{"id":"01KFNR89M32BNY7VZT8GH2D1G7","cid":"bafkreia6akvlybon2zr2euhirbp4mxfy2xuscw7qgcim2jtbn5z5ypnlqm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15315,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.765Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 40","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":15249,"text":"whales might be dropped astern, and likewise to secure one which Flask\r\nhad killed and waifed. The waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of\r\nwhich are carried by every boat; and which, when additional game is at\r\nhand, are inserted upright into the floating body of a dead whale, both\r\nto mark its place on the sea, and also as token of prior possession,\r\nshould the boats of any other ship draw near.\r\n\r\nThe result of this lowering was somewhat illustrative of that sagacious\r\nsaying in the Fishery,—the more whales the less fish. Of all the\r\ndrugged whales only one was captured. The rest contrived to escape for\r\nthe time, but only to be taken, as will hereafter be seen, by some\r\nother craft than the Pequod.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters.\r\n\r\nThe previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm\r\nWhales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those\r\nvast aggregations.\r\n\r\nNow, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must\r\nhave been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are\r\noccasionally observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each.\r\nSuch bands are known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those\r\ncomposed almost entirely of females, and those mustering none but young\r\nvigorous males, or bulls, as they are familiarly designated.\r\n\r\nIn cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a\r\nmale of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces\r\nhis gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his\r\nladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about\r\nover the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and\r\nendearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his\r\nconcubines 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","title":"Chunk 40"},"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":"01KFNR89KVJP55F03QTRF0TXZV","peer_label":"Chunk 41","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89MSSP0HNFKN54JPY12T","peer_label":"Chunk 39","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.359Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.715Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}