{"id":"01KFNR8BBRFH0SCJGTW65681E9","cid":"bafkreighfrfsflt5anlbo2e4oaj26wr5fo2nadwu5oqqvthxsdxcp7suvy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":17342,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.398Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":17286,"text":"whale fishery. In the first place, the amount of butter, and Texel and\r\nLeyden cheese consumed, seems amazing. I impute it, though, to their\r\nnaturally unctuous natures, being rendered still more unctuous by the\r\nnature of their vocation, and especially by their pursuing their game\r\nin those frigid Polar Seas, on the very coasts of that Esquimaux\r\ncountry where the convivial natives pledge each other in bumpers of\r\ntrain oil.\r\n\r\nThe quantity of beer, too, is very large, 10,800 barrels. Now, as those\r\npolar fisheries could only be prosecuted in the short summer of that\r\nclimate, so that the whole cruise of one of these Dutch whalemen,\r\nincluding the short voyage to and from the Spitzbergen sea, did not\r\nmuch exceed three months, say, and reckoning 30 men to each of their\r\nfleet of 180 sail, we have 5,400 Low Dutch seamen in all; therefore, I\r\nsay, we have precisely two barrels of beer per man, for a twelve weeks’\r\nallowance, exclusive of his fair proportion of that 550 ankers of gin.\r\nNow, whether these gin and beer harpooneers, so fuddled as one might\r\nfancy them to have been, were the right sort of men to stand up in a\r\nboat’s head, and take good aim at flying whales; this would seem\r\nsomewhat improbable. Yet they did aim at them, and hit them too. But\r\nthis was very far North, be it remembered, where beer agrees well with\r\nthe constitution; upon the Equator, in our southern fishery, beer would\r\nbe apt to make the harpooneer sleepy at the mast-head and boozy in his\r\nboat; and grievous loss might ensue to Nantucket and New Bedford.\r\n\r\nBut no more; enough has been said to show that the old Dutch whalers of\r\ntwo or three centuries ago were high livers; and that the English\r\nwhalers have not neglected so excellent an example. For, say they, when\r\ncruising in an empty ship, if you can get nothing better out of the\r\nworld, get a good dinner out of it, at least. And this empties the\r\ndecanter.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides.\r\n\r\nHitherto, in descriptively treating of the Sperm Whale, I have chiefly\r\ndwelt upon the marvels of his outer aspect; or separately and in detail\r\nupon some few interior structural features. But to a large and thorough\r\nsweeping comprehension of him, it behooves me now to unbutton him still\r\nfurther, and untagging the points of his hose, unbuckling his garters,\r\nand casting loose the hooks and the eyes of the joints of his innermost\r\nbones, set him before you in his ultimatum; that is to say, in his\r\nunconditional skeleton.\r\n\r\nBut how now, Ishmael? How is it, that you, a mere oarsman in the\r\nfishery, pretend to know aught about the subterranean parts of the\r\nwhale? Did erudite Stubb, mounted upon your capstan, deliver lectures\r\non the anatomy of the Cetacea; and by help of the windlass, hold up a\r\nspecimen rib for exhibition? Explain thyself, Ishmael. Can you land a\r\nfull-grown whale on your deck for examination, as a cook dishes a\r\nroast-pig? Surely not. A veritable witness have you hitherto been,\r\nIshmael; but have a care how you seize the privilege of Jonah alone;\r\nthe privilege of discoursing upon the joists and beams; the rafters,\r\nridge-pole, sleepers, and under-pinnings, making up the frame-work of\r\nleviathan; and belike of the tallow-vats, dairy-rooms, butteries, and\r\ncheeseries in his bowels.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR849R93YVRZV44VYTQ6VY","peer_label":"The Doubloon","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR849R93YVRZV44VYTQ6VY","peer_label":"The Doubloon","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":"01KFNR8BDH29WJ0K95PHST57H6","peer_label":"Chunk 7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8BCAH7AQ17NT69MC0HQA","peer_label":"Chunk 5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:07.012Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.722Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}