{"id":"01KF7FPSC7Y1V8C16SY9CJ24AX","cid":"bafkreibmxqb5i22ix45dbb75hrihngbjvlrfj7yfkotgquwvhqhlynsy6i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15338,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 8","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":15282,"text":"concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest\r\nleviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more\r\nthan one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male. They are\r\ncomparatively delicate, indeed; I dare say, not to exceed half a dozen\r\nyards round the waist. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that upon the\r\nwhole they are hereditarily entitled to _en bon point_.\r\n\r\nIt is very curious to watch this harem and its lord in their indolent\r\nramblings. Like fashionables, they are for ever on the move in\r\nleisurely search of variety. You meet them on the Line in time for the\r\nfull flower of the Equatorial feeding season, having just returned,\r\nperhaps, from spending the summer in the Northern seas, and so cheating\r\nsummer of all unpleasant weariness and warmth. By the time they have\r\nlounged up and down the promenade of the Equator awhile, they start for\r\nthe Oriental waters in anticipation of the cool season there, and so\r\nevade the other excessive temperature of the year.\r\n\r\nWhen serenely advancing on one of these journeys, if any strange\r\nsuspicious sights are seen, my lord whale keeps a wary eye on his\r\ninteresting family. Should any unwarrantably pert young Leviathan\r\ncoming that way, presume to draw confidentially close to one of the\r\nladies, with what prodigious fury the Bashaw assails him, and chases\r\nhim away! High times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are\r\nto be permitted to invade the sanctity of domestic bliss; though do\r\nwhat the Bashaw will, he cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of\r\nhis bed; for, alas! all fish bed in common. As ashore, the ladies often\r\ncause the most terrible duels among their rival admirers; just so with\r\nthe whales, who sometimes come to deadly battle, and all for love. They\r\nfence with their long lower jaws, sometimes locking them together, and\r\nso striving for the supremacy like elks that warringly interweave their\r\nantlers. Not a few are captured having the deep scars of these\r\nencounters,—furrowed heads, broken teeth, scolloped fins; and in some\r\ninstances, wrenched and dislocated mouths.\r\n\r\nBut supposing the invader of domestic bliss to betake himself away at\r\nthe first rush of the harem’s lord, then is it very diverting to watch\r\nthat lord. Gently he insinuates his vast bulk among them again and\r\nrevels there awhile, still in tantalizing vicinity to young Lothario,\r\nlike pious Solomon devoutly worshipping among his thousand concubines.\r\nGranting other whales to be in sight, the fishermen will seldom give\r\nchase to one of these Grand Turks; for these Grand Turks are too lavish\r\nof their strength, and hence their unctuousness is small. As for the\r\nsons and the daughters they beget, why, those sons and daughters must\r\ntake care of themselves; at least, with only the maternal help. For\r\nlike certain other omnivorous roving lovers that might be named, my\r\nLord Whale has no taste for the nursery, however much for the bower;\r\nand so, being a great traveller, he leaves his anonymous babies all\r\nover the world; every baby an exotic. In good time, nevertheless, as\r\nthe ardour of youth declines; as years and dumps increase; as\r\nreflection lends her solemn pauses; in short, as a general lassitude\r\novertakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue supplants the\r\nlove for maidens; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, repentant,\r\nadmonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and grown to\r\nan exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the meridians\r\nand parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young Leviathan from\r\nhis amorous errors.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 8"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"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"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSCZF07W1BZBGESE2N4J","peer_label":"Chunk 9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSB3MYHGF3Z0F8VZ3TAC","peer_label":"Chunk 7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.816Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:28.820Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}