{"id":"01KG8AP3Y06WY8M284M8B9612D","cid":"bafkreicbq4czra6zr2dzmi6j76sydrkig3bvifibi42eto6pwwnobovzxq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12293,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.771Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":12241,"text":"CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx.\r\n\r\nIt should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping\r\nthe body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. Now, the beheading of the\r\nSperm Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced\r\nwhale surgeons very much pride themselves: and not without reason.\r\n\r\nConsider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck;\r\non the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in that\r\nvery place, is the thickest part of him. Remember, also, that the\r\nsurgeon must operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening\r\nbetween him and his subject, and that subject almost hidden in a\r\ndiscoloured, rolling, and oftentimes tumultuous and bursting sea. Bear\r\nin mind, too, that under these untoward circumstances he has to cut\r\nmany feet deep in the flesh; and in that subterraneous manner, without\r\nso much as getting one single peep into the ever-contracting gash thus\r\nmade, he must skilfully steer clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts,\r\nand exactly divide the spine at a critical point hard by its insertion\r\ninto the skull. Do you not marvel, then, at Stubb’s boast, that he\r\ndemanded but ten minutes to behead a sperm whale?\r\n\r\nWhen first severed, the head is dropped astern and held there by a\r\ncable till the body is stripped. That done, if it belong to a small\r\nwhale it is hoisted on deck to be deliberately disposed of. But, with a\r\nfull grown leviathan this is impossible; for the sperm whale’s head\r\nembraces nearly one third of his entire bulk, and completely to suspend\r\nsuch a burden as that, even by the immense tackles of a whaler, this\r\nwere as vain a thing as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers’\r\nscales.\r\n\r\nThe Pequod’s whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the head\r\nwas hoisted against the ship’s side—about half way out of the sea, so\r\nthat it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element. And\r\nthere with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it, by reason of\r\nthe enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head, and every yard-arm\r\non that side projecting like a crane over the waves; there, that\r\nblood-dripping head hung to the Pequod’s waist like the giant\r\nHolofernes’s from the girdle of Judith.\r\n\r\nWhen this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went\r\nbelow to their dinner. Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but\r\nnow deserted deck. An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow\r\nlotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves\r\nupon the sea.\r\n\r\nA short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone\r\nfrom his cabin. Taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, he paused to\r\ngaze over the side, then slowly getting into the main-chains he took\r\nStubb’s long spade—still remaining there after the whale’s\r\ndecapitation—and striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended\r\nmass, placed its other end crutch-wise under one arm, and so stood\r\nleaning over with eyes attentively fixed on this head.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AM8GRMW10GH07XBFXF1QF","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP3Y0TBHS1Z4W3GP9WFXF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:32.096Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:49.637Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}