{"id":"01KF7FPSDCZV1WH2Y5WC980QBM","cid":"bafkreiecweqlwsauevbzvcxx26opkpkp3ngvehf7bk5sdanyplsxcpav2i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15225,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.408Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":15165,"text":"curiously situated, one on each side of the anus; but the breasts\r\nthemselves extend upwards from that. When by chance these precious\r\nparts in a nursing whale are cut by the hunter’s lance, the mother’s\r\npouring milk and blood rivallingly discolour the sea for rods. The milk\r\nis very sweet and rich; it has been tasted by man; it might do well\r\nwith strawberries. When overflowing with mutual esteem, the whales\r\nsalute _more hominum_.\r\n\r\nAnd thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and\r\naffrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and\r\nfearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yea, serenely revelled\r\nin dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of\r\nmy being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm;\r\nand while ponderous planets of unwaning woe revolve round me, deep down\r\nand deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, as we thus lay entranced, the occasional sudden frantic\r\nspectacles in the distance evinced the activity of the other boats,\r\nstill engaged in drugging the whales on the frontier of the host; or\r\npossibly carrying on the war within the first circle, where abundance\r\nof room and some convenient retreats were afforded them. But the sight\r\nof the enraged drugged whales now and then blindly darting to and fro\r\nacross the circles, was nothing to what at last met our eyes. It is\r\nsometimes the custom when fast to a whale more than commonly powerful\r\nand alert, to seek to hamstring him, as it were, by sundering or\r\nmaiming his gigantic tail-tendon. It is done by darting a short-handled\r\ncutting-spade, to which is attached a rope for hauling it back again. A\r\nwhale wounded (as we afterwards learned) in this part, but not\r\neffectually, as it seemed, had broken away from the boat, carrying\r\nalong with him half of the harpoon line; and in the extraordinary agony\r\nof the wound, he was now dashing among the revolving circles like the\r\nlone mounted desperado Arnold, at the battle of Saratoga, carrying\r\ndismay wherever he went.\r\n\r\nBut agonizing as was the wound of this whale, and an appalling\r\nspectacle enough, any way; yet the peculiar horror with which he seemed\r\nto inspire the rest of the herd, was owing to a cause which at first\r\nthe intervening distance obscured from us. But at length we perceived\r\nthat by one of the unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale\r\nhad become entangled in the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run\r\naway with the cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope\r\nattached to that weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the\r\nharpoon-line round his tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose\r\nfrom his flesh. So that tormented to madness, he was now churning\r\nthrough the water, violently flailing with his flexible tail, and\r\ntossing the keen spade about him, wounding and murdering his own\r\ncomrades.\r\n\r\nThis terrific object seemed to recall the whole herd from their\r\nstationary fright. First, the whales forming the margin of our lake\r\nbegan to crowd a little, and tumble against each other, as if lifted by\r\nhalf spent billows from afar; then the lake itself began faintly to\r\nheave and swell; the submarine bridal-chambers and nurseries vanished;\r\nin more and more contracting orbits the whales in the more central\r\ncircles began to swim in thickening clusters. Yes, the long calm was\r\ndeparting. A low advancing hum was soon heard; and then like to the\r\ntumultuous masses of block-ice when the great river Hudson breaks up in\r\nSpring, the entire host of whales came tumbling upon their inner\r\ncentre, as if to pile themselves up in one common mountain. Instantly\r\nStarbuck and Queequeg changed places; Starbuck taking the stern.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"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":"01KF7FPSB3MYHGF3Z0F8VZ3TAC","peer_label":"Chunk 7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSCE4AMQQ7EN8NED9S94","peer_label":"Chunk 5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.960Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:28.855Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}