diff --git a/pyscreener/docking/data.py b/pyscreener/docking/data.py index ebcaa32..6056c1e 100644 --- a/pyscreener/docking/data.py +++ b/pyscreener/docking/data.py @@ -1,6 +1,8 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass +from os import read from pathlib import Path from typing import Optional, Tuple, Union +from openbabel import pybel from pyscreener.exceptions import InvalidResultError, NotSimulatedError from pyscreener.utils import ScoreMode @@ -38,6 +40,9 @@ class CalculationData: result : Optional[Mapping] the result of the docking calculation. None if the calculation has not been performed yet. + input_file_bytes : None + the file bytes for distributed computing. None if there is + no file being sent. Parmeters --------- @@ -53,6 +58,7 @@ class CalculationData: prepared_ligand : Optional[Union[str, Path]], default=None prepared_receptor : Optional[Union[str, Path]], default=None result : Optional[Result], default=None + input_file_bytes : Optional[bytes], default = None """ smi: str @@ -68,11 +74,17 @@ class CalculationData: score_mode: ScoreMode = ScoreMode.BEST k: int = 1 result: Optional[Result] = None + input_file_bytes: Optional[bytes] = None def __post_init__(self): self.in_path = Path(self.in_path) self.out_path = Path(self.out_path) + if self.input_file is not None: + with open(self.input_file, 'rb') as f: + self.input_file_bytes = f.read() + + @property def score(self) -> Optional[float]: """the docking score of this calculation diff --git a/tests/mobydick.txt b/tests/mobydick.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcc3e4f --- /dev/null +++ b/tests/mobydick.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23244 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Moby Dick, by Herman Melville** +#3 in our series by Herman Melville + +This Project Gutenberg version of Moby Dick is based on a combination +of the etext from the ERIS project at Virginia Tech and another from +Project Gutenberg's archives, as compared to a public-domain hard copy. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Daniel Lazarus and Jonesey + + + + + +Notes on this etext of Moby Dick: + +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. + + + + + +MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE + +by Herman Melville + + + + +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. +PEKEE-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 OCTHER'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 frequendy 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," 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 Specksynder. + + +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 Specksynder. 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 Specksynder 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 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,' 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 tensing +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 tall. 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 it +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 forthing, 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, yell 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. + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg etext of Moby Dick, by Herman Melville + diff --git a/tests/test_data.py b/tests/test_data.py index 4a05fa5..9c5fdfd 100644 --- a/tests/test_data.py +++ b/tests/test_data.py @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ +from os import read import random import uuid @@ -6,6 +7,9 @@ from pyscreener.docking import CalculationData, Result from pyscreener.exceptions import InvalidResultError, NotSimulatedError +from pathlib import Path + + @pytest.fixture( params=["CCCCCCC", "C1CCC1", "CC(=O)CC", "CCCCCCCC", "CCCC1CC1"] @@ -30,4 +34,71 @@ def test_score(smi): score = random.random() data.result = Result(smi, 'ligand', str(uuid.uuid4()), score) - assert data.result.score == score \ No newline at end of file + assert data.result.score == score + +CONTENT = "testing for same memory" +def test_input_small_file(tmp_path): + d = tmp_path / "sub" + d.mkdir() + p = d / "hello.txt" + p.write_text(CONTENT) + + with open(p, 'rb') as f: + file_bytes = f.read() + f.close() + + data = CalculationData(smi, None, None, None, None, input_file = p) + + assert data.input_file_bytes == file_bytes + +CONTENT = "" +def test_input_empty_file(tmp_path): + d = tmp_path / "sub" + d.mkdir() + p = d / "hello.txt" + p.write_text(CONTENT) + + with open(p, 'rb') as f: + file_bytes = f.read() + f.close() + data = CalculationData(smi, None, None, None, None, input_file = p) + assert data.input_file_bytes == file_bytes + +CONTENT = "" +def test_input_large_file(tmp_path): + d = tmp_path / "sub" + d.mkdir() + p = d / "hello.txt" + p.write_text(CONTENT) + + with open(p, 'rb') as f: + file_bytes = f.read() + f.close() + data = CalculationData(smi, None, None, None, None, input_file = p) + assert data.input_file_bytes == file_bytes + +def test_input_large_file(): + with open('tests/mobydick.txt', 'rb') as f: + file_bytes = f.read() + f.close() + data = CalculationData(smi, None, None, None, None, input_file = 'tests/mobydick.txt') + assert data.input_file_bytes == file_bytes + + +CONTENT = "CCCCCCCC" +def test_input_std_use_file(tmp_path): + d = tmp_path / "sub" + d.mkdir() + p = d / "hello.txt" + p.write_text(CONTENT) + + with open(p, 'rb') as f: + file_bytes = f.read() + f.close() + data = CalculationData(smi, None, None, None, None, input_file = p) + assert data.input_file_bytes == file_bytes + + + + +