{"id":"01KG8AP4MT7ZH92G3HN2979JWH","cid":"bafkreiajscewnby3e7z42x27yo2yp2ofpo2llux3znbknte2jvbvyscp7e","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":18428,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.774Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":18369,"text":"adequately tell. So that—let us say it again—no dying Chaldee or Greek\r\nhad higher and holier thoughts than those, whose mysterious shades you\r\nsaw creeping over the face of poor Queequeg, as he quietly lay in his\r\nswaying hammock, and the rolling sea seemed gently rocking him to his\r\nfinal rest, and the ocean’s invisible flood-tide lifted him higher and\r\nhigher towards his destined heaven.\r\n\r\nNot a man of the crew but gave him up; and, as for Queequeg himself,\r\nwhat he thought of his case was forcibly shown by a curious favour he\r\nasked. He called one to him in the grey morning watch, when the day was\r\njust breaking, and taking his hand, said that while in Nantucket he had\r\nchanced to see certain little canoes of dark wood, like the rich\r\nwar-wood of his native isle; and upon inquiry, he had learned that all\r\nwhalemen who died in Nantucket, were laid in those same dark canoes,\r\nand that the fancy of being so laid had much pleased him; for it was\r\nnot unlike the custom of his own race, who, after embalming a dead\r\nwarrior, stretched him out in his canoe, and so left him to be floated\r\naway to the starry archipelagoes; for not only do they believe that the\r\nstars are isles, but that far beyond all visible horizons, their own\r\nmild, uncontinented seas, interflow with the blue heavens; and so form\r\nthe white breakers of the milky way. He added, that he shuddered at the\r\nthought of being buried in his hammock, according to the usual\r\nsea-custom, tossed like something vile to the death-devouring sharks.\r\nNo: he desired a canoe like those of Nantucket, all the more congenial\r\nto him, being a whaleman, that like a whale-boat these coffin-canoes\r\nwere without a keel; though that involved but uncertain steering, and\r\nmuch lee-way adown the dim ages.\r\n\r\nNow, when this strange circumstance was made known aft, the carpenter\r\nwas at once commanded to do Queequeg’s bidding, whatever it might\r\ninclude. There was some heathenish, coffin-coloured old lumber aboard,\r\nwhich, upon a long previous voyage, had been cut from the aboriginal\r\ngroves of the Lackaday islands, and from these dark planks the coffin\r\nwas recommended to be made. No sooner was the carpenter apprised of the\r\norder, than taking his rule, he forthwith with all the indifferent\r\npromptitude of his character, proceeded into the forecastle and took\r\nQueequeg’s measure with great accuracy, regularly chalking Queequeg’s\r\nperson as he shifted the rule.\r\n\r\n“Ah! poor fellow! he’ll have to die now,” ejaculated the Long Island\r\nsailor.\r\n\r\nGoing to his vice-bench, the carpenter for convenience sake and general\r\nreference, now transferringly measured on it the exact length the\r\ncoffin was to be, and then made the transfer permanent by cutting two\r\nnotches at its extremities. This done, he marshalled the planks and his\r\ntools, and to work.\r\n\r\nWhen the last nail was driven, and the lid duly planed and fitted, he\r\nlightly shouldered the coffin and went forward with it, inquiring\r\nwhether they were ready for it yet in that direction.\r\n\r\nOverhearing the indignant but half-humorous cries with which the people\r\non deck began to drive the coffin away, Queequeg, to every one’s\r\nconsternation, commanded that the thing should be instantly brought to\r\nhim, nor was there any denying him; seeing that, of all mortals, some\r\ndying men are the most tyrannical; and certainly, since they will\r\nshortly trouble us so little for evermore, the poor fellows ought to be\r\nindulged.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AMATFHPB7J72VNAZCYW91","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP4MTAR5WZMQ9DJSKY1HS","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP4MTKSVF70EXBCP6B7PG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:32.826Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:55.515Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}