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Stewart, 

OB.   A.D.    1892. 


THE   WORKS   OF 
HERMAN    MELVILLE 

STANDARD  EDITION 

VOLUME 

VII 


MOBY-  DICK 

OR,   THE   WHALE 

BY 

HERMAN    MELVILLE 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.   I 


CONSTABLE  AND  COMPANY  LTD 

LONDON     •     BOMBAY     •     SYDNEY 
1922 


Ps 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  T.  and  A.  CONSTABLE  LTD 
at  the  Edinburgh  University  Press 


IN   TOKEN 

OF  MY  ADMIRATION  FOB  HIS  GENIUS 

THIS  BOOK  IS   INSCRIBED 

TO 

NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.   LOOMINGS      .                          1 

II.   THE   CARPET-BAG  ......  8 

III.  THE   SPOUTER-INN  .           .             .             .             .             .  13 

IV.  THE   COUNTERPANE           .             .             .             .             .  31 
V.   BREAKFAST                ......  36 

VI.   THE   STREET  .  .  .  .  .  39 

VII.    THE   CHAPEL  .  .  .  .  .  .  42 

VIII.   THE   PULPIT    .......  46 

IX.    THE   SERMON  ......  49 

X.   A  BOSOM  FRIEND  ......  60 

XI.   NIGHTGOWN 65 

XII.   BIOGRAPHICAL         ......  68 

XIII.  WHEELBARROW       .  .  .  .  .  .  71 

XIV.  NANTUCKET    .......  77 

XV.   CHOWDER      .......  80 

XVI.   THE   SHIP       . 84 

XVII.   THE  RAMADAN        ......          102 

XVHI.    HIS   MARK        .......          110 

XIX.   THE   PROPHET          .  .  .  .  .  .115 

XX.   ALL  ASTIR     .......          119 

XXI.    GOING  ABOARD       ......          122 

XXII.   MERRY  CHRISTMAS  .  .  .  .  .126 

XXIII.  THE  LEE   SHORE     .  .  .  .  .  .132 

XXIV.  THE  ADVOCATE       .  .  .  .  .  .134 

XXV.   POSTSCRIPT  .  .  .  .  .          140 

XXVI.   KNIGHTS   AND   SQUIRES  .  .  .  .141 

XXVII.   KNIGHTS   AND   SQUIRES  ....          145 

XXVIII.   AHAB  .......          151 

vii 


viii  MOBY-DICK 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXIX.    ENTER  AHAB  ;     TO   HIM,   STUBB      .  .  .156 

XXX.   THE  PIPE  ......          160 

XXXI.    QUEEN   MAB 161 

XXXII.    CETOLOGY  .  .  .  .  .  .164 

XXXIII.  THE   SPECKS YNDER 180 

XXXIV.  THE   CABIN -TABLE 184 

XXXV.   THE   MAST-HEAD  .  .  .  .  .191 

XXXVI.   THE   QUARTER-DECK     .....          199 
XXXVII.    SUNSET        .  .  .  .  .  .  .         209 

XXXVIII.    DUSK 211 

XXXIX.   FIRST  NIGHT-WATCH     .  .  .  .  .213 

XL.   MIDNIGHT,   FORECASTLE          .  .  .  .214 

XLI.   MOBY-DICK  ......          222 

XLII.   THE   WHITENESS   OF  THE   WHALE  .  .         234 

XLIII.  HARK! 245 

XLIV.  THE  CHART         ......       247 

XLV.  THE  AFFIDAVIT  ......       254 

XLVI.    SURMISES 265 

XLVII.    THE   MAT-MAKER 269 

XLVIII.  THE  FIRST  LOWERING          .         .      .  .         .       273 

XLIX.  THE  HYENA        ......       286 

L.  AHAB'S  BOAT  AND  CREW.    FED  ALLAH  .         .       289 

LI.   THE  SPIRIT-SPOUT 293 

MI.  THE  ALBATROSS  ......  298 

Mil.  THE  GAM 301 

LIV.  THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY 306 

LV.    OF  THE   MONSTROUS   PICTURES   OF   WHALES     .  331 

LVI.    OF  THE  LESS  ERRONEOUS  PICTURES    OF  WHALES  337 

LVII.    OF  WHALES  IN   PAINT,   IN   TEETH,   ETC.  .  342 

LVIII.  BRIT 346 

LIX.  SQUID 350 

LX.   THE   LINE   .  353 


MOBY-DICK 

OR 

THE   WHALE 


ETYMOLOGY 

(SUPPLIED  BY  A  LATE  CONSUMPTIVE  USHER  TO 
A  GBAMMAB  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. 


ETYMOLOGY 


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

1  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.  W alien  ;  A.S.  Walw-iany  to  roll,  to  wallow.' 

Richardson's  Dictionary. 

Hebrew. 

Greek. 

Latin, 

Anglo-Saxon. 

Danish. 

Dutch. 

Swedish. 

Icelandic. 

English. 


in, 


CETUS, 

WHCEL, 

HVALT, 

WAL, 

HWAL, 

WHALE, 

WHALE, 

BALEINE, 

BALLENA, 

PEKEE-NUEE-NUEE, 

PEHEE-NUEE-NUEE, 


French. 
Spanish. 
Feegee. 
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,  pick- 
ing 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  commen- 
tator 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  forever  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! 


xii 


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.' 

HollancFs  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. 

xiii 


xiv  MOBY-DICK 

'  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. 

1  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.' 
Montaigne1 s  Apology  for  Eaimond  Sebond. 

'  Let  us  fly,  let  us  fly !  Old  Nick  take  me  if  it  is  not 
Leviathan  described  by  the  noble  prophet  Moses  in  the  life 
of  patient  Job.'  Rabelais. 

'  This  whale's  liver  was  two  cart-loads.' 

Stowe's  Annals. 

1  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. 

1  The  sovereignest  thing  on  earth  is  parmacetti  for  an  in- 
ward 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  Fairie  Queen. 

'  Immense  as  whales,  the  motion  of  whose  vast  bodies  can 
in  a  peaceful  calm  trouble  the  ocean  till  it  boil.' 

Sir  William  Davenant's  Preface  to  Gondibert. 


EXTRACTS  xv 

'  What  spermaceti!  is,  men  might  justly  doubt,  since  the 
learned  Hosmannus  in  his  work  of  thirty  years,  saith  plainly, 
Nescio  quid  sit.' 

Sir  T.  Browne's  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  Common- 
wealth 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. 
4  There  Leviathan, 

Hugest  of  living  creatures,  in  the  deep 
Stretched  like  a  promontory  sleeps  or  swims, 
And  seems  a  moving  land  ;  and  at  his  gills 
Draws  in,  and  at  his  breath  spouts  out  a  sea.' 

Ibid. 

'  The  mighty  whales  which  swim  in  a  sea  of  water,  and 
have  a  sea  of  oil  swimming  in  them.' 

Fuller's  Profane  and  Holy  State. 
'  So  close  behind  some  promontory  lie 

The  huge  Leviathans  to  attend  their  prey, 
And  give  no  chace,  but  swallow  in  the  fry, 

Which  through  their  gaping  jaws  mistake  the  way.' 
Dry  den'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. 


xvi  MOBY-DICK 

*  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.  Herberts  Voyages  into  Asia  and  Africa.    Harris  Coll. 

4  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. 

4  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. 

1  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. 


EXTRACTS  xvii 

******  an(j  ^e  breath  of  the  whale  is  fre- 
quently attended  with  such  an  insupportable  smell,  as  to 
bring  on  a  disorder  of  the  brain.' 

Ulloa's  South  America. 

1  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's  Nat.  Hist. 

'  If  you  should  write  a  fable  for  little  fishes,  you  would 
make  them  speak  like  great  whales.' 

Goldsmith  to  Johnson. 

'  In  the  afternoon  we  saw  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  rock, 
but  it  was  found  to  be  a  dead  whale,  which  some  Asiatics  had 
killed,  and  were  then  towing  ashore.  They  seemed  to  en- 
deavour 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  bold- 
ness in  the  fishermen.' 

Thomas  Jefferson's  Whale  Memorial  to  the 
French  Minister  in  1778. 

1  And  pray,  sir,  what  in  the  world  is  equal  to  it  ?  ' 

Edmund  Burke's  Reference  in  Parliament 

to  the  Nantucket  Whale  Fishery. 
VOL.  I.  b 


xviii  MOBY-DICK 

'  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  pro- 
tecting 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  pro- 
perty of  the  king.'  Blackstone. 

c  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  Spermacetti  Whale  Fishery. 


EXTRACTS  xix 

'  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' '<$  World  before  the  Flood. 

'  lo  !     Paean  !     lo  !   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.' 

CJiarles  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 
spout ;  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.' 
Eckermanris  Conversations  with  Goethe. 


xx  MOBY-DICK 

' "  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  Nan- 
tucket,  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  different  boats 
engaged  in  the  capture  of  this  one  whale,  amounted  alto- 
gether to  10,440  yards  or  nearly  six  English  miles.  *  *  * 

t  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. 

1  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  every- 
thing around  him  ;  he  rushes  at  the  boats  with  his  head  ; 
they  are  propelled  before  him  with  vast  swiftness,  and  some- 
times utterly  destroyed. 

*  *  *  It  is  a  matter  of  great  astonishment  that  the 
consideration  of  the  habits  of  so  interesting,  and,  in  a  com- 
mercial point  of  view,  of  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  oppor- 
tunities of  witnessing  their  habitudes.5 

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  possess- 
ing a  formidable  weapon  at  either  extremity  of  its  body, 
but  also  more  frequently  displays  a  disposition  to  employ 
these  weapons  offensively,  and  in  a  manner  at  once  so  artful, 


EXTRACTS  xxi 

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-o-s  !  " 

"  How  far  off  ?  " 

c<  Two  miles  and  a  half." 

"  Thunder  and  lightning  !   so  near  !     Call  all  hands  !  " 

J.  Ross  Browne's  Etchings  of  a 
Whaling  Cruise.    1846. 

4  The  Whale-ship  Globe,  on  board  of  which  vessel  occurred 
the  horrid  transactions  we  are  about  to  relate,  belonged  to 
the  island  of  Nantucket.' 

Narrative  of  the  Globe  Mutiny,  by 
Lay  and  Hussey,  Survivors.    A.D.  1828. 

c  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.5 

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. 


xxii  .      MOBY-DICK 

'  The  whale  fell  directly  over  him,  and  probably  killed  him 
in  a  moment.' 

The  Whale  and  his  Captors,  or  the  Whale- 
man's Adventures  and  the  Whale's  Bio- 
graphy, 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. 

4  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. 

4  It  is  impossible  to  meet  a  whale-ship  on  the  ocean  with- 
out 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  a  regular  voyage.' 

Currents  and  Whaling.     U.S.  Ex.  Ex. 

1  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. 


EXTRACTS  xxiii 

'  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. 

1  Suddenly  a  mighty  mass  emerged  from  the  water,  and 
shot  up  perpendicularly  into  the  air.  It  was  the  whale.' 

Miriam  Coffin  or  the  Whale  Fisherman. 

'  The  Whale  is  harpooned  to  be  sure  ;  but  bethink  you, 
how  you  would  manage  a  powerful  unbroken  colt,  with  the 
mere  appliance  of  a  rope  tied  to  the  root  of  his  tail.' 

A  Chapter  on  WJialing  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 '  (Tierra 
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. 


MOBY-DICK 

CHAPTER  I 

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  bring- 
ing 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  toward  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  down -town  is  the 
battery,  where  that  noble  mole  is  washed  by  waves,  and 

VOL.  I.  A 


2  MOBY-DICK 

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  after- 
noon. 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 
Vhe  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 


LOOMINGS  3 

caravan   happen  to   be   supplied   with   a   metaphysical 
professor.      Yes,  as    everyone    knows,   meditation   andli 
water  are  wedded  forever. 

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  hillside  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 


4  MOBY-DICK 

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.  Be- 
sides, 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  respect- 
able toils,  trials,  and  tribulations  of  every  kind  what- 
soever. 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  shipboard — 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  respect- 
fully, not  to  say  reverentially,  of  a  broiled  fowl  than  I 
will.  It  is  out  of  the  idolatrous  do  tings  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, 


LOOMINGS  5 

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  estab- 
lished family  in  the  land,  the  Van  Rensselaers,  or  Ran- 
dolphs, 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  hi  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  arch- 
angel 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 


6  MOBY-DICK 

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  forecastle  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  com- 
modore 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  surveil- 
lance 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  Provi- 
dence that  was  drawn  up  a  long  time  ago.  It  came  in 
as  a  sort  of  brief  interlude  and  solo  between  more  exten- 
sive 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. 

1  BLOODY  BATTLE  IN  AFGHANISTAN.' 

Though  I  cannot  tell  why  it  was  exactly  that  those 
stage  managers,  the  Fates,  put  me  down  for  this  shabby 


LOOMINGS  7 

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  gortentous  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  for- 
bidden 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,  midmost  of 
them  all,  one  grand  hooded  phantom,  like  a  snow  hill  in 
the  air. 


CHAPTER  II 

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  on  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  I5 
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  adven- 
turous little  sloop  put  forth,  partly  laden  with  imported 
cobble-stones — so  goes  the  story — to  throw  at  the  whales, 


THE  CARPET-BAG  9 

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  grapnelsJE  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  toward  the  north  with  the  darkness  toward  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  expen- 
sive and  jolly  there.  Further  on,  from  the  bright  red 
windows  of  the  '  Sword-Fish  Inn,'  there  came  such  fer- 
vent 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,  remorse- 
less service  the  soles  of  mv  boots  were  in  a  most  miserable 

V 

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  i 
on,  Ishmael,  said  I  at  last ;   don't  you  hear  ?    get  away  l 
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,  » 


10  MOBY-DICK 

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  carne  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  Cfossed  Harpoons  '  and 
4  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  weep- 
ing 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  particu- 
lar connection,  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 


THE  CARPET-BAG  11 

have  been  carted  here  from  the  ruins  of  some  burnt  dis- 
trict, 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,  never- 
theless, is  a  mighty  pleasant  zephyr  to  anyone  indoors, 
with  his  feet  on  the  hob  quietly  toasting  for  bed.  4  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  Cashless  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  cope-stone  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  afterward)  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 


12  MOBY-DICK 

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  III 

THE    SPOTTTER-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  con- 
demned old  craft.  On  one  side  hung  a  very  large  oil- 
painting  so  thoroughly  besmoked,  and  every  way  defaced, 
that  in  the  unequal  cross-lights  by  which  you  viewed  it, 
it  was  only  by  diligent  study  and  a  series  of  systematic 
visits  to  it,  and  careful  inquiry  of  the  neighbours,  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 
endeavoured  to  delineate  chaos  bewitched.  But  by  dint 
of  much  and  earnest  contemplation,  and  oft-repeated 
ponderings,  and  especially  by  throwing  open  the  little 
window  toward  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  hover- 
ing 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  there  was  a  sort  of  indefinite,  half- 
attained,  unimaginable  sublimity  about  it  that  fairly 
froze  you  to  it,  till  you  in  voluntarily,  took  an  oath  with 
yourself  to  find  out  what  that  marvellous  painting  meant. 

is 


14  MOBY-DICK 

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  ice-bound  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  exasper- 
ated 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  after- 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  15 

ward  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  fire-places  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 
villainous  green  goggling  glasses  deceitfully  tapered  down- 
ward 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 


16  MOBY-DICK 

divers  speiimens  of  skrimshander.  I  sought  the  land- 
lord, 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,5  he  added,  tapping  his 
forehead,  '  you  hain't  no  objections  to  sharin*  a  har- 
pooneer's  blanket,  have  ye  ?  I  s'pose  you  are  goin'  a- 
whalin5,  so  you  'd  better  get  used  to  that  sort  of  thing.5 

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  man5s  blanket. 

'  I  thought  so.  All  right ;  take  a  seat.  Supper  ? — 
you  want  supper  ?  Supper  511  be  ready  directly.5 

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 
hi  a  most  direful  manner. 

'  My  boy,'  said  the  landlord,  '  you  '11  have  the  night- 
mare to  a  dead  sartainty.' 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  17 

'Landlord,'  I  whispered,  wthat  ain't  the  harpooneer, 
is  it  ?  ' 

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

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

'  He  '11  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  '11 
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  be- 
darned  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 

VOL.  I.  B 


18  MOBY-DICK 

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  ship- 
mate (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  unob- 
served, 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  5s  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 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  19 

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  bedward.  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  '11  try  the  bench 
here.' 

'  Just  as  you  please ;  I  'm  sorry  I  can't  spare  ye  a 
tablecloth  for  a  mattress,  and  it 's  a  plaguy  rough  board 
here  ' — feeling  of  the  knots  and  notches.  '  But  wait 
a  bit,  Skrimshander  ;  I  Ve  got  a  carpenter's  plane  there 
in  the  bar — wait,  I  say,  and  I  '11  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. 


20  MOBY-DICK 

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 


THE  SPOQTER-INN  21 

harpooneer.  Thinks  I,  I  '11  wait  awhile  ;  he  must  be 
dropping  in  before  long.  1 11  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. 

4  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  5s 
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,  maybe,  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  tower- 
ing 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.' 

6  Maybe  not, '  taking  out  a  stick  and  whittling  a  tooth- 
pick, '  but  I  rayther  guess  you  '11  be  done  brown  if  that 
'ere  harpooneer  hears  you  a-slanderin'  his  head.' 


22  MOBY-DICK 

'  I  '11  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  har- 
pooneer,  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  toward  the  man 
whom  you  design  for  my  bedfellow* — a  sort  of  connection, 
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  tryin'  to  sell  to-night,  cause  to- 
morrow 's  Sunday,  and  it  would  not  do  to  be  sellin' 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  23 

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  idolaters  ? 

'  Depend  upon  it,  landlord,  that  harpooneer  is  a  danger- 
ous man.' 

'  He  pays  reg'lar,5  was  the  rejoinder.  '  But  come, 
it 's  getting  dreadful  late,  you  had  better  be  turning 
flukes — it 's  a  nice  bed :  Sail  and  me  slept  in  that  'ere 
bed  the  night  we  were  spliced.  There  's  plenty  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  '11  give  ye  a  glim  in  a  jiffy  ' ;  and  so  saying  he  lighted  a 
candle  and  held  it  toward  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  some- 
where— come  along  then  ;  do  come  ;  won't  ye  come  ?  ' 

I  considered  the  matter  a  moment,  and  then  upstairs 
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 


24  MOBY-DICK 

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  fire-board  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  stand- 
ing 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  con- 
clusion 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 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  25 

thinking  about  this  head-peddling  harpooneer,  and  his 
door-mat.  After  thinking  some  time  on  the  bedside,  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  har- 
pooneer'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  toward  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  infemal  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  toward  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 


26  MOBY-DICK 

cut,  and  here  he  is,  just  from  the  surgeon.  But  at  that 
moment  he  chanced  to  turn  his  face  so  toward  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  adven- 
ture. 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  sealskin  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. 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  27 

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, 
js^the  parent^QJJear,  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  whale- 
man 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  pre- 


28  MOBY-DICK 

served  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  hunchbacked 
image,  like  a  ten-pin,  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  toward  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  with- 
drawals 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  uncomf  ortable- 
ness,  and  seeing  him  now  exhibiting  strong  symptoms  of 
concluding  his  business  operations,  and  jumping  into  bed 


THE  SPOUTER-INN  29 

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  hold- 
ing 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,  toma- 
hawk 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  compre- 
hended 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. 

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

1  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. 

4  Don't  be  afraid  now,'  said  he,  grinning  again.  '  Quee- 
queg  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 


30  MOBY-DICK 

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  IV 

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 

31 


32  MOBY-DICK 

longest  day  in  the  year  in  our  hemisphere.  1  felt  dread- 
fully. But  there  was  no  help  for  it,  so  upstairs  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,  be- 
seeching her  as  a  particular  favour  to  give  me  a  good 
slippering  for  my  misbehaviour  ;  anything  indeed  but  con- 
demning 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  sunlit  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  bedside. 
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 


THE  COUNTERPANE  33 

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  afterward  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  pikestaff,  looking  at 
me,  and  rubbing  his  eyes  as  if  he  did  not  altogether  re- 
member how  I  came  to  be  there,  though  a  dim  conscious- 
ness 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 

VOL.  i.  c 


34  MOBY-DICK 

observing  so  curious  a  creature.  When,  at  last,  his  mind 
seemed  made  up  touching  the  character  of  his  bed- 
fellow, 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  afterward, 
leaving  the  whole  apartment  to  myself.  Thinks  I, 
Queequeg,  under  the  circumstances,  this  is  a  very  civilised 
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  compli- 
ment 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  toilet  motions  ;  for  the  time  my  curiosity  getting  the 
better  of  my  breeding.  Nevertheless,  a  man  like  Quee- 
queg 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  strain- 
ings, 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  transi- 
tion state — neither  caterpillar  nor  butterfly.  He  was 
just  enough  civilised  to  show  off  his  outlandishness  in  the 
strangest  possible  manner.  His  education  was  not  yet 
completed.  He  was  an  undergraduate.  If  he  had  not 
been  a  small  degree  civilised,  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 


THE  COUNTERPANE  35 

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 — pro- 
bably 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  panta- 
loons as  soon  as  possible.  He  complied,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded 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.  Afterward  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  V 

BREAKFAST 

I  QUICKLY  followed  suit,  and  descending  into  the  bar-room 
accosted  the  grinning  landlord  very  pleasantly.  I 
cherished  no  malice  toward  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  satinwood 

36 


BREAKFAST  37 

is  in  him.  In  the  complexion  of  a  third  still  lingers  a 
tropic  tawn,  but  slightly  bleached  withal ;  lie  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  parlour. 
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  cir- 
cumstance 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  ! 


38  MOBY-DICK 

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  in  to  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  toward  him.  But  that 
was  certainly  very  coolly  done  by  him,  and  everyone 
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  VI 

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  civilised  town,  that  astonishment 
soon  departed  upon  taking  my  first  daylight  stroll  through 
the  streets  of  New  Bedford. 

In  thoroughfares  nigh  the  docks,  any  considerable  sea- 
port will  frequently  offer  to  view  the  queerest -looking 
nondescripts  from  foreign  parts.  Even  in  Broadway 
and  Chestnut  Streets,  Mediterranean  mariners  will  some- 
times 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,  Tongatabooarrs,  Erro- 
manggoans,  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  Hamp- 
shire 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 


40  MOBY-DICK 

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  a  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  distin- 
guished reputation,  and  joins  the  great  whale-fishery,  you 
should  see  the  comical  things  he  does  upon  reaching  the 
seaport.  In  bespeaking  his  sea -out  fit,  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  har- 
pooneers,  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,  hi  all  New 
England.  It  is  a  land  of  oil,  true  enough  :  but  not  like 
Caanan  ;  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  hi  New  Bedford. 
Whence  came  they  ?  how  planted  upon  this  once  scraggy 
scoria  of  a  country  ? 

Go  and  gaze  upon  the  iron  emblematical  harpoons 


THE  STREET  41 

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  per- 
form 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  apiece.  You  must  go  to  New  Bed- 
ford 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  sweet- 
hearts smell  them  miles  off  shore,  as  though  they  were 
drawing  nigh  the  odorous  Moluccas  instead  of  the  Puritanic 
sands. 


CHAPTER  VII 

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  incom- 
municable. 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 


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. 


42 


THE  CHAPEL  43 

SACRED 

^o  tlje  ©  em  orp 

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  Ofi-shore  Ground  in  the 

PACIFIC, 
December  3lst,  1839. 

THIS   MABBLB 

Is  here  placed  by  their  surviving 
Shipmates 


SACKED 

Eo  tfje 

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  inscrip- 
tions on  the  wall.  Whether  any  of  the  relatives  of  the 


44  MOBY-DICK 

seamen  whose  names  appeared  there  were  now  among 
the  congregation,  I  knew  not ;  but  so  many  are  the  unre- 
corded 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. 

Li  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  rumour  of  a  knocking  in  a  tomb  will  terrify  a 
whole  city.  All  these  things  are  not  without  their 
meanings. 


THE  CHAPEL  45 

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  —  ay,  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  VIII 

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  regard- 
ful 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  whale- 
men, 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. 

46 


THE  PULPIT  47 

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  upward, 
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  symbolise 


48  MOBY-DICK 

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  connections  ? 
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  IX 


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  toward  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. 

VOL.  I.  D 


50  MOBY-DICK 

4  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  pre- 
pared 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  sea-line  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  punish-  ! 


THE  SERMON  51 

ment,  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  com- 
mands us  than  endeavours  to  persuade.  And  if  we  obey 
God,  we  must  disobey  ourselves  ;  and  it  is  in  this  dis- 
obeying 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,  ship- 
mates, 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 


52  MOBY-DICK 

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  ah1  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  con- 
taining a  description  of  his  person.  He  reads,  and  looks 
from  Jonah  to  the  bill ;  while  all  his  sympathetic  ship- 
mates now  crowd  round  Jonah,  prepared  to  lay  their 
hands  upon  him.  Frighted  Jonah  trembles,  and  summon- 
ing 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 


THE  SERMON  53 

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  scrutinising  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  '11  sail  with  ye,"  he  says, 
— "  the  passage  money,  how  much  is  that  ? — I  '11  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  dis- 
cernment 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  pass- 
port ;  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,  anyway,  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  look'st  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 


54  MOBY-DICK 

the  little  state-room  ceiling  almost  resting  on  his  forehead. 
The  air  is  close,  and  Jonah  gasps.  Then,  in  that  con- 
tracted 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  bowel's  wards. 

'  Screwed  at  its  axis  against  the  side,  a  swinging  lamp 
slightly  oscillates  in  Jonah's  room  ;  and  the  ship,  heeling 
over  toward  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  upward,  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. 

c  And  now  the  time  of  tide  has  come  ;  the  ship  casts 
off  her  cables  ;  and  from  the  deserted  wharf  the  un- 


THE  SERMON  55 

cheered  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.  Ay,  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  hi  his  dead  ear,  "  What  meanest  thou, 
0  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  toward  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 


56  MOBY-DICK 

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  behaviour  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  ?  Ay,  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 


THE  SERMON  57 

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 
toward  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  deliver- 
ance 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  toward  the  people,  and 
bowing  his  head  lowly,  with  an  aspect  of  the  deepest 
yet  manliest  humility,  he  spake  these  words  : — 

c  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 


58  MOBY-DICK 

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  breaching 
up  toward  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  False- 
hood !  That  was  it ! 

'  This,  shipmates,  this  is  that  other  lesson  ;  and  we 
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 


THE  SERMON  59 

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  salva- 
tion !  Yea,  woe  to  him  who,  as  the  great  Pilot  Paul  has 
it,  while  preaching  to  others  is  himself  a  castaway  !  ' 

He  drooped  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  delicious- 
ness  will  be  his,  who  coming  to  lay  him  down,  can  say  with 
his  final  breath — 0  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  1  ' 

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  X 

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 

60 


A  BOSOM  FRIEND  61 

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  ex- 
cellent 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  like- 
wise 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  case- 
ment, he  never  heeded  my  presence,  never  troubled  him- 
self 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  affection- 
ate 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  over- 
awing ;  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 


I 


62  MOBY-DICK 

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,  per- 
haps, 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  burn- 
ing 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  civilised 
hypocrisies  and  bland  deceits.  Wild  he  was  ;  a  very 
sight  of  sights  to  see  ;  yet  I  began  to  feel  myself  mysteri- 
ously drawn  toward  him.  And  those  same  things  that 
would  have  repelled  most  others,  they  were  the  very 
magnets  that  thus  drew  me.  1 11  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 


A  BOSOM  FRIEND 


63 


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  en- 
deavoured 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  toward  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  toward  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  fire-board.  By 


64  MOBY-DICK 

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  idolater  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  ?  Im- 
possible !  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  idolater. 
So  I  kindled  the  shavings  ;  helped  prop  up  the  innocent 
little  idol ;  offered  him  burnt  biscuit  with  Queequeg  ; 
salaamed  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  XI 

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  knee-pans  were  warm- 
ing-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 

VOL.  i.  E 


66  MOBY-DICK 

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 


NIGHTGOWN  67 

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  XII 

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  nib- 
bling 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  Harbour  ship  visited  his  father's  bay,  and  Quee- 
queg  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 

68 


BIOGRAPHICAL  69 

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 
j  Christians  could  be  both  miserable  and  wicked  ;  infinitely 
more  so,  than  all  his  father's  heathens.  Arrived  at  last 
in  old  Sag  Harbour  ;  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  5s  a  wicked  world 
in  all  meridians  ;  1 11  die  a  pagan. 

And  thus  an  old  idolater  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 


70  MOBY-DICK 

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  joy- 
ously 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  XIII 

WHEELBARROW 

NEXT  morning,  Monday,  after  disposing  of  the  embalmed 
head  to  a  barber,  for  a  block,  I  settled  my  own  and  com- 
rade's bill ;  using,  however,  my  comrade's  money.  The 
grinning  landlord,  as  well  as  the  boarders,  seemed  amaz- 
ingly 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  Quee- 
queg'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 

71 


72  MOBY-DICK 

mowers,  who  go  into  the  farmer's  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  Harbour.  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 — Quee- 
queg 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  cocoa-nuts  into 
a  large  stained  calabash  like  a  punch -bowl ;  and  this 
punch -bowl  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  punch- 
bowl, 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  downward 
to  our  platters,  they,  on  the  contrary,  copying  the  ducks, 
glance  upward  to  the  great  Giver  of  all  feasts — Grace, 


WHEELBARROW  73 

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  punch-bowl ; — 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,  forever  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 


74  MOBY-DICK 

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  brows  as  a  slave  before  the  Sultan. 
Sideways  leaning,  we  sideways  darted  ;  every  rope-yarn 
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  miracu- 
lous 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  toma- 
hawk-pipe and  passed  it  to  me  for  a  puff. 

'  Capting  !  capting  !  '  yelled  the  bumpkin,  running 
toward  that  officer ;  '  Capting,  capting,  here 's  the 
devil.' 

'  Halloa,  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 


WHEELBARROW  75 

into  an  unearthly  expression  of  disdain,  '  ah  !  him  bevy 
small-e  fish-e ;  Queequeg  no-kill-e  so  small-e  fish-e ; 
Queequeg  Idll-e  big  whale  !  ' 

'  Look  you/  roared  the  captain,  '  I  '11  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  mainsail  had  parted  the  weather-sheet,  and  the 
tremendous  boom  was  now  flying  from  side  to  side,  com- 
pletely 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  noth- 
ing seemed  capable  of  being  done  ;  those  on  deck  rushed 
toward  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,  Quee- 


76  MOBY-DICK 

queg  now  took  an  instant's  glance  around  him,  and  seem- 
ing to  see  just  how  matters  were,  dived  down  and  dis- 
appeared. A  few  minutes  more,  and  he  rose  again,  one 
arm  still  striking  out,  and  with  the  other  dragging  a  life- 
less 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  canni- 
bals must  help  these  Christians.5 


CHAPTER  XIV 


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  Eddy- 
stone  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  enclosed,  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. 

77 


78  MOBY-DICK 

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  cir- 
cumnavigations round  it ;  peeped  in  at  Behring  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 
Himalayan,  salt-sea  mastodon,  clothed  with  such  por- 
tentousness  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  over  swarm  all  India,  and  hang  out  their 
blazing  banner  from  the  sun;  two-thirds  of  this  terr- 
aqueous 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  ; 


NANTUCKET  79 

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  XV 

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  more- 
over 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  sus- 
pended by  asses'  ears,  swung  from  the  cross-trees  of  an 

80 


CHOWDER  81 

old  topmast,  planted  in  front  of  an  old  doorway.  The 
horns  of  the  cross-trees  were  sawed  off  on  the  other  side, 
so  that  this  old  topmast  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  whale- 
man's chapel ;  and  here  a  gallows  !  and  a  pair  of  pro- 
digious 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. 

1  Get  along  with  ye,5  said  she  to  the  man,  '  or  I  '11  be 
combing  ye  !  ' 

4  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  de- 
sires 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. 

4  Clam  or  cod  ?  '  she  repeated. 

'  A  clam  for  supper  ?    a  cold  clam  ;   is  that  what  you 

VOL.  I.  F 


82  MOBY-DICK 

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,5  Mrs.  Hussey  hurried  toward  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  savoury  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  dispatched  it  with  great 
expedition  :  when  leaning  back  a  moment  and  bethink- 
ing 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 
flavour,  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, 


CHOWDER  83 

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  flavour  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  slipshod, 
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  har- 
poon ;  she  allowed  no  harpoon  in  her  chambers.  '  Why 
not  ?  J  said  I ;  '  every  true  whaleman  sleeps  with  his 
harpoon — but  why  not  ?  '  '  Because  it  's  dangerous,5 
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  XVI 

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  harbour,  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,  touch- 
ing 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  pro- 

84 


THE  SHIP  85 

duced  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  vigour,  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  grena- 
dier's, who  has  alike  fought  in  Egypt  and  Siberia.  Her 
venerable  bows  looked  bearded.  Her  masts — cut  some- 


86  MOBY-DICK 

where  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  com- 
manded 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,  un- 
matched by  anything  except  it  be  Thorkill-Hake's  carved 
buckler  or  bedstead.  She  was  apparelled  like  any  bar- 
baric Ethiopian  emperor,  his  neck  heavy  with  pendants 
of  polished  ivory.  She  was  a  thing  of  trophies.  A  canni- 
bal of  a  craft,  tricking  herself  forth  in  the  chased  bones 
of  her  enemies.  All  round,  her  unpanelled,  open  bul- 
warks 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 


THE  SHIP  87 

could  not  well  overlook  a  strange  sort  of  tent,  or  rather 
wigwam,  pitched  a  little  behind  the  mainmast.  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  toward  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  toward  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  network  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. 


88  MOBY-DICK 

'  I  was  thinking  of  shipping.' 

'  Thou  wast,  wast  thou  ?  I  see  thou  art  no  Nan- 
tucketer — 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— 

'  Marchant  service  be  damned.  Talk  not  that  lingo 
to  me.  Dost  see  that  leg  ? — I  '11  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.' 

4  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  ?  ' 

4  Ay,  ay,  I  thought  so.  Captain  Ahab  is  the  captain 
of  this  ship.' 

'  I  am  mistaken  then.  I  thought  I  was  speaking  to 
the  captain  himself.' 


THE  SHIP  89 

'  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  finxl  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  mon- 
strousest  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  ? ' 

4 1  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  !  ' 


90  MOBY-DICK 

'  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.' 

6  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  toward  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  ?  ' 

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

'  Well,  what  dost  thou  think  then  of  seeing  the  world  ? 
Do  ye  wish  to  go  round  Cape  Horn  to  see  any  more  of  it, 
I  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. 


THE  SHIP  91 

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  Nan- 
tucketers,  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  imbib- 
ing 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  still- 
ness 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 


92  MOBY-DICK 

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,  dramatic- 
ally regarded,  if  either  by  birth  or  other  circumstances,  he 
have  what  seems  a  half- wilful  over-ruling  morbidness  at 
the  bottom  of  his  nature.  For  all  men  tragically  great 
are  made  so  through  a  certain  morbidness.  Be  sure  of 
this,  0  young  ambition,  all  mortal  greatness  is  but  disease. 
But,  as  yet  we  have  not  to  do  with  such  an  one,  but  with 
quite  another  ;  and  still  a  man,  who,  if  indeed  peculiar, 
it  only  results  again  from  another  phase  of  the  Quaker, 
modified  by  individual  circumstances. 

Like  Captain  Peleg,  Captain  Bildad  was  a  well-to-do, 
retired  whaleman.  But  unlike  Captain  Peleg — who 
cared  not  a  rush  for  what  are  called  serious  things,  and 
indeed  deemed  those  self-same  serious  things  the  veriest 
of  all  trifles — Captain  Bildad  had  not  only  been  originally 
educated  according  to  the  strictest  sect  of  Nantucket 
Quakerism,  but  all  his  subsequent  ocean  life ;  and  the  sight 
of  many  unclad,  lovely  island  creatures,  round  the  Horn 
— all  that  had  not  moved  this  native-born  Quaker  one 
single  jot,  had  not  so  much  as  altered  one  angle  of  his  vest. 
Still,  for  all  this  immutableness,  was  there  some  lack  of 
common  consistency  about  worthy  Captain  Bildad. 
Though  refusing,  from  conscientious  scruples,  to  bear 
arms  against  land  invaders,  yet  himself  had  illimitably 
invaded  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  ;  and  though  a  sworn 
foe  to  human  bloodshed,  yet  had  he  in  his  straight -bodied 
coat,  spilled  tuns  upon  tuns  of  leviathan  gore.  How 
now  in  the  contemplative  evening  of  his  days,  the  pious 
Bildad  reconciled  these  things  in  the  reminiscence,  I  do 
not  know  ;  but  it  did  not  seem  to  concern  him  much, 


THE  SHIP  93 

and  very  probably  he  had  long  since  come  to  the  sage  and 
sensible  conclusion  that  a  Oman'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  shipowner  ;  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  taskmaster.  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,  especi-  v 
ally  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 
from  before  him.  His  own  person  was  the  exact  embodi- 
ment 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 


94  MOBY-DICK 

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 
toward  Peleg. 

4  He  says  he  's  our  man,  Bildad/  said  Peleg,  '  he  wants 
to  ship.5 

'  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  '11  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 


THE  SHIP  95 

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  nett  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,  there- 
fore 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 


96  MOBY-DICK 

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  lands- 
man, yet  the  slightest  consideration  will  show  that  though 
seven  hundred  and  seventy -seven  is  a  pretty  large  num- 
ber, 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. 

4  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.' 


THE  SHIP  97 

Bildad  laid  down  his  book,  and  turning  solemnly  to- 
ward 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 
labours  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.' 

4  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  '11 — I  '11 — yes,  I  '11  swallow  a 
live  goat  with  all  his  hair  and  horns  on.  Out  of  the  cabin, 
ye  canting,  drab-coloured  son  of  a  wooden  gun — &  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 

VOL.  i.  G 


98  MOBY-DICK 

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  '11 
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 


THE  SHIP  99 

on  board,  ere  the  captain  makes  himself  visible  by  arriv- 
ing to  take  command  ;  for  sometimes  these  voyages  are 
so  prolonged,  and  the  shore  intervals  at  home  so  exceed- 
ingly 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  commit- 
ting 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.3 

'  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.  Anyhow,  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  'It  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  hi  mightier,  stranger  foes  than  whales. 
His  lance  !  ay,  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  ?  ' 

1  Come  hither  to  me — hither,  hither,'  said  Peleg,  with 


100  MOBY-DICK 

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  Gay  Head,  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.  Ay,  ay,  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  anyone  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.  Be- 
sides, 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  thoughtfuhiess  ;  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 


THE  SHIP  101 

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  toward  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  XVII 

THE   RAMADAN 

As  Queequeg 's  Ramadan,  or  Fasting  and  Humiliation, 
was  to  continue  all  day,  I  did  not  choose  to  disturb  him 
till  toward  night -fall ;  for  I  cherish  the  greatest  respect 
toward  everybody's  religious  obligations,  never  mind 
how  comical,  and  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  under- 
value 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  unpre- 
cedented 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 — Presby- 
terians and  pagans  alike — for  we  are  all  somehow  dread- 
fully cracked  about  the  head,  and  sadly  need  mending. 

Toward  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 
102 


i 


THE  RAMADAN  103 

to  open  it,  but  it  was  fastened  inside.  '  Queequeg,'  said  I 
softly  through  the  keyhole  :— all  silent.  '  I  say,  Quee- 
queg !  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  keyhole  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  Quee- 
queg'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  downstairs, 
I  quickly  stated  my  suspicions  to  the  first  person  I  met — 
the  chambermaid.  '  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,  maybe,  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  toward  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 — 


104  MOBY-DICK 

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  Js  the  matter  with  you,  young  man  ?  ' 

'  Get  the  axe  !  For  God's  sake,  run  for  the  doctor, 
someone,  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 — 4  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  parlour  "  ; — 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  after  me,  she  caught  me  as  I  was  again 
trying  to  force  open  the  door. 

'  I  won'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 


THE  RAMADAN  105 

a  key  that  '11  fit,  I  guess  ;  let  's  see.'  And  with  that,  she 
turned  it  in  the  lock ;  but,  alas  !  Queequeg 's  supple- 
mental bolt  remained  unwithdrawn  within. 

6  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  pain- 
fully and  unnaturally  constrained  ;  especially,  as  in  all 
probability  he  had  been  sitting  so  for  upward  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  endeavoured  to 
>revail  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  any  the  slightest  way. 


106  MOBY-DICK 

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  '11  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  upstairs  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  sense- 
less 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  your- 
self ;  get  up  and  have  some  supper.  You  11  starve  ; 
you  '11  kill  yourself,  Queequeg.'  But  not  a  word  did  he 
reply. 

Despairing  of  him,  therefore,  I  deter  mined  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 


THE  RAMADAN  107 

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  toward  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  uncom- 
fortable 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  laboured 
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 


108  MOBY-DICK 

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  un- 
digested apple-dumpling  ;  and  since  then  perpetuated 
through  the  hereditary  dyspepsias  nurtured  by  Bamadans. 

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  gaming  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. 

4  No  more,  Queequeg,'  said  I,  shuddering  ;  'that  will 
do  ' ;  for  I  knew  the  inferences  without  his  further  hint- 
ing 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  cocoa- 
nuts  ;  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 


THE  RAMADAN  109 

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  XVIII 

HIS   MARK 

As  we  were  walking  down  the  end  of  the  wharf  toward 
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.' 

'  Yea,'  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,  c  art  thou  at  present  in 
communion  with  any  Christian  church  ?  ' 

'  Why/  said  I,  '  he  's  a  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional 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  Cole  man'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. 
IIP 


HIS  MARK  111 

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

4  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,  draw- 
ing nearer.  '  Young  man,  you  'd  better  ship  for  a  mis- 
sionary, instead  of  a  foremast  hand  ;  I  never  heard  a 
better  sermon.  Deacon  Deuteronomy — why  Father 
Mapple  himself  couldn't  beat  it,  and  he  's  reckoned  some- 
thing. 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, 


112  MOBY-DICK 

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

'  Quick,  Bildad,'  said  Peleg  to  his  partner,  who,  aghast 
at  the  close  vicinity  of  the  flying  harpoon,  had  retreated 
toward  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  '11  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  ; 


HIS  MARK  113 

so  that  through  Captain  Peleg's  obstinate  mistake  touch- 
ing his  appellative,  it  stood  something  like  this  : — 

Quohog. 
his    >J<  mark. 

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

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

'  Avast  there,  avast  there,  Bildad,  avast  now  spoiling 
our  harpooneer,'  cried  Peleg.  '  Pious  harpooneers  never 
make  good  voyagers — it  takes  the  shark  out  of  'em  ;  no 
harpooneer  is  worth  a  straw  who  ain't  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.' 

c  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 

VOL.  I.  H 


114  MOBY-DICK 

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,  didst  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  sail-makers  who  were  mending 
a  topsail  in  the  waist.  Now  and  then  he  stooped  to  pick 
up  a  patch,  or  save  an  end  of  the  tarred  twine,  which 
otherwise  might  have  been  wasted. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE   PEOPHET 

'  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. 

4  Have  ye  shipped  in  her  ?  '  he  repeated. 

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

'  Ay,  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 

ly, — 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. 

115 

! 


116  MOBY-DICK 

'  He  's  got  enough,  though,  to  make  up  for  all  de- 
ficiencies 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  ?  ' 

'  Ay,  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.' 

4  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.' 

i  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  scrim- 
mage with  the  Spaniard  afore  the  altar  in  Santa  ? — heard 
nothing  about  that,  eh  ?  Nothing  about  the  silver  cala- 
bash he  spat  into  ?  And  nothing  about  his  losing  his 
leg  last  voyage,  according  to  the  prophecy.  Didn't  ye 


THE  PROPHET  117 

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,  may- 
hap, ye  Ve  heard  tell  about  the  leg,  and  how  he  lost  it  ; 
ay>  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.' 

4  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 
re  very  ;  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  im- 
portant 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 


118  MOBY-DICK 

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  comment- 
ing, 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  look- 
ing back  as  I  did  so,  who  should  be  seen  but  Elijah  follow- 
ing 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  XX 


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,  how- 
ever, 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. 

Everyone  knows  what  a  multitude  of  things — beds, 
saucepans,  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 


120  MOBY-DICK 

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  harbours  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  ;  com- 
prising 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  kind- 
hearted,  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 


ALL  ASTIR  121 

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  and  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  XXI 

GOING   ABOARD 

IT  was  nearly  six  o'clock,  but  only  gray  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. 

c  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.' 

c  Ye  be,  be  ye  ?     Coming  back  afore  breakfast  ?  ' 

'  He  's  cracked,  Queequeg,'  said  I ;  '  come  on.' 
122 


GOING  ABOARD  123 

'  Halloa  !  '  cried  stationary  Elijah,  hailing  us  when  we 
had  removed  a  few  paces. 

'  Never  mind  him/  said  I ;   '  Queequeg,  come  on.5 

But  he  stole  up  to  us  again,  and  suddenly  clapping  his 
hand  on  my  shoulder,  said,  '  Did  ye  see  anything  looking 
like  men  going  toward  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, 
4  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  Peqiiod,  we  found  every- 
thing 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  downward  and 
enclosed  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 


124  MOBY-DICK 

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  mark- 
ing the  sleeper,  jocularly  hinted  to  Queequeg  that  perhaps 
we  had  best  sit  up  with  the  body  ;  telling  him  to  estab- 
lish 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. 

c  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  '11  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  attend- 
ant, 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 


GOING  ABOARD  125 

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. 

4  Halloa  !  '  he  breathed  at  last,  '  who  be  ye  smokers  ?  ' 

'  Shipped  men/  answered  I.     c  When  does  she  sail  ?  ' 

'  Ay,  ay,  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  concern- 
ing Ahab,  when  we  heard  a  noise  on  deck. 

'  Halloa  !  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  XXII 

MERRY   CHRISTMAS 

AT  length,  toward  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,  Cap- 
tain Ahab  stayed  below.  And  all  this  seemed  natural 

126 


MEKRY  CHRISTMAS  127 

enough  ;  especially  as  in  the  merchant  service  many 
captains  never  show  themselves  on  deck  for  a  consider- 
able 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  mainmast.  '  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  addi- 
tion to  his  other  offices,  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  goodwill.  Nevertheless,  not  three  days 
previous,  Bildad  had  told  them  that  no  profane  songs 
would  be  allowed  on  board  the  Pequod,  particularly  in 


128  MOBY-DICK 

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,  how- 
ever, 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  !  Quohag  !  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  armour.  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 


MERRY  CHRISTMAS  129 

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 
toward  the  wide  and  endless  waters,  only  bounded  by  the 
*  r-off  unseen  Eastern  Continents  ;  looked  toward  the 

VOL.  I.  I 


130  MOBY-DICK 

land  ;  looked  aloft ;  looked  right  and  left  ;  looked  every- 
where 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,  *  Never- 
theless, 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, — 4  Captain  Bildad — come,  old  ship- 
mate, 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  '11  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  '11  have  fine  weather  now,  so  that  Captain  Ahab  may 
soon  be  moving  among  ye — a  pleasant  sun  is  all  he  needs, 
and  ye  '11  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  fornica- 


MERRY  CHRISTMAS  131 

tion.  Good-bye,  good-bye  !  Don't  keep  that  cheese  too 
long  down  in  the  hold,  Mr.  Starbuck  ;  it  '11  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  dropped  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  XXIII 

THE   LEE   SHORE 

SOME  chapters  back,  one  Bulkington  was  spoken  of,  a  tall, 
new-landed  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  succour  ;  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 

132 


THE  LEE  SHORE  133 

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  the  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,  0  Bulkington  !  Bear  thee  grimly,  demigod  !  Up 
from  the  spray  of  thy  ocean-perishing — straight  up, 
leaps  thy  apotheosis  ! 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE   ADVOCATE 

As  Queequeg  and  I  are  now  fairly  embarked  in  this  busi- 
ness of  whaling  ;  and  as  this  business  of  whaling  has  some- 
how 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 

134 


THE  ADVOCATE  185 

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  battlefields  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  inter-  i 
linked  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  upward  of  £1,000,000  ?  And 
lastly,  how  comes  it  that  we  whalemen  of  America  now\ 
outnumber  all  the  rest  of  the  banded  whalemen  hi  the  \ 
world  ;  sail  a  navy  of  upward  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 
harbours  a  well-reaped  harvest  of  $7,000,000.  How 


136  MOBY-DICK 

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  them- 
selves, and  so  continuously  momentous  in  their  sequential 
f  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  Ameri- 
can and  European  men-of-war  now  peacefully  ride  in  once 
savage  harbours,  let  them  fire  salutes  to  the  honour  and 
the  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    Krusen- 
sterns  ;    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  heathen- 
ish 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 
lifetime    commonplaces    of    our    heroic    Nantucketers. 
Often,    adventures    which    Vancouver    dedicates    three 


THE  ADVOCATE  137 

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  com- 
merce 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 

jre,  and  unhorse  you  with  a  split  helmet  every  time. 


138  MOBY-DICK 

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  levia- 
than ?  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 ;  afterward,  by 
marriage,  Mary  Folger,  one  of  the  old  settlers  of  Nantucket  ? 
and  the  ancestress  to  a  long  line  of  Folgers  and  har- 
pooneers — 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  whal- 
ing is  not  respectable. 

Whaling  not  respectable  ?  Whaling  is  imperial !  By  old 
English  statutory  law,  the  whale  is  declared  'a  royal  fish.' l 

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.1 

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

1  See  subsequent  chapters  for  something  more  on  this  head. 


THE  ADVOCATE  139 

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  XXV 

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  salt-cellar  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  ! 

140 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

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  superfluous- 
ness.  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-look- 
ing ;  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.  Look- 
ing into  his  eyes,  you  seemed  to  see  there  the  yet  lingering 
images  of  those  thousand-fold  perils  he  had  calmly  con- 
fronted 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 
>briety  and  fortitude,  there  were  certain  qualities  in 

141 


142  MOBY-DICK 

him  which  at  times  affected,  and  in  some  cases  seemed  well- 
nigh  to  overbalance  all  the  rest.  Uncommonly  con- 
scientious for  a  seaman,  and  endued  with  a  deep  natural 
reverence,  the  wild  watery  loneliness  of  his  life  did  there- 
fore strongly  incline  him  to  superstition  ;  but  to  that 
sort  of  superstition,  which  in  some  organisations  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. 

'  Ay,  ay/  said  Stubb,  the  second  mate,  '  Starbuck, 
there,  is  as  careful  a  man  as  you  '11  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  hi  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  sundown  ;  nor  for  persisting  in  fighting  a 


KNIGHTS  AND  SQUIRES  143 

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  organised,  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  £aces  ; 
but  man,  hi  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 


144  MOBY-DICK 

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  valour- 
ruined  man.  Nor  can  piety  itself,  at  such  a  shameful 
sight,  completely  stifle  her  upbraidings  against  the  per- 
mitting 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  casta- 
ways, I  shall  hereafter  ascribe  high  qualities,  though  dark  ; 
weave  round  them  tragic  graces  ;  if  even  the  most  mourn- 
ful, 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,  0  God  ! 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

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  journey- 
man joiner  engaged  for  the  year.  Good-humoured,  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  com- 
fortable 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  com- 
fortable 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 

VOL.  i.  K 


146  MOBY-DICK 

the  burden  of  life  in  a  world  full  of  grave  peddlers,  all 
bowed  to  the  ground  with  their  packs  ;  what  helped  to 
bring  about  that  almost  impious  good-humour  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  suc- 
cession, 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  everyone 
knows  that  this  earthly  air,  whether  ashore  or  afloat,  is 
terribly  infected  with  the  nameless  miseries  of  the  number- 
less 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  appre- 
hension 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 


KNIGHTS  AND  SQUIRES  147 

only  a  little  circumvention  and  some  small  application 
of  time  and  trouble  in  order  to  kill  and  boil.  This  ignor- 
ant, 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,  served  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' &  boats  as  | 
headsmen.  In  that  grand  order  of  battle  in  which  Gap- 
tain  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  heads- 
man, like  a  Gothic  knight  of  old,  is  always  accompanied 
by  his  boat-steerer  or  harpooneer,  who  in  certain  con- 
junctures 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 


148  MOBY-DICK 

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  Vine- 
yard, where  there  still  exists  the  last  remnant  of  a  village 
of  red  men,  which  has  long  supplied  the  neighbouring 
island  of  Nantucket  with  many  of  her  most  daring  har- 
pooneers.  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.  Tash- 
tego 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  topsail  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  harbours  most 
frequented  by  whalemen  ;  and  having  now  led  for  many 
years  the  bold  life  of  the  fishery  in  the  ships  of  owners  un- 


I 


KNIGHTS  AND  SQUIRES  149 

commonly  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'B  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  Nan- 
tucket  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  home- 
ward, 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  Isolate  living  on  a  separate  continent 
of  his  own.  Yet  now,  federated  along  one  keel,  what  a 
set  these  Isolatoes  were  !  An  Anacharsis  Clootz  deputa- 
tion from  all  the  isles  of  the  sea,  and  all  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  accompanying  Old  Ahab  in  the  Pequod  to  lay  the 


150  MOBY-DICK 

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  XXVIII 

AHAB 

FOB  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  uninvitingly  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  warranty  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 

151     • 


152  MOBY-DICK 

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  harbour,  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 
gray  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  toward  the  tanrail, 
foreboding  shivers  ran  over  me.  Reality  outran  appre- 
hension ;  .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  gray 
hairs,  and  continuing  right  down  one  side  of  his  tawny 
scorched  face  and  neck,  till  it  disappeared  in  his  clothing, 


AHAB  153 

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  con- 
sent, 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,  super- 
stitiously  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  gray  Manxman  in- 
sinuated, 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.  *  Ay,  he 
was  dismasted  off  Japan,'  said  the  old  Gay-Head  Indian 


154  MOBY-DICK 

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  mizen  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,  unsurrender- 
able  wilfulness,  in  the  fixed  and  fearless,  forward  dedi- 
cation 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  super- 
vision the  mates  were  fully  competent  to,  so  that  there 
was  little  or  nothing,  out  of  himself,  to  employ  or  excite 


AHAB  155 

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  persuasive- 
ness 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  XXIX 

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  graybeards  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,' 

156 


ENTER  AHAB  157 

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 
dropped  it  to  its  place,  for  fear  of  disturbing  their  slumber- 
ing 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  considerating  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  of 
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 
tanrail  to  mainmast,  Stubb,  the  odd  second  mate,  came 
up  from  below,  and  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 !  ' 


158  MOBY-DICK 

{Starting  at  the  unforeseen  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  11  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  ;  ay,  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  ain't  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  ham- 
mock 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 


ENTER  AHAB  159 

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.— 
"feo  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  1  how  ?  how  ? — but  the 
only  way  's  to  stash  it ;  so  here  goes  to  hammock  again  ; 
and  in  the  morning,  I  '11  see  how  this  plaguy  juggling 
thinks  over  by  daylight.' 


CHAPTER  XXX 

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  symbolised  ?  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  soliloquised 
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, — ay,  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 -gray  locks  like  mine.  I  '11  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. 

160 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

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  think- 
ing 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  afl  the  wnile, 
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.  Be- 
sides," 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." 

VOL.  I.  L 


162  MOBY-DICK 

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 
marling-spikes,  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.  "  WeU,  then,"  says  he,  "  wise  Stubb,  what 
have  you  to  complain  of  ?  Didn't  he  kick  with  right 
goodwill  ?  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, 


QUEEN  MAB  163 

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  ?  ' 

4 1  don't  know ;  it  seems  a  sort  of  foolish  to  me, 
though.' 

4  Maybe  ;  maybe.  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  that  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  XXXII 

CETOLOGY 

ALREADY  we  are  boldly  launched  upon  the  deep  ;  but 
soon  we  shall  be  lost  in  its  unshored,  harbourless  immen- 
sities. Ere  that  come  to  pass  ;  ere  the  Pequod'a  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  systematised  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, 

164 


CETOLOGY  165 

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  sea- 
men, 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  ;  Bonne- 
terre  ;  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  general- 
ising 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  Green- 
land 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  ! 


166  MOBY-DICK 

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  the  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  labourers.  As  no  better 
man  advances  to  take  this  matter  in  hand,  I  hereupon 
offer  my  own  poor  endeavours.  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  systematisation  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 


CETOLOGY  167 

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.5  But  of  my  own  knowledge,  I  know  that 
down  to  the  year  1850,  sharks  and  shad,  ale  wives  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  those  : 
lungs  and  warm  blood  ;  whereas,  all  other  fish  are  lung- 
less  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  con- 


168  MOBY-DICK 

traded,  that  definition  is  the  result  of  expanded  medita- 
tion. 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.1 
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. 

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-lack  Whale  ;  IV.  the  Hump-backed  Whale  \ 
V.  the  Razor-back  Whale  ;  VI.  the  Sulphur-bottom  Whale. 

BOOK  I.  (Folio),  CHAPTER  I.  (Sperm  Whale).— This 

1  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  nosy,  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. 


CETOLOGY  169 

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  Pottsfisch  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  con- 
sidered, 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  accident- 
ally 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  quicken- 
ing humour  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 


170  MOBY-DICK 

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  indiscrimin- 
ately 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  baptized.  What  then  is  the  whale, 
which  I  include  in  the  second  species  of  my  Folios  ?  It  is 
the  Great  Mysticetus  of  the  English  naturalists  ;  the 
Greenland  Whale  of  the  English  whalemen  ;  the  Baleine 
Ordinaire  of  the  French  whalemen  ;  the  Growlands  Wal- 
fisch  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  Ameri- 
cans. 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 


CETOLOGY  171 

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  con- 
spicuous 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  ;  unex- 
pectedly 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  denomin- 
ated 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. 


172  MOBY-DICK 

In  connection  with  this  appellative  of  '  Whalebone 
whales/  it  is  of  great  importance  to  mention,  that  how- 
ever such  a  nomenclature  may  be  convenient  in  facilitat- 
ing 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  ;  not- 
withstanding 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  Hump-backed  whale,  each  has  a  hump  ;  but  there 
the  similitude  ceases.  Then,  this  same  Hump-backed 
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  methodis- 
ation  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  systematiser 
as  those  external  ones  already  enumerated.  What  then 


CETOLOGY  173 

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 
harbour.  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). 


174  MOBY-DICK 

OCTAVOS.1  These  embrace  the  whales  of  middling 
magnitude,  among  which  at  present  may  be  numbered  : — 
I.  the  Grampus  ;  II.  the  Black  Fish  ;  III.  the  Narwhale ; 
IV.  the  Killer  ;  V.  the  Thrasher. 

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  recog- 
nised him  for  one.  He  is  of  moderate  octavo  size,  varying 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  in  length,  and  of  corre- 
sponding 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  gener- 
ally 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  upward,  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, 

1  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  diminished  form  does  not 
preserve  the  shape  of  the  Folio  volume,  but  the  Octavo  volume  does. 


CETOLOGY  175 

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  un- 
savoury tallow  instead  of  odorous  wax.  Though  their 
blubber  is  very  thin,  some  of  these  whales  will  yield  you 
upward  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  Nar- 
whale, 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 


176  MOBY-DICK 

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  Green- 
wich 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,  per- 
taining 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 
whale  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.  Excep- 
tion 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. 


CETOLOGY  177 

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). 

DUODECIMOS.  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  Duodecimos  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  I.  (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  with- 
stand three  cheers  at  beholding  these  vivacious  fish,  then 
heaven  help  ye  ;  the  spirit  of  godly  gamesomeness  is  not 

VOL.  I.  M 


178  MOBY-DICK 

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  por- 
poise 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  Por- 
poise).— 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. 


CETOLOGY  179 

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 
forecastle  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  archi- 
tects ;  grand  ones,  true  ones,  ever  leave  the  cope-stone  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  XXXIII 

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  shipboard,  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  Js 
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  Speck- 
sioneer,  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  Ameri- 
can 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 

180 


THE  SPECKSYNDER  181 

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  out- 
ward 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  im- 


182  MOBY-DICK 

plicit,  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  other- 
wise ;  yet  even  Captain  Ahab  was  by  no  means  unob- 
servant 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  entrench- 
ments, always,  in  themselves,  more  or  less  paltry  and  base. 
This  it  is,  that  forever  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  centralisation.  Nor  will  the 
tragic  dramatist  who  would  depict  mortal  indomitable - 
ness  in  its  fullest  sweep  and  direct  swing,  ever  forget  a 


THE  SPECKS YNDER  183 

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  XXXIV 

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  a  while,  and  then 
slightly  shaking  the  main-brace,  to  see  whether  it  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 

184 


THE  CABIN-TABLE  185 

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  mizen-top  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  toward  their  com- 
mander ;  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  toward  him,  as 
he  sits  at  the  head  of  the  table  ;  this  is  marvellous,  some- 
times 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  influ- 
ence 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  shipmaster,  then, 
by  inference,  you  will  derive  the  cause  of  that  peculiarity 
of  sea-life  just  mentioned. 


186  MOBY-DICK 

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  toward  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  shin-bones 
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. 


THE  CABIN-TABLE  187 

Whether  he  thought  the  owners  of  the  ship  denied  it  to 
him,  on  account  of  its  clotting  his  clear,  sunny  com- 
plexion ;  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  hi  him.  Peace  and  satisfaction,  thought 
Flask,  have  forever  departed  from  my  stomach.  I  am 
an  officer  ;  but,  how  I  wish  I  could  fist  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  skylight,  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 


188  MOBY-DICK 

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  licence  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 
ungeiitlemanly  way  of  accelerating  him  by  darting  a  fork 
at  his  back,  harpoon- wise.  And  once  Daggoo,  seized 
with  a  sudden  humour,  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  broad-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  fur- 
nished with  all  things  they  demanded,  he  would  escape 


THE  CABIN-TABLE  189 

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  :  cross- 
wise 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  tranquillise  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 


190  MOBY-DICK 

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  scimitars  in  scabbards. 

But,  though  these  barbarians  dined  in  the  cabin,  and 
nominally  lived  there  ;  still,  being  anything  but  seden- 
tary in  their  habits,  they  were  scarcely  ever  in  it  except 
at  meal-times,  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  inward  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  grizzly  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  XXXV 

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  -r  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  relin- 
quish 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  archseo- 

191 


192  MOBY-DICK 

legists,  that  the  first  pyramids  were  founded  for  astro- 
nomical 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  vali- 
antly 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  ;  care- 
less, 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  Washing- 
ton, 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  ; 


THE  MAST-HEAD  193 

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  regu- 
larly 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,  some- 
thing 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  sunrise  to  sunset ; 
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  unevent- 
Mness  invests  you  ;  you  hear  no  news  ;  read  no  gazettes  ; 
;)xtras  with  startling  accounts  of  commonplaces  never 
VOL.  i.  N 


194  MOBY-DICK 

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  whalemen,  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  inhabitive- 
ness,  or  adapted  to  breed  a  comfortable  localness  of  feel- 
ing, 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  fleshly  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  i 
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 


THE  MAST-HEAD  195 

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  our- 
selves 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,  hi  which  to  keep  your  speaking  trumpet, 
pipe,  telescope,  and  other  nautical  conveniences.  When 
Captain  Sleet  in  person  stood  his  mast-head  hi  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 


196  MOBY-DICK 

is  a  very  different  thing.  Now,  it  was  plainly  a  labour 
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  '  bin- 
nacle 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  occasion- 
ally toward  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  Greenland  men 
were  ;  yet  that  disadvantage  is  greatly  counterbalanced 
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  hi 
the  top  to  have  a  chat  with  Queequeg,  or  anyone  else  off 
duty  whom  I  might  find  there  ;  then  ascending  a  littl 


THE  MAST-HEAD  197 

way  further,  and  throwing  a  lazy  leg  over  the  topsail- 
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  alti- 
tude,— 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 
shipowners  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  Phsedon  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  : — 

1  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  honour- 
able ambition,  as  that  in  their  secret  souls  they  would 
rather  not  see  whales  than  otherwise.  But  all  in  vain  ; 


198  MOBY-DICK 

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  revery  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  con- 
tinually flitting  through  it.  In  this  enchanted  mood, 
thy  spirit  ebbs  away  to  whence  it  came  ;  becomes  diffused 
through  time  and  space  ;  like  Cranmer's  sprinkled  Pan- 
theistic 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  XXXVI 

THE    QUARTEK-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  footprints — the 
footprints  of  his  one  unsleeping,  ever-pacing  thought. 

But  on  the  occasion  hi  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 

199 


200  MOBY-DICK 

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  shipboard  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  con- 
tinued 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. 

4  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  approv- 


THE  QUARTER-DECK  201 

ing  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  them- 
selves 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  him- 
self, producing  a  sound  so  strangely  muffled  and  inarticu- 
late that  it  seemed  the  mechanical  humming  of  the  wheels 
of  his  vitality  in  him. 

Receiving  the  top-maul  from  Starbuck,  he  advanced 
toward  the  mainmast  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  top-maul ;  *  a  white  whale.  Skin  your  eyes 


202  MOBY-DICK 

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  ?  ' 

1  And  he  have  one,  two,  tree — oh  !  good  many  iron 
in  him  hide,  too,  captain,'  cried  Queequeg  disjointedly, 

4  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 ' 

'  Cork-screw  !  '  cried  Ahab,  '  ay,  Queequeg,  the  har- 
poons lie  all  twisted  and  wrenched  in  him  ;  ay,  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  ;  ay,  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, 


THE  QUARTER-DECK  203 

'  Ay,  Starbuck ;  ay,  my  hearties  all  round ;  it  was 
Moby-Dick  that  dismasted  me  ;  Moby-Dick  that  brought 
me  to  this  dead  stump  I  stand  on  now.  Ay,  ay,'  he 
shouted,  with  a  terrific,  loud,  animal  sob,  like  that  of  a 
heart -stricken  moose  ;  '  Ay,  ay  !  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 :  '  Ay, 
ay  !  and  I  '11  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/ 

*  Ay,  ay  !  '  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  Nan- 
tucket  market.' 

'  Nantucket  market !  Hoot  !  But  come  closer,  Star- 
buck  ;  thou  requirest  a  little  lower  layer.  If  money  's 
to  be  the  measurer,  man,  and  the  accountants  have  com- 
puted their  great  counting-house  the  globe,  by  girdling 
it  with  guineas,  one  to  every  three  parts  of  an  inch  ;  then, 


204  MOBY-DICK 

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 
\  bla§pkemous.' 

'  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  out- 
rageous 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,  Star- 
buck,  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 


THE  QUARTER-DECK  205 

and  un worshipping  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,  Star- 
buck  !  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 ! — Ay,  ay  !  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.' 

4  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  admoni- 
tions 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 


206  MOBY-DICK 

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  spiralises  in  ye  ;   forks  out  at  the 

serpent -snapping    eye.     Well    done ;     almost    drained. 

That  way  it  went,  this  way  it  comes.     Hand  it  me— 

j  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.  0  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,  wert  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, 


THE  QUARTER-DECK  207 

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  cup-bearers  to  my  three 
pagan  kinsmen  there — yon  three  most  honourable  gentle- 
men 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  !  '  Forth- 
with, 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  murder- 
ous 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  whale-boat's  bow — Death  to  1 


208  MOBY-DICK 

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  XXXVII 

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  the  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 ;  ay,  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  ana  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  stub- 

VOL.  I.  O 


210  MOBY-DICK 

born,  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  '11  do  !  They  think 
me  mad — Starbuck  does  ;  but  I  'm  demoniac,  I  am  mad- 
ness maddened  !  That  wild  madness  that  's  only  calm 
to  comprehend  itself  !  The  prophecy  was  that  I  should 
be  dismembered  ;  and — Ay  !  I  lost  this  leg.  I  now 
prophesy  that  I  will  dismember  my  dismemberer.  JJow* 
then,  be  the  prophet  and  the  fulfiUer  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,  where - 
on" my  soul  is  grooved  to  run.  Over  unsounded  gorges, 
through  the  rifled  hearts  of  mountains,  under  torrents' 
beds,  unerringly  I  rush  !  Naught  Js  an  obstacle,  naught 's 
an  angle  to  the  iron  way  ! 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

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  ; — ay,  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  pur- 
pose, 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  some- 
where by  the  sharkish  sea.  The  White  Whale  is  their 
demigorgon.  Hark !  the  infernal  orgies  !  that  revelry 
is  forward  !  mark  the  unfaltering  silence  aft !  Methinks 

211 


212 


MOBY-DICK 


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  stern- 
ward  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  ^ejiuman  in  me, 
yet  ^will  I  try  to  fight  ye,  "ye  grim,  phantom  futures  ! 
Stand  by  me,  hold  me,  bind  me,  0  ye  blessed  influences  ! 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

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  3s  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  '11  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  '11  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  ? 
Ay,  ay,  sir — (Aside)  he  's  my  superior,  he  has  his  too, 
if  I  'm  not  mistaken. — Ay,  ay,  sir,  just  through  with  this 
job — coming. 

213 


CHAPTER  XL 

MIDNIGHT,    FORECASTLE 
HABPOONEERS   AND   SAILORS 

(Foresail  rises  and  discovers  the  match  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   SAILOE. 

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  '11  have  one  of  those  fine  whales, 

Hand,  boys,  over  hand  ! 

So,  be  cheery,  my  lads  !  may  your  hearts  never  fail ! 
While  the  bold  harpooneer  is  striking  the  whale  ! 

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

214 


MIDNIGHT,  FORECASTLE  215 

2ND   NANTUCKET   SAILOR. 

Avast  the  chorus  !  Eight  bells  there  !  <T  ye  hear, 
bell-boy  ?  Strike  the  bell  eight,  thou  Pip  !  thou  black- 
ling  !  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-1-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  deaden- 
ing to  some  as  filliping  to  others.  We  sing  ;  they  sleep- 
ay,  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  ! 


216  MOBY-DICK 

ICELAND   SAILOE. 

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. 

Ay  ;  girls  and  a  green  ! — then  I  '11  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  Js  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. 


MIDNIGHT,  FORECASTLE  217 


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  j 
save  my  sweat. 

OLD   MANX   SAILOR. 

I  wonder  whether  those  jolly  lads  bethink  them  of  what 
they  are  dancing  over.  I  '11  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  ball-room  of  it. 
Dance  on,  lads,  you  're  young  ;  I  was  once. 

3RD   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  '11  be  douse  sail  soon.  The 
sky-born,  high -tide  Ganges  turned  to  wind !  Thou 
showest  thy  black  brow,  Seeva  ! 


218  MOBY-DICK 

MALTESE   SAILOR. 

(Reclining  and  shaking  his  cap.) 

It 's  the  waves — the  snow's  caps  turn  to  jig  it  now. 
They  '11  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-arbour- 
ing  arms  hide  such  ripe,  bursting  grapes. 

SICILIAN    SAILOE. 

(Reclining.) 

Tell  me  not  of  it !  Hark  ye,  lad — fleet  interfacings  of 
the  limbs — lithe  swayings — covings — flutterings  !  lip  ! 
heart !  hip  !  all  graze  :  unceasing  touch  and  go  !  not 
taste,  observe  ye,  else  come  satiety.  Eh,  Pagan  ? 
(Nudging.) 

TAHITIAN   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.) 


MIDNIGHT,  FORECASTLE  219 

PORTUGUESE   SAILOR. 

How  the  sea  rolls  swashing  'gainst  the  side  !  Stand 
by  for  reefing,  hearties  !  the  winds  are  just  crossing 
swords,  pell-mell  they  '11  go  lunging  presently. 

DANISH   SAILOR. 

Crack,  crack,  old  ship  !  so  long  as  thou  crackest,  thou 
boldest !  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. 
Ay  !  ay  ! 

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,  helms- 
man !  steady.  This  is  the  sort  of  weather  when  brave 
hearts  snap  ashore,  and  keeled  hulls  split  at  sea.  Our 
captain  has  his  birth-mark  ;  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 ! 


220  MOBY-DICK 

SPANISH   SAILOR. 

(Aside.)  He  wants  to  bully,  ah  ! — the  old  grudge 
makes  me  touchy.  (Advancing.)  Ay,  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,  manikin  !     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  alow,  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  ! 


MIDNIGHT,  FORECASTLE  221 


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  XLI 

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  un- 
accompanied, secluded  White  Whale  had  haunted  those 
uncivilised  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  dis- 
orderly 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  en- 
counter a  single  news-telling  sail  of  any  sort ;  the  inordin- 
ate length  of  each  separate  voyage  ;  the  irregularity  of  the 
times  of  sailing  from  home  ;  all  these,  with  other  circum- 
stances, direct  and  indirect,  long  obstructed  the  spread 
through  the  whole  world- wide  whaling-fleet  of  the  special 
individualising  tidings  concerning  Moby-Dick.  It  was 

222 


MOBY-DICK  223 

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  disas- 
trous 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  rumours  of  all  sorts  fail  to  exaggerate,  and 
still  the  more  horrify  the  true  histories  of  these  deadly 
encounters.  For  not  only  do  fabulous  rumours  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 


224  MOBY-DICK 

rumours  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  fearful- 
ness  of  the  rumours  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  astonish- 
ing 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  chiselled  hearthstone,  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  wildest  watery  spaces,  the  outblown 
rumours  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  un- 
borrowed  from  anything  that  visibly  appears.  So  that  in 
many  cases  such  a  panic  did  he  finally  strike,  that  few 
who  by  those  rumours,  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  dis- 
tinguished 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  cour- 


MOBY-DICK  225 

ageous  enough  in  offering  battle  to  the  Greenland  or  right 
whale,  would  perhaps,  either  from  professional  inexperi- 
ence, or  incompetency,  or  timidity,  decline  a  contest  with 
the  sperm  whale  ;  at  any  rate,  there  are  plenty  of  whale- 
men, especially  among  those  whaling  nations  not  sailing 
under  the  American  flag,  who  have  never  hostilely  en- 
countered 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  compre- 
hended, 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  in- 
credibly 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  super- 
stitious belief  in  them  is,  in  some  vicissitudes  of  their 
vocation,  revived  in  the  minds  of  the  hunters. 

So  that  overawed  by  the  rumours  and  portents  concern- 
ing him,  not  a  few  of  the  fishermen  recalled,  in  reference 
to  Moby-Dick,  the  earlier  days  of  the  sperm  whale  fishery, 

VOL.  i.  p 


226  MOBY-DICK 

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  inevit- 
ably 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  accompani- 
ments, were  sufficiently  hardy  not  to  flee  from  the  battle 
if  offered. 

One  of  the  wild  suggestings  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  super- 
stitious 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  specu- 
lations regarding  them,  especially  concerning  the  mystic 
modes  whereby,  after  sounding  to  a  great  depth,  he  trans- 
ports himself  with  such  vast  swiftness  to  the  most  widely 
distant  points. 

It  is  a  thing  well  known  to  both  American  and  English 


MOBY-DICK  227 

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  whale- 
men, 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  whaleman. 

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  un- 
harmed ;  or  if  indeed  he  should  ever  be  made  to  spout 
thick  blood,  such  a  sight  would  be  but  a  ghastly  decep- 
tion ;  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 


228  MOBY-DICK 

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  hi  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  in- 
vested 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  consterna- 
tion 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  im- 


MOBY-DICK  229 

pelled,  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 


230  MOBY-DICK 

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  dismember- 
ment. 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  agonising  bodily  laceration, 
but  nothing  more.  Yet,  when  by  this  collision  forced  to 
turn  toward  home,  and  for  long  months  of  days  and  weeks, 
Ahab  and  anguish  lay  stretched  together  in  one  ham- 
mock, rounding  in  mid- winter  that  dreary,  howling  Pata- 
gonian  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  un- 
limbed  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 


MOBY-DICK  231 

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  concentrated  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  popularise  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  !  ay,  he  did  beget 
ye>  ye  young  exiled  royalties  ;  and  from  your  grim  sire 
only  will  the  old  State -secret  come. 


232  MOBY-DICK 

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  dis- 
.  semble  ;  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  like- 
wise popularly  ascribed  to  a  kindred  cause.  And  so  too, 
all  the  added  moodiness  which  always  afterward,  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  harbour  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  unfixed,  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 


MOBY-DICK  233 

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  gray-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  mStarbuck,  the  invulnerable  jollity  of  indiffer- 
ence and  recklessness  in  Stubb,  and  the  pervading  medioc- 
rity in  Flask.  Such  a  crew,  so  officered,  seemed  specially 
picked  and  packed  by  some  infernal  fatality  to  help  Mm 
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,  unsus- 
pected 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  XLII 

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  pre-eminence  in  this  hue  ;  even  the  barbaric,  grand 
old  kings  of  Pegu  placing  the  title  '  Lord  of  the  White 
Elephants  '  above  all  their  other  magniloquent  ascrip- 
tions of  dominion  ;  and  the  modern  kings  of  Siam  un- 
furling 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 

234 


THE  WHITENESS  OF  THE  WHALE        235 

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  symbolisings,  this  same  hue  is 
made  the  emblem  of  many  touching,  noble  things — the 
innocence  of  brides,  the  benignity  of  age  ;  though  among 
the  Bed  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  spot- 
lessness  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  mid-winter  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  some- 
thing in  the  innermost  idea  of  this  hue,  which  strikes  more 


~ 


236  MOBY-DICK 

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.1 

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,  unflatter- 
ing laureate,  Nature.2 

1  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  white- 
ness, separately  regarded,  which  heightens  the  intolerable  hideousness  of 
that  brute  ;  for,  analysed,  that  heightened  hideousness,  it  might  be  said, 
only  arises  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  funereal  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. 

2  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 


THE  WHITENESS  OF  THE  WHALE        237 

Most  famous  in  our  Western  annals  and  Indian  tradi- 
tions 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,  over-scorning  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  appari- 
tion of  that  unf alien,  Western  world,  which  to  the  eyes  of 


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 


strange  eyes,  metnougnt  l  peeped  to  secrets  wnicn  toofc  hold  01  l*od.     As    I 
Abraham  before  the  angels,  I  bowed  myself  ;  the  white  thing  was  so  white,    1 
its  wings  so  wide,  and  in  those  forever  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  !  I  never  had 
heard  that  name  before ;   is  it  conceivable  that  this  glorious   thing  ia 
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  possi- 
bility 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  gray  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  ! 


238  MOBY-DICK 

the  old  trappers  and  hunters  revived  the  glories  of  those 
primeval  times  when  Adam  walked  majestic  as  a  god, 
bluff -bo  wed  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  sub- 
stantive 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 


THE  WHITENESS  OF  THE  WHALE        239 

heightens  the  effect  of  that  passage  in  Froissart,  when, 
masked  in  the  snowy  symbol  of  their  faction,  the  desper- 
ate 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,  symbolise  whatever 
grand  or  gracious  thing  he  will  by  whiteness,  no  man  can 
deny  that  in  its  profoundest  idealised  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 


240  MOBY-DICK 

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  downcast  and  hooded  with  new- 
fallen  snow  ?  Or,  to  the  unread,  unsophisticated  Protes- 
tant 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  neighbours — the 
Byward  Tower,  or  even  the  Bloody  ?  And  those  sub- 
limer  towers,  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire, 
whence,  in  peculiar  moods,  comes  that  gigantic  ghostli- 
ness  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  thg  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  un- 
substantial 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  ? 


THE  WHITENESS  OF  THE  WHALE        241 

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  canst  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  forever  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  phe- 
nomenon 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  approach- 
ing 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 ; 

VOL.  I.  Q 


242  MOBY-DICK 

in  vain  the  lead  assures  him  he  is  still  off  soundings  ;  heart 
and  helm  they  both  go  down  ;  he  never  rests  till  blue 
water  is  under  him  again.  Yet  where  is  the  mariner  who 
will  tell  thee,  '  Sir,  it  was  not  so  much  the  fear  of  striking 
hidden  rocks,  as  the  fear  of  that  hideous  whiteness  that 
so  stirred  me  '  ? 

Second  :  To  the  native  Indian  of  Peru,  the  continual 
sight  of  the  snow-howdahed  Andes  conveys  naught  of 
dread,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  mere  fancying  of  the  eternal 
frosted  desolateness  reigning  at  such  vast  altitudes,  and 
the  natural  conceit  of  what  a  fearfulness  it  would  be  to 
lose  oneself  in  such  inhuman  solitudes.  Much  the  same 
is  it  with  the  backwoodsman  of  the  West,  who  with  com- 
parative 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  this  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  frenzies  of  affright  ?  There  is  no  remem- 
brance 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  experi- 


THE  WHITENESS  OP  THE  WHALE        243 

ence  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,      I.J^A 
the  instinct  of  the  knowledge  of  the  demonismjin  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  s 
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  intensi- 
fying 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^J_c^laar^  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 


244  MOBY-DICK 

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  subtle  deceits,  not  actually  in- 
herent 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,  forever  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  XLIII 

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  neighbour,  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  !  ' 

4  Say  what  ye  will,  shipmate  ;   I  've  sharp  ears.' 

'  Ay,  you  are  the  chap,  ain't  ye,  that  heard  the  hum 

245 


246  MOBY-DICK 

of  the  old  Quakeress's  knitting-needles  fifty  miles  at  sea 
from  Nantucket ;  you  're  the  chap.' 

'  Grin  away  ;  we  '11  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  XLIV 

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 
foi  chains  over  his  head,  continually  rocked  with  the  motion 
of  the  ship,  and  forever  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 

247 


248 


MOBY-DICK 


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  anyone  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  drif tings  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  periodical- 
ness  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.1 

Besides,  when  making  a  passage  from  one  feeding- 
ground  to  another,  the  sperm  whales,  guided  by  some 
infallible  instinct — say,  rather,  secret  intelligence  from 

1  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  hori- 
zontally 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.' 


THE  CHART  249 

the  Deity — mostly  swim  in  veins,  as  they  are  called  ;  con- 
tinuing 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  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  soli- 
taries and  hermits  among  the  matured,  aged  sperm  whales. 
So  that  though  Moby-Dick  had  in  a  former  year  been  seen, 


250  MOBY-DICK 

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  wayside,  ante- 
cedent, 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  possi- 
bility 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  periodic- 
ally descried,  lingering  in  those  waters  for  a  while,  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  vigi- 
lance 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  tranquillise  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  en- 
deavour then  could  enable  her  commander  to  make  the 


THE  CHART  251 

great  passage  southward,  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  prema- 
ture hour  of  the  Pequod's  sailing  had,  perhaps,  been 
correctly  selected  by  Ahab,  with  a  view  to  this  very  com- 
plexion of  things.  Because,  an  interval  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days  and  nights  was  before  him  ;  an  inter- 
val 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  Simoom,  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  ponder- 
ing 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 


252  MOBY-DICK 

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  frenzies,  and  whirled  them  round 
and  round  in  his  blazing  brain,  till  the  very  throbbing 
of  his  life-spot  became  insufferable  anguish  ;  and  when, 

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  unsuppressible 
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  characterising  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 


THE  CHART  253 

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.  There- 
fore, 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  forever  ; 
that  vulture  the  very  creature  he  creates. 


CHAPTER  XLV 

THE   AFFIDAVIT 

So  far  as  what  there  may  be  of  a  narrative  in  this  book  ; 
and,  indeed,  as  indirectly  touching  one  or  two  very  inter- 
esting 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 
cipher,  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 

254 


THE  AFFIDAVIT  255 

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  un- 
known 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,  afterward  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  maybe  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  arid  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  peculi- 
arities by  killing  him,  and  boiling  him  down  into  a  peculi- 
arly 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 


256  MOBY-DICK 

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  unob- 
trusive 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  didst  lurk 
in  the  oriental  straits  of  that  name,  whose  spout  was  oft 
seen  from  the  palmy  beach  of  Ombay  ?  Was  it  not  so, 
0  New  Zealand  Jack  !  thou  terror  of  all  cruisers  that 
crossed  their  wakes  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Tattoo  Land? 
Was  it  not  so,  0  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,  0  Don 
Miguel !  thou  Chilian  whale,  marked  like  an  old  tortoise 
with  mystic  hieroglyphics  upon  the  back  I  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 


THE  AFFIDAVIT  257 

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 

VOL.  j.  B 


258  MOBY-DICK 

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  twofold  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 


THE  AFFIDAVIT  259 

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.1 

Secondly  :  The  ship  Union,  also  of  Nantucket,  was  in 
the  year  1 807  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  Commo- 
dore 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 

1  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  shook  ;  to 
effect  which,  the  exact  manoeuvres  which  he  made  were  necessary.  His 
aspect  was  most  horrible,  and  such  as  indicated  resentment  and  fury.  He 
came  directly  from  the  shoal  which  we  had  just  before  entered,  and  in 
which  we  had  struck  three  of  his  companions,  as  if  fired  with  revenge  for 
their  sufferings.'  Again  :  '  At  all  events,  the  whole  circumstances  taken 
together,  all  happening  before  my  own  eyes,  and  producing,  at  the  time, 
impressions  in  my  mind  of  decided,  calculating  mischief,  on  the  part  of 
the  whale  (many  of  which  impressions  I  cannot  now  recall),  induce  me  to 
be  satisfied  that  I  am  correct  in  my  opinion.' 

Here  are  his  reflections  some  time  after  quitting  the  ship,  during  a 
black  night  in  an  open  boat,  when  almost  despairing  of  reaching  any 
hospitable  shore.  '  The  dark  ocean  and  swelling  waters  were  nothing  ; 
the  fears  of  being  swallowed  up  by  some  dreadful  tempest,  or  dashed 
upon  hidden  rocks,  with  all  the  other  ordinary  subjects  of  fearful  con- 
templation, 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.' 


260  MOBY-DICK 

harbour  of  Oahu,  Sandwich  Islands.  Conversation  turn- 
ing upon  whales,  the  commodore  was  pleased  to  be  scepti- 
cal 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  Dis- 
co very  Expedition  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
Captain  Langsdorff  thus  begins  his  seventeenth  chapter. 

4  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 
north-west  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 


THE  AFFIDAVIT  261 

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  alto- 
gether, 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  command- 
ing 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  par- 
ticularly questioned  him  concerning  this  passage  in  Langs- 
dorfL  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  Ferdi- 
nando,'  as  he  calls  the  modern  Juan  Fernandez.  '  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 


262  MOBY-DICK 

everyone  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  amaze- 
ment 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  imputa- 
tion 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  elo- 
quent 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 


THE  AFFIDAVIT  263 

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  Chris- 
tian 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  un- 
exaggerating  historian,  except  in  some  one  or  two  par- 
ticulars, 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  neighbouring 
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  Medi- 
terranean 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  investi- 
gations have  recently  proved  to  me,  that  in  modern  times 


264  MOBY-DICK 

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,  Pro- 
copius'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  XLVI 

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  ;  never- 
theless 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  con- 
sidering his  monomania,  to  hint  that  his  vindictiveness 
toward  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 

265 


266  MOBY-DICK 

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  influ- 
ences were  brought  to  bear  upon  him.  Not  only  that, 
but  the  subtle  insanity  of  Ahab  respecting  Moby-Dick 
was  no  ways  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  announce- 
ment 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  con- 


SURMISES  267 

stitutional  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 -errant  ism  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 — ay, 
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  im- 
pulsively, it  is  probable,  and  perhaps  somewhat  pre- 
maturely 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 


268  MOBY-DICK 

calculating  attention  to  every  minute  atmospheric  influ- 
ence 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  XLVII 

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  revelry  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  inter- 
blending  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 

269 


270  MOBY-DICK 

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  pro- 
ducing 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 — ay,  chance,  free 
will,  and  necessity  —  no  wise  incompatible  —  all  inter- 
weavingly  working  together.  The  straight  warp  of  neces- 
sity, 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 
I  started  at  a  soundjgq  strange,  long  drawn,  and  musically 
I  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  whale- 
men'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  toward  the  horizon,  you 


THE  MAT-MAKER  271 

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  !  ' 

4  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. 

4  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  con- 
fidently 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 
ship-keepers — that  is,  those  not  appointed  to  the  boats— 
by  this  time  relieved  the  Indian  at  the  mainmast-head. 
The  sailors  at  the  fore  and  mizen  had  come  down  ;  the 
line-tubs  were  fixed  in  their  places  ;  the  cranes  were 
thrust  out ;  the  main-yard  was  backed,  and  the  three 


272  MOBY-DICK 

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  XLVIII 

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  subtlety,  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. 

4  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 

VOL.  i.  s 


274  MOBY-DICK 

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  !  ' 

'  Ay,  ay,  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 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  275 

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  Js  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  sermonisings  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  com- 
pounded of  fun  and  fury,  and  the  fury  seemed  so  calcu- 
lated 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.  Be- 
sides 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, 


276  MOBY-DICK 

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  in- 
feriors 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. 

4  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 ! ' 

'  Ay,  ay,  I  thought  as  much,'  soliloquised  Stubb, 
when  the  boats  diverged,  c  as  soon  as  I  clapt  eye  on  'em, 
I  thought  so.  Ay,  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 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  277 

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  hori- 
zontal 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  j 
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 


278  MOBY-DICK 

in  the  rear  paused  on  their  way.  The  whales  had  irregu- 
larly settled  bodily  down  into  the  blue,  thus  giving  no 
distantly  discernible  token  of  the  movement,  though 
from  his  closer  vicinity  Ahab  had  observed  it. 

4  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  toward  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  breath- 
lessly still ;  its  commander  recklessly  standing  upon  the 
top  of  the  logger-head,  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  logger-head  stand- 
point of  his  did  by  no  means  satisfy  King-Post. 

c  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  him- 
self 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.' 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  279 

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  breast- 
band  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  whale- 
man 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  logger-head  itself,  under  such  circum- 
stances. 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  hat-band,  where  he  always  wore  it  aslant  like  a  feather. 


280  MOBY-DICK 

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  frenzy  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  indi- 
cations, the  puffs  of  vapour  they  spouted,  seemed  their 
forerunning  couriers  and  detached  flying  outriders. 

All  four  bojits  were  now  in  keen  pursuit  of  that  one  spot 
of  troubled  water  and  air.  But  it  bade  far  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, 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  281 

boys  ;  only  do  that  for  me,  and  1 11  sign  over  to  you  my 
Martha's  Vineyard  plantation,  boys  ;  including  wife  and 
children,  boys.  Lay  me  on — lay  me  on  !  0  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  hi  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  tantalising 
his  boat's  bow  with  his  tail — these  allusions  of  his  were  at 
times  so  vivid  and  lifelike,  that  they  would  cause  some 
one  or  two  of  his  men  to  snatch  a  fearful  look  over  the 


282  MOBY-DICK 

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  won- 
drous 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  en- 
countering 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  every- 
where to  right  and  left ;  the  whales  seemed  separating 
their  wakes.  The  boats  were  pulled  more  apart ;  Star- 
buck  giving  chase  to  three  whales  running  dead  to  lee- 
ward. Our  sail  was  now  set,  and,  with  the  still  rising 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  283 

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 
rowlocks. 

Soon  we  were  running  through  a  suffusing  wide  veil  of 
mist ;  neither  ship  nor  boat  to  be  seen. 

4  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  Quee- 
queg,  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  earth- 
quake 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 


284  MOBY-DICK 

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  stretch- 
ing 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 


THE  FIRST  LOWERING  285 

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  XL1X 

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.  How- 
ever, nothing  dispirits,  and  nothing  seems  worth  while 
disputing.  He  bolts  down  all  events,  all  creeds,  and 
beliefs,  and  persuasions,  all  hard  things  visible  and  in- 
visible, 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  tribu- 
lation ;  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 
}ast  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 

286 


THE  HYENA  287 

much  emotion,  though  soaked  through  just  like  me,  he 
gave  me  to  understand  that  such  things  did  often  happen. 

4  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  ?  ' 

1  Certain.  I  've  lowered  for  whales  from  a  leaking 
ship  in  a  gale  off  Cape  Horn.' 

4  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  unalter- 
able 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 !  J 

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 


288  MOBY-DICK 

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  L 
ARAB'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  jeopardise  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  diffi- 
culties ;  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. 

VOL.  I.  T 


290  MOBY-DICK 

Ahab  well  knew  that  although  his  friends  at  home 
would  think  little  of  his  entering  a  boat  in  certain  com- 
paratively 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  measure 
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  whale-boats  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  par- 
ticularly his  solicitude  hi  having  an  extra  coat  of  sheath- 
ing 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  hori- 
zontal 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  semicircular  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 


FEDALLAH  291 

almost  everybody  supposed  that  this  particular  prepara- 
tive 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,  whale-boats, 
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  civilised,  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  unchang- 
ing Asiatic  communities,  especially  the  oriental  isles  to 
the  east  of  the  continent — those  insulated,  immemorial, 


292  MOBY-DICK 

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,  un- 
knowing whence  he  came,  eyed  each  other  as  real  phan- 
toms, 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  LI 

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  Bio  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  I 
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  mainmast-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  whalemen  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,  com- 
panions in  one  sky.  But  when,  after  spending  his  uniform 
interval  there  for  several  successive  nights  without  utter- 
ing a  single  sound  ;  when,  after  all  this  silence,  his  un- 
earthly voice  was  heard  announcing  that  silvery,  moon-lit 
jet,  every  reclining  mariner  started  to  his  feet  as  if  some 

293 


294  MOBY-DICK 

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  stun' -sail  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,  1» 
the  other  to  drive  yawingly  to  some  horizontal  goal.  H 
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  dis- 
appeared 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 


THE  SPIRIT-SPOUT  295 

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 
forever  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  unnear- 
able  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 


296  MOBY-DICK 

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  every- 
thing 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  SPIRIT-SPOUT  297 

the  leaping  waves,  each  man  had  slipped  himself  into  a 
sort  of  bow-line  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  bow-lines  ; 
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  toward  the  needle  of  the  tell- 
tale that  swung  from  a  beam  in  the  ceiling.1 

Terrible  old  man  !  thought  Starbuck  with  a  shudder, 
sleeping  in  this  gale,  still  thou  steadfastly  eyest  thy 
purpose. 

1  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. 


CHAPTER  LII 

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  foremast -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  fathom- 
less 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  for- 
lorn-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 


THE  ALBATROSS  299 

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  observ- 
ance 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  !  ' 


300 


MOBY-DICK 


Round  the  world  !  There  is  much  in  that  sound  to 
inspire  proud  feelings  ;  but  whereto  does  all  that  circum- 
navigation 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  east- 
ward we  could  forever  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  LIII 

THE   GAM 

THE  ostensible  reason  why  Ahab  did  not  go  on  board  of  the 
whaler  we  had  spoken  was  this  :  the  wind  and  sea  be- 
tokened 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  esti- 
mated, were  not  something  said  here  of  the  peculiar  usages 
of  whaling-vessels  wlfen  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 

901 


302  MOBY-DICK 

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,  per- 
haps, 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  lan- 
guage, 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  Nan- 
tucketer,  with  his  nondescript  provincialisms,  as  a  sort 
of  sea-peasant.  But  where  this  superiority  in  the  English 


THE  GAM  303 

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  goodwill  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  villainous  likenesses. 

But  look  at  the  godly,  honest,  unostentatious,  hos- 
pitable, 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  c  blubber-boilers,'  and  such  like  pretty  exclamations. 


304  MOBY-DICK 

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  toward  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) 
whale-ships,  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  shipt 
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  hi  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  what- 


THE  GAM  305 

ever,  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  reciprocat- 
ing 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. 
VOL.  i.  u 


CHAPTER  L1V 

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  Poly- 
nesians. 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  in- 
volve with  the  whale  a  certain  wondrous,  inverted  visi- 
tation 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, 

1  The  ancient  whale-cry  upon  first  sighting  a  whale  from  the  mast-1 
still  used  by  \vhalemen  in  hunting  the  famous  Gallipagos  terrapin. 
306 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  307 

revealed  so  much  of  it  in  that  way,  that  when  he  was 
wakened  he  could  not  well  withhold  the  rest.  Neverthe- 
less, 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  Peqiwd's 
mainmast.  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. 

For  my  humour'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. 

4  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  westward  from  the 
eaves  of  this  good  Golden  Inn.  She  was  somewhere 
to  the  northward  of  the  Line.  One  morning  upon  hand- 
ling 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 


308  MOBY-DICK 

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  harbour  among  the  islands, 
there  to  have  his  hull  hove  out  and  repaired. 

4  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  —  maybe,  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  expansive- 
ness,  with  many  of  the  ocean's  noblest  traits  ;  with  many 
of  its  rimmed  varieties  of  races  and  of  climes.  They 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  309 

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  harbour- 
ing 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  dis- 
masting 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 


310  MOBY-DICK 

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  civilised  ocean  like  our 
Atlantic,  for  example,  some  skippers  think  little  of  pump- 
ing 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  west- 
ward, 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  com- 
manded 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,  gentle- 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  311 

men.  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  slyly  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. 

4  Now,  as  you  well  know,  it  is  not  seldom  the  case  hi 
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  pulverise  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  tasselled 
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. 

'  "  Ay,  ay,  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- 


312  MOBY-DICK 

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  improve- 
ments, I  suppose.  If  old  Rad  were  here  now,  I  'd  tell 
him  to  jump  overboard  and  scatter  'em.  They  're  play- 
ing 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  f or  ?  " 
roared  Radney,  pretending  not  to  have  heard  the  sailors' 
talk.  "  Thunder  away  at  it  !  " 

"  Ay,  ay,  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  blood- 
shot, 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.  In- 
tolerably 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 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  313 

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  toward  them  ;  as  he  in- 
stinctively saw  all  this,  that  strange  forbearance  and  un- 
willingness 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  an- 
swered 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 


314  MOBY-DICK 

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  com- 
mand ;  meanwhile  advancing  upon  the  still  seated  Lake- 
man,  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  forbear- 
ance the  sweating  Steelkilt  could  but  ill  brook  this  bearing 
in  the  mate  ;  but  somehow  still  smothering  the  conflagra- 
tion 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. 

4  Steelkilt  rose,  and  slowly  retreating  round  the  wind- 
lass, 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  humour, 
the  Lakeman  paused  on  the  hatches  and  thus  spoke  to 
the  officer  : — 

1  "  Mr.  Radney,  I  will  not  obey  you.  Take  that 
hammer  away,  or  look  to  yourself."  But  the  predestin- 
ated 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  perse- 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  315 

cutor  that  if  the  hammer  but  grazed  his  cheek  he  (Steel- 
kilt)  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  com- 
rades were  standing  their  mast-heads.  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." 

'  "  Ay  ?  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." 

4  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  con- 
tinual stream  of  Venetianly  corrupt  and  often  lawless  life. 
There  's  your  true  Ashantee,  gentlemen  ;  there  howl  your 


316  MOBY-DICK 

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,  gentle- 
men, most  abound  in  holiest  vicinities. 

4  "  Is  that  a  friar  passing  ?  "  said  Don  Pedro,  looking 
downward  into  the  crowded  plaza,  with  humorous 
concern. 

'  "  Well  for  our  northern  friend,  Dame  Isabella's  In- 
quisition wanes  in  Lima,"  laughed  Don  Sebastian.  " Pro- 
ceed, Senor." 

'  "  A  moment !  Pardon  !  "  cried  another  of  the  com- 
pany. "  In  the  name  of  all  us  Limeese,  I  but  desire  to 
express  to  you,  sir  sailor,  that  we  have  by  no  means  over- 
looked 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  forever  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." 

1  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 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  317 

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  pro- 
bationary life  of  the  Grand  Canal  furnishes  the  sole  tran- 
sition 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  5s  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  sur- 
rounded by  the  three  junior  mates  and  the  four  har- 
pooneers,  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  toward  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 


318  MOBY-DICK 

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  desper- 
adoes 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  (Steel- 
kilt'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.  "  Ay,  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  1  " 
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  3s  business  ;  he  might  have  known  me  before  this  ; 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  319 

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  Lake  man,  flinging  out  his 
arm  toward  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." 

6  "  Down  into  the  forecastle  then,  down  with  ye,  I  '11 
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 
companion-way.  Then  opening  the  slide  a  little,  the 
captain  whispered  something  down  the  crack,  closed  it, 


320  MOBY-DICK 

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  inter- 
vals 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  ah*,  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. 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  321 

4  "  Oh !  certainly,"  said  the  captain,  and  the  key  clicked. 

'  It  was  at  this  point,  gentlemen,  that  enraged  by  the 
defection  of  seven  of  his  former  associates,  and  stung  by  the 
mocking  voice  that  had  last  hailed  him,  and  maddened 
by  his  long  entombment  in  a  place  as  black  as  the  bowels 
of  despair  ;  it  was  then  that  Steelkilt  proposed  to  the  two 
Canallers,  thus  far  apparently  of  one  mind  with  him,  to 
burst  out  of  their  hole  at  the  next  summoning  of  the 
garrison  ;  and  armed  with  their  keen  mincing-knives 
(long,  crescentic,  heavy  implements  with  a  handle  at  each 
end)  run  amuck  from  the  bowsprit  to  the  taffrail ;  and  if 
by  any  devilishness  of  desperation  possible,  seize  the  ship. 
For  himself,  he  would  do  this,  he  said,  whether  they  joined 
him  or  not.  That  was  the  last  night  he  should  spend  in 
that  den.  But  the  scheme  met  with  no  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  other  two  ;  they  swore  they  were  ready  for 
that,  or  for  any  other  mad  thing,  for  anything  in  short 
but  a  surrender.  And  what  was  more,  they  each  insisted 
upon  being  the  first  man  on  deck,  when  the  time  to  make 
the  rush  should  come.  But  to  this  their  leader  as  fiercely 
objected,  reserving  that  priority  for  himself  ;  particularly 
as  his  two  comrades  would  not  yield,  the  one  to  the  other, 
in  the  matter  ;  and  both  of  them  could  not  be  first,  for 
the  ladder  would  but  admit  one  man  at  a  time.  And 
here,  gentlemen,  the  foul  play  of  these  miscreants  must 
come  out. 

'  Upon  hearing  the  frantic  project  of  their  leader,  each 
in  his  own  separate  soul  had  suddenly  lighted,  it  would 
seem,  upon  the  same  piece  of  treachery,  namely  :  to  be 
foremost  in  breaking  out,  in  order  to  be  the  first  of  the 
three,  though  the  last  of  the  ten,  to  surrender  ;  and  there- 
by secure  whatever  small  chance  of  pardon  such  conduct 
might  merit.  But  when  Steelkilt  made  known  his  deter- 
mination still  to  lead  them  to  the  last,  they  in  some  way,  by 
some  subtle  chemistry  of  villainy,  mixed  their  before  secret 

VOL.  i,  x 


322  MOBY-DICK 

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  mizen  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  side- 
ways, as  the  two  crucified  thieves  are  drawn. 

4  "  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." 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  323 

'  For  a  moment  the  exhausted  mutineer  made  a  tremu- 
lous 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  clamour  was  heard  in  the  forecastle  :  and  the 


324  MOBY-DICK 

two  trembling  traitors  running  up,  besieged  the  cabin 
door,  saying  they  durst  not  consort  with  the  crew.  En- 
treaties, 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  ensure  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, 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  325 

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. 

c  "  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  Had  "  ;  and  he  rose 
to  go  aft. 

'  "  You  don't  mean  to  go  a-begging  to  him  I  "  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. 

4  But,  gentlemen,  a  fool  saved  the  would-be  murderer 


326  MOBY-DICK 

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. 

1  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  Mahv^JQick. 

4  "  Moby-Dick  !  "  cried  Don  Sebastian  ;  "  St.  Dominic  ! 
sir  sailor,  but  do  whales  have  christenings  ?  Whom  call 
you  Moby-Dick  ?  " 

4  "  A  very  white,  and  famous,  and  most  deadly  immortal 
monster,  Don  ; — but  that  would  be  too  long  a  story." 

4  "  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." 

4  "  Chicha  !  the  chicha  !  "  cried  Don  Pedro  ;  "  our 
vigorous  friend  looks  faint ; — fill  up  his  empty  glass  !  " 

4  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  frenzy.  "  The  White  Whale— the  White 
Whale  !  "  was  the  cry  from  captain,  mates,  and  har- 
pooneers,  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  appal- 
ling beauty  of  the  vast  milky  mass,  that  lit  up  by  a  hori- 
zontal spangling  sun,  shifted  and  glistened  like  a  living 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  327 

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  har- 
pooneer  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  bows- 
man 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 


328  MOBY-DICK 

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  civilised  creature  resided. 
There,  headed  by  the  Lake  man,  all  but  five  or  six  of  the 
foremast-men  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 
harbour. 

4  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  danger- 
ous 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. 


THE  TOWN-HO'S  STORY  329 

'  "  What  do  you  want  of  me  ?  "  cried  the  captain. 

'  "  Where  are  you  bound  ?  and  for  what  are  you 
bound  ?  "  demanded  Steelkilt ;  "no  lies." 

'  "  I  am  bound  to  Tahiti  for  more  men." 

'  "  Very  good.  Let  me  board  you  a  moment — I  come 
in  peace."  With  that  he  leaped  from  the  canoe,  swam  to 
the  boat ;  and  climbing  the  gunwale,  stood  face  to  face 
with  the  captain. 

"  Cross  your  arms,  sir  ;  throw  back  your  head.  Now, 
repeat  after  me.  As  soon  as  Steelkilt  leaves  me,  I  swear 
to  beach  this  boat  on  yonder  island,  and  remain  there  six 
days.  If  I  do  not,  may  lightnings  strike  me  !  " 

'  "  A  pretty  scholar,"  laughed  the  Lakeman.  "  Adios, 
Senor  !  "  and  leaping  into  the  sea,  he  swam  back  to  his 
comrades. 

'  Watching  the  boat  till  it  was  fairly  beached,  and 
drawn  up  to  the  roots  of  the  cocoa-nut  trees,  Steelkilt 
made  sail  again,  and  in  due  time  arrived  at  Tahiti,  his 
own  place  of  destination.  There,  luck  befriended  him  ; 
two  ships  were  about  to  sail  for  France,  and  were  provi- 
dentially in  want  of  precisely  that  number  of  men  which 
the  sailor  headed.  They  embarked ;  and  so  forever  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  civilised  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.  *  *  * 


330  MOBY-DICK 

'  "  Are  you  through  ?  "  said  Don  Sebastian  quietly. 

1  "  I  am,  Don." 

6  "  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  exceed- 
ing interest. 

'  "  Is  there  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Evangelists  hi  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-Fes  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  LV 

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  Hindu,  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-armour  like  Saladin's,  and  a  helmeted 
head  like  St.  George's  ;  ever  since  then  has  something 
of  the  same  sort  of  licence  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, 

331 


332  MOBY-DICK 

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  Hindu 
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  anacondaa  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  Hindu.  It  is  Guide'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  bookbinder'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  bookbinder's  fish  an 


MONSTROUS  PICTURES  OF  WHALES      333 

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 


334  MOBY-DICK 

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  cap- 
tain, 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  nar whale,  one  glimpse  at 
it  is  enough  to  amaze  one,  that  in  this  nineteenth  century 
such  a  hippogrrff  could  be  palmed  for  genuine  upon  any 
intelligent  public  of  schoolboys. 

Then,  again,  in  1825,  Bernard  Germain,  Count  de  Lace- 
pede,  a  great  naturalist,  published  a  scientific  systematised 
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, 


MONSTROUS  PICTURES  OF  WHALES      335 

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  in.  whales,  with 
dromedary  humps,  and  very  savage  ;  breakfasting  on 
three  or  four  sailor  tarts,  that  is  whale-boats  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  repre- 
sent 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  con- 
tour 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 


336  MOBY-DICK 

more  curious  things  about  this  leviathan,  that  his  skele- 
ton 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  envelops  it.  This  peculi- 
arity 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  LVI 

OF  THE  LESS  ERRONEOUS  PICTURES  OF  WHALES,  AND  THE 
TRUE   PICTURES    OF   WHALING   SCENES 

IN  connection  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  hi  Pliny, 
Purchas,  Hakluyt,  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  draw- 
ings 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  parlour  men,  is  admirably  correct 
and  lifelike  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 

VOL.  I.  Y 


338  MOBY-DICK 

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  paint- 
ings by  one  Garnery.  Respectively,  they  represent 
attacks  on  the  sperm  and  right  whale.  In  the  first  en- 
graving 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  oars- 
man, 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  hi  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  draw- 
ing 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  macaroni,  which  the  right  whale 


LESS  ERRONEOUS  PICTURES  339 

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  com- 
motion 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  those  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  experi- 
ence 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 


340  MOBY-DICK 

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  facsimiles  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  ; 


LESS  ERRONEOUS  PICTURES  341 

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  LVII 

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  unquestion- 
able a  stump  as  any  you  will  find  in  the  Western  clearings. 
But,  though  forever  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  Harbour,  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  whalebone,  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 

342 


WHALES  VARIOUSLY  REPRESENTED     343 

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  civilisation  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  roadside 
door.  When  the  porter  is  sleepy,  the  anvil-headed  whale 
would  be  best.  But  these  knocking  whales  are  seldom 


344  MOBY-DICK 

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  standpoint,  else  so  chance-like  are 
such  observations  of  the  hills,  that  your  precise,  previous 
standpoint  would  require  a  laborious  rediscovery  ;  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 


WHALES  VARIOUSLY  REPRESENTED      345 

the  starry  Cetus  far  beyond  the  utmost  stretch  of  Hydras 
and  the  Flying  Fish. 

With  a  frigate's  anchors  for  my  bridle -bits  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  LVII1 

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  arid 
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.1 

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 

1  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. 
346 


BRIT  347 

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  specialities, 
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  in- 
habitants 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  im- 
memorially  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  forever  and  forever,  to  the  crack 
of  doom,  the  sea  will  insult  and  murder  him,  and  pulverise 
the  stateliest,  stiffest  frigate  he  can  make  ;  nevertheless, 
by  the  continual  repetition  of  these  very  impressions, 


348  MOBY-DICK 

man  has  lost  that  sense  of  the  full  awfulness  of  the  sea 
which  aboriginally  belongs  to  it. 

The  jirst  boat  we  read  of,  floated  on  an  ocean,  that  with 
Portuguese  vengeance  had  whelmed  a  whole  world  with- 
out 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  forever  ;  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  offspring  ;  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. 


BRIT  349 

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  encom- 
passed by  all  the  horrors  of  the  half -known  life.  God 
keep  thee  !  Push  not  off  from  that  isle,  thou  canst  never 
return  ! 


CHAPTER  LIX 

SQUID 

SLOWLY  wading  through  the  meadows  of  brit,  the  Pequod 
still  held  on  her  way  north-eastward  toward  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  un- 
attended with  any  stagnant  calm  ;  when  the  long  bur- 
nished 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  mainmast-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  reappearing  once  more,  with  a  stiletto-like  cry  that 
startled  every  man  from  his  nod,  the  negro  yelled  out — 
4  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.  Bareheaded 
in  the  sultry  sun,  Ahab  stood  on  the  bowsprit,  and  with  one 

350 


SQUID  351 

hand  pushed  far  behind  in  readiness  to  wave  his  orders  to 
the  helmsman,  cast  his  eager  glance  in  the  direction  indi- 
cated 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  toward  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.' 


352  MOBY-DICK 

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  circum- 
stance has  gone  far  to  invest  it  with  portent ousness.  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  concern- 
ing 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  de- 
scribes it,  as  alternately  rising  and  sinking,  with  some 
other  particulars  he  narrates,  in  all  this  the  two  corre- 
spond. But  much  abatement  is  necessary  with  respect 
to  the  incredible  bulk  he  assigns  it. 

By  some  naturalists  who  have  vaguely  heard  rumours 
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  LX 

THE   LINE 

WITH  reference  to  the  whaling  scene  shortly  to  be  de- 
scribed, 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,  how- 
ever 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  sus- 
pend a  weight  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  ;  so 

VOL.  i.  z 


354  MOBY-DICK 

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.  Toward  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  spiralisations,  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  downward 
through  a  block  toward  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. 


THE  LINE  355 

First :  In  order  to  facilitate  the  fastening  to  it  of  an 
additional  line  from  a  neighbouring  boat,  in  case  the 
stricken  whale  should  sound  so  deep  as  to  threaten  to 
carry  off  the  entire  line  originally  attached  to  the  har- 
poon. 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  indis- 
pensable 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 
logger-head  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  con- 
tinues 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  connection,  the  short -warp  goes  through  sundry 
mystifications  too  tedious  to  detail. 

Thus  the  whale-line  folds  the  whole  boat  in  its  compli- 
cated coils,  twisting  and  writhing  around  it  in  almost 


356  MOBY-DICK 

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  accom- 
plish ? — 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. 


THE  LINE  357 

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  con- 
tains 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  realise 
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. 


END    OF   VOL.    I. 


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PS  Melville,,  Herman 

2384  Moby-Dick 

M6 

1922 

v.l