{"id":"01KF7FPP0JE7S40T5GJEY68FBN","cid":"bafkreib65rq5vgvq27disntp4kxobrj5hgmeookcwnmgp2mcah3w3pjc6i","type":"chapter","properties":{"end_line":16350,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:16.565Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"The Lamp","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":16324,"text":"Look at the sailor, called the mincer, who now comes along, and\r\nassisted by two allies, heavily backs the grandissimus, as the mariners\r\ncall it, and with bowed shoulders, staggers off with it as if he were a\r\ngrenadier carrying a dead comrade from the field. Extending it upon the\r\nforecastle deck, he now proceeds cylindrically to remove its dark pelt,\r\nas an African hunter the pelt of a boa. This done he turns the pelt\r\ninside out, like a pantaloon leg; gives it a good stretching, so as\r\nalmost to double its diameter; and at last hangs it, well spread, in\r\nthe rigging, to dry. Ere long, it is taken down; when removing some\r\nthree feet of it, towards the pointed extremity, and then cutting two\r\nslits for arm-holes at the other end, he lengthwise slips himself\r\nbodily into it. The mincer now stands before you invested in the full\r\ncanonicals of his calling. Immemorial to all his order, this\r\ninvestiture alone will adequately protect him, while employed in the\r\npeculiar functions of his office.\r\n\r\nThat office consists in mincing the horse-pieces of blubber for the\r\npots; an operation which is conducted at a curious wooden horse,\r\nplanted endwise against the bulwarks, and with a capacious tub beneath\r\nit, into which the minced pieces drop, fast as the sheets from a rapt\r\norator’s desk. Arrayed in decent black; occupying a conspicuous pulpit;\r\nintent on bible leaves; what a candidate for an archbishopric, what a\r\nlad for a Pope were this mincer!*\r\n\r\n*Bible leaves! Bible leaves! This is the invariable cry from the mates\r\nto the mincer. It enjoins him to be careful, and cut his work into as\r\nthin slices as possible, inasmuch as by so doing the business of\r","title":"The Lamp"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KESYJX0Z6XE0HWTS5N3SDG0B","peer_label":"The Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:17.388Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:17.388Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}