{"id":"01KFNR88BGYRSQMPDTR1XGTS2N","cid":"bafkreicbstzccumirlpfvfyyvenopljsbxzxl4pl2ea24rurykyad5phwa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6078,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.413Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":6022,"text":"and you will then see the great Sperm whale himself in miniature.\r\n\r\nBOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER II. (_Algerine Porpoise_).—A pirate.\r\nVery savage. He is only found, I think, in the Pacific. He is somewhat\r\nlarger than the Huzza Porpoise, but much of the same general make.\r\nProvoke him, and he will buckle to a shark. I have lowered for him many\r\ntimes, but never yet saw him captured.\r\n\r\nBOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER III. (_Mealy-mouthed Porpoise_).—The\r\nlargest kind of Porpoise; and only found in the Pacific, so far as it\r\nis known. The only English name, by which he has hitherto been\r\ndesignated, is that of the fishers—Right-Whale Porpoise, from the\r\ncircumstance that he is chiefly found in the vicinity of that Folio. In\r\nshape, he differs in some degree from the Huzza Porpoise, being of a\r\nless rotund and jolly girth; indeed, he is of quite a neat and\r\ngentleman-like figure. He has no fins on his back (most other porpoises\r\nhave), he has a lovely tail, and sentimental Indian eyes of a hazel\r\nhue. But his mealy-mouth spoils all. Though his entire back down to his\r\nside fins is of a deep sable, yet a boundary line, distinct as the mark\r\nin a ship’s hull, called the “bright waist,” that line streaks him from\r\nstem to stern, with two separate colours, black above and white below.\r\nThe white comprises part of his head, and the whole of his mouth, which\r\nmakes him look as if he had just escaped from a felonious visit to a\r\nmeal-bag. A most mean and mealy aspect! His oil is much like that of\r\nthe common porpoise.\r\n\r\n  * * * * * *\r\n\r\nBeyond the DUODECIMO, this system does not proceed, inasmuch as the\r\nPorpoise is the smallest of the whales. Above, you have all the\r\nLeviathans of note. But there are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive,\r\nhalf-fabulous whales, which, as an American whaleman, I know by\r\nreputation, but not personally. I shall enumerate them by their\r\nfore-castle appellations; for possibly such a list may be valuable to\r\nfuture investigators, who may complete what I have here but begun. If\r\nany of the following whales, shall hereafter be caught and marked, then\r\nhe can readily be incorporated into this System, according to his\r\nFolio, Octavo, or Duodecimo magnitude:—The Bottle-Nose Whale; the Junk\r\nWhale; the Pudding-Headed Whale; the Cape Whale; the Leading Whale; the\r\nCannon Whale; the Scragg Whale; the Coppered Whale; the Elephant Whale;\r\nthe Iceberg Whale; the Quog Whale; the Blue Whale; etc. From Icelandic,\r\nDutch, and old English authorities, there might be quoted other lists\r\nof uncertain whales, blessed with all manner of uncouth names. But I\r\nomit them as altogether obsolete; and can hardly help suspecting them\r\nfor mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying nothing.\r\n\r\nFinally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be\r\nhere, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have\r\nkept my word. But I now leave my cetological System standing thus\r\nunfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the\r\ncrane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small\r\nerections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true\r\nones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever\r\ncompleting anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the\r\ndraught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84A9QXWBKCWCK87YB232","peer_label":"32","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84A9QXWBKCWCK87YB232","peer_label":"32","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR889R2XRM51BP3ASG53ZG","peer_label":"Chunk 8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.004Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:19.052Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}