{"id":"01KFNR89MKDEJKA09CDJ5NVW8T","cid":"bafkreigmk32bjvrwgysfc6nsqwlmjpi45hmn5d6yqyb34c5lxnz4ofyxuu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14771,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.760Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 29","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":14715,"text":"opposing water, then partly owing to the light buoyancy of the\r\nwhale-boat, and the elasticity of its materials, a cracked rib or a\r\ndashed plank or two, a sort of stitch in the side, is generally the\r\nmost serious result. These submerged side blows are so often received\r\nin the fishery, that they are accounted mere child’s play. Some one\r\nstrips off a frock, and the hole is stopped.\r\n\r\nThird: I cannot demonstrate it, but it seems to me, that in the whale\r\nthe sense of touch is concentrated in the tail; for in this respect\r\nthere is a delicacy in it only equalled by the daintiness of the\r\nelephant’s trunk. This delicacy is chiefly evinced in the action of\r\nsweeping, when in maidenly gentleness the whale with a certain soft\r\nslowness moves his immense flukes from side to side upon the surface of\r\nthe sea; and if he feel but a sailor’s whisker, woe to that sailor,\r\nwhiskers and all. What tenderness there is in that preliminary touch!\r\nHad this tail any prehensile power, I should straightway bethink me of\r\nDarmonodes’ elephant that so frequented the flower-market, and with low\r\nsalutations presented nosegays to damsels, and then caressed their\r\nzones. On more accounts than one, a pity it is that the whale does not\r\npossess this prehensile virtue in his tail; for I have heard of yet\r\nanother elephant, that when wounded in the fight, curved round his\r\ntrunk and extracted the dart.\r\n\r\nFourth: Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the\r\nmiddle of solitary seas, you find him unbent from the vast corpulence\r\nof his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a\r\nhearth. But still you see his power in his play. The broad palms of his\r\ntail are flirted high into the air; then smiting the surface, the\r\nthunderous concussion resounds for miles. You would almost think a\r\ngreat gun had been discharged; and if you noticed the light wreath of\r\nvapor from the spiracle at his other extremity, you would think that\r\nthat was the smoke from the touch-hole.\r\n\r\nFifth: As in the ordinary floating posture of the leviathan the flukes\r\nlie considerably below the level of his back, they are then completely\r\nout of sight beneath the surface; but when he is about to plunge into\r\nthe deeps, his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are\r\ntossed erect in the air, and so remain vibrating a moment, till they\r\ndownwards shoot out of view. Excepting the sublime _breach_—somewhere\r\nelse to be described—this peaking of the whale’s flukes is perhaps the\r\ngrandest sight to be seen in all animated nature. Out of the bottomless\r\nprofundities the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the\r\nhighest heaven. So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting\r\nforth his tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. But in\r\ngazing at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; if in the\r\nDantean, the devils will occur to you; if in that of Isaiah, the\r\narchangels. Standing at the mast-head of my ship during a sunrise that\r\ncrimsoned sky and sea, I once saw a large herd of whales in the east,\r\nall heading towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with\r\npeaked flukes. As it seemed to me at the time, such a grand embodiment\r\nof adoration of the gods was never beheld, even in Persia, the home of\r\nthe fire worshippers. As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the African\r\nelephant, I then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most\r\ndevout of all beings. For according to King Juba, the military\r\nelephants of antiquity often hailed the morning with their trunks\r\nuplifted in the profoundest silence.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 29"},"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":"01KFNR89MGW4Z5NR9K3QH60WF6","peer_label":"Chunk 30","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89N9ZVA89FV25HDCFQ2H","peer_label":"Chunk 28","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.291Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:18.086Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}