{"id":"01KFNR89KYBN7T18CQSDQAQJG6","cid":"bafkreiapboyfcg7cedy2ukzrqnd7xqabyv4ynep6onyk4ouia5skar6bce","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15198,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.764Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 38","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":15138,"text":"The delicate side-fins, and the palms of his flukes, still freshly\r\nretained the plaited crumpled appearance of a baby’s ears newly arrived\r\nfrom foreign parts.\r\n\r\n“Line! line!” cried Queequeg, looking over the gunwale; “him fast! him\r\nfast!—Who line him! Who struck?—Two whale; one big, one little!”\r\n\r\n“What ails ye, man?” cried Starbuck.\r\n\r\n“Look-e here,” said Queequeg, pointing down.\r\n\r\nAs when the stricken whale, that from the tub has reeled out hundreds\r\nof fathoms of rope; as, after deep sounding, he floats up again, and\r\nshows the slackened curling line buoyantly rising and spiralling\r\ntowards the air; so now, Starbuck saw long coils of the umbilical cord\r\nof Madame Leviathan, by which the young cub seemed still tethered to\r\nits dam. Not seldom in the rapid vicissitudes of the chase, this\r\nnatural line, with the maternal end loose, becomes entangled with the\r\nhempen one, so that the cub is thereby trapped. Some of the subtlest\r\nsecrets of the seas seemed divulged to us in this enchanted pond. We\r\nsaw young Leviathan amours in the deep.*\r\n\r\n*The sperm whale, as with all other species of the Leviathan, but\r\nunlike most other fish, breeds indifferently at all seasons; after a\r\ngestation which may probably be set down at nine months, producing but\r\none at a time; though in some few known instances giving birth to an\r\nEsau and Jacob:—a contingency provided for in suckling by two teats,\r\ncuriously 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","title":"Chunk 38"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","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":"01KFNR89MSSP0HNFKN54JPY12T","peer_label":"Chunk 39","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89PQJ6Q8V1N4SDVD450D","peer_label":"Chunk 37","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.225Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.689Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}