{"id":"01KG8AKWJD0B6ZM5R6250B5J72","cid":"bafkreiaidlbkd3m34cvu76i5mkqhxqqlpuvk75ivyjol4kixtk3hmxuwkq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3796,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":3724,"text":"CHAPTER XX.\r\nIN A FOG HE IS SET TO WORK AS A BELL-TOLLER, AND BEHOLDS A HERD OF\r\nOCEAN-ELEPHANTS\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat is this that we sail through? What palpable obscure? What smoke\r\nand reek, as if the whole steaming world were revolving on its axis, as\r\na spit?\r\n\r\nIt is a Newfoundland Fog; and we are yet crossing the Grand Banks,\r\nwrapt in a mist, that no London in the Novemberest November ever\r\nequaled. The chronometer pronounced it noon; but do you call this\r\nmidnight or midday? So dense is the fog, that though we have a fair\r\nwind, we shorten sail for fear of accidents; and not only that, but\r\nhere am I, poor Wellingborough, mounted aloft on a sort of belfry, the\r\ntop of the _“Sampson-Post,”_ a lofty tower of timber, so called; and\r\ntolling the ship’s bell, as if for a funeral.\r\n\r\nThis is intended to proclaim our approach, and warn all strangers from\r\nour track.\r\n\r\nDreary sound! toll, toll, toll, through the dismal mist and fog.\r\n\r\nThe bell is green with verdigris, and damp with dew; and the little\r\ncord attached to the clapper, by which I toll it, now and then slides\r\nthrough my fingers, slippery with wet. Here I am, in my slouched black\r\nhat, like the _“bull that could pull,”_ announcing the decease of the\r\nlamented Cock-Robin.\r\n\r\nA better device than the bell, however, was once pitched upon by an\r\ningenious sea-captain, of whom I have heard. He had a litter of young\r\nporkers on board; and while sailing through the fog, he stationed men\r\nat both ends of the pen with long poles, wherewith they incessantly\r\nstirred up and irritated the porkers, who split the air with their\r\nsqueals; and no doubt saved the ship, as the geese saved the Capitol.\r\n\r\nThe most strange and unheard-of noises came out of the fog at times: a\r\nvast sound of sighing and sobbing. What could it be? This would be\r\nfollowed by a spout, and a gush, and a cascading commotion, as if some\r\nfountain had suddenly jetted out of the ocean.\r\n\r\nSeated on my Sampson-Post, I stared more and more, and suspended my\r\nduty as a sexton. But presently some one cried out—_“There she blows!\r\nwhales! whales close alongside!”_\r\n\r\nA whale! Think of it! whales close to _me,_ Wellingborough;— would my\r\nown brother believe it? I dropt the clapper as if it were red-hot, and\r\nrushed to the side; and there, dimly floating, lay four or five long,\r\nblack snaky-looking shapes, only a few inches out of the water.\r\n\r\nCan these be whales? Monstrous whales, such as I had heard of? I\r\nthought they would look like mountains on the sea; hills and valleys of\r\nflesh! regular krakens, that made it high tide, and inundated\r\ncontinents, when they descended to feed!\r\n\r\nIt was a bitter disappointment, from which I was long in recovering. I\r\nlost all respect for whales; and began to be a little dubious about the\r\nstory of Jonah; for how could Jonah reside in such an insignificant\r\ntenement; how could he have had elbow-room there? But perhaps, thought\r\nI, the whale which according to Rabbinical traditions was a female one,\r\nmight have expanded to receive him like an anaconda, when it swallows\r\nan elk and leaves the antlers sticking out of its mouth.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, from that day, whales greatly fell in my estimation.\r\n\r\nBut it is always thus. If you read of St. Peter’s, they say, and then\r\ngo and visit it, ten to one, you account it a dwarf compared to your\r\nhigh-raised ideal. And, doubtless, Jonah himself must have been\r\ndisappointed when he looked up to the domed midriff surmounting the\r\nwhale’s belly, and surveyed the ribbed pillars around him. A pretty\r\nlarge belly, to be sure, thought he, but not so big as it might have\r\nbeen.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBS1VE96043NTJQRCA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWJJJM653CQ5CXZ1NJ1A","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.021Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.682Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}