{"id":"01KG8AMA8ZNN9QQEARV7QXD93Q","cid":"bafkreidhvdfhpz75scduchfudupmarvlkn4jrllxn5ysxe3grh7edcrqxe","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.\n\n## Overview\n\"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.\" is a section extracted from the plain text file [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). This section, labeled \"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.\", spans lines 16501 to 16527 and was extracted on January 30, 2026, by the structure-extraction-lambda. It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of the chapter [BOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER III. (_Mealy-mouthed Porpoise_)](arke:01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM), indicating its place in a structured literary work. It follows [CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works.](arke:01KG8AMA8ZBTY949CN1GV7YMZ7) and precedes [CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up.](arke:01KG8AMA8W4WKH3T7WHZXDM9W8).\n\n## Contents\nThe section's text describes the use of lamps on a whaling ship, contrasting the scarcity of oil for sailors in merchantmen with the abundance of light enjoyed by whalemen. It highlights the whalemen's practice of using lamps, often old bottles, and the quality of the whale oil they burn. The text emphasizes the purity of the oil and its freshness, comparing the whaleman's pursuit of it to a traveler seeking game.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:51:11.391Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.","end_line":16527,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.272Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":16501,"text":"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.\r\n\r\nHad you descended from the Pequod’s try-works to the Pequod’s\r\nforecastle, where the off duty watch were sleeping, for one single\r\nmoment you would have almost thought you were standing in some\r\nilluminated shrine of canonized kings and counsellors. There they lay\r\nin their triangular oaken vaults, each mariner a chiselled muteness; a\r\nscore of lamps flashing upon his hooded eyes.\r\n\r\nIn merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of\r\nqueens. To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in\r\ndarkness to his pallet, this is his usual lot. But the whaleman, as he\r\nseeks the food of light, so he lives in light. He makes his berth an\r\nAladdin’s lamp, and lays him down in it; so that in the pitchiest night\r\nthe ship’s black hull still houses an illumination.\r\n\r\nSee with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of\r\nlamps—often but old bottles and vials, though—to the copper cooler at\r\nthe try-works, and replenishes them there, as mugs of ale at a vat. He\r\nburns, too, the purest of oil, in its unmanufactured, and, therefore,\r\nunvitiated state; a fluid unknown to solar, lunar, or astral\r\ncontrivances ashore. It is sweet as early grass butter in April. He\r\ngoes and hunts for his oil, so as to be sure of its freshness and\r\ngenuineness, even as the traveller on the prairie hunts up his own\r\nsupper of game.\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER 97. The Lamp."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMA8ZBTY949CN1GV7YMZ7","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMA8W4WKH3T7WHZXDM9W8","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.055Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:51:11.656Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}