetuates his kind as inevitably as the sweetest + songster of the grove; so, equally with every felicity, all miserable + events do naturally beget their like. Yea, more than equally, thought + Ahab; since both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the + ancestry and posterity of Joy. For, not to hint of this: that it is an + inference from certain canonic teachings, that while some natural + enjoyments here shall have no children born to them for the other world, + but, on the contrary, shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all + hell’s despair; whereas, some guilty mortal miseries shall still fertilely + beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny of griefs beyond the + grave; not at all to hint of this, there still seems an inequality in the + deeper analysis of the thing. For, thought Ahab, while even the highest + earthly felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking in + them, but, at bottom, all heartwoes, a mystic significance, and, in some + men, an archangelic grandeur; so do their diligent tracings-out not belie + the obvious deduction. To trail the genealogies of these high mortal + miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the + gods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and soft + cymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that the + gods themselves are not for ever glad. The ineffaceable, sad birth-mark in + the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the signers. +

+

+ Unwittingly here a secret has been divulged, which perhaps might more + properly, in set way, have been disclosed before. With many other + particulars concerning Ahab, always had it remained a mystery to some, why + it was, that for a certain period, both before and after the sailing of + the Pequod, he had hidden himself away with such Grand-Lama-like + exclusiveness; and, for that one interval, sought speechless refuge, as it + were, among the marble senate of the dead. Captain Peleg’s bruited reason + for this thing appeared by no means adequate; though, indeed, as touching + all Ahab’s deeper part, every revelation partook more of significant + darkness than of explanatory light. But, in the end, it all came out; this + one matter did, at least. That direful mishap was at the bottom of his + temporary recluseness. And not only this, but to that ever-contracting, + dropping circle ashore, who, for any reason, possessed the privilege of a + less banned approach to him; to that timid circle the above hinted + casualty—remaining, as it did, moodily unaccounted for by Ahab—invested + itself with terrors, not entirely underived from the land of spirits and + of wails. So that, through their zeal for him, they had all conspired, so + far as in them lay, to muffle up the knowledge of this thing from others; + and hence it was, that not till a considerable interval had elapsed, did + it transpire upon the Pequod’s decks. +

+

+ But be all this as it may; let the unseen, ambiguous synod in the air, or + the vindictive princes and potentates of fire, have to do or not with + earthly Ahab, yet, in this present matter of his leg, he took plain + practical procedures;—he called the carpenter. +

+

+ And when that functionary appeared before him, he bade him without delay + set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him supplied + with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which had thus + far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful selection of + the stoutest, clearest-grained stuff might be secured. This done, the + carpenter received orders to have the leg completed that night; and to + provide all the fittings for it, independent of those pertaining to the + distrusted one in use. Moreover, the ship’s forge was ordered to be + hoisted out of its temporary idleness in the hold; and, to accelerate the + affair, the blacksmith was commanded to proceed at once to the forging of + whatever iron contrivances might be needed. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 107. The Carpenter. +

+

+ Seat thyself sultanically among the moons of Saturn, and take high + abstracted man alone; and he seems a wonder, a grandeur, and a woe. But + from the same point, take mankind in mass, and for the most part, they + seem a mob of unnecessary duplicates, both contemporary and hereditary. + But most humble though he was, and far from furnishing an example of the + high, humane abstraction; the Pequod’s carpenter was no duplicate; hence, + he now comes in person on this stage. +

+

+ Like all sea-going ship carpenters, and more especially those belonging to + whaling vessels, he was, to a certain off-handed, practical extent, alike + experienced in numerous trades and callings collateral to his own; the + carpenter’s pursuit being the ancient and outbranching trunk of all those + numerous handicrafts which more or less have to do with wood as an + auxiliary material. But, besides the application to him of the generic + remark above, this carpenter of the Pequod was singularly efficient in + those thousand nameless mechanical emergencies continually recurring in a + large ship, upon a three or four years’ voyage, in uncivilized and + far-distant seas. For not to speak of his readiness in ordinary duties:—repairing + stove boats, sprung spars, reforming the shape of clumsy-bladed oars, + inserting bull’s eyes in the deck, or new tree-nails in the side planks, + and other miscellaneous matters more directly pertaining to his special + business; he was moreover unhesitatingly expert in all manner of + conflicting aptitudes, both useful and capricious. +

+

+ The one grand stage where he enacted all his various parts so manifold, + was his vice-bench; a long rude ponderous table furnished with several + vices, of different sizes, and both of iron and of wood. At all times + except when whales were alongside, this bench was securely lashed + athwartships against the rear of the Try-works. +

+

+ A belaying pin is found too large to be easily inserted into its hole: the + carpenter claps it into one of his ever-ready vices, and straightway files + it smaller. A lost land-bird of strange plumage strays on board, and is + made a captive: out of clean shaved rods of right-whale bone, and + cross-beams of sperm whale ivory, the carpenter makes a pagoda-looking + cage for it. An oarsman sprains his wrist: the carpenter concocts a + soothing lotion. Stubb longed for vermillion stars to be painted upon the + blade of his every oar; screwing each oar in his big vice of wood, the + carpenter symmetrically supplies the constellation. A sailor takes a fancy + to wear shark-bone ear-rings: the carpenter drills his ears. Another has + the toothache: the carpenter out pincers, and clapping one hand upon his + bench bids him be seated there; but the poor fellow unmanageably winces + under the unconcluded operation; whirling round the handle of his wooden + vice, the carpenter signs him to clap his jaw in that, if he would have + him draw the tooth. +

+

+ Thus, this carpenter was prepared at all points, and alike indifferent and + without respect in all. Teeth he accounted bits of ivory; heads he deemed + but top-blocks; men themselves he lightly held for capstans. But while now + upon so wide a field thus variously accomplished and with such liveliness + of expertness in him, too; all this would seem to argue some uncommon + vivacity of intelligence. But not precisely so. For nothing was this man + more remarkable, than for a certain impersonal stolidity as it were; + impersonal, I say; for it so shaded off into the surrounding infinite of + things, that it seemed one with the general stolidity discernible in the + whole visible world; which while pauselessly active in uncounted modes, + still eternally holds its peace, and ignores you, though you dig + foundations for cathedrals. Yet was this half-horrible stolidity in him, + involving, too, as it appeared, an all-ramifying heartlessness;—yet + was it oddly dashed at times, with an old, crutch-like, antediluvian, + wheezing humorousness, not unstreaked now and then with a certain grizzled + wittiness; such as might have served to pass the time during the midnight + watch on the bearded forecastle of Noah’s ark. Was it that this old + carpenter had been a life-long wanderer, whose much rolling, to and fro, + not only had gathered no moss; but what is more, had rubbed off whatever + small outward clingings might have originally pertained to him? He was a + stript abstract; an unfractioned integral; uncompromised as a new-born + babe; living without premeditated reference to this world or the next. You + might almost say, that this strange uncompromisedness in him involved a + sort of unintelligence; for in his numerous trades, he did not seem to + work so much by reason or by instinct, or simply because he had been + tutored to it, or by any intermixture of all these, even or uneven; but + merely by a kind of deaf and dumb, spontaneous literal process. He was a + pure manipulator; his brain, if he had ever had one, must have early oozed + along into the muscles of his fingers. He was like one of those + unreasoning but still highly useful, multum in parvo, Sheffield + contrivances, assuming the exterior—though a little swelled—of + a common pocket knife; but containing, not only blades of various sizes, + but also screw-drivers, cork-screws, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, + nail-filers, countersinkers. So, if his superiors wanted to use the + carpenter for a screw-driver, all they had to do was to open that part of + him, and the screw was fast: or if for tweezers, take him up by the legs, + and there they were. +

+

+ Yet, as previously hinted, this omnitooled, open-and-shut carpenter, was, + after all, no mere machine of an automaton. If he did not have a common + soul in him, he had a subtle something that somehow anomalously did its + duty. What that was, whether essence of quicksilver, or a few drops of + hartshorn, there is no telling. But there it was; and there it had abided + for now some sixty years or more. And this it was, this same + unaccountable, cunning life-principle in him; this it was, that kept him a + great part of the time soliloquizing; but only like an unreasoning wheel, + which also hummingly soliloquizes; or rather, his body was a sentry-box + and this soliloquizer on guard there, and talking all the time to keep + himself awake. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter. +

+

+ The Deck—First Night Watch. +

+

+ (Carpenter standing before his vice-bench, and by the light of two + lanterns busily filing the ivory joist for the leg, which joist is firmly + fixed in the vice. Slabs of ivory, leather straps, pads, screws, and + various tools of all sorts lying about the bench. Forward, the red flame + of the forge is seen, where the blacksmith is at work.) +

+

+ Drat the file, and drat the bone! That is hard which should be soft, and + that is soft which should be hard. So we go, who file old jaws and + shinbones. Let’s try another. Aye, now, this works better (sneezes). + Halloa, this bone dust is (sneezes)—why it’s (sneezes)—yes + it’s (sneezes)—bless my soul, it won’t let me speak! This is what an + old fellow gets now for working in dead lumber. Saw a live tree, and you + don’t get this dust; amputate a live bone, and you don’t get it (sneezes). + Come, come, you old Smut, there, bear a hand, and let’s have that ferule + and buckle-screw; I’ll be ready for them presently. Lucky now (sneezes) + there’s no knee-joint to make; that might puzzle a little; but a mere + shinbone—why it’s easy as making hop-poles; only I should like to + put a good finish on. Time, time; if I but only had the time, I could turn + him out as neat a leg now as ever (sneezes) scraped to a lady in a parlor. + Those buckskin legs and calves of legs I’ve seen in shop windows wouldn’t + compare at all. They soak water, they do; and of course get rheumatic, and + have to be doctored (sneezes) with washes and lotions, just like live + legs. There; before I saw it off, now, I must call his old Mogulship, and + see whether the length will be all right; too short, if anything, I guess. + Ha! that’s the heel; we are in luck; here he comes, or it’s somebody else, + that’s certain. +

+

+ AHAB (advancing). (During the ensuing scene, the carpenter continues + sneezing at times.) +

+

+ Well, manmaker! +

+

+ Just in time, sir. If the captain pleases, I will now mark the length. Let + me measure, sir. +

+

+ Measured for a leg! good. Well, it’s not the first time. About it! There; + keep thy finger on it. This is a cogent vice thou hast here, carpenter; + let me feel its grip once. So, so; it does pinch some. +

+

+ Oh, sir, it will break bones—beware, beware! +

+

+ No fear; I like a good grip; I like to feel something in this slippery + world that can hold, man. What’s Prometheus about there?—the + blacksmith, I mean—what’s he about? +

+

+ He must be forging the buckle-screw, sir, now. +

+

+ Right. It’s a partnership; he supplies the muscle part. He makes a fierce + red flame there! +

+

+ Aye, sir; he must have the white heat for this kind of fine work. +

+

+ Um-m. So he must. I do deem it now a most meaning thing, that that old + Greek, Prometheus, who made men, they say, should have been a blacksmith, + and animated them with fire; for what’s made in fire must properly belong + to fire; and so hell’s probable. How the soot flies! This must be the + remainder the Greek made the Africans of. Carpenter, when he’s through + with that buckle, tell him to forge a pair of steel shoulder-blades; + there’s a pedlar aboard with a crushing pack. +

+

+ Sir? +

+

+ Hold; while Prometheus is about it, I’ll order a complete man after a + desirable pattern. Imprimis, fifty feet high in his socks; then, chest + modelled after the Thames Tunnel; then, legs with roots to ’em, to stay in + one place; then, arms three feet through the wrist; no heart at all, brass + forehead, and about a quarter of an acre of fine brains; and let me see—shall + I order eyes to see outwards? No, but put a sky-light on top of his head + to illuminate inwards. There, take the order, and away. +

+

+ Now, what’s he speaking about, and who’s he speaking to, I should like to + know? Shall I keep standing here? (aside). +

+

+ ’Tis but indifferent architecture to make a blind dome; here’s one. No, + no, no; I must have a lantern. +

+

+ Ho, ho! That’s it, hey? Here are two, sir; one will serve my turn. +

+

+ What art thou thrusting that thief-catcher into my face for, man? Thrusted + light is worse than presented pistols. +

+

+ I thought, sir, that you spoke to carpenter. +

+

+ Carpenter? why that’s—but no;—a very tidy, and, I may say, an + extremely gentlemanlike sort of business thou art in here, carpenter;—or + would’st thou rather work in clay? +

+

+ Sir?—Clay? clay, sir? That’s mud; we leave clay to ditchers, sir. +

+

+ The fellow’s impious! What art thou sneezing about? +

+

+ Bone is rather dusty, sir. +

+

+ Take the hint, then; and when thou art dead, never bury thyself under + living people’s noses. +

+

+ Sir?—oh! ah!—I guess so;—yes—oh, dear! +

+

+ Look ye, carpenter, I dare say thou callest thyself a right good + workmanlike workman, eh? Well, then, will it speak thoroughly well for thy + work, if, when I come to mount this leg thou makest, I shall nevertheless + feel another leg in the same identical place with it; that is, carpenter, + my old lost leg; the flesh and blood one, I mean. Canst thou not drive + that old Adam away? +

+

+ Truly, sir, I begin to understand somewhat now. Yes, I have heard + something curious on that score, sir; how that a dismasted man never + entirely loses the feeling of his old spar, but it will be still pricking + him at times. May I humbly ask if it be really so, sir? +

+

+ It is, man. Look, put thy live leg here in the place where mine once was; + so, now, here is only one distinct leg to the eye, yet two to the soul. + Where thou feelest tingling life; there, exactly there, there to a hair, + do I. Is’t a riddle? +

+

+ I should humbly call it a poser, sir. +

+

+ Hist, then. How dost thou know that some entire, living, thinking thing + may not be invisibly and uninterpenetratingly standing precisely where + thou now standest; aye, and standing there in thy spite? In thy most + solitary hours, then, dost thou not fear eavesdroppers? Hold, don’t speak! + And if I still feel the smart of my crushed leg, though it be now so long + dissolved; then, why mayst not thou, carpenter, feel the fiery pains of + hell for ever, and without a body? Hah! +

+

+ Good Lord! Truly, sir, if it comes to that, I must calculate over again; I + think I didn’t carry a small figure, sir. +

+

+ Look ye, pudding-heads should never grant premises.—How long before + the leg is done? +

+

+ Perhaps an hour, sir. +

+

+ Bungle away at it then, and bring it to me (turns to go). Oh, Life! Here I + am, proud as Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this blockhead for a + bone to stand on! Cursed be that mortal inter-indebtedness which will not + do away with ledgers. I would be free as air; and I’m down in the whole + world’s books. I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the + wealthiest Prætorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the + world’s); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with. By + heavens! I’ll get a crucible, and into it, and dissolve myself down to one + small, compendious vertebra. So. +

+

+ CARPENTER (resuming his work). +

+

+ Well, well, well! Stubb knows him best of all, and Stubb always says he’s + queer; says nothing but that one sufficient little word queer; he’s queer, + says Stubb; he’s queer—queer, queer; and keeps dinning it into Mr. + Starbuck all the time—queer—sir—queer, queer, very + queer. And here’s his leg! Yes, now that I think of it, here’s his + bedfellow! has a stick of whale’s jaw-bone for a wife! And this is his + leg; he’ll stand on this. What was that now about one leg standing in + three places, and all three places standing in one hell—how was + that? Oh! I don’t wonder he looked so scornful at me! I’m a sort of + strange-thoughted sometimes, they say; but that’s only haphazard-like. + Then, a short, little old body like me, should never undertake to wade out + into deep waters with tall, heron-built captains; the water chucks you + under the chin pretty quick, and there’s a great cry for life-boats. And + here’s the heron’s leg! long and slim, sure enough! Now, for most folks + one pair of legs lasts a lifetime, and that must be because they use them + mercifully, as a tender-hearted old lady uses her roly-poly old + coach-horses. But Ahab; oh he’s a hard driver. Look, driven one leg to + death, and spavined the other for life, and now wears out bone legs by the + cord. Halloa, there, you Smut! bear a hand there with those screws, and + let’s finish it before the resurrection fellow comes a-calling with his + horn for all legs, true or false, as brewery-men go round collecting old + beer barrels, to fill ’em up again. What a leg this is! It looks like a + real live leg, filed down to nothing but the core; he’ll be standing on + this to-morrow; he’ll be taking altitudes on it. Halloa! I almost forgot + the little oval slate, smoothed ivory, where he figures up the latitude. + So, so; chisel, file, and sand-paper, now! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin. +

+

+ According to usage they were pumping the ship next morning; and lo! no + inconsiderable oil came up with the water; the casks below must have + sprung a bad leak. Much concern was shown; and Starbuck went down into the + cabin to report this unfavourable affair.* +

+

+ *In Sperm-whalemen with any considerable quantity of oil on board, it is a + regular semi-weekly duty to conduct a hose into the hold, and drench the + casks with sea-water; which afterwards, at varying intervals, is removed + by the ship’s pumps. Hereby the casks are sought to be kept damply tight; + while by the changed character of the withdrawn water, the mariners + readily detect any serious leakage in the precious cargo. +

+

+ Now, from the South and West the Pequod was drawing nigh to Formosa and + the Bashee Isles, between which lies one of the tropical outlets from the + China waters into the Pacific. And so Starbuck found Ahab with a general + chart of the oriental archipelagoes spread before him; and another + separate one representing the long eastern coasts of the Japanese islands—Niphon, + Matsmai, and Sikoke. With his snow-white new ivory leg braced against the + screwed leg of his table, and with a long pruning-hook of a jack-knife in + his hand, the wondrous old man, with his back to the gangway door, was + wrinkling his brow, and tracing his old courses again. +

+

+ “Who’s there?” hearing the footstep at the door, but not turning round to + it. “On deck! Begone!” +

+

+ “Captain Ahab mistakes; it is I. The oil in the hold is leaking, sir. We + must up Burtons and break out.” +

+

+ “Up Burtons and break out? Now that we are nearing Japan; heave-to here + for a week to tinker a parcel of old hoops?” +

+

+ “Either do that, sir, or waste in one day more oil than we may make good + in a year. What we come twenty thousand miles to get is worth saving, + sir.” +

+

+ “So it is, so it is; if we get it.” +

+

+ “I was speaking of the oil in the hold, sir.” +

+

+ “And I was not speaking or thinking of that at all. Begone! Let it leak! + I’m all aleak myself. Aye! leaks in leaks! not only full of leaky casks, + but those leaky casks are in a leaky ship; and that’s a far worse plight + than the Pequod’s, man. Yet I don’t stop to plug my leak; for who can find + it in the deep-loaded hull; or how hope to plug it, even if found, in this + life’s howling gale? Starbuck! I’ll not have the Burtons hoisted.” +

+

+ “What will the owners say, sir?” +

+

+ “Let the owners stand on Nantucket beach and outyell the Typhoons. What + cares Ahab? Owners, owners? Thou art always prating to me, Starbuck, about + those miserly owners, as if the owners were my conscience. But look ye, + the only real owner of anything is its commander; and hark ye, my + conscience is in this ship’s keel.—On deck!” +

+

+ “Captain Ahab,” said the reddening mate, moving further into the cabin, + with a daring so strangely respectful and cautious that it almost seemed + not only every way seeking to avoid the slightest outward manifestation of + itself, but within also seemed more than half distrustful of itself; “A + better man than I might well pass over in thee what he would quickly + enough resent in a younger man; aye, and in a happier, Captain Ahab.” +

+

+ “Devils! Dost thou then so much as dare to critically think of me?—On + deck!” +

+

+ “Nay, sir, not yet; I do entreat. And I do dare, sir—to be + forbearing! Shall we not understand each other better than hitherto, + Captain Ahab?” +

+

+ Ahab seized a loaded musket from the rack (forming part of most + South-Sea-men’s cabin furniture), and pointing it towards Starbuck, + exclaimed: “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain + that is lord over the Pequod.—On deck!” +

+

+ For an instant in the flashing eyes of the mate, and his fiery cheeks, you + would have almost thought that he had really received the blaze of the + levelled tube. But, mastering his emotion, he half calmly rose, and as he + quitted the cabin, paused for an instant and said: “Thou hast outraged, + not insulted me, sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; + thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, + old man.” +

+

+ “He waxes brave, but nevertheless obeys; most careful bravery that!” + murmured Ahab, as Starbuck disappeared. “What’s that he said—Ahab + beware of Ahab—there’s something there!” Then unconsciously using + the musket for a staff, with an iron brow he paced to and fro in the + little cabin; but presently the thick plaits of his forehead relaxed, and + returning the gun to the rack, he went to the deck. +

+

+ “Thou art but too good a fellow, Starbuck,” he said lowly to the mate; + then raising his voice to the crew: “Furl the t’gallant-sails, and + close-reef the top-sails, fore and aft; back the main-yard; up Burton, and + break out in the main-hold.” +

+

+ It were perhaps vain to surmise exactly why it was, that as respecting + Starbuck, Ahab thus acted. It may have been a flash of honesty in him; or + mere prudential policy which, under the circumstance, imperiously forbade + the slightest symptom of open disaffection, however transient, in the + important chief officer of his ship. However it was, his orders were + executed; and the Burtons were hoisted. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 110. Queequeg in His Coffin. +

+

+ Upon searching, it was found that the casks last struck into the hold were + perfectly sound, and that the leak must be further off. So, it being calm + weather, they broke out deeper and deeper, disturbing the slumbers of the + huge ground-tier butts; and from that black midnight sending those + gigantic moles into the daylight above. So deep did they go; and so + ancient, and corroded, and weedy the aspect of the lowermost puncheons, + that you almost looked next for some mouldy corner-stone cask containing + coins of Captain Noah, with copies of the posted placards, vainly warning + the infatuated old world from the flood. Tierce after tierce, too, of + water, and bread, and beef, and shooks of staves, and iron bundles of + hoops, were hoisted out, till at last the piled decks were hard to get + about; and the hollow hull echoed under foot, as if you were treading over + empty catacombs, and reeled and rolled in the sea like an air-freighted + demijohn. Top-heavy was the ship as a dinnerless student with all + Aristotle in his head. Well was it that the Typhoons did not visit them + then. +

+

+ Now, at this time it was that my poor pagan companion, and fast + bosom-friend, Queequeg, was seized with a fever, which brought him nigh to + his endless end. +

+

+ Be it said, that in this vocation of whaling, sinecures are unknown; + dignity and danger go hand in hand; till you get to be Captain, the higher + you rise the harder you toil. So with poor Queequeg, who, as harpooneer, + must not only face all the rage of the living whale, but—as we have + elsewhere seen—mount his dead back in a rolling sea; and finally + descend into the gloom of the hold, and bitterly sweating all day in that + subterraneous confinement, resolutely manhandle the clumsiest casks and + see to their stowage. To be short, among whalemen, the harpooneers are the + holders, so called. +

+

+ Poor Queequeg! when the ship was about half disembowelled, you should have + stooped over the hatchway, and peered down upon him there; where, stripped + to his woollen drawers, the tattooed savage was crawling about amid that + dampness and slime, like a green spotted lizard at the bottom of a well. + And a well, or an ice-house, it somehow proved to him, poor pagan; where, + strange to say, for all the heat of his sweatings, he caught a terrible + chill which lapsed into a fever; and at last, after some days’ suffering, + laid him in his hammock, close to the very sill of the door of death. How + he wasted and wasted away in those few long-lingering days, till there + seemed but little left of him but his frame and tattooing. But as all else + in him thinned, and his cheek-bones grew sharper, his eyes, nevertheless, + seemed growing fuller and fuller; they became of a strange softness of + lustre; and mildly but deeply looked out at you there from his sickness, a + wondrous testimony to that immortal health in him which could not die, or + be weakened. And like circles on the water, which, as they grow fainter, + expand; so his eyes seemed rounding and rounding, like the rings of + Eternity. An awe that cannot be named would steal over you as you sat by + the side of this waning savage, and saw as strange things in his face, as + any beheld who were bystanders when Zoroaster died. For whatever is truly + wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books. And + the drawing near of Death, which alike levels all, alike impresses all + with a last revelation, which only an author from the dead could + adequately tell. So that—let us say it again—no dying Chaldee + or Greek had higher and holier thoughts than those, whose mysterious + shades you saw creeping over the face of poor Queequeg, as he quietly lay + in his swaying hammock, and the rolling sea seemed gently rocking him to + his final rest, and the ocean’s invisible flood-tide lifted him higher and + higher towards his destined heaven. +

+

+ Not a man of the crew but gave him up; and, as for Queequeg himself, what + he thought of his case was forcibly shown by a curious favour he asked. He + called one to him in the grey morning watch, when the day was just + breaking, and taking his hand, said that while in Nantucket he had chanced + to see certain little canoes of dark wood, like the rich war-wood of his + native isle; and upon inquiry, he had learned that all whalemen who died + in Nantucket, were laid in those same dark canoes, and that the fancy of + being so laid had much pleased him; for it was not unlike the custom of + his own race, who, after embalming a dead warrior, stretched him out in + his canoe, and so left him to be floated away to the starry archipelagoes; + for not only do they believe that the stars are isles, but that far beyond + all visible horizons, their own mild, uncontinented seas, interflow with + the blue heavens; and so form the white breakers of the milky way. He + added, that he shuddered at the thought of being buried in his hammock, + according to the usual sea-custom, tossed like something vile to the + death-devouring sharks. No: he desired a canoe like those of Nantucket, + all the more congenial to him, being a whaleman, that like a whale-boat + these coffin-canoes were without a keel; though that involved but + uncertain steering, and much lee-way adown the dim ages. +

+

+ Now, when this strange circumstance was made known aft, the carpenter was + at once commanded to do Queequeg’s bidding, whatever it might include. + There was some heathenish, coffin-coloured old lumber aboard, which, upon + a long previous voyage, had been cut from the aboriginal groves of the + Lackaday islands, and from these dark planks the coffin was recommended to + be made. No sooner was the carpenter apprised of the order, than taking + his rule, he forthwith with all the indifferent promptitude of his + character, proceeded into the forecastle and took Queequeg’s measure with + great accuracy, regularly chalking Queequeg’s person as he shifted the + rule. +

+

+ “Ah! poor fellow! he’ll have to die now,” ejaculated the Long Island + sailor. +

+

+ Going to his vice-bench, the carpenter for convenience sake and general + reference, now transferringly measured on it the exact length the coffin + was to be, and then made the transfer permanent by cutting two notches at + its extremities. This done, he marshalled the planks and his tools, and to + work. +

+

+ When the last nail was driven, and the lid duly planed and fitted, he + lightly shouldered the coffin and went forward with it, inquiring whether + they were ready for it yet in that direction. +

+

+ Overhearing the indignant but half-humorous cries with which the people on + deck began to drive the coffin away, Queequeg, to every one’s + consternation, commanded that the thing should be instantly brought to + him, nor was there any denying him; seeing that, of all mortals, some + dying men are the most tyrannical; and certainly, since they will shortly + trouble us so little for evermore, the poor fellows ought to be indulged. +

+

+ Leaning over in his hammock, Queequeg long regarded the coffin with an + attentive eye. He then called for his harpoon, had the wooden stock drawn + from it, and then had the iron part placed in the coffin along with one of + the paddles of his boat. All by his own request, also, biscuits were then + ranged round the sides within: a flask of fresh water was placed at the + head, and a small bag of woody earth scraped up in the hold at the foot; + and a piece of sail-cloth being rolled up for a pillow, Queequeg now + entreated to be lifted into his final bed, that he might make trial of its + comforts, if any it had. He lay without moving a few minutes, then told + one to go to his bag and bring out his little god, Yojo. Then crossing his + arms on his breast with Yojo between, he called for the coffin lid (hatch + he called it) to be placed over him. The head part turned over with a + leather hinge, and there lay Queequeg in his coffin with little but his + composed countenance in view. “Rarmai” (it will do; it is easy), he + murmured at last, and signed to be replaced in his hammock. +

+

+ But ere this was done, Pip, who had been slily hovering near by all this + while, drew nigh to him where he lay, and with soft sobbings, took him by + the hand; in the other, holding his tambourine. +

+

+ “Poor rover! will ye never have done with all this weary roving? where go + ye now? But if the currents carry ye to those sweet Antilles where the + beaches are only beat with water-lilies, will ye do one little errand for + me? Seek out one Pip, who’s now been missing long: I think he’s in those + far Antilles. If ye find him, then comfort him; for he must be very sad; + for look! he’s left his tambourine behind;—I found it. Rig-a-dig, + dig, dig! Now, Queequeg, die; and I’ll beat ye your dying march.” +

+

+ “I have heard,” murmured Starbuck, gazing down the scuttle, “that in + violent fevers, men, all ignorance, have talked in ancient tongues; and + that when the mystery is probed, it turns out always that in their wholly + forgotten childhood those ancient tongues had been really spoken in their + hearing by some lofty scholars. So, to my fond faith, poor Pip, in this + strange sweetness of his lunacy, brings heavenly vouchers of all our + heavenly homes. Where learned he that, but there?—Hark! he speaks + again: but more wildly now.” +

+

+ “Form two and two! Let’s make a General of him! Ho, where’s his harpoon? + Lay it across here.—Rig-a-dig, dig, dig! huzza! Oh for a game cock + now to sit upon his head and crow! Queequeg dies game!—mind ye that; + Queequeg dies game!—take ye good heed of that; Queequeg dies game! I + say; game, game, game! but base little Pip, he died a coward; died all + a’shiver;—out upon Pip! Hark ye; if ye find Pip, tell all the + Antilles he’s a runaway; a coward, a coward, a coward! Tell them he jumped + from a whale-boat! I’d never beat my tambourine over base Pip, and hail + him General, if he were once more dying here. No, no! shame upon all + cowards—shame upon them! Let ’em go drown like Pip, that jumped from + a whale-boat. Shame! shame!” +

+

+ During all this, Queequeg lay with closed eyes, as if in a dream. Pip was + led away, and the sick man was replaced in his hammock. +

+

+ But now that he had apparently made every preparation for death; now that + his coffin was proved a good fit, Queequeg suddenly rallied; soon there + seemed no need of the carpenter’s box: and thereupon, when some expressed + their delighted surprise, he, in substance, said, that the cause of his + sudden convalescence was this;—at a critical moment, he had just + recalled a little duty ashore, which he was leaving undone; and therefore + had changed his mind about dying: he could not die yet, he averred. They + asked him, then, whether to live or die was a matter of his own sovereign + will and pleasure. He answered, certainly. In a word, it was Queequeg’s + conceit, that if a man made up his mind to live, mere sickness could not + kill him: nothing but a whale, or a gale, or some violent, ungovernable, + unintelligent destroyer of that sort. +

+

+ Now, there is this noteworthy difference between savage and civilized; + that while a sick, civilized man may be six months convalescing, generally + speaking, a sick savage is almost half-well again in a day. So, in good + time my Queequeg gained strength; and at length after sitting on the + windlass for a few indolent days (but eating with a vigorous appetite) he + suddenly leaped to his feet, threw out his arms and legs, gave himself a + good stretching, yawned a little bit, and then springing into the head of + his hoisted boat, and poising a harpoon, pronounced himself fit for a + fight. +

+

+ With a wild whimsiness, he now used his coffin for a sea-chest; and + emptying into it his canvas bag of clothes, set them in order there. Many + spare hours he spent, in carving the lid with all manner of grotesque + figures and drawings; and it seemed that hereby he was striving, in his + rude way, to copy parts of the twisted tattooing on his body. And this + tattooing had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, + who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete + theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of + attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to + unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even + himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these + mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the + living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the + last. And this thought it must have been which suggested to Ahab that wild + exclamation of his, when one morning turning away from surveying poor + Queequeg—“Oh, devilish tantalization of the gods!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 111. The Pacific. +

+

+ When gliding by the Bashee isles we emerged at last upon the great South + Sea; were it not for other things, I could have greeted my dear Pacific + with uncounted thanks, for now the long supplication of my youth was + answered; that serene ocean rolled eastwards from me a thousand leagues of + blue. +

+

+ There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently + awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath; like those + fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. + John. And meet it is, that over these sea-pastures, wide-rolling watery + prairies and Potters’ Fields of all four continents, the waves should rise + and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades + and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call + lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in + their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness. +

+

+ To any meditative Magian rover, this serene Pacific, once beheld, must + ever after be the sea of his adoption. It rolls the midmost waters of the + world, the Indian ocean and Atlantic being but its arms. The same waves + wash the moles of the new-built Californian towns, but yesterday planted + by the recentest race of men, and lave the faded but still gorgeous skirts + of Asiatic lands, older than Abraham; while all between float milky-ways + of coral isles, and low-lying, endless, unknown Archipelagoes, and + impenetrable Japans. Thus this mysterious, divine Pacific zones the + world’s whole bulk about; makes all coasts one bay to it; seems the + tide-beating heart of earth. Lifted by those eternal swells, you needs + must own the seductive god, bowing your head to Pan. +

+

+ But few thoughts of Pan stirred Ahab’s brain, as standing like an iron + statue at his accustomed place beside the mizen rigging, with one nostril + he unthinkingly snuffed the sugary musk from the Bashee isles (in whose + sweet woods mild lovers must be walking), and with the other consciously + inhaled the salt breath of the new found sea; that sea in which the hated + White Whale must even then be swimming. Launched at length upon these + almost final waters, and gliding towards the Japanese cruising-ground, the + old man’s purpose intensified itself. His firm lips met like the lips of a + vice; the Delta of his forehead’s veins swelled like overladen brooks; in + his very sleep, his ringing cry ran through the vaulted hull, “Stern all! + the White Whale spouts thick blood!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 112. The Blacksmith. +

+

+ Availing himself of the mild, summer-cool weather that now reigned in + these latitudes, and in preparation for the peculiarly active pursuits + shortly to be anticipated, Perth, the begrimed, blistered old blacksmith, + had not removed his portable forge to the hold again, after concluding his + contributory work for Ahab’s leg, but still retained it on deck, fast + lashed to ringbolts by the foremast; being now almost incessantly invoked + by the headsmen, and harpooneers, and bowsmen to do some little job for + them; altering, or repairing, or new shaping their various weapons and + boat furniture. Often he would be surrounded by an eager circle, all + waiting to be served; holding boat-spades, pike-heads, harpoons, and + lances, and jealously watching his every sooty movement, as he toiled. + Nevertheless, this old man’s was a patient hammer wielded by a patient + arm. No murmur, no impatience, no petulance did come from him. Silent, + slow, and solemn; bowing over still further his chronically broken back, + he toiled away, as if toil were life itself, and the heavy beating of his + hammer the heavy beating of his heart. And so it was.—Most + miserable! +

+

+ A peculiar walk in this old man, a certain slight but painful appearing + yawing in his gait, had at an early period of the voyage excited the + curiosity of the mariners. And to the importunity of their persisted + questionings he had finally given in; and so it came to pass that every + one now knew the shameful story of his wretched fate. +

+

+ Belated, and not innocently, one bitter winter’s midnight, on the road + running between two country towns, the blacksmith half-stupidly felt the + deadly numbness stealing over him, and sought refuge in a leaning, + dilapidated barn. The issue was, the loss of the extremities of both feet. + Out of this revelation, part by part, at last came out the four acts of + the gladness, and the one long, and as yet uncatastrophied fifth act of + the grief of his life’s drama. +

+

+ He was an old man, who, at the age of nearly sixty, had postponedly + encountered that thing in sorrow’s technicals called ruin. He had been an + artisan of famed excellence, and with plenty to do; owned a house and + garden; embraced a youthful, daughter-like, loving wife, and three blithe, + ruddy children; every Sunday went to a cheerful-looking church, planted in + a grove. But one night, under cover of darkness, and further concealed in + a most cunning disguisement, a desperate burglar slid into his happy home, + and robbed them all of everything. And darker yet to tell, the blacksmith + himself did ignorantly conduct this burglar into his family’s heart. It + was the Bottle Conjuror! Upon the opening of that fatal cork, forth flew + the fiend, and shrivelled up his home. Now, for prudent, most wise, and + economic reasons, the blacksmith’s shop was in the basement of his + dwelling, but with a separate entrance to it; so that always had the young + and loving healthy wife listened with no unhappy nervousness, but with + vigorous pleasure, to the stout ringing of her young-armed old husband’s + hammer; whose reverberations, muffled by passing through the floors and + walls, came up to her, not unsweetly, in her nursery; and so, to stout + Labor’s iron lullaby, the blacksmith’s infants were rocked to slumber. +

+

+ Oh, woe on woe! Oh, Death, why canst thou not sometimes be timely? Hadst + thou taken this old blacksmith to thyself ere his full ruin came upon him, + then had the young widow had a delicious grief, and her orphans a truly + venerable, legendary sire to dream of in their after years; and all of + them a care-killing competency. But Death plucked down some virtuous elder + brother, on whose whistling daily toil solely hung the responsibilities of + some other family, and left the worse than useless old man standing, till + the hideous rot of life should make him easier to harvest. +

+

+ Why tell the whole? The blows of the basement hammer every day grew more + and more between; and each blow every day grew fainter than the last; the + wife sat frozen at the window, with tearless eyes, glitteringly gazing + into the weeping faces of her children; the bellows fell; the forge choked + up with cinders; the house was sold; the mother dived down into the long + church-yard grass; her children twice followed her thither; and the + houseless, familyless old man staggered off a vagabond in crape; his every + woe unreverenced; his grey head a scorn to flaxen curls! +

+

+ Death seems the only desirable sequel for a career like this; but Death is + only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the + first salutation to the possibilities of the immense Remote, the Wild, the + Watery, the Unshored; therefore, to the death-longing eyes of such men, + who still have left in them some interior compunctions against suicide, + does the all-contributed and all-receptive ocean alluringly spread forth + his whole plain of unimaginable, taking terrors, and wonderful, new-life + adventures; and from the hearts of infinite Pacifics, the thousand + mermaids sing to them—“Come hither, broken-hearted; here is another + life without the guilt of intermediate death; here are wonders + supernatural, without dying for them. Come hither! bury thyself in a life + which, to your now equally abhorred and abhorring, landed world, is more + oblivious than death. Come hither! put up thy gravestone, too, within the + churchyard, and come hither, till we marry thee!” +

+

+ Hearkening to these voices, East and West, by early sunrise, and by fall + of eve, the blacksmith’s soul responded, Aye, I come! And so Perth went + a-whaling. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 113. The Forge. +

+

+ With matted beard, and swathed in a bristling shark-skin apron, about + mid-day, Perth was standing between his forge and anvil, the latter placed + upon an iron-wood log, with one hand holding a pike-head in the coals, and + with the other at his forge’s lungs, when Captain Ahab came along, + carrying in his hand a small rusty-looking leathern bag. While yet a + little distance from the forge, moody Ahab paused; till at last, Perth, + withdrawing his iron from the fire, began hammering it upon the anvil—the + red mass sending off the sparks in thick hovering flights, some of which + flew close to Ahab. +

+

+ “Are these thy Mother Carey’s chickens, Perth? they are always flying in + thy wake; birds of good omen, too, but not to all;—look here, they + burn; but thou—thou liv’st among them without a scorch.” +

+

+ “Because I am scorched all over, Captain Ahab,” answered Perth, resting + for a moment on his hammer; “I am past scorching; not easily can’st thou + scorch a scar.” +

+

+ “Well, well; no more. Thy shrunk voice sounds too calmly, sanely woeful to + me. In no Paradise myself, I am impatient of all misery in others that is + not mad. Thou should’st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? + How can’st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, + that thou can’st not go mad?—What wert thou making there?” +

+

+ “Welding an old pike-head, sir; there were seams and dents in it.” +

+

+ “And can’st thou make it all smooth again, blacksmith, after such hard + usage as it had?” +

+

+ “I think so, sir.” +

+

+ “And I suppose thou can’st smoothe almost any seams and dents; never mind + how hard the metal, blacksmith?” +

+

+ “Aye, sir, I think I can; all seams and dents but one.” +

+

+ “Look ye here, then,” cried Ahab, passionately advancing, and leaning with + both hands on Perth’s shoulders; “look ye here—here—can ye + smoothe out a seam like this, blacksmith,” sweeping one hand across his + ribbed brow; “if thou could’st, blacksmith, glad enough would I lay my + head upon thy anvil, and feel thy heaviest hammer between my eyes. Answer! + Can’st thou smoothe this seam?” +

+

+ “Oh! that is the one, sir! Said I not all seams and dents but one?” +

+

+ “Aye, blacksmith, it is the one; aye, man, it is unsmoothable; for though + thou only see’st it here in my flesh, it has worked down into the bone of + my skull—that is all wrinkles! But, away with child’s play; no more + gaffs and pikes to-day. Look ye here!” jingling the leathern bag, as if it + were full of gold coins. “I, too, want a harpoon made; one that a thousand + yoke of fiends could not part, Perth; something that will stick in a whale + like his own fin-bone. There’s the stuff,” flinging the pouch upon the + anvil. “Look ye, blacksmith, these are the gathered nail-stubbs of the + steel shoes of racing horses.” +

+

+ “Horse-shoe stubbs, sir? Why, Captain Ahab, thou hast here, then, the best + and stubbornest stuff we blacksmiths ever work.” +

+

+ “I know it, old man; these stubbs will weld together like glue from the + melted bones of murderers. Quick! forge me the harpoon. And forge me + first, twelve rods for its shank; then wind, and twist, and hammer these + twelve together like the yarns and strands of a tow-line. Quick! I’ll blow + the fire.” +

+

+ When at last the twelve rods were made, Ahab tried them, one by one, by + spiralling them, with his own hand, round a long, heavy iron bolt. “A + flaw!” rejecting the last one. “Work that over again, Perth.” +

+

+ This done, Perth was about to begin welding the twelve into one, when Ahab + stayed his hand, and said he would weld his own iron. As, then, with + regular, gasping hems, he hammered on the anvil, Perth passing to him the + glowing rods, one after the other, and the hard pressed forge shooting up + its intense straight flame, the Parsee passed silently, and bowing over + his head towards the fire, seemed invoking some curse or some blessing on + the toil. But, as Ahab looked up, he slid aside. +

+

+ “What’s that bunch of lucifers dodging about there for?” muttered Stubb, + looking on from the forecastle. “That Parsee smells fire like a fusee; and + smells of it himself, like a hot musket’s powder-pan.” +

+

+ At last the shank, in one complete rod, received its final heat; and as + Perth, to temper it, plunged it all hissing into the cask of water near + by, the scalding steam shot up into Ahab’s bent face. +

+

+ “Would’st thou brand me, Perth?” wincing for a moment with the pain; “have + I been but forging my own branding-iron, then?” +

+

+ “Pray God, not that; yet I fear something, Captain Ahab. Is not this + harpoon for the White Whale?” +

+

+ “For the white fiend! But now for the barbs; thou must make them thyself, + man. Here are my razors—the best of steel; here, and make the barbs + sharp as the needle-sleet of the Icy Sea.” +

+

+ For a moment, the old blacksmith eyed the razors as though he would fain + not use them. +

+

+ “Take them, man, I have no need for them; for I now neither shave, sup, + nor pray till—but here—to work!” +

+

+ Fashioned at last into an arrowy shape, and welded by Perth to the shank, + the steel soon pointed the end of the iron; and as the blacksmith was + about giving the barbs their final heat, prior to tempering them, he cried + to Ahab to place the water-cask near. +

+

+ “No, no—no water for that; I want it of the true death-temper. Ahoy, + there! Tashtego, Queequeg, Daggoo! What say ye, pagans! Will ye give me as + much blood as will cover this barb?” holding it high up. A cluster of dark + nods replied, Yes. Three punctures were made in the heathen flesh, and the + White Whale’s barbs were then tempered. +

+

+ “Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!” deliriously + howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal + blood. +

+

+ Now, mustering the spare poles from below, and selecting one of hickory, + with the bark still investing it, Ahab fitted the end to the socket of the + iron. A coil of new tow-line was then unwound, and some fathoms of it + taken to the windlass, and stretched to a great tension. Pressing his foot + upon it, till the rope hummed like a harp-string, then eagerly bending + over it, and seeing no strandings, Ahab exclaimed, “Good! and now for the + seizings.” +

+

+ At one extremity the rope was unstranded, and the separate spread yarns + were all braided and woven round the socket of the harpoon; the pole was + then driven hard up into the socket; from the lower end the rope was + traced half-way along the pole’s length, and firmly secured so, with + intertwistings of twine. This done, pole, iron, and rope—like the + Three Fates—remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with + the weapon; the sound of his ivory leg, and the sound of the hickory pole, + both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered his cabin, + light, unnatural, half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was heard. Oh, + Pip! thy wretched laugh, thy idle but unresting eye; all thy strange + mummeries not unmeaningly blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy + ship, and mocked it! +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 114. The Gilder. +

+

+ Penetrating further and further into the heart of the Japanese cruising + ground, the Pequod was soon all astir in the fishery. Often, in mild, + pleasant weather, for twelve, fifteen, eighteen, and twenty hours on the + stretch, they were engaged in the boats, steadily pulling, or sailing, or + paddling after the whales, or for an interlude of sixty or seventy minutes + calmly awaiting their uprising; though with but small success for their + pains. +

+

+ At such times, under an abated sun; afloat all day upon smooth, slow + heaving swells; seated in his boat, light as a birch canoe; and so + sociably mixing with the soft waves themselves, that like hearth-stone + cats they purr against the gunwale; these are the times of dreamy + quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean’s + skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not + willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang. +

+

+ These are the times, when in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a + certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he + regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only + the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not through high rolling + waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the + western emigrants’ horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden + bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure. +

+

+ The long-drawn virgin vales; the mild blue hill-sides; as over these there + steals the hush, the hum; you almost swear that play-wearied children lie + sleeping in these solitudes, in some glad May-time, when the flowers of + the woods are plucked. And all this mixes with your most mystic mood; so + that fact and fancy, half-way meeting, interpenetrate, and form one + seamless whole. +

+

+ Nor did such soothing scenes, however temporary, fail of at least as + temporary an effect on Ahab. But if these secret golden keys did seem to + open in him his own secret golden treasuries, yet did his breath upon them + prove but tarnishing. +

+

+ Oh, grassy glades! oh, ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye,—though + long parched by the dead drought of the earthy life,—in ye, men yet + may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few + fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them. Would to + God these blessed calms would last. But the mingled, mingling threads of + life are woven by warp and woof: calms crossed by storms, a storm for + every calm. There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do + not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:—through + infancy’s unconscious spell, boyhood’s thoughtless faith, adolescence’ + doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last + in manhood’s pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the + round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies + the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the + world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s + father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die + in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we + must there to learn it. +

+

+ And that same day, too, gazing far down from his boat’s side into that + same golden sea, Starbuck lowly murmured:— +

+

+ “Loveliness unfathomable, as ever lover saw in his young bride’s eye!—Tell + me not of thy teeth-tiered sharks, and thy kidnapping cannibal ways. Let + faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down and do believe.” +

+

+ And Stubb, fish-like, with sparkling scales, leaped up in that same golden + light:— +

+

+ “I am Stubb, and Stubb has his history; but here Stubb takes oaths that he + has always been jolly!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. +

+

+ And jolly enough were the sights and the sounds that came bearing down + before the wind, some few weeks after Ahab’s harpoon had been welded. +

+

+ It was a Nantucket ship, the Bachelor, which had just wedged in her last + cask of oil, and bolted down her bursting hatches; and now, in glad + holiday apparel, was joyously, though somewhat vain-gloriously, sailing + round among the widely-separated ships on the ground, previous to pointing + her prow for home. +

+

+ The three men at her mast-head wore long streamers of narrow red bunting + at their hats; from the stern, a whale-boat was suspended, bottom down; + and hanging captive from the bowsprit was seen the long lower jaw of the + last whale they had slain. Signals, ensigns, and jacks of all colours were + flying from her rigging, on every side. Sideways lashed in each of her + three basketed tops were two barrels of sperm; above which, in her + top-mast cross-trees, you saw slender breakers of the same precious fluid; + and nailed to her main truck was a brazen lamp. +

+

+ As was afterwards learned, the Bachelor had met with the most surprising + success; all the more wonderful, for that while cruising in the same seas + numerous other vessels had gone entire months without securing a single + fish. Not only had barrels of beef and bread been given away to make room + for the far more valuable sperm, but additional supplemental casks had + been bartered for, from the ships she had met; and these were stowed along + the deck, and in the captain’s and officers’ state-rooms. Even the cabin + table itself had been knocked into kindling-wood; and the cabin mess dined + off the broad head of an oil-butt, lashed down to the floor for a + centrepiece. In the forecastle, the sailors had actually caulked and + pitched their chests, and filled them; it was humorously added, that the + cook had clapped a head on his largest boiler, and filled it; that the + steward had plugged his spare coffee-pot and filled it; that the + harpooneers had headed the sockets of their irons and filled them; that + indeed everything was filled with sperm, except the captain’s pantaloons + pockets, and those he reserved to thrust his hands into, in + self-complacent testimony of his entire satisfaction. +

+

+ As this glad ship of good luck bore down upon the moody Pequod, the + barbarian sound of enormous drums came from her forecastle; and drawing + still nearer, a crowd of her men were seen standing round her huge + try-pots, which, covered with the parchment-like poke or stomach skin of + the black fish, gave forth a loud roar to every stroke of the clenched + hands of the crew. On the quarter-deck, the mates and harpooneers were + dancing with the olive-hued girls who had eloped with them from the + Polynesian Isles; while suspended in an ornamented boat, firmly secured + aloft between the foremast and mainmast, three Long Island negroes, with + glittering fiddle-bows of whale ivory, were presiding over the hilarious + jig. Meanwhile, others of the ship’s company were tumultuously busy at the + masonry of the try-works, from which the huge pots had been removed. You + would have almost thought they were pulling down the cursed Bastille, such + wild cries they raised, as the now useless brick and mortar were being + hurled into the sea. +

+

+ Lord and master over all this scene, the captain stood erect on the ship’s + elevated quarter-deck, so that the whole rejoicing drama was full before + him, and seemed merely contrived for his own individual diversion. +

+

+ And Ahab, he too was standing on his quarter-deck, shaggy and black, with + a stubborn gloom; and as the two ships crossed each other’s wakes—one + all jubilations for things passed, the other all forebodings as to things + to come—their two captains in themselves impersonated the whole + striking contrast of the scene. +

+

+ “Come aboard, come aboard!” cried the gay Bachelor’s commander, lifting a + glass and a bottle in the air. +

+

+ “Hast seen the White Whale?” gritted Ahab in reply. +

+

+ “No; only heard of him; but don’t believe in him at all,” said the other + good-humoredly. “Come aboard!” +

+

+ “Thou art too damned jolly. Sail on. Hast lost any men?” +

+

+ “Not enough to speak of—two islanders, that’s all;—but come + aboard, old hearty, come along. I’ll soon take that black from your brow. + Come along, will ye (merry’s the play); a full ship and homeward-bound.” +

+

+ “How wondrous familiar is a fool!” muttered Ahab; then aloud, “Thou art a + full ship and homeward bound, thou sayst; well, then, call me an empty + ship, and outward-bound. So go thy ways, and I will mine. Forward there! + Set all sail, and keep her to the wind!” +

+

+ And thus, while the one ship went cheerily before the breeze, the other + stubbornly fought against it; and so the two vessels parted; the crew of + the Pequod looking with grave, lingering glances towards the receding + Bachelor; but the Bachelor’s men never heeding their gaze for the lively + revelry they were in. And as Ahab, leaning over the taffrail, eyed the + homeward-bound craft, he took from his pocket a small vial of sand, and + then looking from the ship to the vial, seemed thereby bringing two remote + associations together, for that vial was filled with Nantucket soundings. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale. +

+

+ Not seldom in this life, when, on the right side, fortune’s favourites + sail close by us, we, though all adroop before, catch somewhat of the + rushing breeze, and joyfully feel our bagging sails fill out. So seemed it + with the Pequod. For next day after encountering the gay Bachelor, whales + were seen and four were slain; and one of them by Ahab. +

+

+ It was far down the afternoon; and when all the spearings of the crimson + fight were done: and floating in the lovely sunset sea and sky, sun and + whale both stilly died together; then, such a sweetness and such + plaintiveness, such inwreathing orisons curled up in that rosy air, that + it almost seemed as if far over from the deep green convent valleys of the + Manilla isles, the Spanish land-breeze, wantonly turned sailor, had gone + to sea, freighted with these vesper hymns. +

+

+ Soothed again, but only soothed to deeper gloom, Ahab, who had sterned off + from the whale, sat intently watching his final wanings from the now + tranquil boat. For that strange spectacle observable in all sperm whales + dying—the turning sunwards of the head, and so expiring—that + strange spectacle, beheld of such a placid evening, somehow to Ahab + conveyed a wondrousness unknown before. +

+

+ “He turns and turns him to it,—how slowly, but how steadfastly, his + homage-rendering and invoking brow, with his last dying motions. He too + worships fire; most faithful, broad, baronial vassal of the sun!—Oh + that these too-favouring eyes should see these too-favouring sights. Look! + here, far water-locked; beyond all hum of human weal or woe; in these most + candid and impartial seas; where to traditions no rocks furnish tablets; + where for long Chinese ages, the billows have still rolled on speechless + and unspoken to, as stars that shine upon the Niger’s unknown source; + here, too, life dies sunwards full of faith; but see! no sooner dead, than + death whirls round the corpse, and it heads some other way. +

+

+ “Oh, thou dark Hindoo half of nature, who of drowned bones hast builded + thy separate throne somewhere in the heart of these unverdured seas; thou + art an infidel, thou queen, and too truly speakest to me in the + wide-slaughtering Typhoon, and the hushed burial of its after calm. Nor + has this thy whale sunwards turned his dying head, and then gone round + again, without a lesson to me. +

+

+ “Oh, trebly hooped and welded hip of power! Oh, high aspiring, rainbowed + jet!—that one strivest, this one jettest all in vain! In vain, oh + whale, dost thou seek intercedings with yon all-quickening sun, that only + calls forth life, but gives it not again. Yet dost thou, darker half, rock + me with a prouder, if a darker faith. All thy unnamable imminglings float + beneath me here; I am buoyed by breaths of once living things, exhaled as + air, but water now. +

+

+ “Then hail, for ever hail, O sea, in whose eternal tossings the wild fowl + finds his only rest. Born of earth, yet suckled by the sea; though hill + and valley mothered me, ye billows are my foster-brothers!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch. +

+

+ The four whales slain that evening had died wide apart; one, far to + windward; one, less distant, to leeward; one ahead; one astern. These last + three were brought alongside ere nightfall; but the windward one could not + be reached till morning; and the boat that had killed it lay by its side + all night; and that boat was Ahab’s. +

+

+ The waif-pole was thrust upright into the dead whale’s spout-hole; and the + lantern hanging from its top, cast a troubled flickering glare upon the + black, glossy back, and far out upon the midnight waves, which gently + chafed the whale’s broad flank, like soft surf upon a beach. +

+

+ Ahab and all his boat’s crew seemed asleep but the Parsee; who crouching + in the bow, sat watching the sharks, that spectrally played round the + whale, and tapped the light cedar planks with their tails. A sound like + the moaning in squadrons over Asphaltites of unforgiven ghosts of + Gomorrah, ran shuddering through the air. +

+

+ Started from his slumbers, Ahab, face to face, saw the Parsee; and hooped + round by the gloom of the night they seemed the last men in a flooded + world. “I have dreamed it again,” said he. +

+

+ “Of the hearses? Have I not said, old man, that neither hearse nor coffin + can be thine?” +

+

+ “And who are hearsed that die on the sea?” +

+

+ “But I said, old man, that ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two + hearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by + mortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in + America.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye! a strange sight that, Parsee:—a hearse and its plumes + floating over the ocean with the waves for the pall-bearers. Ha! Such a + sight we shall not soon see.” +

+

+ “Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man.” +

+

+ “And what was that saying about thyself?” +

+

+ “Though it come to the last, I shall still go before thee thy pilot.” +

+

+ “And when thou art so gone before—if that ever befall—then ere + I can follow, thou must still appear to me, to pilot me still?—Was + it not so? Well, then, did I believe all ye say, oh my pilot! I have here + two pledges that I shall yet slay Moby Dick and survive it.” +

+

+ “Take another pledge, old man,” said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up + like fire-flies in the gloom—“Hemp only can kill thee.” +

+

+ “The gallows, ye mean.—I am immortal then, on land and on sea,” + cried Ahab, with a laugh of derision;—“Immortal on land and on sea!” +

+

+ Both were silent again, as one man. The grey dawn came on, and the + slumbering crew arose from the boat’s bottom, and ere noon the dead whale + was brought to the ship. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant. +

+

+ The season for the Line at length drew near; and every day when Ahab, + coming from his cabin, cast his eyes aloft, the vigilant helmsman would + ostentatiously handle his spokes, and the eager mariners quickly run to + the braces, and would stand there with all their eyes centrally fixed on + the nailed doubloon; impatient for the order to point the ship’s prow for + the equator. In good time the order came. It was hard upon high noon; and + Ahab, seated in the bows of his high-hoisted boat, was about taking his + wonted daily observation of the sun to determine his latitude. +

+

+ Now, in that Japanese sea, the days in summer are as freshets of + effulgences. That unblinkingly vivid Japanese sun seems the blazing focus + of the glassy ocean’s immeasurable burning-glass. The sky looks lacquered; + clouds there are none; the horizon floats; and this nakedness of + unrelieved radiance is as the insufferable splendors of God’s throne. Well + that Ahab’s quadrant was furnished with coloured glasses, through which to + take sight of that solar fire. So, swinging his seated form to the roll of + the ship, and with his astrological-looking instrument placed to his eye, + he remained in that posture for some moments to catch the precise instant + when the sun should gain its precise meridian. Meantime while his whole + attention was absorbed, the Parsee was kneeling beneath him on the ship’s + deck, and with face thrown up like Ahab’s, was eyeing the same sun with + him; only the lids of his eyes half hooded their orbs, and his wild face + was subdued to an earthly passionlessness. At length the desired + observation was taken; and with his pencil upon his ivory leg, Ahab soon + calculated what his latitude must be at that precise instant. Then falling + into a moment’s revery, he again looked up towards the sun and murmured to + himself: “Thou sea-mark! thou high and mighty Pilot! thou tellest me truly + where I am—but canst thou cast the least hint where I shall be? Or + canst thou tell where some other thing besides me is this moment living? + Where is Moby Dick? This instant thou must be eyeing him. These eyes of + mine look into the very eye that is even now beholding him; aye, and into + the eye that is even now equally beholding the objects on the unknown, + thither side of thee, thou sun!” +

+

+ Then gazing at his quadrant, and handling, one after the other, its + numerous cabalistical contrivances, he pondered again, and muttered: + “Foolish toy! babies’ plaything of haughty Admirals, and Commodores, and + Captains; the world brags of thee, of thy cunning and might; but what + after all canst thou do, but tell the poor, pitiful point, where thou + thyself happenest to be on this wide planet, and the hand that holds thee: + no! not one jot more! Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one + grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou + insultest the sun! Science! Curse thee, thou vain toy; and cursed be all + the things that cast man’s eyes aloft to that heaven, whose live vividness + but scorches him, as these old eyes are even now scorched with thy light, + O sun! Level by nature to this earth’s horizon are the glances of man’s + eyes; not shot from the crown of his head, as if God had meant him to gaze + on his firmament. Curse thee, thou quadrant!” dashing it to the deck, “no + longer will I guide my earthly way by thee; the level ship’s compass, and + the level dead-reckoning, by log and by line; these shall conduct me, and + show me my place on the sea. Aye,” lighting from the boat to the deck, + “thus I trample on thee, thou paltry thing that feebly pointest on high; + thus I split and destroy thee!” +

+

+ As the frantic old man thus spoke and thus trampled with his live and dead + feet, a sneering triumph that seemed meant for Ahab, and a fatalistic + despair that seemed meant for himself—these passed over the mute, + motionless Parsee’s face. Unobserved he rose and glided away; while, + awestruck by the aspect of their commander, the seamen clustered together + on the forecastle, till Ahab, troubledly pacing the deck, shouted out—“To + the braces! Up helm!—square in!” +

+

+ In an instant the yards swung round; and as the ship half-wheeled upon her + heel, her three firm-seated graceful masts erectly poised upon her long, + ribbed hull, seemed as the three Horatii pirouetting on one sufficient + steed. +

+

+ Standing between the knight-heads, Starbuck watched the Pequod’s + tumultuous way, and Ahab’s also, as he went lurching along the deck. +

+

+ “I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of + its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, + to dumbest dust. Old man of oceans! of all this fiery life of thine, what + will at length remain but one little heap of ashes!” +

+

+ “Aye,” cried Stubb, “but sea-coal ashes—mind ye that, Mr. Starbuck—sea-coal, + not your common charcoal. Well, well; I heard Ahab mutter, ‘Here some one + thrusts these cards into these old hands of mine; swears that I must play + them, and no others.’ And damn me, Ahab, but thou actest right; live in + the game, and die in it!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 119. The Candles. +

+

+ Warmest climes but nurse the cruellest fangs: the tiger of Bengal crouches + in spiced groves of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent but basket + the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept + tame northern lands. So, too, it is, that in these resplendent Japanese + seas the mariner encounters the direst of all storms, the Typhoon. It will + sometimes burst from out that cloudless sky, like an exploding bomb upon a + dazed and sleepy town. +

+

+ Towards evening of that day, the Pequod was torn of her canvas, and + bare-poled was left to fight a Typhoon which had struck her directly + ahead. When darkness came on, sky and sea roared and split with the + thunder, and blazed with the lightning, that showed the disabled masts + fluttering here and there with the rags which the first fury of the + tempest had left for its after sport. +

+

+ Holding by a shroud, Starbuck was standing on the quarter-deck; at every + flash of the lightning glancing aloft, to see what additional disaster + might have befallen the intricate hamper there; while Stubb and Flask were + directing the men in the higher hoisting and firmer lashing of the boats. + But all their pains seemed naught. Though lifted to the very top of the + cranes, the windward quarter boat (Ahab’s) did not escape. A great rolling + sea, dashing high up against the reeling ship’s high teetering side, stove + in the boat’s bottom at the stern, and left it again, all dripping through + like a sieve. +

+

+ “Bad work, bad work! Mr. Starbuck,” said Stubb, regarding the wreck, “but + the sea will have its way. Stubb, for one, can’t fight it. You see, Mr. + Starbuck, a wave has such a great long start before it leaps, all round + the world it runs, and then comes the spring! But as for me, all the start + I have to meet it, is just across the deck here. But never mind; it’s all + in fun: so the old song says;”—(sings.) +

+
+  Oh! jolly is the gale,
+  And a joker is the whale,
+  A’ flourishin’ his tail,—
+  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
+
+  The scud all a flyin’,
+  That’s his flip only foamin’;
+  When he stirs in the spicin’,—
+  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
+
+  Thunder splits the ships,
+  But he only smacks his lips,
+  A tastin’ of this flip,—
+  Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
+
+

+ “Avast Stubb,” cried Starbuck, “let the Typhoon sing, and strike his harp + here in our rigging; but if thou art a brave man thou wilt hold thy + peace.” +

+

+ “But I am not a brave man; never said I was a brave man; I am a coward; + and I sing to keep up my spirits. And I tell you what it is, Mr. Starbuck, + there’s no way to stop my singing in this world but to cut my throat. And + when that’s done, ten to one I sing ye the doxology for a wind-up.” +

+

+ “Madman! look through my eyes if thou hast none of thine own.” +

+

+ “What! how can you see better of a dark night than anybody else, never + mind how foolish?” +

+

+ “Here!” cried Starbuck, seizing Stubb by the shoulder, and pointing his + hand towards the weather bow, “markest thou not that the gale comes from + the eastward, the very course Ahab is to run for Moby Dick? the very + course he swung to this day noon? now mark his boat there; where is that + stove? In the stern-sheets, man; where he is wont to stand—his + stand-point is stove, man! Now jump overboard, and sing away, if thou + must! +

+

+ “I don’t half understand ye: what’s in the wind?” +

+

+ “Yes, yes, round the Cape of Good Hope is the shortest way to Nantucket,” + soliloquized Starbuck suddenly, heedless of Stubb’s question. “The gale + that now hammers at us to stave us, we can turn it into a fair wind that + will drive us towards home. Yonder, to windward, all is blackness of doom; + but to leeward, homeward—I see it lightens up there; but not with + the lightning.” +

+

+ At that moment in one of the intervals of profound darkness, following the + flashes, a voice was heard at his side; and almost at the same instant a + volley of thunder peals rolled overhead. +

+

+ “Who’s there?” +

+

+ “Old Thunder!” said Ahab, groping his way along the bulwarks to his + pivot-hole; but suddenly finding his path made plain to him by elbowed + lances of fire. +

+

+ Now, as the lightning rod to a spire on shore is intended to carry off the + perilous fluid into the soil; so the kindred rod which at sea some ships + carry to each mast, is intended to conduct it into the water. But as this + conductor must descend to considerable depth, that its end may avoid all + contact with the hull; and as moreover, if kept constantly towing there, + it would be liable to many mishaps, besides interfering not a little with + some of the rigging, and more or less impeding the vessel’s way in the + water; because of all this, the lower parts of a ship’s lightning-rods are + not always overboard; but are generally made in long slender links, so as + to be the more readily hauled up into the chains outside, or thrown down + into the sea, as occasion may require. +

+

+ “The rods! the rods!” cried Starbuck to the crew, suddenly admonished to + vigilance by the vivid lightning that had just been darting flambeaux, to + light Ahab to his post. “Are they overboard? drop them over, fore and aft. + Quick!” +

+

+ “Avast!” cried Ahab; “let’s have fair play here, though we be the weaker + side. Yet I’ll contribute to raise rods on the Himmalehs and Andes, that + all the world may be secured; but out on privileges! Let them be, sir.” +

+

+ “Look aloft!” cried Starbuck. “The corpusants! the corpusants!” +

+

+ All the yard-arms were tipped with a pallid fire; and touched at each + tri-pointed lightning-rod-end with three tapering white flames, each of + the three tall masts was silently burning in that sulphurous air, like + three gigantic wax tapers before an altar. +

+

+ “Blast the boat! let it go!” cried Stubb at this instant, as a swashing + sea heaved up under his own little craft, so that its gunwale violently + jammed his hand, as he was passing a lashing. “Blast it!”—but + slipping backward on the deck, his uplifted eyes caught the flames; and + immediately shifting his tone he cried—“The corpusants have mercy on + us all!” +

+

+ To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear in the trance of + the calm, and in the teeth of the tempest; they will imprecate curses from + the topsail-yard-arms, when most they teeter over to a seething sea; but + in all my voyagings, seldom have I heard a common oath when God’s burning + finger has been laid on the ship; when His “Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin” + has been woven into the shrouds and the cordage. +

+

+ While this pallidness was burning aloft, few words were heard from the + enchanted crew; who in one thick cluster stood on the forecastle, all + their eyes gleaming in that pale phosphorescence, like a far away + constellation of stars. Relieved against the ghostly light, the gigantic + jet negro, Daggoo, loomed up to thrice his real stature, and seemed the + black cloud from which the thunder had come. The parted mouth of Tashtego + revealed his shark-white teeth, which strangely gleamed as if they too had + been tipped by corpusants; while lit up by the preternatural light, + Queequeg’s tattooing burned like Satanic blue flames on his body. +

+

+ The tableau all waned at last with the pallidness aloft; and once more the + Pequod and every soul on her decks were wrapped in a pall. A moment or two + passed, when Starbuck, going forward, pushed against some one. It was + Stubb. “What thinkest thou now, man; I heard thy cry; it was not the same + in the song.” +

+

+ “No, no, it wasn’t; I said the corpusants have mercy on us all; and I hope + they will, still. But do they only have mercy on long faces?—have + they no bowels for a laugh? And look ye, Mr. Starbuck—but it’s too + dark to look. Hear me, then: I take that mast-head flame we saw for a sign + of good luck; for those masts are rooted in a hold that is going to be + chock a’ block with sperm-oil, d’ye see; and so, all that sperm will work + up into the masts, like sap in a tree. Yes, our three masts will yet be as + three spermaceti candles—that’s the good promise we saw.” +

+

+ At that moment Starbuck caught sight of Stubb’s face slowly beginning to + glimmer into sight. Glancing upwards, he cried: “See! see!” and once more + the high tapering flames were beheld with what seemed redoubled + supernaturalness in their pallor. +

+

+ “The corpusants have mercy on us all,” cried Stubb, again. +

+

+ At the base of the mainmast, full beneath the doubloon and the flame, the + Parsee was kneeling in Ahab’s front, but with his head bowed away from + him; while near by, from the arched and overhanging rigging, where they + had just been engaged securing a spar, a number of the seamen, arrested by + the glare, now cohered together, and hung pendulous, like a knot of numbed + wasps from a drooping, orchard twig. In various enchanted attitudes, like + the standing, or stepping, or running skeletons in Herculaneum, others + remained rooted to the deck; but all their eyes upcast. +

+

+ “Aye, aye, men!” cried Ahab. “Look up at it; mark it well; the white flame + but lights the way to the White Whale! Hand me those mainmast links there; + I would fain feel this pulse, and let mine beat against it; blood against + fire! So.” +

+

+ Then turning—the last link held fast in his left hand, he put his + foot upon the Parsee; and with fixed upward eye, and high-flung right arm, + he stood erect before the lofty tri-pointed trinity of flames. +

+

+ “Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once + did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this + hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know + that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt + thou be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. + No fearless fool now fronts thee. I own thy speechless, placeless power; + but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, + unintegral mastery in me. In the midst of the personified impersonal, a + personality stands here. Though but a point at best; whencesoe’er I came; + wheresoe’er I go; yet while I earthly live, the queenly personality lives + in me, and feels her royal rights. But war is pain, and hate is woe. Come + in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy + highest, come as mere supernal power; and though thou launchest navies of + full-freighted worlds, there’s that in here that still remains + indifferent. Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a + true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee.” +

+

+ [Sudden, repeated flashes of lightning; the nine flames leap lengthwise to + thrice their previous height; Ahab, with the rest, closes his eyes, his + right hand pressed hard upon them.] +

+

+ “I own thy speechless, placeless power; said I not so? Nor was it wrung + from me; nor do I now drop these links. Thou canst blind; but I can then + grope. Thou canst consume; but I can then be ashes. Take the homage of + these poor eyes, and shutter-hands. I would not take it. The lightning + flashes through my skull; mine eye-balls ache and ache; my whole beaten + brain seems as beheaded, and rolling on some stunning ground. Oh, oh! Yet + blindfold, yet will I talk to thee. Light though thou be, thou leapest out + of darkness; but I am darkness leaping out of light, leaping out of thee! + The javelins cease; open eyes; see, or not? There burn the flames! Oh, + thou magnanimous! now I do glory in my genealogy. But thou art but my + fiery father; my sweet mother, I know not. Oh, cruel! what hast thou done + with her? There lies my puzzle; but thine is greater. Thou knowest not how + came ye, hence callest thyself unbegotten; certainly knowest not thy + beginning, hence callest thyself unbegun. I know that of me, which thou + knowest not of thyself, oh, thou omnipotent. There is some unsuffusing + thing beyond thee, thou clear spirit, to whom all thy eternity is but + time, all thy creativeness mechanical. Through thee, thy flaming self, my + scorched eyes do dimly see it. Oh, thou foundling fire, thou hermit + immemorial, thou too hast thy incommunicable riddle, thy unparticipated + grief. Here again with haughty agony, I read my sire. Leap! leap up, and + lick the sky! I leap with thee; I burn with thee; would fain be welded + with thee; defyingly I worship thee!” +

+

+ “The boat! the boat!” cried Starbuck, “look at thy boat, old man!” +

+

+ Ahab’s harpoon, the one forged at Perth’s fire, remained firmly lashed in + its conspicuous crotch, so that it projected beyond his whale-boat’s bow; + but the sea that had stove its bottom had caused the loose leather sheath + to drop off; and from the keen steel barb there now came a levelled flame + of pale, forked fire. As the silent harpoon burned there like a serpent’s + tongue, Starbuck grasped Ahab by the arm—“God, God is against thee, + old man; forbear! ’tis an ill voyage! ill begun, ill continued; let me + square the yards, while we may, old man, and make a fair wind of it + homewards, to go on a better voyage than this.” +

+

+ Overhearing Starbuck, the panic-stricken crew instantly ran to the braces—though + not a sail was left aloft. For the moment all the aghast mate’s thoughts + seemed theirs; they raised a half mutinous cry. But dashing the rattling + lightning links to the deck, and snatching the burning harpoon, Ahab waved + it like a torch among them; swearing to transfix with it the first sailor + that but cast loose a rope’s end. Petrified by his aspect, and still more + shrinking from the fiery dart that he held, the men fell back in dismay, + and Ahab again spoke:— +

+

+ “All your oaths to hunt the White Whale are as binding as mine; and heart, + soul, and body, lungs and life, old Ahab is bound. And that ye may know to + what tune this heart beats; look ye here; thus I blow out the last fear!” + And with one blast of his breath he extinguished the flame. +

+

+ As in the hurricane that sweeps the plain, men fly the neighborhood of + some lone, gigantic elm, whose very height and strength but render it so + much the more unsafe, because so much the more a mark for thunderbolts; so + at those last words of Ahab’s many of the mariners did run from him in a + terror of dismay. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch. +

+

+ Ahab standing by the helm. Starbuck approaching him. +

+

+ “We must send down the main-top-sail yard, sir. The band is working loose + and the lee lift is half-stranded. Shall I strike it, sir?” +

+

+ “Strike nothing; lash it. If I had sky-sail poles, I’d sway them up now.” +

+

+ “Sir!—in God’s name!—sir?” +

+

+ “Well.” +

+

+ “The anchors are working, sir. Shall I get them inboard?” +

+

+ “Strike nothing, and stir nothing, but lash everything. The wind rises, + but it has not got up to my table-lands yet. Quick, and see to it.—By + masts and keels! he takes me for the hunch-backed skipper of some coasting + smack. Send down my main-top-sail yard! Ho, gluepots! Loftiest trucks were + made for wildest winds, and this brain-truck of mine now sails amid the + cloud-scud. Shall I strike that? Oh, none but cowards send down their + brain-trucks in tempest time. What a hooroosh aloft there! I would e’en + take it for sublime, did I not know that the colic is a noisy malady. Oh, + take medicine, take medicine!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle Bulwarks. +

+

+ Stubb and Flask mounted on them, and passing additional lashings over the + anchors there hanging. +

+

+ “No, Stubb; you may pound that knot there as much as you please, but you + will never pound into me what you were just now saying. And how long ago + is it since you said the very contrary? Didn’t you once say that whatever + ship Ahab sails in, that ship should pay something extra on its insurance + policy, just as though it were loaded with powder barrels aft and boxes of + lucifers forward? Stop, now; didn’t you say so?” +

+

+ “Well, suppose I did? What then? I’ve part changed my flesh since that + time, why not my mind? Besides, supposing we are loaded with powder + barrels aft and lucifers forward; how the devil could the lucifers get + afire in this drenching spray here? Why, my little man, you have pretty + red hair, but you couldn’t get afire now. Shake yourself; you’re Aquarius, + or the water-bearer, Flask; might fill pitchers at your coat collar. Don’t + you see, then, that for these extra risks the Marine Insurance companies + have extra guarantees? Here are hydrants, Flask. But hark, again, and I’ll + answer ye the other thing. First take your leg off from the crown of the + anchor here, though, so I can pass the rope; now listen. What’s the mighty + difference between holding a mast’s lightning-rod in the storm, and + standing close by a mast that hasn’t got any lightning-rod at all in a + storm? Don’t you see, you timber-head, that no harm can come to the holder + of the rod, unless the mast is first struck? What are you talking about, + then? Not one ship in a hundred carries rods, and Ahab,—aye, man, + and all of us,—were in no more danger then, in my poor opinion, than + all the crews in ten thousand ships now sailing the seas. Why, you + King-Post, you, I suppose you would have every man in the world go about + with a small lightning-rod running up the corner of his hat, like a + militia officer’s skewered feather, and trailing behind like his sash. Why + don’t ye be sensible, Flask? it’s easy to be sensible; why don’t ye, then? + any man with half an eye can be sensible.” +

+

+ “I don’t know that, Stubb. You sometimes find it rather hard.” +

+

+ “Yes, when a fellow’s soaked through, it’s hard to be sensible, that’s a + fact. And I am about drenched with this spray. Never mind; catch the turn + there, and pass it. Seems to me we are lashing down these anchors now as + if they were never going to be used again. Tying these two anchors here, + Flask, seems like tying a man’s hands behind him. And what big generous + hands they are, to be sure. These are your iron fists, hey? What a hold + they have, too! I wonder, Flask, whether the world is anchored anywhere; + if she is, she swings with an uncommon long cable, though. There, hammer + that knot down, and we’ve done. So; next to touching land, lighting on + deck is the most satisfactory. I say, just wring out my jacket skirts, + will ye? Thank ye. They laugh at long-togs so, Flask; but seems to me, a + long tailed coat ought always to be worn in all storms afloat. The tails + tapering down that way, serve to carry off the water, d’ye see. Same with + cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end eave-troughs, Flask. No more + monkey-jackets and tarpaulins for me; I must mount a swallow-tail, and + drive down a beaver; so. Halloa! whew! there goes my tarpaulin overboard; + Lord, Lord, that the winds that come from heaven should be so unmannerly! + This is a nasty night, lad.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and Lightning. +

+

+ The main-top-sail yard.—Tashtego passing new lashings around it. +

+

+ “Um, um, um. Stop that thunder! Plenty too much thunder up here. What’s + the use of thunder? Um, um, um. We don’t want thunder; we want rum; give + us a glass of rum. Um, um, um!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 123. The Musket. +

+

+ During the most violent shocks of the Typhoon, the man at the Pequod’s + jaw-bone tiller had several times been reelingly hurled to the deck by its + spasmodic motions, even though preventer tackles had been attached to it—for + they were slack—because some play to the tiller was indispensable. +

+

+ In a severe gale like this, while the ship is but a tossed shuttlecock to + the blast, it is by no means uncommon to see the needles in the compasses, + at intervals, go round and round. It was thus with the Pequod’s; at almost + every shock the helmsman had not failed to notice the whirling velocity + with which they revolved upon the cards; it is a sight that hardly anyone + can behold without some sort of unwonted emotion. +

+

+ Some hours after midnight, the Typhoon abated so much, that through the + strenuous exertions of Starbuck and Stubb—one engaged forward and + the other aft—the shivered remnants of the jib and fore and + main-top-sails were cut adrift from the spars, and went eddying away to + leeward, like the feathers of an albatross, which sometimes are cast to + the winds when that storm-tossed bird is on the wing. +

+

+ The three corresponding new sails were now bent and reefed, and a + storm-trysail was set further aft; so that the ship soon went through the + water with some precision again; and the course—for the present, + East-south-east—which he was to steer, if practicable, was once more + given to the helmsman. For during the violence of the gale, he had only + steered according to its vicissitudes. But as he was now bringing the ship + as near her course as possible, watching the compass meanwhile, lo! a good + sign! the wind seemed coming round astern; aye, the foul breeze became + fair! +

+

+ Instantly the yards were squared, to the lively song of “Ho! the fair + wind! oh-ye-ho, cheerly men!” the crew singing for joy, that so promising + an event should so soon have falsified the evil portents preceding it. +

+

+ In compliance with the standing order of his commander—to report + immediately, and at any one of the twenty-four hours, any decided change + in the affairs of the deck,—Starbuck had no sooner trimmed the yards + to the breeze—however reluctantly and gloomily,—than he + mechanically went below to apprise Captain Ahab of the circumstance. +

+

+ Ere knocking at his state-room, he involuntarily paused before it a + moment. The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that—was + burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man’s bolted + door,—a thin one, with fixed blinds inserted, in place of upper + panels. The isolated subterraneousness of the cabin made a certain humming + silence to reign there, though it was hooped round by all the roar of the + elements. The loaded muskets in the rack were shiningly revealed, as they + stood upright against the forward bulkhead. Starbuck was an honest, + upright man; but out of Starbuck’s heart, at that instant when he saw the + muskets, there strangely evolved an evil thought; but so blent with its + neutral or good accompaniments that for the instant he hardly knew it for + itself. +

+

+ “He would have shot me once,” he murmured, “yes, there’s the very musket + that he pointed at me;—that one with the studded stock; let me touch + it—lift it. Strange, that I, who have handled so many deadly lances, + strange, that I should shake so now. Loaded? I must see. Aye, aye; and + powder in the pan;—that’s not good. Best spill it?—wait. I’ll + cure myself of this. I’ll hold the musket boldly while I think.—I + come to report a fair wind to him. But how fair? Fair for death and doom,—that’s + fair for Moby Dick. It’s a fair wind that’s only fair for that accursed + fish.—The very tube he pointed at me!—the very one; this one—I + hold it here; he would have killed me with the very thing I handle now.—Aye + and he would fain kill all his crew. Does he not say he will not strike + his spars to any gale? Has he not dashed his heavenly quadrant? and in + these same perilous seas, gropes he not his way by mere dead reckoning of + the error-abounding log? and in this very Typhoon, did he not swear that + he would have no lightning-rods? But shall this crazed old man be tamely + suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?—Yes, + it would make him the wilful murderer of thirty men and more, if this ship + come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship + will, if Ahab have his way. If, then, he were this instant—put + aside, that crime would not be his. Ha! is he muttering in his sleep? Yes, + just there,—in there, he’s sleeping. Sleeping? aye, but still alive, + and soon awake again. I can’t withstand thee, then, old man. Not + reasoning; not remonstrance; not entreaty wilt thou hearken to; all this + thou scornest. Flat obedience to thy own flat commands, this is all thou + breathest. Aye, and say’st the men have vow’d thy vow; say’st all of us + are Ahabs. Great God forbid!—But is there no other way? no lawful + way?—Make him a prisoner to be taken home? What! hope to wrest this + old man’s living power from his own living hands? Only a fool would try + it. Say he were pinioned even; knotted all over with ropes and hawsers; + chained down to ring-bolts on this cabin floor; he would be more hideous + than a caged tiger, then. I could not endure the sight; could not possibly + fly his howlings; all comfort, sleep itself, inestimable reason would + leave me on the long intolerable voyage. What, then, remains? The land is + hundreds of leagues away, and locked Japan the nearest. I stand alone here + upon an open sea, with two oceans and a whole continent between me and + law.—Aye, aye, ’tis so.—Is heaven a murderer when its + lightning strikes a would-be murderer in his bed, tindering sheets and + skin together?—And would I be a murderer, then, if”—and + slowly, stealthily, and half sideways looking, he placed the loaded + musket’s end against the door. +

+

+ “On this level, Ahab’s hammock swings within; his head this way. A touch, + and Starbuck may survive to hug his wife and child again.—Oh Mary! + Mary!—boy! boy! boy!—But if I wake thee not to death, old man, + who can tell to what unsounded deeps Starbuck’s body this day week may + sink, with all the crew! Great God, where art Thou? Shall I? shall I?—The + wind has gone down and shifted, sir; the fore and main topsails are reefed + and set; she heads her course.” +

+

+ “Stern all! Oh Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last!” +

+

+ Such were the sounds that now came hurtling from out the old man’s + tormented sleep, as if Starbuck’s voice had caused the long dumb dream to + speak. +

+

+ The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm against the panel; + Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he + placed the death-tube in its rack, and left the place. +

+

+ “He’s too sound asleep, Mr. Stubb; go thou down, and wake him, and tell + him. I must see to the deck here. Thou know’st what to say.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 124. The Needle. +

+

+ Next morning the not-yet-subsided sea rolled in long slow billows of + mighty bulk, and striving in the Pequod’s gurgling track, pushed her on + like giants’ palms outspread. The strong, unstaggering breeze abounded so, + that sky and air seemed vast outbellying sails; the whole world boomed + before the wind. Muffled in the full morning light, the invisible sun was + only known by the spread intensity of his place; where his bayonet rays + moved on in stacks. Emblazonings, as of crowned Babylonian kings and + queens, reigned over everything. The sea was as a crucible of molten gold, + that bubblingly leaps with light and heat. +

+

+ Long maintaining an enchanted silence, Ahab stood apart; and every time + the tetering ship loweringly pitched down her bowsprit, he turned to eye + the bright sun’s rays produced ahead; and when she profoundly settled by + the stern, he turned behind, and saw the sun’s rearward place, and how the + same yellow rays were blending with his undeviating wake. +

+

+ “Ha, ha, my ship! thou mightest well be taken now for the sea-chariot of + the sun. Ho, ho! all ye nations before my prow, I bring the sun to ye! + Yoke on the further billows; hallo! a tandem, I drive the sea!” +

+

+ But suddenly reined back by some counter thought, he hurried towards the + helm, huskily demanding how the ship was heading. +

+

+ “East-sou-east, sir,” said the frightened steersman. +

+

+ “Thou liest!” smiting him with his clenched fist. “Heading East at this + hour in the morning, and the sun astern?” +

+

+ Upon this every soul was confounded; for the phenomenon just then observed + by Ahab had unaccountably escaped every one else; but its very blinding + palpableness must have been the cause. +

+

+ Thrusting his head half way into the binnacle, Ahab caught one glimpse of + the compasses; his uplifted arm slowly fell; for a moment he almost seemed + to stagger. Standing behind him Starbuck looked, and lo! the two compasses + pointed East, and the Pequod was as infallibly going West. +

+

+ But ere the first wild alarm could get out abroad among the crew, the old + man with a rigid laugh exclaimed, “I have it! It has happened before. Mr. + Starbuck, last night’s thunder turned our compasses—that’s all. Thou + hast before now heard of such a thing, I take it.” +

+

+ “Aye; but never before has it happened to me, sir,” said the pale mate, + gloomily. +

+

+ Here, it must needs be said, that accidents like this have in more than + one case occurred to ships in violent storms. The magnetic energy, as + developed in the mariner’s needle, is, as all know, essentially one with + the electricity beheld in heaven; hence it is not to be much marvelled at, + that such things should be. Instances where the lightning has actually + struck the vessel, so as to smite down some of the spars and rigging, the + effect upon the needle has at times been still more fatal; all its + loadstone virtue being annihilated, so that the before magnetic steel was + of no more use than an old wife’s knitting needle. But in either case, the + needle never again, of itself, recovers the original virtue thus marred or + lost; and if the binnacle compasses be affected, the same fate reaches all + the others that may be in the ship; even were the lowermost one inserted + into the kelson. +

+

+ Deliberately standing before the binnacle, and eyeing the transpointed + compasses, the old man, with the sharp of his extended hand, now took the + precise bearing of the sun, and satisfied that the needles were exactly + inverted, shouted out his orders for the ship’s course to be changed + accordingly. The yards were hard up; and once more the Pequod thrust her + undaunted bows into the opposing wind, for the supposed fair one had only + been juggling her. +

+

+ Meanwhile, whatever were his own secret thoughts, Starbuck said nothing, + but quietly he issued all requisite orders; while Stubb and Flask—who + in some small degree seemed then to be sharing his feelings—likewise + unmurmuringly acquiesced. As for the men, though some of them lowly + rumbled, their fear of Ahab was greater than their fear of Fate. But as + ever before, the pagan harpooneers remained almost wholly unimpressed; or + if impressed, it was only with a certain magnetism shot into their + congenial hearts from inflexible Ahab’s. +

+

+ For a space the old man walked the deck in rolling reveries. But chancing + to slip with his ivory heel, he saw the crushed copper sight-tubes of the + quadrant he had the day before dashed to the deck. +

+

+ “Thou poor, proud heaven-gazer and sun’s pilot! yesterday I wrecked thee, + and to-day the compasses would fain have wrecked me. So, so. But Ahab is + lord over the level loadstone yet. Mr. Starbuck—a lance without a + pole; a top-maul, and the smallest of the sail-maker’s needles. Quick!” +

+

+ Accessory, perhaps, to the impulse dictating the thing he was now about to + do, were certain prudential motives, whose object might have been to + revive the spirits of his crew by a stroke of his subtile skill, in a + matter so wondrous as that of the inverted compasses. Besides, the old man + well knew that to steer by transpointed needles, though clumsily + practicable, was not a thing to be passed over by superstitious sailors, + without some shudderings and evil portents. +

+

+ “Men,” said he, steadily turning upon the crew, as the mate handed him the + things he had demanded, “my men, the thunder turned old Ahab’s needles; + but out of this bit of steel Ahab can make one of his own, that will point + as true as any.” +

+

+ Abashed glances of servile wonder were exchanged by the sailors, as this + was said; and with fascinated eyes they awaited whatever magic might + follow. But Starbuck looked away. +

+

+ With a blow from the top-maul Ahab knocked off the steel head of the + lance, and then handing to the mate the long iron rod remaining, bade him + hold it upright, without its touching the deck. Then, with the maul, after + repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod, he placed the blunted + needle endwise on the top of it, and less strongly hammered that, several + times, the mate still holding the rod as before. Then going through some + small strange motions with it—whether indispensable to the + magnetizing of the steel, or merely intended to augment the awe of the + crew, is uncertain—he called for linen thread; and moving to the + binnacle, slipped out the two reversed needles there, and horizontally + suspended the sail-needle by its middle, over one of the compass-cards. At + first, the steel went round and round, quivering and vibrating at either + end; but at last it settled to its place, when Ahab, who had been intently + watching for this result, stepped frankly back from the binnacle, and + pointing his stretched arm towards it, exclaimed,—“Look ye, for + yourselves, if Ahab be not lord of the level loadstone! The sun is East, + and that compass swears it!” +

+

+ One after another they peered in, for nothing but their own eyes could + persuade such ignorance as theirs, and one after another they slunk away. +

+

+ In his fiery eyes of scorn and triumph, you then saw Ahab in all his fatal + pride. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line. +

+

+ While now the fated Pequod had been so long afloat this voyage, the log + and line had but very seldom been in use. Owing to a confident reliance + upon other means of determining the vessel’s place, some merchantmen, and + many whalemen, especially when cruising, wholly neglect to heave the log; + though at the same time, and frequently more for form’s sake than anything + else, regularly putting down upon the customary slate the course steered + by the ship, as well as the presumed average rate of progression every + hour. It had been thus with the Pequod. The wooden reel and angular log + attached hung, long untouched, just beneath the railing of the after + bulwarks. Rains and spray had damped it; sun and wind had warped it; all + the elements had combined to rot a thing that hung so idly. But heedless + of all this, his mood seized Ahab, as he happened to glance upon the reel, + not many hours after the magnet scene, and he remembered how his quadrant + was no more, and recalled his frantic oath about the level log and line. + The ship was sailing plungingly; astern the billows rolled in riots. +

+

+ “Forward, there! Heave the log!” +

+

+ Two seamen came. The golden-hued Tahitian and the grizzly Manxman. “Take + the reel, one of ye, I’ll heave.” +

+

+ They went towards the extreme stern, on the ship’s lee side, where the + deck, with the oblique energy of the wind, was now almost dipping into the + creamy, sidelong-rushing sea. +

+

+ The Manxman took the reel, and holding it high up, by the projecting + handle-ends of the spindle, round which the spool of line revolved, so + stood with the angular log hanging downwards, till Ahab advanced to him. +

+

+ Ahab stood before him, and was lightly unwinding some thirty or forty + turns to form a preliminary hand-coil to toss overboard, when the old + Manxman, who was intently eyeing both him and the line, made bold to + speak. +

+

+ “Sir, I mistrust it; this line looks far gone, long heat and wet have + spoiled it.” +

+

+ “’Twill hold, old gentleman. Long heat and wet, have they spoiled thee? + Thou seem’st to hold. Or, truer perhaps, life holds thee; not thou it.” +

+

+ “I hold the spool, sir. But just as my captain says. With these grey hairs + of mine ’tis not worth while disputing, ’specially with a superior, who’ll + ne’er confess.” +

+

+ “What’s that? There now’s a patched professor in Queen Nature’s + granite-founded College; but methinks he’s too subservient. Where wert + thou born?” +

+

+ “In the little rocky Isle of Man, sir.” +

+

+ “Excellent! Thou’st hit the world by that.” +

+

+ “I know not, sir, but I was born there.” +

+

+ “In the Isle of Man, hey? Well, the other way, it’s good. Here’s a man + from Man; a man born in once independent Man, and now unmanned of Man; + which is sucked in—by what? Up with the reel! The dead, blind wall + butts all inquiring heads at last. Up with it! So.” +

+

+ The log was heaved. The loose coils rapidly straightened out in a long + dragging line astern, and then, instantly, the reel began to whirl. In + turn, jerkingly raised and lowered by the rolling billows, the towing + resistance of the log caused the old reelman to stagger strangely. +

+

+ “Hold hard!” +

+

+ Snap! the overstrained line sagged down in one long festoon; the tugging + log was gone. +

+

+ “I crush the quadrant, the thunder turns the needles, and now the mad sea + parts the log-line. But Ahab can mend all. Haul in here, Tahitian; reel + up, Manxman. And look ye, let the carpenter make another log, and mend + thou the line. See to it.” +

+

+ “There he goes now; to him nothing’s happened; but to me, the skewer seems + loosening out of the middle of the world. Haul in, haul in, Tahitian! + These lines run whole, and whirling out: come in broken, and dragging + slow. Ha, Pip? come to help; eh, Pip?” +

+

+ “Pip? whom call ye Pip? Pip jumped from the whale-boat. Pip’s missing. + Let’s see now if ye haven’t fished him up here, fisherman. It drags hard; + I guess he’s holding on. Jerk him, Tahiti! Jerk him off; we haul in no + cowards here. Ho! there’s his arm just breaking water. A hatchet! a + hatchet! cut it off—we haul in no cowards here. Captain Ahab! sir, + sir! here’s Pip, trying to get on board again.” +

+

+ “Peace, thou crazy loon,” cried the Manxman, seizing him by the arm. “Away + from the quarter-deck!” +

+

+ “The greater idiot ever scolds the lesser,” muttered Ahab, advancing. + “Hands off from that holiness! Where sayest thou Pip was, boy? +

+

+ “Astern there, sir, astern! Lo! lo!” +

+

+ “And who art thou, boy? I see not my reflection in the vacant pupils of + thy eyes. Oh God! that man should be a thing for immortal souls to sieve + through! Who art thou, boy?” +

+

+ “Bell-boy, sir; ship’s-crier; ding, dong, ding! Pip! Pip! Pip! One hundred + pounds of clay reward for Pip; five feet high—looks cowardly—quickest + known by that! Ding, dong, ding! Who’s seen Pip the coward?” +

+

+ “There can be no hearts above the snow-line. Oh, ye frozen heavens! look + down here. Ye did beget this luckless child, and have abandoned him, ye + creative libertines. Here, boy; Ahab’s cabin shall be Pip’s home + henceforth, while Ahab lives. Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou + art tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings. Come, let’s down.” +

+

+ “What’s this? here’s velvet shark-skin,” intently gazing at Ahab’s hand, + and feeling it. “Ah, now, had poor Pip but felt so kind a thing as this, + perhaps he had ne’er been lost! This seems to me, sir, as a man-rope; + something that weak souls may hold by. Oh, sir, let old Perth now come and + rivet these two hands together; the black one with the white, for I will + not let this go.” +

+

+ “Oh, boy, nor will I thee, unless I should thereby drag thee to worse + horrors than are here. Come, then, to my cabin. Lo! ye believers in gods + all goodness, and in man all ill, lo you! see the omniscient gods + oblivious of suffering man; and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what + he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude. Come! I feel + prouder leading thee by thy black hand, than though I grasped an + Emperor’s!” +

+

+ “There go two daft ones now,” muttered the old Manxman. “One daft with + strength, the other daft with weakness. But here’s the end of the rotten + line—all dripping, too. Mend it, eh? I think we had best have a new + line altogether. I’ll see Mr. Stubb about it.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy. +

+

+ Steering now south-eastward by Ahab’s levelled steel, and her progress + solely determined by Ahab’s level log and line; the Pequod held on her + path towards the Equator. Making so long a passage through such + unfrequented waters, descrying no ships, and ere long, sideways impelled + by unvarying trade winds, over waves monotonously mild; all these seemed + the strange calm things preluding some riotous and desperate scene. +

+

+ At last, when the ship drew near to the outskirts, as it were, of the + Equatorial fishing-ground, and in the deep darkness that goes before the + dawn, was sailing by a cluster of rocky islets; the watch—then + headed by Flask—was startled by a cry so plaintively wild and + unearthly—like half-articulated wailings of the ghosts of all + Herod’s murdered Innocents—that one and all, they started from their + reveries, and for the space of some moments stood, or sat, or leaned all + transfixedly listening, like the carved Roman slave, while that wild cry + remained within hearing. The Christian or civilized part of the crew said + it was mermaids, and shuddered; but the pagan harpooneers remained + unappalled. Yet the grey Manxman—the oldest mariner of all—declared + that the wild thrilling sounds that were heard, were the voices of newly + drowned men in the sea. +

+

+ Below in his hammock, Ahab did not hear of this till grey dawn, when he + came to the deck; it was then recounted to him by Flask, not unaccompanied + with hinted dark meanings. He hollowly laughed, and thus explained the + wonder. +

+

+ Those rocky islands the ship had passed were the resort of great numbers + of seals, and some young seals that had lost their dams, or some dams that + had lost their cubs, must have risen nigh the ship and kept company with + her, crying and sobbing with their human sort of wail. But this only the + more affected some of them, because most mariners cherish a very + superstitious feeling about seals, arising not only from their peculiar + tones when in distress, but also from the human look of their round heads + and semi-intelligent faces, seen peeringly uprising from the water + alongside. In the sea, under certain circumstances, seals have more than + once been mistaken for men. +

+

+ But the bodings of the crew were destined to receive a most plausible + confirmation in the fate of one of their number that morning. At sun-rise + this man went from his hammock to his mast-head at the fore; and whether + it was that he was not yet half waked from his sleep (for sailors + sometimes go aloft in a transition state), whether it was thus with the + man, there is now no telling; but, be that as it may, he had not been long + at his perch, when a cry was heard—a cry and a rushing—and + looking up, they saw a falling phantom in the air; and looking down, a + little tossed heap of white bubbles in the blue of the sea. +

+

+ The life-buoy—a long slender cask—was dropped from the stern, + where it always hung obedient to a cunning spring; but no hand rose to + seize it, and the sun having long beat upon this cask it had shrunken, so + that it slowly filled, and that parched wood also filled at its every + pore; and the studded iron-bound cask followed the sailor to the bottom, + as if to yield him his pillow, though in sooth but a hard one. +

+

+ And thus the first man of the Pequod that mounted the mast to look out for + the White Whale, on the White Whale’s own peculiar ground; that man was + swallowed up in the deep. But few, perhaps, thought of that at the time. + Indeed, in some sort, they were not grieved at this event, at least as a + portent; for they regarded it, not as a foreshadowing of evil in the + future, but as the fulfilment of an evil already presaged. They declared + that now they knew the reason of those wild shrieks they had heard the + night before. But again the old Manxman said nay. +

+

+ The lost life-buoy was now to be replaced; Starbuck was directed to see to + it; but as no cask of sufficient lightness could be found, and as in the + feverish eagerness of what seemed the approaching crisis of the voyage, + all hands were impatient of any toil but what was directly connected with + its final end, whatever that might prove to be; therefore, they were going + to leave the ship’s stern unprovided with a buoy, when by certain strange + signs and inuendoes Queequeg hinted a hint concerning his coffin. +

+

+ “A life-buoy of a coffin!” cried Starbuck, starting. +

+

+ “Rather queer, that, I should say,” said Stubb. +

+

+ “It will make a good enough one,” said Flask, “the carpenter here can + arrange it easily.” +

+

+ “Bring it up; there’s nothing else for it,” said Starbuck, after a + melancholy pause. “Rig it, carpenter; do not look at me so—the + coffin, I mean. Dost thou hear me? Rig it.” +

+

+ “And shall I nail down the lid, sir?” moving his hand as with a hammer. +

+

+ “Aye.” +

+

+ “And shall I caulk the seams, sir?” moving his hand as with a + caulking-iron. +

+

+ “Aye.” +

+

+ “And shall I then pay over the same with pitch, sir?” moving his hand as + with a pitch-pot. +

+

+ “Away! what possesses thee to this? Make a life-buoy of the coffin, and no + more.—Mr. Stubb, Mr. Flask, come forward with me.” +

+

+ “He goes off in a huff. The whole he can endure; at the parts he baulks. + Now I don’t like this. I make a leg for Captain Ahab, and he wears it like + a gentleman; but I make a bandbox for Queequeg, and he won’t put his head + into it. Are all my pains to go for nothing with that coffin? And now I’m + ordered to make a life-buoy of it. It’s like turning an old coat; going to + bring the flesh on the other side now. I don’t like this cobbling sort of + business—I don’t like it at all; it’s undignified; it’s not my + place. Let tinkers’ brats do tinkerings; we are their betters. I like to + take in hand none but clean, virgin, fair-and-square mathematical jobs, + something that regularly begins at the beginning, and is at the middle + when midway, and comes to an end at the conclusion; not a cobbler’s job, + that’s at an end in the middle, and at the beginning at the end. It’s the + old woman’s tricks to be giving cobbling jobs. Lord! what an affection all + old women have for tinkers. I know an old woman of sixty-five who ran away + with a bald-headed young tinker once. And that’s the reason I never would + work for lonely widow old women ashore, when I kept my job-shop in the + Vineyard; they might have taken it into their lonely old heads to run off + with me. But heigh-ho! there are no caps at sea but snow-caps. Let me see. + Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten + them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship’s stern. + Were ever such things done before with a coffin? Some superstitious old + carpenters, now, would be tied up in the rigging, ere they would do the + job. But I’m made of knotty Aroostook hemlock; I don’t budge. Cruppered + with a coffin! Sailing about with a grave-yard tray! But never mind. We + workers in woods make bridal-bedsteads and card-tables, as well as coffins + and hearses. We work by the month, or by the job, or by the profit; not + for us to ask the why and wherefore of our work, unless it be too + confounded cobbling, and then we stash it if we can. Hem! I’ll do the job, + now, tenderly. I’ll have me—let’s see—how many in the ship’s + company, all told? But I’ve forgotten. Any way, I’ll have me thirty + separate, Turk’s-headed life-lines, each three feet long hanging all round + to the coffin. Then, if the hull go down, there’ll be thirty lively + fellows all fighting for one coffin, a sight not seen very often beneath + the sun! Come hammer, caulking-iron, pitch-pot, and marling-spike! Let’s + to it.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 127. The Deck. +

+

+ The coffin laid upon two line-tubs, between the vice-bench and the open + hatchway; the Carpenter caulking its seams; the string of twisted oakum + slowly unwinding from a large roll of it placed in the bosom of his frock.—Ahab + comes slowly from the cabin-gangway, and hears Pip following him. +

+

+ “Back, lad; I will be with ye again presently. He goes! Not this hand + complies with my humor more genially than that boy.—Middle aisle of + a church! What’s here?” +

+

+ “Life-buoy, sir. Mr. Starbuck’s orders. Oh, look, sir! Beware the + hatchway!” +

+

+ “Thank ye, man. Thy coffin lies handy to the vault.” +

+

+ “Sir? The hatchway? oh! So it does, sir, so it does.” +

+

+ “Art not thou the leg-maker? Look, did not this stump come from thy shop?” +

+

+ “I believe it did, sir; does the ferrule stand, sir?” +

+

+ “Well enough. But art thou not also the undertaker?” +

+

+ “Aye, sir; I patched up this thing here as a coffin for Queequeg; but + they’ve set me now to turning it into something else.” +

+

+ “Then tell me; art thou not an arrant, all-grasping, intermeddling, + monopolising, heathenish old scamp, to be one day making legs, and the + next day coffins to clap them in, and yet again life-buoys out of those + same coffins? Thou art as unprincipled as the gods, and as much of a + jack-of-all-trades.” +

+

+ “But I do not mean anything, sir. I do as I do.” +

+

+ “The gods again. Hark ye, dost thou not ever sing working about a coffin? + The Titans, they say, hummed snatches when chipping out the craters for + volcanoes; and the grave-digger in the play sings, spade in hand. Dost + thou never?” +

+

+ “Sing, sir? Do I sing? Oh, I’m indifferent enough, sir, for that; but the + reason why the grave-digger made music must have been because there was + none in his spade, sir. But the caulking mallet is full of it. Hark to + it.” +

+

+ “Aye, and that’s because the lid there’s a sounding-board; and what in all + things makes the sounding-board is this—there’s naught beneath. And + yet, a coffin with a body in it rings pretty much the same, Carpenter. + Hast thou ever helped carry a bier, and heard the coffin knock against the + churchyard gate, going in? +

+

+ “Faith, sir, I’ve——” +

+

+ “Faith? What’s that?” +

+

+ “Why, faith, sir, it’s only a sort of exclamation-like—that’s all, + sir.” +

+

+ “Um, um; go on.” +

+

+ “I was about to say, sir, that——” +

+

+ “Art thou a silk-worm? Dost thou spin thy own shroud out of thyself? Look + at thy bosom! Despatch! and get these traps out of sight.” +

+

+ “He goes aft. That was sudden, now; but squalls come sudden in hot + latitudes. I’ve heard that the Isle of Albemarle, one of the Gallipagos, + is cut by the Equator right in the middle. Seems to me some sort of + Equator cuts yon old man, too, right in his middle. He’s always under the + Line—fiery hot, I tell ye! He’s looking this way—come, oakum; + quick. Here we go again. This wooden mallet is the cork, and I’m the + professor of musical glasses—tap, tap!” +

+

+ (Ahab to himself.) +

+

+ “There’s a sight! There’s a sound! The greyheaded woodpecker + tapping the hollow tree! Blind and dumb might well be envied now. See! that + thing rests on two line-tubs, full of tow-lines. A most malicious wag, that + fellow. Rat-tat! So man’s seconds tick! Oh! how immaterial are all + materials! What things real are there, but imponderable thoughts? Here + now’s the very dreaded symbol of grim death, by a mere hap, made the + expressive sign of the help and hope of most endangered life. A life-buoy + of a coffin! Does it go further? Can it be that in some spiritual sense + the coffin is, after all, but an immortality-preserver! I’ll think of + that. But no. So far gone am I in the dark side of earth, that its other + side, the theoretic bright one, seems but uncertain twilight to me. Will + ye never have done, Carpenter, with that accursed sound? I go below; let + me not see that thing here when I return again. Now, then, Pip, we’ll talk + this over; I do suck most wondrous philosophies from thee! Some unknown + conduits from the unknown worlds must empty into thee!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel. +

+

+ Next day, a large ship, the Rachel, was descried, bearing directly down + upon the Pequod, all her spars thickly clustering with men. At the time + the Pequod was making good speed through the water; but as the + broad-winged windward stranger shot nigh to her, the boastful sails all + fell together as blank bladders that are burst, and all life fled from the + smitten hull. +

+

+ “Bad news; she brings bad news,” muttered the old Manxman. But ere her + commander, who, with trumpet to mouth, stood up in his boat; ere he could + hopefully hail, Ahab’s voice was heard. +

+

+ “Hast seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ “Aye, yesterday. Have ye seen a whale-boat adrift?” +

+

+ Throttling his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question; and + would then have fain boarded the stranger, when the stranger captain + himself, having stopped his vessel’s way, was seen descending her side. A + few keen pulls, and his boat-hook soon clinched the Pequod’s main-chains, + and he sprang to the deck. Immediately he was recognised by Ahab for a + Nantucketer he knew. But no formal salutation was exchanged. +

+

+ “Where was he?—not killed!—not killed!” cried Ahab, closely + advancing. “How was it?” +

+

+ It seemed that somewhat late on the afternoon of the day previous, while + three of the stranger’s boats were engaged with a shoal of whales, which + had led them some four or five miles from the ship; and while they were + yet in swift chase to windward, the white hump and head of Moby Dick had + suddenly loomed up out of the water, not very far to leeward; whereupon, + the fourth rigged boat—a reserved one—had been instantly + lowered in chase. After a keen sail before the wind, this fourth boat—the + swiftest keeled of all—seemed to have succeeded in fastening—at + least, as well as the man at the mast-head could tell anything about it. + In the distance he saw the diminished dotted boat; and then a swift gleam + of bubbling white water; and after that nothing more; whence it was + concluded that the stricken whale must have indefinitely run away with his + pursuers, as often happens. There was some apprehension, but no positive + alarm, as yet. The recall signals were placed in the rigging; darkness + came on; and forced to pick up her three far to windward boats—ere + going in quest of the fourth one in the precisely opposite direction—the + ship had not only been necessitated to leave that boat to its fate till + near midnight, but, for the time, to increase her distance from it. But + the rest of her crew being at last safe aboard, she crowded all sail—stunsail + on stunsail—after the missing boat; kindling a fire in her try-pots + for a beacon; and every other man aloft on the look-out. But though when + she had thus sailed a sufficient distance to gain the presumed place of + the absent ones when last seen; though she then paused to lower her spare + boats to pull all around her; and not finding anything, had again dashed + on; again paused, and lowered her boats; and though she had thus continued + doing till daylight; yet not the least glimpse of the missing keel had + been seen. +

+

+ The story told, the stranger Captain immediately went on to reveal his + object in boarding the Pequod. He desired that ship to unite with his own + in the search; by sailing over the sea some four or five miles apart, on + parallel lines, and so sweeping a double horizon, as it were. +

+

+ “I will wager something now,” whispered Stubb to Flask, “that some one in + that missing boat wore off that Captain’s best coat; mayhap, his watch—he’s + so cursed anxious to get it back. Who ever heard of two pious whale-ships + cruising after one missing whale-boat in the height of the whaling season? + See, Flask, only see how pale he looks—pale in the very buttons of + his eyes—look—it wasn’t the coat—it must have been the—” +

+

+ “My boy, my own boy is among them. For God’s sake—I beg, I conjure”—here + exclaimed the stranger Captain to Ahab, who thus far had but icily + received his petition. “For eight-and-forty hours let me charter your ship—I + will gladly pay for it, and roundly pay for it—if there be no other + way—for eight-and-forty hours only—only that—you must, + oh, you must, and you shall do this thing.” +

+

+ “His son!” cried Stubb, “oh, it’s his son he’s lost! I take back the coat + and watch—what says Ahab? We must save that boy.” +

+

+ “He’s drowned with the rest on ’em, last night,” said the old Manx sailor + standing behind them; “I heard; all of ye heard their spirits.” +

+

+ Now, as it shortly turned out, what made this incident of the Rachel’s the + more melancholy, was the circumstance, that not only was one of the + Captain’s sons among the number of the missing boat’s crew; but among the + number of the other boat’s crews, at the same time, but on the other hand, + separated from the ship during the dark vicissitudes of the chase, there + had been still another son; as that for a time, the wretched father was + plunged to the bottom of the cruellest perplexity; which was only solved + for him by his chief mate’s instinctively adopting the ordinary procedure + of a whale-ship in such emergencies, that is, when placed between + jeopardized but divided boats, always to pick up the majority first. But + the captain, for some unknown constitutional reason, had refrained from + mentioning all this, and not till forced to it by Ahab’s iciness did he + allude to his one yet missing boy; a little lad, but twelve years old, + whose father with the earnest but unmisgiving hardihood of a Nantucketer’s + paternal love, had thus early sought to initiate him in the perils and + wonders of a vocation almost immemorially the destiny of all his race. Nor + does it unfrequently occur, that Nantucket captains will send a son of + such tender age away from them, for a protracted three or four years’ + voyage in some other ship than their own; so that their first knowledge of + a whaleman’s career shall be unenervated by any chance display of a + father’s natural but untimely partiality, or undue apprehensiveness and + concern. +

+

+ Meantime, now the stranger was still beseeching his poor boon of Ahab; and + Ahab still stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the + least quivering of his own. +

+

+ “I will not go,” said the stranger, “till you say aye to me. Do to me as + you would have me do to you in the like case. For you too have a boy, + Captain Ahab—though but a child, and nestling safely at home now—a + child of your old age too—Yes, yes, you relent; I see it—run, + run, men, now, and stand by to square in the yards.” +

+

+ “Avast,” cried Ahab—“touch not a rope-yarn”; then in a voice that + prolongingly moulded every word—“Captain Gardiner, I will not do it. + Even now I lose time. Good-bye, good-bye. God bless ye, man, and may I + forgive myself, but I must go. Mr. Starbuck, look at the binnacle watch, + and in three minutes from this present instant warn off all strangers: + then brace forward again, and let the ship sail as before.” +

+

+ Hurriedly turning, with averted face, he descended into his cabin, leaving + the strange captain transfixed at this unconditional and utter rejection + of his so earnest suit. But starting from his enchantment, Gardiner + silently hurried to the side; more fell than stepped into his boat, and + returned to his ship. +

+

+ Soon the two ships diverged their wakes; and long as the strange vessel + was in view, she was seen to yaw hither and thither at every dark spot, + however small, on the sea. This way and that her yards were swung round; + starboard and larboard, she continued to tack; now she beat against a head + sea; and again it pushed her before it; while all the while, her masts and + yards were thickly clustered with men, as three tall cherry trees, when + the boys are cherrying among the boughs. +

+

+ But by her still halting course and winding, woeful way, you plainly saw + that this ship that so wept with spray, still remained without comfort. + She was Rachel, weeping for her children, because they were not. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 129. The Cabin. +

+

+ (Ahab moving to go on deck; Pip catches him by the hand to follow.) +

+

+ “Lad, lad, I tell thee thou must not follow Ahab now. The hour is coming + when Ahab would not scare thee from him, yet would not have thee by him. + There is that in thee, poor lad, which I feel too curing to my malady. + Like cures like; and for this hunt, my malady becomes my most desired + health. Do thou abide below here, where they shall serve thee, as if thou + wert the captain. Aye, lad, thou shalt sit here in my own screwed chair; + another screw to it, thou must be.” +

+

+ “No, no, no! ye have not a whole body, sir; do ye but use poor me for your + one lost leg; only tread upon me, sir; I ask no more, so I remain a part + of ye.” +

+

+ “Oh! spite of million villains, this makes me a bigot in the fadeless + fidelity of man!—and a black! and crazy!—but methinks + like-cures-like applies to him too; he grows so sane again.” +

+

+ “They tell me, sir, that Stubb did once desert poor little Pip, whose + drowned bones now show white, for all the blackness of his living skin. + But I will never desert ye, sir, as Stubb did him. Sir, I must go with + ye.” +

+

+ “If thou speakest thus to me much more, Ahab’s purpose keels up in him. I + tell thee no; it cannot be.” +

+

+ “Oh good master, master, master! +

+

+ “Weep so, and I will murder thee! have a care, for Ahab too is mad. + Listen, and thou wilt often hear my ivory foot upon the deck, and still + know that I am there. And now I quit thee. Thy hand!—Met! True art + thou, lad, as the circumference to its centre. So: God for ever bless + thee; and if it come to that,—God for ever save thee, let what will + befall.” +

+

+ (Ahab goes; Pip steps one step forward.) +

+

+ “Here he this instant stood; I stand in his air,—but I’m alone. Now + were even poor Pip here I could endure it, but he’s missing. Pip! Pip! + Ding, dong, ding! Who’s seen Pip? He must be up here; let’s try the door. + What? neither lock, nor bolt, nor bar; and yet there’s no opening it. It + must be the spell; he told me to stay here: Aye, and told me this screwed + chair was mine. Here, then, I’ll seat me, against the transom, in the + ship’s full middle, all her keel and her three masts before me. Here, our + old sailors say, in their black seventy-fours great admirals sometimes sit + at table, and lord it over rows of captains and lieutenants. Ha! what’s + this? epaulets! epaulets! the epaulets all come crowding! Pass round the + decanters; glad to see ye; fill up, monsieurs! What an odd feeling, now, + when a black boy’s host to white men with gold lace upon their coats!—Monsieurs, + have ye seen one Pip?—a little negro lad, five feet high, hang-dog + look, and cowardly! Jumped from a whale-boat once;—seen him? No! + Well then, fill up again, captains, and let’s drink shame upon all + cowards! I name no names. Shame upon them! Put one foot upon the table. + Shame upon all cowards.—Hist! above there, I hear ivory—Oh, + master! master! I am indeed down-hearted when you walk over me. But here + I’ll stay, though this stern strikes rocks; and they bulge through; and + oysters come to join me.” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 130. The Hat. +

+

+ And now that at the proper time and place, after so long and wide a + preliminary cruise, Ahab,—all other whaling waters swept—seemed + to have chased his foe into an ocean-fold, to slay him the more securely + there; now, that he found himself hard by the very latitude and longitude + where his tormenting wound had been inflicted; now that a vessel had been + spoken which on the very day preceding had actually encountered Moby Dick;—and + now that all his successive meetings with various ships contrastingly + concurred to show the demoniac indifference with which the white whale + tore his hunters, whether sinning or sinned against; now it was that there + lurked a something in the old man’s eyes, which it was hardly sufferable + for feeble souls to see. As the unsetting polar star, which through the + livelong, arctic, six months’ night sustains its piercing, steady, central + gaze; so Ahab’s purpose now fixedly gleamed down upon the constant + midnight of the gloomy crew. It domineered above them so, that all their + bodings, doubts, misgivings, fears, were fain to hide beneath their souls, + and not sprout forth a single spear or leaf. +

+

+ In this foreshadowing interval too, all humor, forced or natural, + vanished. Stubb no more strove to raise a smile; Starbuck no more strove + to check one. Alike, joy and sorrow, hope and fear, seemed ground to + finest dust, and powdered, for the time, in the clamped mortar of Ahab’s + iron soul. Like machines, they dumbly moved about the deck, ever conscious + that the old man’s despot eye was on them. +

+

+ But did you deeply scan him in his more secret confidential hours; when he + thought no glance but one was on him; then you would have seen that even + as Ahab’s eyes so awed the crew’s, the inscrutable Parsee’s glance awed + his; or somehow, at least, in some wild way, at times affected it. Such an + added, gliding strangeness began to invest the thin Fedallah now; such + ceaseless shudderings shook him; that the men looked dubious at him; half + uncertain, as it seemed, whether indeed he were a mortal substance, or + else a tremulous shadow cast upon the deck by some unseen being’s body. + And that shadow was always hovering there. For not by night, even, had + Fedallah ever certainly been known to slumber, or go below. He would stand + still for hours: but never sat or leaned; his wan but wondrous eyes did + plainly say—We two watchmen never rest. +

+

+ Nor, at any time, by night or day could the mariners now step upon the + deck, unless Ahab was before them; either standing in his pivot-hole, or + exactly pacing the planks between two undeviating limits,—the + main-mast and the mizen; or else they saw him standing in the + cabin-scuttle,—his living foot advanced upon the deck, as if to + step; his hat slouched heavily over his eyes; so that however motionless + he stood, however the days and nights were added on, that he had not swung + in his hammock; yet hidden beneath that slouching hat, they could never + tell unerringly whether, for all this, his eyes were really closed at + times; or whether he was still intently scanning them; no matter, though + he stood so in the scuttle for a whole hour on the stretch, and the + unheeded night-damp gathered in beads of dew upon that stone-carved coat + and hat. The clothes that the night had wet, the next day’s sunshine dried + upon him; and so, day after day, and night after night; he went no more + beneath the planks; whatever he wanted from the cabin that thing he sent + for. +

+

+ He ate in the same open air; that is, his two only meals,—breakfast + and dinner: supper he never touched; nor reaped his beard; which darkly + grew all gnarled, as unearthed roots of trees blown over, which still grow + idly on at naked base, though perished in the upper verdure. But though + his whole life was now become one watch on deck; and though the Parsee’s + mystic watch was without intermission as his own; yet these two never + seemed to speak—one man to the other—unless at long intervals + some passing unmomentous matter made it necessary. Though such a potent + spell seemed secretly to join the twain; openly, and to the awe-struck + crew, they seemed pole-like asunder. If by day they chanced to speak one + word; by night, dumb men were both, so far as concerned the slightest + verbal interchange. At times, for longest hours, without a single hail, + they stood far parted in the starlight; Ahab in his scuttle, the Parsee by + the mainmast; but still fixedly gazing upon each other; as if in the + Parsee Ahab saw his forethrown shadow, in Ahab the Parsee his abandoned + substance. +

+

+ And yet, somehow, did Ahab—in his own proper self, as daily, hourly, + and every instant, commandingly revealed to his subordinates,—Ahab + seemed an independent lord; the Parsee but his slave. Still again both + seemed yoked together, and an unseen tyrant driving them; the lean shade + siding the solid rib. For be this Parsee what he may, all rib and keel was + solid Ahab. +

+

+ At the first faintest glimmering of the dawn, his iron voice was heard + from aft,—“Man the mast-heads!”—and all through the day, till + after sunset and after twilight, the same voice every hour, at the + striking of the helmsman’s bell, was heard—“What d’ye see?—sharp! + sharp!” +

+

+ But when three or four days had slided by, after meeting the + children-seeking Rachel; and no spout had yet been seen; the monomaniac + old man seemed distrustful of his crew’s fidelity; at least, of nearly all + except the Pagan harpooneers; he seemed to doubt, even, whether Stubb and + Flask might not willingly overlook the sight he sought. But if these + suspicions were really his, he sagaciously refrained from verbally + expressing them, however his actions might seem to hint them. +

+

+ “I will have the first sight of the whale myself,”—he said. “Aye! + Ahab must have the doubloon!” and with his own hands he rigged a nest of + basketed bowlines; and sending a hand aloft, with a single sheaved block, + to secure to the main-mast head, he received the two ends of the + downward-reeved rope; and attaching one to his basket prepared a pin for + the other end, in order to fasten it at the rail. This done, with that end + yet in his hand and standing beside the pin, he looked round upon his + crew, sweeping from one to the other; pausing his glance long upon Daggoo, + Queequeg, Tashtego; but shunning Fedallah; and then settling his firm + relying eye upon the chief mate, said,—“Take the rope, sir—I + give it into thy hands, Starbuck.” Then arranging his person in the + basket, he gave the word for them to hoist him to his perch, Starbuck + being the one who secured the rope at last; and afterwards stood near it. + And thus, with one hand clinging round the royal mast, Ahab gazed abroad + upon the sea for miles and miles,—ahead, astern, this side, and + that,—within the wide expanded circle commanded at so great a + height. +

+

+ When in working with his hands at some lofty almost isolated place in the + rigging, which chances to afford no foothold, the sailor at sea is hoisted + up to that spot, and sustained there by the rope; under these + circumstances, its fastened end on deck is always given in strict charge + to some one man who has the special watch of it. Because in such a + wilderness of running rigging, whose various different relations aloft + cannot always be infallibly discerned by what is seen of them at the deck; + and when the deck-ends of these ropes are being every few minutes cast + down from the fastenings, it would be but a natural fatality, if, + unprovided with a constant watchman, the hoisted sailor should by some + carelessness of the crew be cast adrift and fall all swooping to the sea. + So Ahab’s proceedings in this matter were not unusual; the only strange + thing about them seemed to be, that Starbuck, almost the one only man who + had ever ventured to oppose him with anything in the slightest degree + approaching to decision—one of those too, whose faithfulness on the + look-out he had seemed to doubt somewhat;—it was strange, that this + was the very man he should select for his watchman; freely giving his + whole life into such an otherwise distrusted person’s hands. +

+

+ Now, the first time Ahab was perched aloft; ere he had been there ten + minutes; one of those red-billed savage sea-hawks which so often fly + incommodiously close round the manned mast-heads of whalemen in these + latitudes; one of these birds came wheeling and screaming round his head + in a maze of untrackably swift circlings. Then it darted a thousand feet + straight up into the air; then spiralized downwards, and went eddying + again round his head. +

+

+ But with his gaze fixed upon the dim and distant horizon, Ahab seemed not + to mark this wild bird; nor, indeed, would any one else have marked it + much, it being no uncommon circumstance; only now almost the least heedful + eye seemed to see some sort of cunning meaning in almost every sight. +

+

+ “Your hat, your hat, sir!” suddenly cried the Sicilian seaman, who being + posted at the mizen-mast-head, stood directly behind Ahab, though somewhat + lower than his level, and with a deep gulf of air dividing them. +

+

+ But already the sable wing was before the old man’s eyes; the long hooked + bill at his head: with a scream, the black hawk darted away with his + prize. +

+

+ An eagle flew thrice round Tarquin’s head, removing his cap to replace it, + and thereupon Tanaquil, his wife, declared that Tarquin would be king of + Rome. But only by the replacing of the cap was that omen accounted good. + Ahab’s hat was never restored; the wild hawk flew on and on with it; far + in advance of the prow: and at last disappeared; while from the point of + that disappearance, a minute black spot was dimly discerned, falling from + that vast height into the sea. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 131. The Pequod Meets The Delight. +

+

+ The intense Pequod sailed on; the rolling waves and days went by; the + life-buoy-coffin still lightly swung; and another ship, most miserably + misnamed the Delight, was descried. As she drew nigh, all eyes were fixed + upon her broad beams, called shears, which, in some whaling-ships, cross + the quarter-deck at the height of eight or nine feet; serving to carry the + spare, unrigged, or disabled boats. +

+

+ Upon the stranger’s shears were beheld the shattered, white ribs, and some + few splintered planks, of what had once been a whale-boat; but you now saw + through this wreck, as plainly as you see through the peeled, + half-unhinged, and bleaching skeleton of a horse. +

+

+ “Hast seen the White Whale?” +

+

+ “Look!” replied the hollow-cheeked captain from his taffrail; and with his + trumpet he pointed to the wreck. +

+

+ “Hast killed him?” +

+

+ “The harpoon is not yet forged that ever will do that,” answered the + other, sadly glancing upon a rounded hammock on the deck, whose gathered + sides some noiseless sailors were busy in sewing together. +

+

+ “Not forged!” and snatching Perth’s levelled iron from the crotch, Ahab + held it out, exclaiming—“Look ye, Nantucketer; here in this hand I + hold his death! Tempered in blood, and tempered by lightning are these + barbs; and I swear to temper them triply in that hot place behind the fin, + where the White Whale most feels his accursed life!” +

+

+ “Then God keep thee, old man—see’st thou that”—pointing to the + hammock—“I bury but one of five stout men, who were alive only + yesterday; but were dead ere night. Only that one I bury; the rest were + buried before they died; you sail upon their tomb.” Then turning to his + crew—“Are ye ready there? place the plank then on the rail, and lift + the body; so, then—Oh! God”—advancing towards the hammock with + uplifted hands—“may the resurrection and the life——” +

+

+ “Brace forward! Up helm!” cried Ahab like lightning to his men. +

+

+ But the suddenly started Pequod was not quick enough to escape the sound + of the splash that the corpse soon made as it struck the sea; not so + quick, indeed, but that some of the flying bubbles might have sprinkled + her hull with their ghostly baptism. +

+

+ As Ahab now glided from the dejected Delight, the strange life-buoy + hanging at the Pequod’s stern came into conspicuous relief. +

+

+ “Ha! yonder! look yonder, men!” cried a foreboding voice in her wake. “In + vain, oh, ye strangers, ye fly our sad burial; ye but turn us your + taffrail to show us your coffin!” +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 132. The Symphony. +

+

+ It was a clear steel-blue day. The firmaments of air and sea were hardly + separable in that all-pervading azure; only, the pensive air was + transparently pure and soft, with a woman’s look, and the robust and + man-like sea heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson’s chest + in his sleep. +

+

+ Hither, and thither, on high, glided the snow-white wings of small, + unspeckled birds; these were the gentle thoughts of the feminine air; but + to and fro in the deeps, far down in the bottomless blue, rushed mighty + leviathans, sword-fish, and sharks; and these were the strong, troubled, + murderous thinkings of the masculine sea. +

+

+ But though thus contrasting within, the contrast was only in shades and + shadows without; those two seemed one; it was only the sex, as it were, + that distinguished them. +

+

+ Aloft, like a royal czar and king, the sun seemed giving this gentle air + to this bold and rolling sea; even as bride to groom. And at the girdling + line of the horizon, a soft and tremulous motion—most seen here at + the equator—denoted the fond, throbbing trust, the loving alarms, + with which the poor bride gave her bosom away. +

+

+ Tied up and twisted; gnarled and knotted with wrinkles; haggardly firm and + unyielding; his eyes glowing like coals, that still glow in the ashes of + ruin; untottering Ahab stood forth in the clearness of the morn; lifting + his splintered helmet of a brow to the fair girl’s forehead of heaven. +

+

+ Oh, immortal infancy, and innocency of the azure! Invisible winged + creatures that frolic all round us! Sweet childhood of air and sky! how + oblivious were ye of old Ahab’s close-coiled woe! But so have I seen + little Miriam and Martha, laughing-eyed elves, heedlessly gambol around + their old sire; sporting with the circle of singed locks which grew on the + marge of that burnt-out crater of his brain. +

+

+ Slowly crossing the deck from the scuttle, Ahab leaned over the side and + watched how his shadow in the water sank and sank to his gaze, the more + and the more that he strove to pierce the profundity. But the lovely + aromas in that enchanted air did at last seem to dispel, for a moment, the + cankerous thing in his soul. That glad, happy air, that winsome sky, did + at last stroke and caress him; the step-mother world, so long cruel—forbidding—now + threw affectionate arms round his stubborn neck, and did seem to joyously + sob over him, as if over one, that however wilful and erring, she could + yet find it in her heart to save and to bless. From beneath his slouched + hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such + wealth as that one wee drop. +

+

+ Starbuck saw the old man; saw him, how he heavily leaned over the side; + and he seemed to hear in his own true heart the measureless sobbing that + stole out of the centre of the serenity around. Careful not to touch him, + or be noticed by him, he yet drew near to him, and stood there. +

+

+ Ahab turned. +

+

+ “Starbuck!” +

+

+ “Sir.” +

+

+ “Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a + day—very much such a sweetness as this—I struck my first whale—a + boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty—forty—forty years ago!—ago! + Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and + storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! for forty years has Ahab + forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of + the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent + three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of + solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain’s + exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the + green country without—oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery + of solitary command!—when I think of all this; only half-suspected, + not so keenly known to me before—and how for forty years I have fed + upon dry salted fare—fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soil!—when + the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the + world’s fresh bread to my mouldy crusts—away, whole oceans away, + from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn + the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow—wife? wife?—rather + a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I + married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling + blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab + has furiously, foamingly chased his prey—more a demon than a man!—aye, + aye! what a forty years’ fool—fool—old fool, has old Ahab + been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the + oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? + Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, + one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old + hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never + grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, + Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, + staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God!—crack + my heart!—stave my brain!—mockery! mockery! bitter, biting + mockery of grey hairs, have I lived enough joy to wear ye; and seem and + feel thus intolerably old? Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look + into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than + to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is + the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; + stay on board, on board!—lower not when I do; when branded Ahab + gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with + the far away home I see in that eye!” +

+

+ “Oh, my Captain! my Captain! noble soul! grand old heart, after all! why + should any one give chase to that hated fish! Away with me! let us fly + these deadly waters! let us home! Wife and child, too, are Starbuck’s—wife + and child of his brotherly, sisterly, play-fellow youth; even as thine, + sir, are the wife and child of thy loving, longing, paternal old age! + Away! let us away!—this instant let me alter the course! How + cheerily, how hilariously, O my Captain, would we bowl on our way to see + old Nantucket again! I think, sir, they have some such mild blue days, + even as this, in Nantucket.” +

+

+ “They have, they have. I have seen them—some summer days in the + morning. About this time—yes, it is his noon nap now—the boy + vivaciously wakes; sits up in bed; and his mother tells him of me, of + cannibal old me; how I am abroad upon the deep, but will yet come back to + dance him again.” +

+

+ “’Tis my Mary, my Mary herself! She promised that my boy, every morning, + should be carried to the hill to catch the first glimpse of his father’s + sail! Yes, yes! no more! it is done! we head for Nantucket! Come, my + Captain, study out the course, and let us away! See, see! the boy’s face + from the window! the boy’s hand on the hill!” +

+

+ But Ahab’s glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and + cast his last, cindered apple to the soil. +

+

+ “What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what + cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands + me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and + crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready + to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? + Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great + sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single + star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small + heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that + beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, + we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and + Fate is the handspike. And all the time, lo! that smiling sky, and this + unsounded sea! Look! see yon Albicore! who put it into him to chase and + fang that flying-fish? Where do murderers go, man! Who’s to doom, when the + judge himself is dragged to the bar? But it is a mild, mild wind, and a + mild looking sky; and the air smells now, as if it blew from a far-away + meadow; they have been making hay somewhere under the slopes of the Andes, + Starbuck, and the mowers are sleeping among the new-mown hay. Sleeping? + Aye, toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, + and rust amid greenness; as last year’s scythes flung down, and left in + the half-cut swaths—Starbuck!” +

+

+ But blanched to a corpse’s hue with despair, the Mate had stolen away. +

+

+ Ahab crossed the deck to gaze over on the other side; but started at two + reflected, fixed eyes in the water there. Fedallah was motionlessly + leaning over the same rail. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day. +

+

+ That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man—as his wont at + intervals—stepped forth from the scuttle in which he leaned, and + went to his pivot-hole, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffing + up the sea air as a sagacious ship’s dog will, in drawing nigh to some + barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon that peculiar + odor, sometimes to a great distance given forth by the living sperm whale, + was palpable to all the watch; nor was any mariner surprised when, after + inspecting the compass, and then the dog-vane, and then ascertaining the + precise bearing of the odor as nearly as possible, Ahab rapidly ordered + the ship’s course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened. +

+

+ The acute policy dictating these movements was sufficiently vindicated at + daybreak, by the sight of a long sleek on the sea directly and lengthwise + ahead, smooth as oil, and resembling in the pleated watery wrinkles + bordering it, the polished metallic-like marks of some swift tide-rip, at + the mouth of a deep, rapid stream. +

+

+ “Man the mast-heads! Call all hands!” +

+

+ Thundering with the butts of three clubbed handspikes on the forecastle + deck, Daggoo roused the sleepers with such judgment claps that they seemed + to exhale from the scuttle, so instantaneously did they appear with their + clothes in their hands. +

+

+ “What d’ye see?” cried Ahab, flattening his face to the sky. +

+

+ “Nothing, nothing sir!” was the sound hailing down in reply. +

+

+ “T’gallant sails!—stunsails! alow and aloft, and on both sides!” +

+

+ All sail being set, he now cast loose the life-line, reserved for swaying + him to the main royal-mast head; and in a few moments they were hoisting + him thither, when, while but two thirds of the way aloft, and while + peering ahead through the horizontal vacancy between the main-top-sail and + top-gallant-sail, he raised a gull-like cry in the air. “There she blows!—there + she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” +

+

+ Fired by the cry which seemed simultaneously taken up by the three + look-outs, the men on deck rushed to the rigging to behold the famous + whale they had so long been pursuing. Ahab had now gained his final perch, + some feet above the other look-outs, Tashtego standing just beneath him on + the cap of the top-gallant-mast, so that the Indian’s head was almost on a + level with Ahab’s heel. From this height the whale was now seen some mile + or so ahead, at every roll of the sea revealing his high sparkling hump, + and regularly jetting his silent spout into the air. To the credulous + mariners it seemed the same silent spout they had so long ago beheld in + the moonlit Atlantic and Indian Oceans. +

+

+ “And did none of ye see it before?” cried Ahab, hailing the perched men + all around him. +

+

+ “I saw him almost that same instant, sir, that Captain Ahab did, and I + cried out,” said Tashtego. +

+

+ “Not the same instant; not the same—no, the doubloon is mine, Fate + reserved the doubloon for me. I only; none of ye could have raised the + White Whale first. There she blows!—there she blows!—there she + blows! There again!—there again!” he cried, in long-drawn, + lingering, methodic tones, attuned to the gradual prolongings of the + whale’s visible jets. “He’s going to sound! In stunsails! Down + top-gallant-sails! Stand by three boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay on + board, and keep the ship. Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So; steady, man, + steady! There go flukes! No, no; only black water! All ready the boats + there? Stand by, stand by! Lower me, Mr. Starbuck; lower, lower,—quick, + quicker!” and he slid through the air to the deck. +

+

+ “He is heading straight to leeward, sir,” cried Stubb, “right away from + us; cannot have seen the ship yet.” +

+

+ “Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm!—brace up! + Shiver her!—shiver her!—So; well that! Boats, boats!” +

+

+ Soon all the boats but Starbuck’s were dropped; all the boat-sails set—all + the paddles plying; with rippling swiftness, shooting to leeward; and Ahab + heading the onset. A pale, death-glimmer lit up Fedallah’s sunken eyes; a + hideous motion gnawed his mouth. +

+

+ Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea; + but only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the ocean grew + still more smooth; seemed drawing a carpet over its waves; seemed a + noon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the breathless hunter came + so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzling hump was + distinctly visible, sliding along the sea as if an isolated thing, and + continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy, greenish foam. He + saw the vast, involved wrinkles of the slightly projecting head beyond. + Before it, far out on the soft Turkish-rugged waters, went the glistening + white shadow from his broad, milky forehead, a musical rippling playfully + accompanying the shade; and behind, the blue waters interchangeably flowed + over into the moving valley of his steady wake; and on either hand bright + bubbles arose and danced by his side. But these were broken again by the + light toes of hundreds of gay fowl softly feathering the sea, alternate + with their fitful flight; and like to some flag-staff rising from the + painted hull of an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance + projected from the white whale’s back; and at intervals one of the cloud + of soft-toed fowls hovering, and to and fro skimming like a canopy over + the fish, silently perched and rocked on this pole, the long tail feathers + streaming like pennons. +

+

+ A gentle joyousness—a mighty mildness of repose in swiftness, + invested the gliding whale. Not the white bull Jupiter swimming away with + ravished Europa clinging to his graceful horns; his lovely, leering eyes + sideways intent upon the maid; with smooth bewitching fleetness, rippling + straight for the nuptial bower in Crete; not Jove, not that great majesty + Supreme! did surpass the glorified White Whale as he so divinely swam. +

+

+ On each soft side—coincident with the parted swell, that but once + leaving him, then flowed so wide away—on each bright side, the whale + shed off enticings. No wonder there had been some among the hunters who + namelessly transported and allured by all this serenity, had ventured to + assail it; but had fatally found that quietude but the vesture of + tornadoes. Yet calm, enticing calm, oh, whale! thou glidest on, to all who + for the first time eye thee, no matter how many in that same way thou + may’st have bejuggled and destroyed before. +

+

+ And thus, through the serene tranquillities of the tropical sea, among + waves whose hand-clappings were suspended by exceeding rapture, Moby Dick + moved on, still withholding from sight the full terrors of his submerged + trunk, entirely hiding the wrenched hideousness of his jaw. But soon the + fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole + marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia’s Natural Bridge, and + warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed + himself, sounded, and went out of sight. Hoveringly halting, and dipping + on the wing, the white sea-fowls longingly lingered over the agitated pool + that he left. +

+

+ With oars apeak, and paddles down, the sheets of their sails adrift, the + three boats now stilly floated, awaiting Moby Dick’s reappearance. +

+

+ “An hour,” said Ahab, standing rooted in his boat’s stern; and he gazed + beyond the whale’s place, towards the dim blue spaces and wide wooing + vacancies to leeward. It was only an instant; for again his eyes seemed + whirling round in his head as he swept the watery circle. The breeze now + freshened; the sea began to swell. +

+

+ “The birds!—the birds!” cried Tashtego. +

+

+ In long Indian file, as when herons take wing, the white birds were now + all flying towards Ahab’s boat; and when within a few yards began + fluttering over the water there, wheeling round and round, with joyous, + expectant cries. Their vision was keener than man’s; Ahab could discover + no sign in the sea. But suddenly as he peered down and down into its + depths, he profoundly saw a white living spot no bigger than a white + weasel, with wonderful celerity uprising, and magnifying as it rose, till + it turned, and then there were plainly revealed two long crooked rows of + white, glistening teeth, floating up from the undiscoverable bottom. It + was Moby Dick’s open mouth and scrolled jaw; his vast, shadowed bulk still + half blending with the blue of the sea. The glittering mouth yawned + beneath the boat like an open-doored marble tomb; and giving one sidelong + sweep with his steering oar, Ahab whirled the craft aside from this + tremendous apparition. Then, calling upon Fedallah to change places with + him, went forward to the bows, and seizing Perth’s harpoon, commanded his + crew to grasp their oars and stand by to stern. +

+

+ Now, by reason of this timely spinning round the boat upon its axis, its + bow, by anticipation, was made to face the whale’s head while yet under + water. But as if perceiving this stratagem, Moby Dick, with that malicious + intelligence ascribed to him, sidelingly transplanted himself, as it were, + in an instant, shooting his pleated head lengthwise beneath the boat. +

+

+ Through and through; through every plank and each rib, it thrilled for an + instant, the whale obliquely lying on his back, in the manner of a biting + shark, slowly and feelingly taking its bows full within his mouth, so that + the long, narrow, scrolled lower jaw curled high up into the open air, and + one of the teeth caught in a row-lock. The bluish pearl-white of the + inside of the jaw was within six inches of Ahab’s head, and reached higher + than that. In this attitude the White Whale now shook the slight cedar as + a mildly cruel cat her mouse. With unastonished eyes Fedallah gazed, and + crossed his arms; but the tiger-yellow crew were tumbling over each + other’s heads to gain the uttermost stern. +

+

+ And now, while both elastic gunwales were springing in and out, as the + whale dallied with the doomed craft in this devilish way; and from his + body being submerged beneath the boat, he could not be darted at from the + bows, for the bows were almost inside of him, as it were; and while the + other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisis impossible to + withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing + vicinity of his foe, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very + jaws he hated; frenzied with all this, he seized the long bone with his + naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench it from its gripe. As now he thus + vainly strove, the jaw slipped from him; the frail gunwales bent in, + collapsed, and snapped, as both jaws, like an enormous shears, sliding + further aft, bit the craft completely in twain, and locked themselves fast + again in the sea, midway between the two floating wrecks. These floated + aside, the broken ends drooping, the crew at the stern-wreck clinging to + the gunwales, and striving to hold fast to the oars to lash them across. +

+

+ At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the first to + perceive the whale’s intent, by the crafty upraising of his head, a + movement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand had + made one final effort to push the boat out of the bite. But only slipping + further into the whale’s mouth, and tilting over sideways as it slipped, + the boat had shaken off his hold on the jaw; spilled him out of it, as he + leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon the sea. +

+

+ Ripplingly withdrawing from his prey, Moby Dick now lay at a little + distance, vertically thrusting his oblong white head up and down in the + billows; and at the same time slowly revolving his whole spindled body; so + that when his vast wrinkled forehead rose—some twenty or more feet + out of the water—the now rising swells, with all their confluent + waves, dazzlingly broke against it; vindictively tossing their shivered + spray still higher into the air.* So, in a gale, the but half baffled + Channel billows only recoil from the base of the Eddystone, triumphantly + to overleap its summit with their scud. +

+

+ *This motion is peculiar to the sperm whale. It receives its designation + (pitchpoling) from its being likened to that preliminary up-and-down poise + of the whale-lance, in the exercise called pitchpoling, previously + described. By this motion the whale must best and most comprehensively + view whatever objects may be encircling him. +

+

+ But soon resuming his horizontal attitude, Moby Dick swam swiftly round + and round the wrecked crew; sideways churning the water in his vengeful + wake, as if lashing himself up to still another and more deadly assault. + The sight of the splintered boat seemed to madden him, as the blood of + grapes and mulberries cast before Antiochus’s elephants in the book of + Maccabees. Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of the whale’s + insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim,—though he could + still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that; helpless + Ahab’s head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock + might burst. From the boat’s fragmentary stern, Fedallah incuriously and + mildly eyed him; the clinging crew, at the other drifting end, could not + succor him; more than enough was it for them to look to themselves. For so + revolvingly appalling was the White Whale’s aspect, and so planetarily + swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that he seemed horizontally + swooping upon them. And though the other boats, unharmed, still hovered + hard by; still they dared not pull into the eddy to strike, lest that + should be the signal for the instant destruction of the jeopardized + castaways, Ahab and all; nor in that case could they themselves hope to + escape. With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the + direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man’s head. +

+

+ Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship’s + mast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and + was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her!—“Sail on the”—but + that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him + for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a + towering crest, he shouted,—“Sail on the whale!—Drive him + off!” +

+

+ The Pequod’s prows were pointed; and breaking up the charmed circle, she + effectually parted the white whale from his victim. As he sullenly swam + off, the boats flew to the rescue. +

+

+ Dragged into Stubb’s boat with blood-shot, blinded eyes, the white brine + caking in his wrinkles; the long tension of Ahab’s bodily strength did + crack, and helplessly he yielded to his body’s doom: for a time, lying all + crushed in the bottom of Stubb’s boat, like one trodden under foot of + herds of elephants. Far inland, nameless wails came from him, as desolate + sounds from out ravines. +

+

+ But this intensity of his physical prostration did but so much the more + abbreviate it. In an instant’s compass, great hearts sometimes condense to + one deep pang, the sum total of those shallow pains kindly diffused + through feebler men’s whole lives. And so, such hearts, though summary in + each one suffering; still, if the gods decree it, in their life-time + aggregate a whole age of woe, wholly made up of instantaneous intensities; + for even in their pointless centres, those noble natures contain the + entire circumferences of inferior souls. +

+

+ “The harpoon,” said Ahab, half way rising, and draggingly leaning on one + bended arm—“is it safe?” +

+

+ “Aye, sir, for it was not darted; this is it,” said Stubb, showing it. +

+

+ “Lay it before me;—any missing men?” +

+

+ “One, two, three, four, five;—there were five oars, sir, and here + are five men.” +

+

+ “That’s good.—Help me, man; I wish to stand. So, so, I see him! + there! there! going to leeward still; what a leaping spout!—Hands + off from me! The eternal sap runs up in Ahab’s bones again! Set the sail; + out oars; the helm!” +

+

+ It is often the case that when a boat is stove, its crew, being picked up + by another boat, help to work that second boat; and the chase is thus + continued with what is called double-banked oars. It was thus now. But the + added power of the boat did not equal the added power of the whale, for he + seemed to have treble-banked his every fin; swimming with a velocity which + plainly showed, that if now, under these circumstances, pushed on, the + chase would prove an indefinitely prolonged, if not a hopeless one; nor + could any crew endure for so long a period, such an unintermitted, intense + straining at the oar; a thing barely tolerable only in some one brief + vicissitude. The ship itself, then, as it sometimes happens, offered the + most promising intermediate means of overtaking the chase. Accordingly, + the boats now made for her, and were soon swayed up to their cranes—the + two parts of the wrecked boat having been previously secured by her—and + then hoisting everything to her side, and stacking her canvas high up, and + sideways outstretching it with stun-sails, like the double-jointed wings + of an albatross; the Pequod bore down in the leeward wake of Moby-Dick. At + the well known, methodic intervals, the whale’s glittering spout was + regularly announced from the manned mast-heads; and when he would be + reported as just gone down, Ahab would take the time, and then pacing the + deck, binnacle-watch in hand, so soon as the last second of the allotted + hour expired, his voice was heard.—“Whose is the doubloon now? D’ye + see him?” and if the reply was, No, sir! straightway he commanded them to + lift him to his perch. In this way the day wore on; Ahab, now aloft and + motionless; anon, unrestingly pacing the planks. +

+

+ As he was thus walking, uttering no sound, except to hail the men aloft, + or to bid them hoist a sail still higher, or to spread one to a still + greater breadth—thus to and fro pacing, beneath his slouched hat, at + every turn he passed his own wrecked boat, which had been dropped upon the + quarter-deck, and lay there reversed; broken bow to shattered stern. At + last he paused before it; and as in an already over-clouded sky fresh + troops of clouds will sometimes sail across, so over the old man’s face + there now stole some such added gloom as this. +

+

+ Stubb saw him pause; and perhaps intending, not vainly, though, to evince + his own unabated fortitude, and thus keep up a valiant place in his + Captain’s mind, he advanced, and eyeing the wreck exclaimed—“The + thistle the ass refused; it pricked his mouth too keenly, sir; ha! ha!” +

+

+ “What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck? Man, man! did I + not know thee brave as fearless fire (and as mechanical) I could swear + thou wert a poltroon. Groan nor laugh should be heard before a wreck.” +

+

+ “Aye, sir,” said Starbuck drawing near, “’tis a solemn sight; an omen, and + an ill one.” +

+

+ “Omen? omen?—the dictionary! If the gods think to speak outright to + man, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give + an old wives’ darkling hint.—Begone! Ye two are the opposite poles + of one thing; Starbuck is Stubb reversed, and Stubb is Starbuck; and ye + two are all mankind; and Ahab stands alone among the millions of the + peopled earth, nor gods nor men his neighbors! Cold, cold—I shiver!—How + now? Aloft there! D’ye see him? Sing out for every spout, though he spout + ten times a second!” +

+

+ The day was nearly done; only the hem of his golden robe was rustling. + Soon, it was almost dark, but the look-out men still remained unset. +

+

+ “Can’t see the spout now, sir;—too dark”—cried a voice from + the air. +

+

+ “How heading when last seen?” +

+

+ “As before, sir,—straight to leeward.” +

+

+ “Good! he will travel slower now ’tis night. Down royals and top-gallant + stun-sails, Mr. Starbuck. We must not run over him before morning; he’s + making a passage now, and may heave-to a while. Helm there! keep her full + before the wind!—Aloft! come down!—Mr. Stubb, send a fresh + hand to the fore-mast head, and see it manned till morning.”—Then + advancing towards the doubloon in the main-mast—“Men, this gold is + mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale + is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall + be killed, this gold is that man’s; and if on that day I shall again raise + him, then, ten times its sum shall be divided among all of ye! Away now!—the + deck is thine, sir!” +

+

+ And so saying, he placed himself half way within the scuttle, and + slouching his hat, stood there till dawn, except when at intervals rousing + himself to see how the night wore on. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 134. The Chase—Second Day. +

+

+ At day-break, the three mast-heads were punctually manned afresh. +

+

+ “D’ye see him?” cried Ahab after allowing a little space for the light to + spread. +

+

+ “See nothing, sir.” +

+

+ “Turn up all hands and make sail! he travels faster than I thought for;—the + top-gallant sails!—aye, they should have been kept on her all night. + But no matter—’tis but resting for the rush.” +

+

+ Here be it said, that this pertinacious pursuit of one particular whale, + continued through day into night, and through night into day, is a thing + by no means unprecedented in the South sea fishery. For such is the + wonderful skill, prescience of experience, and invincible confidence + acquired by some great natural geniuses among the Nantucket commanders; + that from the simple observation of a whale when last descried, they will, + under certain given circumstances, pretty accurately foretell both the + direction in which he will continue to swim for a time, while out of + sight, as well as his probable rate of progression during that period. + And, in these cases, somewhat as a pilot, when about losing sight of a + coast, whose general trending he well knows, and which he desires shortly + to return to again, but at some further point; like as this pilot stands + by his compass, and takes the precise bearing of the cape at present + visible, in order the more certainly to hit aright the remote, unseen + headland, eventually to be visited: so does the fisherman, at his compass, + with the whale; for after being chased, and diligently marked, through + several hours of daylight, then, when night obscures the fish, the + creature’s future wake through the darkness is almost as established to + the sagacious mind of the hunter, as the pilot’s coast is to him. So that + to this hunter’s wondrous skill, the proverbial evanescence of a thing + writ in water, a wake, is to all desired purposes well nigh as reliable as + the steadfast land. And as the mighty iron Leviathan of the modern railway + is so familiarly known in its every pace, that, with watches in their + hands, men time his rate as doctors that of a baby’s pulse; and lightly + say of it, the up train or the down train will reach such or such a spot, + at such or such an hour; even so, almost, there are occasions when these + Nantucketers time that other Leviathan of the deep, according to the + observed humor of his speed; and say to themselves, so many hours hence + this whale will have gone two hundred miles, will have about reached this + or that degree of latitude or longitude. But to render this acuteness at + all successful in the end, the wind and the sea must be the whaleman’s + allies; for of what present avail to the becalmed or windbound mariner is + the skill that assures him he is exactly ninety-three leagues and a + quarter from his port? Inferable from these statements, are many + collateral subtile matters touching the chase of whales. +

+

+ The ship tore on; leaving such a furrow in the sea as when a cannon-ball, + missent, becomes a plough-share and turns up the level field. +

+

+ “By salt and hemp!” cried Stubb, “but this swift motion of the deck creeps + up one’s legs and tingles at the heart. This ship and I are two brave + fellows!—Ha, ha! Some one take me up, and launch me, spine-wise, on + the sea,—for by live-oaks! my spine’s a keel. Ha, ha! we go the gait + that leaves no dust behind!” +

+

+ “There she blows—she blows!—she blows!—right ahead!” was + now the mast-head cry. +

+

+ “Aye, aye!” cried Stubb, “I knew it—ye can’t escape—blow on + and split your spout, O whale! the mad fiend himself is after ye! blow + your trump—blister your lungs!—Ahab will dam off your blood, + as a miller shuts his watergate upon the stream!” +

+

+ And Stubb did but speak out for well nigh all that crew. The frenzies of + the chase had by this time worked them bubblingly up, like old wine worked + anew. Whatever pale fears and forebodings some of them might have felt + before; these were not only now kept out of sight through the growing awe + of Ahab, but they were broken up, and on all sides routed, as timid + prairie hares that scatter before the bounding bison. The hand of Fate had + snatched all their souls; and by the stirring perils of the previous day; + the rack of the past night’s suspense; the fixed, unfearing, blind, + reckless way in which their wild craft went plunging towards its flying + mark; by all these things, their hearts were bowled along. The wind that + made great bellies of their sails, and rushed the vessel on by arms + invisible as irresistible; this seemed the symbol of that unseen agency + which so enslaved them to the race. +

+

+ They were one man, not thirty. For as the one ship that held them all; + though it was put together of all contrasting things—oak, and maple, + and pine wood; iron, and pitch, and hemp—yet all these ran into each + other in the one concrete hull, which shot on its way, both balanced and + directed by the long central keel; even so, all the individualities of the + crew, this man’s valor, that man’s fear; guilt and guiltiness, all + varieties were welded into oneness, and were all directed to that fatal + goal which Ahab their one lord and keel did point to. +

+

+ The rigging lived. The mast-heads, like the tops of tall palms, were + outspreadingly tufted with arms and legs. Clinging to a spar with one + hand, some reached forth the other with impatient wavings; others, shading + their eyes from the vivid sunlight, sat far out on the rocking yards; all + the spars in full bearing of mortals, ready and ripe for their fate. Ah! + how they still strove through that infinite blueness to seek out the thing + that might destroy them! +

+

+ “Why sing ye not out for him, if ye see him?” cried Ahab, when, after the + lapse of some minutes since the first cry, no more had been heard. “Sway + me up, men; ye have been deceived; not Moby Dick casts one odd jet that + way, and then disappears.” +

+

+ It was even so; in their headlong eagerness, the men had mistaken some + other thing for the whale-spout, as the event itself soon proved; for + hardly had Ahab reached his perch; hardly was the rope belayed to its pin + on deck, when he struck the key-note to an orchestra, that made the air + vibrate as with the combined discharges of rifles. The triumphant halloo + of thirty buckskin lungs was heard, as—much nearer to the ship than + the place of the imaginary jet, less than a mile ahead—Moby Dick + bodily burst into view! For not by any calm and indolent spoutings; not by + the peaceable gush of that mystic fountain in his head, did the White + Whale now reveal his vicinity; but by the far more wondrous phenomenon of + breaching. Rising with his utmost velocity from the furthest depths, the + Sperm Whale thus booms his entire bulk into the pure element of air, and + piling up a mountain of dazzling foam, shows his place to the distance of + seven miles and more. In those moments, the torn, enraged waves he shakes + off, seem his mane; in some cases, this breaching is his act of defiance. +

+

+ “There she breaches! there she breaches!” was the cry, as in his + immeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tossed himself salmon-like to + Heaven. So suddenly seen in the blue plain of the sea, and relieved + against the still bluer margin of the sky, the spray that he raised, for + the moment, intolerably glittered and glared like a glacier; and stood + there gradually fading and fading away from its first sparkling intensity, + to the dim mistiness of an advancing shower in a vale. +

+

+ “Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” cried Ahab, “thy hour and + thy harpoon are at hand!—Down! down all of ye, but one man at the + fore. The boats!—stand by!” +

+

+ Unmindful of the tedious rope-ladders of the shrouds, the men, like + shooting stars, slid to the deck, by the isolated backstays and halyards; + while Ahab, less dartingly, but still rapidly was dropped from his perch. +

+

+ “Lower away,” he cried, so soon as he had reached his boat—a spare + one, rigged the afternoon previous. “Mr. Starbuck, the ship is thine—keep + away from the boats, but keep near them. Lower, all!” +

+

+ As if to strike a quick terror into them, by this time being the first + assailant himself, Moby Dick had turned, and was now coming for the three + crews. Ahab’s boat was central; and cheering his men, he told them he + would take the whale head-and-head,—that is, pull straight up to his + forehead,—a not uncommon thing; for when within a certain limit, + such a course excludes the coming onset from the whale’s sidelong vision. + But ere that close limit was gained, and while yet all three boats were + plain as the ship’s three masts to his eye; the White Whale churning + himself into furious speed, almost in an instant as it were, rushing among + the boats with open jaws, and a lashing tail, offered appalling battle on + every side; and heedless of the irons darted at him from every boat, + seemed only intent on annihilating each separate plank of which those + boats were made. But skilfully manÅ“uvred, incessantly wheeling like + trained chargers in the field; the boats for a while eluded him; though, + at times, but by a plank’s breadth; while all the time, Ahab’s unearthly + slogan tore every other cry but his to shreds. +

+

+ But at last in his untraceable evolutions, the White Whale so crossed and + recrossed, and in a thousand ways entangled the slack of the three lines + now fast to him, that they foreshortened, and, of themselves, warped the + devoted boats towards the planted irons in him; though now for a moment + the whale drew aside a little, as if to rally for a more tremendous + charge. Seizing that opportunity, Ahab first paid out more line: and then + was rapidly hauling and jerking in upon it again—hoping that way to + disencumber it of some snarls—when lo!—a sight more savage + than the embattled teeth of sharks! +

+

+ Caught and twisted—corkscrewed in the mazes of the line, loose + harpoons and lances, with all their bristling barbs and points, came + flashing and dripping up to the chocks in the bows of Ahab’s boat. Only + one thing could be done. Seizing the boat-knife, he critically reached + within—through—and then, without—the rays of steel; + dragged in the line beyond, passed it, inboard, to the bowsman, and then, + twice sundering the rope near the chocks—dropped the intercepted + fagot of steel into the sea; and was all fast again. That instant, the + White Whale made a sudden rush among the remaining tangles of the other + lines; by so doing, irresistibly dragged the more involved boats of Stubb + and Flask towards his flukes; dashed them together like two rolling husks + on a surf-beaten beach, and then, diving down into the sea, disappeared in + a boiling maelstrom, in which, for a space, the odorous cedar chips of the + wrecks danced round and round, like the grated nutmeg in a swiftly stirred + bowl of punch. +

+

+ While the two crews were yet circling in the waters, reaching out after + the revolving line-tubs, oars, and other floating furniture, while aslope + little Flask bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitching his legs + upwards to escape the dreaded jaws of sharks; and Stubb was lustily + singing out for some one to ladle him up; and while the old man’s line—now + parting—admitted of his pulling into the creamy pool to rescue whom + he could;—in that wild simultaneousness of a thousand concreted + perils,—Ahab’s yet unstricken boat seemed drawn up towards Heaven by + invisible wires,—as, arrow-like, shooting perpendicularly from the + sea, the White Whale dashed his broad forehead against its bottom, and + sent it, turning over and over, into the air; till it fell again—gunwale + downwards—and Ahab and his men struggled out from under it, like + seals from a sea-side cave. +

+

+ The first uprising momentum of the whale—modifying its direction as + he struck the surface—involuntarily launched him along it, to a + little distance from the centre of the destruction he had made; and with + his back to it, he now lay for a moment slowly feeling with his flukes + from side to side; and whenever a stray oar, bit of plank, the least chip + or crumb of the boats touched his skin, his tail swiftly drew back, and + came sideways smiting the sea. But soon, as if satisfied that his work for + that time was done, he pushed his pleated forehead through the ocean, and + trailing after him the intertangled lines, continued his leeward way at a + traveller’s methodic pace. +

+

+ As before, the attentive ship having descried the whole fight, again came + bearing down to the rescue, and dropping a boat, picked up the floating + mariners, tubs, oars, and whatever else could be caught at, and safely + landed them on her decks. Some sprained shoulders, wrists, and ankles; + livid contusions; wrenched harpoons and lances; inextricable intricacies + of rope; shattered oars and planks; all these were there; but no fatal or + even serious ill seemed to have befallen any one. As with Fedallah the day + before, so Ahab was now found grimly clinging to his boat’s broken half, + which afforded a comparatively easy float; nor did it so exhaust him as + the previous day’s mishap. +

+

+ But when he was helped to the deck, all eyes were fastened upon him; as + instead of standing by himself he still half-hung upon the shoulder of + Starbuck, who had thus far been the foremost to assist him. His ivory leg + had been snapped off, leaving but one short sharp splinter. +

+

+ “Aye, aye, Starbuck, ’tis sweet to lean sometimes, be the leaner who he + will; and would old Ahab had leaned oftener than he has.” +

+

+ “The ferrule has not stood, sir,” said the carpenter, now coming up; “I + put good work into that leg.” +

+

+ “But no bones broken, sir, I hope,” said Stubb with true concern. +

+

+ “Aye! and all splintered to pieces, Stubb!—d’ye see it.—But + even with a broken bone, old Ahab is untouched; and I account no living + bone of mine one jot more me, than this dead one that’s lost. Nor white + whale, nor man, nor fiend, can so much as graze old Ahab in his own proper + and inaccessible being. Can any lead touch yonder floor, any mast scrape + yonder roof?—Aloft there! which way?” +

+

+ “Dead to leeward, sir.” +

+

+ “Up helm, then; pile on the sail again, ship keepers! down the rest of the + spare boats and rig them—Mr. Starbuck away, and muster the boat’s + crews.” +

+

+ “Let me first help thee towards the bulwarks, sir.” +

+

+ “Oh, oh, oh! how this splinter gores me now! Accursed fate! that the + unconquerable captain in the soul should have such a craven mate!” +

+

+ “Sir?” +

+

+ “My body, man, not thee. Give me something for a cane—there, that + shivered lance will do. Muster the men. Surely I have not seen him yet. By + heaven it cannot be!—missing?—quick! call them all.” +

+

+ The old man’s hinted thought was true. Upon mustering the company, the + Parsee was not there. +

+

+ “The Parsee!” cried Stubb—“he must have been caught in——” +

+

+ “The black vomit wrench thee!—run all of ye above, alow, cabin, + forecastle—find him—not gone—not gone!” +

+

+ But quickly they returned to him with the tidings that the Parsee was + nowhere to be found. +

+

+ “Aye, sir,” said Stubb—“caught among the tangles of your line—I + thought I saw him dragging under.” +

+

+ “My line! my line? Gone?—gone? What means that little word?—What + death-knell rings in it, that old Ahab shakes as if he were the belfry. + The harpoon, too!—toss over the litter there,—d’ye see it?—the + forged iron, men, the white whale’s—no, no, no,—blistered + fool! this hand did dart it!—’tis in the fish!—Aloft there! + Keep him nailed—Quick!—all hands to the rigging of the boats—collect + the oars—harpooneers! the irons, the irons!—hoist the royals + higher—a pull on all the sheets!—helm there! steady, steady + for your life! I’ll ten times girdle the unmeasured globe; yea and dive + straight through it, but I’ll slay him yet!” +

+

+ “Great God! but for one single instant show thyself,” cried Starbuck; + “never, never wilt thou capture him, old man—In Jesus’ name no more + of this, that’s worse than devil’s madness. Two days chased; twice stove + to splinters; thy very leg once more snatched from under thee; thy evil + shadow gone—all good angels mobbing thee with warnings:—what more + wouldst thou have?—Shall we keep chasing this murderous fish till he swamps + the last man? Shall we be dragged by him to the bottom of the sea? Shall we be + towed by him to the infernal world? Oh, oh,—Impiety and blasphemy to hunt + him more!” +

+

+ “Starbuck, of late I’ve felt strangely moved to thee; ever since that hour + we both saw—thou know’st what, in one another’s eyes. But in this + matter of the whale, be the front of thy face to me as the palm of this + hand—a lipless, unfeatured blank. Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This + whole act’s immutably decreed. ’Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion + years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act + under orders. Look thou, underling! that thou obeyest mine.—Stand + round me, men. Ye see an old man cut down to the stump; leaning on a + shivered lance; propped up on a lonely foot. ’Tis Ahab—his body’s + part; but Ahab’s soul’s a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs. I + feel strained, half stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates in a + gale; and I may look so. But ere I break, ye’ll hear me crack; and till ye + hear that, know that Ahab’s hawser tows his purpose yet. Believe ye, men, + in the things called omens? Then laugh aloud, and cry encore! For ere they + drown, drowning things will twice rise to the surface; then rise again, to + sink for evermore. So with Moby Dick—two days he’s floated—tomorrow + will be the third. Aye, men, he’ll rise once more,—but only to spout + his last! D’ye feel brave men, brave?” +

+

+ “As fearless fire,” cried Stubb. +

+

+ “And as mechanical,” muttered Ahab. Then as the men went forward, he + muttered on: “The things called omens! And yesterday I talked the same to + Starbuck there, concerning my broken boat. Oh! how valiantly I seek to + drive out of others’ hearts what’s clinched so fast in mine!—The + Parsee—the Parsee!—gone, gone? and he was to go before:—but + still was to be seen again ere I could perish—How’s that?—There’s + a riddle now might baffle all the lawyers backed by the ghosts of the + whole line of judges:—like a hawk’s beak it pecks my brain. I’ll, + I’ll solve it, though!” +

+

+ When dusk descended, the whale was still in sight to leeward. +

+

+ So once more the sail was shortened, and everything passed nearly as on + the previous night; only, the sound of hammers, and the hum of the + grindstone was heard till nearly daylight, as the men toiled by lanterns + in the complete and careful rigging of the spare boats and sharpening + their fresh weapons for the morrow. Meantime, of the broken keel of Ahab’s + wrecked craft the carpenter made him another leg; while still as on the + night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, + heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due + eastward for the earliest sun. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day. +

+

+ The morning of the third day dawned fair and fresh, and once more the + solitary night-man at the fore-mast-head was relieved by crowds of the + daylight look-outs, who dotted every mast and almost every spar. +

+

+ “D’ye see him?” cried Ahab; but the whale was not yet in sight. +

+

+ “In his infallible wake, though; but follow that wake, that’s all. Helm + there; steady, as thou goest, and hast been going. What a lovely day + again! were it a new-made world, and made for a summer-house to the + angels, and this morning the first of its throwing open to them, a fairer + day could not dawn upon that world. Here’s food for thought, had Ahab time + to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels; that’s + tingling enough for mortal man! to think’s audacity. God only has that + right and privilege. Thinking is, or ought to be, a coolness and a + calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brains beat too much for + that. And yet, I’ve sometimes thought my brain was very calm—frozen + calm, this old skull cracks so, like a glass in which the contents turned + to ice, and shiver it. And still this hair is growing now; this moment + growing, and heat must breed it; but no, it’s like that sort of common + grass that will grow anywhere, between the earthy clefts of Greenland ice + or in Vesuvius lava. How the wild winds blow it; they whip it about me as + the torn shreds of split sails lash the tossed ship they cling to. A vile + wind that has no doubt blown ere this through prison corridors and cells, + and wards of hospitals, and ventilated them, and now comes blowing hither + as innocent as fleeces. Out upon it!—it’s tainted. Were I the wind, + I’d blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world. I’d crawl somewhere to + a cave, and slink there. And yet, ’tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! + who ever conquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow. + Run tilting at it, and you but run through it. Ha! a coward wind that + strikes stark naked men, but will not stand to receive a single blow. Even + Ahab is a braver thing—a nobler thing than that. Would now the wind + but had a body; but all the things that most exasperate and outrage mortal + man, all these things are bodiless, but only bodiless as objects, not as + agents. There’s a most special, a most cunning, oh, a most malicious + difference! And yet, I say again, and swear it now, that there’s something + all glorious and gracious in the wind. These warm Trade Winds, at least, + that in the clear heavens blow straight on, in strong and steadfast, + vigorous mildness; and veer not from their mark, however the baser + currents of the sea may turn and tack, and mightiest Mississippies of the + land swift and swerve about, uncertain where to go at last. And by the + eternal Poles! these same Trades that so directly blow my good ship on; + these Trades, or something like them—something so unchangeable, and + full as strong, blow my keeled soul along! To it! Aloft there! What d’ye + see?” +

+

+ “Nothing, sir.” +

+

+ “Nothing! and noon at hand! The doubloon goes a-begging! See the sun! Aye, + aye, it must be so. I’ve oversailed him. How, got the start? Aye, he’s + chasing me now; not I, him—that’s bad; I might have known it, too. + Fool! the lines—the harpoons he’s towing. Aye, aye, I have run him + by last night. About! about! Come down, all of ye, but the regular look + outs! Man the braces!” +

+

+ Steering as she had done, the wind had been somewhat on the Pequod’s + quarter, so that now being pointed in the reverse direction, the braced + ship sailed hard upon the breeze as she rechurned the cream in her own + white wake. +

+

+ “Against the wind he now steers for the open jaw,” murmured Starbuck to + himself, as he coiled the new-hauled main-brace upon the rail. “God keep + us, but already my bones feel damp within me, and from the inside wet my + flesh. I misdoubt me that I disobey my God in obeying him!” +

+

+ “Stand by to sway me up!” cried Ahab, advancing to the hempen basket. “We + should meet him soon.” +

+

+ “Aye, aye, sir,” and straightway Starbuck did Ahab’s bidding, and once + more Ahab swung on high. +

+

+ A whole hour now passed; gold-beaten out to ages. Time itself now held + long breaths with keen suspense. But at last, some three points off the + weather bow, Ahab descried the spout again, and instantly from the three + mast-heads three shrieks went up as if the tongues of fire had voiced it. +

+

+ “Forehead to forehead I meet thee, this third time, Moby Dick! On deck + there!—brace sharper up; crowd her into the wind’s eye. He’s too far + off to lower yet, Mr. Starbuck. The sails shake! Stand over that helmsman + with a top-maul! So, so; he travels fast, and I must down. But let me have + one more good round look aloft here at the sea; there’s time for that. An + old, old sight, and yet somehow so young; aye, and not changed a wink + since I first saw it, a boy, from the sand-hills of Nantucket! The same!—the + same!—the same to Noah as to me. There’s a soft shower to leeward. + Such lovely leewardings! They must lead somewhere—to something else + than common land, more palmy than the palms. Leeward! the white whale goes + that way; look to windward, then; the better if the bitterer quarter. But + good bye, good bye, old mast-head! What’s this?—green? aye, tiny + mosses in these warped cracks. No such green weather stains on Ahab’s + head! There’s the difference now between man’s old age and matter’s. But + aye, old mast, we both grow old together; sound in our hulls, though, are + we not, my ship? Aye, minus a leg, that’s all. By heaven this dead wood + has the better of my live flesh every way. I can’t compare with it; and + I’ve known some ships made of dead trees outlast the lives of men made of + the most vital stuff of vital fathers. What’s that he said? he should + still go before me, my pilot; and yet to be seen again? But where? Will I + have eyes at the bottom of the sea, supposing I descend those endless + stairs? and all night I’ve been sailing from him, wherever he did sink to. + Aye, aye, like many more thou told’st direful truth as touching thyself, O + Parsee; but, Ahab, there thy shot fell short. Good-bye, mast-head—keep + a good eye upon the whale, the while I’m gone. We’ll talk to-morrow, nay, + to-night, when the white whale lies down there, tied by head and tail.” +

+

+ He gave the word; and still gazing round him, was steadily lowered through + the cloven blue air to the deck. +

+

+ In due time the boats were lowered; but as standing in his shallop’s + stern, Ahab just hovered upon the point of the descent, he waved to the + mate,—who held one of the tackle-ropes on deck—and bade him + pause. +

+

+ “Starbuck!” +

+

+ “Sir?” +

+

+ “For the third time my soul’s ship starts upon this voyage, Starbuck.” +

+

+ “Aye, sir, thou wilt have it so.” +

+

+ “Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, + Starbuck!” +

+

+ “Truth, sir: saddest truth.” +

+

+ “Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of the + flood;—and I feel now like a billow that’s all one crested comb, + Starbuck. I am old;—shake hands with me, man.” +

+

+ Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck’s tears the glue. +

+

+ “Oh, my captain, my captain!—noble heart—go not—go not!—see, + it’s a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!” +

+

+ “Lower away!”—cried Ahab, tossing the mate’s arm from him. “Stand by + the crew!” +

+

+ In an instant the boat was pulling round close under the stern. +

+

+ “The sharks! the sharks!” cried a voice from the low cabin-window there; + “O master, my master, come back!” +

+

+ But Ahab heard nothing; for his own voice was high-lifted then; and the + boat leaped on. +

+

+ Yet the voice spake true; for scarce had he pushed from the ship, when + numbers of sharks, seemingly rising from out the dark waters beneath the + hull, maliciously snapped at the blades of the oars, every time they + dipped in the water; and in this way accompanied the boat with their + bites. It is a thing not uncommonly happening to the whale-boats in those + swarming seas; the sharks at times apparently following them in the same + prescient way that vultures hover over the banners of marching regiments + in the east. But these were the first sharks that had been observed by the + Pequod since the White Whale had been first descried; and whether it was + that Ahab’s crew were all such tiger-yellow barbarians, and therefore + their flesh more musky to the senses of the sharks—a matter + sometimes well known to affect them,—however it was, they seemed to + follow that one boat without molesting the others. +

+

+ “Heart of wrought steel!” murmured Starbuck gazing over the side, and + following with his eyes the receding boat—“canst thou yet ring + boldly to that sight?—lowering thy keel among ravening sharks, and + followed by them, open-mouthed to the chase; and this the critical third + day?—For when three days flow together in one continuous intense + pursuit; be sure the first is the morning, the second the noon, and the + third the evening and the end of that thing—be that end what it may. + Oh! my God! what is this that shoots through me, and leaves me so deadly + calm, yet expectant,—fixed at the top of a shudder! Future things + swim before me, as in empty outlines and skeletons; all the past is + somehow grown dim. Mary, girl! thou fadest in pale glories behind me; boy! + I seem to see but thy eyes grown wondrous blue. Strangest problems of life + seem clearing; but clouds sweep between—Is my journey’s end coming? + My legs feel faint; like his who has footed it all day. Feel thy heart,—beats + it yet? Stir thyself, Starbuck!—stave it off—move, move! speak + aloud!—Mast-head there! See ye my boy’s hand on the hill?—Crazed;—aloft + there!—keep thy keenest eye upon the boats:—mark well the + whale!—Ho! again!—drive off that hawk! see! he pecks—he tears + the vane”—pointing to the red flag flying at the + main-truck—“Ha! he soars away with it!—Where’s the old man + now? see’st thou that sight, oh Ahab!—shudder, shudder!” +

+

+ The boats had not gone very far, when by a signal from the mast-heads—a + downward pointed arm, Ahab knew that the whale had sounded; but intending + to be near him at the next rising, he held on his way a little sideways + from the vessel; the becharmed crew maintaining the profoundest silence, + as the head-beat waves hammered and hammered against the opposing bow. +

+

+ “Drive, drive in your nails, oh ye waves! to their uttermost heads drive + them in! ye but strike a thing without a lid; and no coffin and no hearse + can be mine:—and hemp only can kill me! Ha! ha!” +

+

+ Suddenly the waters around them slowly swelled in broad circles; then + quickly upheaved, as if sideways sliding from a submerged berg of ice, + swiftly rising to the surface. A low rumbling sound was heard; a + subterraneous hum; and then all held their breaths; as bedraggled with + trailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise, but + obliquely from the sea. Shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it + hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swamping back + into the deep. Crushed thirty feet upwards, the waters flashed for an + instant like heaps of fountains, then brokenly sank in a shower of flakes, + leaving the circling surface creamed like new milk round the marble trunk + of the whale. +

+

+ “Give way!” cried Ahab to the oarsmen, and the boats darted forward to the + attack; but maddened by yesterday’s fresh irons that corroded in him, Moby + Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. + The wide tiers of welded tendons overspreading his broad white forehead, + beneath the transparent skin, looked knitted together; as head on, he came + churning his tail among the boats; and once more flailed them apart; + spilling out the irons and lances from the two mates’ boats, and dashing + in one side of the upper part of their bows, but leaving Ahab’s almost + without a scar. +

+

+ While Daggoo and Queequeg were stopping the strained planks; and as the + whale swimming out from them, turned, and showed one entire flank as he + shot by them again; at that moment a quick cry went up. Lashed round and + round to the fish’s back; pinioned in the turns upon turns in which, + during the past night, the whale had reeled the involutions of the lines + around him, the half torn body of the Parsee was seen; his sable raiment + frayed to shreds; his distended eyes turned full upon old Ahab. +

+

+ The harpoon dropped from his hand. +

+

+ “Befooled, befooled!”—drawing in a long lean breath—“Aye, + Parsee! I see thee again.—Aye, and thou goest before; and this, this + then is the hearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last + letter of thy word. Where is the second hearse? Away, mates, to the ship! + those boats are useless now; repair them if ye can in time, and return to + me; if not, Ahab is enough to die—Down, men! the first thing that + but offers to jump from this boat I stand in, that thing I harpoon. Ye are + not other men, but my arms and my legs; and so obey me.—Where’s the + whale? gone down again?” +

+

+ But he looked too nigh the boat; for as if bent upon escaping with the + corpse he bore, and as if the particular place of the last encounter had + been but a stage in his leeward voyage, Moby Dick was now again steadily + swimming forward; and had almost passed the ship,—which thus far had + been sailing in the contrary direction to him, though for the present her + headway had been stopped. He seemed swimming with his utmost velocity, and + now only intent upon pursuing his own straight path in the sea. +

+

+ “Oh! Ahab,” cried Starbuck, “not too late is it, even now, the third day, + to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly + seekest him!” +

+

+ Setting sail to the rising wind, the lonely boat was swiftly impelled to + leeward, by both oars and canvas. And at last when Ahab was sliding by the + vessel, so near as plainly to distinguish Starbuck’s face as he leaned + over the rail, he hailed him to turn the vessel about, and follow him, not + too swiftly, at a judicious interval. Glancing upwards, he saw Tashtego, + Queequeg, and Daggoo, eagerly mounting to the three mast-heads; while the + oarsmen were rocking in the two staved boats which had but just been + hoisted to the side, and were busily at work in repairing them. One after + the other, through the port-holes, as he sped, he also caught flying + glimpses of Stubb and Flask, busying themselves on deck among bundles of + new irons and lances. As he saw all this; as he heard the hammers in the + broken boats; far other hammers seemed driving a nail into his heart. But + he rallied. And now marking that the vane or flag was gone from the + main-mast-head, he shouted to Tashtego, who had just gained that perch, to + descend again for another flag, and a hammer and nails, and so nail it to + the mast. +

+

+ Whether fagged by the three days’ running chase, and the resistance to his + swimming in the knotted hamper he bore; or whether it was some latent + deceitfulness and malice in him: whichever was true, the White Whale’s way + now began to abate, as it seemed, from the boat so rapidly nearing him + once more; though indeed the whale’s last start had not been so long a one + as before. And still as Ahab glided over the waves the unpitying sharks + accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck to the boat; and so + continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged and + crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, at almost every dip. +

+

+ “Heed them not! those teeth but give new rowlocks to your oars. Pull on! + ’tis the better rest, the shark’s jaw than the yielding water.” +

+

+ “But at every bite, sir, the thin blades grow smaller and smaller!” +

+

+ “They will last long enough! pull on!—But who can tell”—he + muttered—“whether these sharks swim to feast on the whale or on + Ahab?—But pull on! Aye, all alive, now—we near him. The helm! + take the helm! let me pass,”—and so saying two of the oarsmen helped + him forward to the bows of the still flying boat. +

+

+ At length as the craft was cast to one side, and ran ranging along with + the White Whale’s flank, he seemed strangely oblivious of its advance—as + the whale sometimes will—and Ahab was fairly within the smoky + mountain mist, which, thrown off from the whale’s spout, curled round his + great, Monadnock hump; he was even thus close to him; when, with body + arched back, and both arms lengthwise high-lifted to the poise, he darted + his fierce iron, and his far fiercer curse into the hated whale. As both + steel and curse sank to the socket, as if sucked into a morass, Moby Dick + sideways writhed; spasmodically rolled his nigh flank against the bow, + and, without staving a hole in it, so suddenly canted the boat over, that + had it not been for the elevated part of the gunwale to which he then + clung, Ahab would once more have been tossed into the sea. As it was, + three of the oarsmen—who foreknew not the precise instant of the + dart, and were therefore unprepared for its effects—these were flung + out; but so fell, that, in an instant two of them clutched the gunwale + again, and rising to its level on a combing wave, hurled themselves bodily + inboard again; the third man helplessly dropping astern, but still afloat + and swimming. +

+

+ Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, + instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea. + But when Ahab cried out to the steersman to take new turns with the line, + and hold it so; and commanded the crew to turn round on their seats, and + tow the boat up to the mark; the moment the treacherous line felt that + double strain and tug, it snapped in the empty air! +

+

+ “What breaks in me? Some sinew cracks!—’tis whole again; oars! oars! + Burst in upon him!” +

+

+ Hearing the tremendous rush of the sea-crashing boat, the whale wheeled + round to present his blank forehead at bay; but in that evolution, + catching sight of the nearing black hull of the ship; seemingly seeing in + it the source of all his persecutions; bethinking it—it may be—a + larger and nobler foe; of a sudden, he bore down upon its advancing prow, + smiting his jaws amid fiery showers of foam. +

+

+ Ahab staggered; his hand smote his forehead. “I grow blind; hands! stretch + out before me that I may yet grope my way. Is’t night?” +

+

+ “The whale! The ship!” cried the cringing oarsmen. +

+

+ “Oars! oars! Slope downwards to thy depths, O sea, that ere it be for ever + too late, Ahab may slide this last, last time upon his mark! I see: the + ship! the ship! Dash on, my men! Will ye not save my ship?” +

+

+ But as the oarsmen violently forced their boat through the + sledge-hammering seas, the before whale-smitten bow-ends of two planks + burst through, and in an instant almost, the temporarily disabled boat lay + nearly level with the waves; its half-wading, splashing crew, trying hard + to stop the gap and bale out the pouring water. +

+

+ Meantime, for that one beholding instant, Tashtego’s mast-head hammer + remained suspended in his hand; and the red flag, half-wrapping him as + with a plaid, then streamed itself straight out from him, as his own + forward-flowing heart; while Starbuck and Stubb, standing upon the + bowsprit beneath, caught sight of the down-coming monster just as soon as + he. +

+

+ “The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, + now hug me close! Let not Starbuck die, if die he must, in a woman’s + fainting fit. Up helm, I say—ye fools, the jaw! the jaw! Is this the + end of all my bursting prayers? all my life-long fidelities? Oh, Ahab, + Ahab, lo, thy work. Steady! helmsman, steady. Nay, nay! Up helm again! He + turns to meet us! Oh, his unappeasable brow drives on towards one, whose + duty tells him he cannot depart. My God, stand by me now!” +

+

+ “Stand not by me, but stand under me, whoever you are that will now help + Stubb; for Stubb, too, sticks here. I grin at thee, thou grinning whale! + Who ever helped Stubb, or kept Stubb awake, but Stubb’s own unwinking eye? + And now poor Stubb goes to bed upon a mattrass that is all too soft; would + it were stuffed with brushwood! I grin at thee, thou grinning whale! Look + ye, sun, moon, and stars! I call ye assassins of as good a fellow as ever + spouted up his ghost. For all that, I would yet ring glasses with ye, + would ye but hand the cup! Oh, oh! oh, oh! thou grinning whale, but + there’ll be plenty of gulping soon! Why fly ye not, O Ahab! For me, off + shoes and jacket to it; let Stubb die in his drawers! A most mouldy and + over salted death, though;—cherries! cherries! cherries! Oh, Flask, + for one red cherry ere we die!” +

+

+ “Cherries? I only wish that we were where they grow. Oh, Stubb, I hope my + poor mother’s drawn my part-pay ere this; if not, few coppers will now + come to her, for the voyage is up.” +

+

+ From the ship’s bows, nearly all the seamen now hung inactive; hammers, + bits of plank, lances, and harpoons, mechanically retained in their hands, + just as they had darted from their various employments; all their + enchanted eyes intent upon the whale, which from side to side strangely + vibrating his predestinating head, sent a broad band of overspreading + semicircular foam before him as he rushed. Retribution, swift vengeance, + eternal malice were in his whole aspect, and spite of all that mortal man + could do, the solid white buttress of his forehead smote the ship’s + starboard bow, till men and timbers reeled. Some fell flat upon their + faces. Like dislodged trucks, the heads of the harpooneers aloft shook on + their bull-like necks. Through the breach, they heard the waters pour, as + mountain torrents down a flume. +

+

+ “The ship! The hearse!—the second hearse!” cried Ahab from the boat; + “its wood could only be American!” +

+

+ Diving beneath the settling ship, the whale ran quivering along its keel; + but turning under water, swiftly shot to the surface again, far off the + other bow, but within a few yards of Ahab’s boat, where, for a time, he + lay quiescent. +

+

+ “I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! let me hear thy hammer. + Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel; and only + god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and Pole-pointed prow,—death-glorious + ship! must ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond + pride of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! + Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from + all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole + foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I + roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple + with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my + last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! + and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still + chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the + spear!” +

+

+ The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward; with igniting + velocity the line ran through the grooves;—ran foul. Ahab stooped to + clear it; he did clear it; but the flying turn caught him round the neck, + and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim, he was shot out + of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone. Next instant, the heavy + eye-splice in the rope’s final end flew out of the stark-empty tub, + knocked down an oarsman, and smiting the sea, disappeared in its depths. +

+

+ For an instant, the tranced boat’s crew stood still; then turned. “The + ship? Great God, where is the ship?” Soon they through dim, bewildering + mediums saw her sidelong fading phantom, as in the gaseous Fata Morgana; + only the uppermost masts out of water; while fixed by infatuation, or + fidelity, or fate, to their once lofty perches, the pagan harpooneers + still maintained their sinking lookouts on the sea. And now, concentric + circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and each floating + oar, and every lance-pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round + and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of + sight. +

+

+ But as the last whelmings intermixingly poured themselves over the sunken + head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of the erect spar + yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag, which calmly + undulated, with ironical coincidings, over the destroying billows they + almost touched;—at that instant, a red arm and a hammer hovered + backwardly uplifted in the open air, in the act of nailing the flag faster + and yet faster to the subsiding spar. A sky-hawk that tauntingly had + followed the main-truck downwards from its natural home among the stars, + pecking at the flag, and incommoding Tashtego there; this bird now chanced + to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood; + and simultaneously feeling that etherial thrill, the submerged savage + beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird + of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, + and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his + ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a + living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it. +

+

+ Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white + surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great + shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago. +

+

+ + +

+
+



+
+

+ Epilogue +

+

+ “AND I ONLY AM ESCAPED ALONE TO TELL THEE” Job. +

+

+ The drama’s done. Why then here does any one step forth?—Because one + did survive the wreck. +

+

+ It so chanced, that after the Parsee’s disappearance, I was he whom the + Fates ordained to take the place of Ahab’s bowsman, when that bowsman + assumed the vacant post; the same, who, when on the last day the three men + were tossed from out of the rocking boat, was dropped astern. So, floating + on the margin of the ensuing scene, and in full sight of it, when the + halfspent suction of the sunk ship reached me, I was then, but slowly, + drawn towards the closing vortex. When I reached it, it had subsided to a + creamy pool. Round and round, then, and ever contracting towards the + button-like black bubble at the axis of that slowly wheeling circle, like + another Ixion I did revolve. Till, gaining that vital centre, the black + bubble upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, + and, owing to its great buoyancy, rising with great force, the coffin + life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. + Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on + a soft and dirgelike main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with + padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. + On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It + was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her + missing children, only found another orphan. +

+

+



+

+
+
+
+
+
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