{"id":"01KG8AP5AY98M0DS26XQ81EHRQ","cid":"bafkreifu6b6xspppdt4w2inzfp3xdnza3bosglikvbvt7socq7iuul5ycu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":19147,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.774Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":19089,"text":"CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant.\r\n\r\nThe season for the Line at length drew near; and every day when Ahab,\r\ncoming from his cabin, cast his eyes aloft, the vigilant helmsman would\r\nostentatiously handle his spokes, and the eager mariners quickly run to\r\nthe braces, and would stand there with all their eyes centrally fixed\r\non the nailed doubloon; impatient for the order to point the ship’s\r\nprow for the equator. In good time the order came. It was hard upon\r\nhigh noon; and Ahab, seated in the bows of his high-hoisted boat, was\r\nabout taking his wonted daily observation of the sun to determine his\r\nlatitude.\r\n\r\nNow, in that Japanese sea, the days in summer are as freshets of\r\neffulgences. That unblinkingly vivid Japanese sun seems the blazing\r\nfocus of the glassy ocean’s immeasurable burning-glass. The sky looks\r\nlacquered; clouds there are none; the horizon floats; and this\r\nnakedness of unrelieved radiance is as the insufferable splendors of\r\nGod’s throne. Well that Ahab’s quadrant was furnished with coloured\r\nglasses, through which to take sight of that solar fire. So, swinging\r\nhis seated form to the roll of the ship, and with his\r\nastrological-looking instrument placed to his eye, he remained in that\r\nposture for some moments to catch the precise instant when the sun\r\nshould gain its precise meridian. Meantime while his whole attention\r\nwas absorbed, the Parsee was kneeling beneath him on the ship’s deck,\r\nand with face thrown up like Ahab’s, was eyeing the same sun with him;\r\nonly the lids of his eyes half hooded their orbs, and his wild face was\r\nsubdued to an earthly passionlessness. At length the desired\r\nobservation was taken; and with his pencil upon his ivory leg, Ahab\r\nsoon calculated what his latitude must be at that precise instant. Then\r\nfalling into a moment’s revery, he again looked up towards the sun and\r\nmurmured to himself: “Thou sea-mark! thou high and mighty Pilot! thou\r\ntellest me truly where I _am_—but canst thou cast the least hint where\r\nI _shall_ be? Or canst thou tell where some other thing besides me is\r\nthis moment living? Where is Moby Dick? This instant thou must be\r\neyeing him. These eyes of mine look into the very eye that is even now\r\nbeholding him; aye, and into the eye that is even now equally beholding\r\nthe objects on the unknown, thither side of thee, thou sun!”\r\n\r\nThen gazing at his quadrant, and handling, one after the other, its\r\nnumerous cabalistical contrivances, he pondered again, and muttered:\r\n“Foolish toy! babies’ plaything of haughty Admirals, and Commodores,\r\nand Captains; the world brags of thee, of thy cunning and might; but\r\nwhat after all canst thou do, but tell the poor, pitiful point, where\r\nthou thyself happenest to be on this wide planet, and the hand that\r\nholds thee: no! not one jot more! Thou canst not tell where one drop of\r\nwater or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy\r\nimpotence thou insultest the sun! Science! Curse thee, thou vain toy;\r\nand cursed be all the things that cast man’s eyes aloft to that heaven,\r\nwhose live vividness but scorches him, as these old eyes are even now\r\nscorched with thy light, O sun! Level by nature to this earth’s horizon\r\nare the glances of man’s eyes; not shot from the crown of his head, as\r\nif God had meant him to gaze on his firmament. Curse thee, thou\r\nquadrant!” dashing it to the deck, “no longer will I guide my earthly\r\nway by thee; the level ship’s compass, and the level dead-reckoning, by\r\nlog and by line; _these_ shall conduct me, and show me my place on the\r\nsea. Aye,” lighting from the boat to the deck, “thus I trample on thee,\r\nthou paltry thing that feebly pointest on high; thus I split and\r\ndestroy thee!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AMBF5WRFGRY9PW889V5NY","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP5B298GSH9TZ9T3WGD55","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:33.534Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:56.123Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}