{"id":"01KG8AP7877S4N39ABMXXWEQY2","cid":"bafkreibhsveczdfxzyb4zoawjcqwssdlpcnwvt46i3rdskjclptbj3nwii","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14769,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.771Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":14718,"text":"hearth. But still you see his power in his play. The broad palms of his\r\ntail are flirted high into the air; then smiting the surface, the\r\nthunderous concussion resounds for miles. You would almost think a\r\ngreat gun had been discharged; and if you noticed the light wreath of\r\nvapor from the spiracle at his other extremity, you would think that\r\nthat was the smoke from the touch-hole.\r\n\r\nFifth: As in the ordinary floating posture of the leviathan the flukes\r\nlie considerably below the level of his back, they are then completely\r\nout of sight beneath the surface; but when he is about to plunge into\r\nthe deeps, his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are\r\ntossed erect in the air, and so remain vibrating a moment, till they\r\ndownwards shoot out of view. Excepting the sublime _breach_—somewhere\r\nelse to be described—this peaking of the whale’s flukes is perhaps the\r\ngrandest sight to be seen in all animated nature. Out of the bottomless\r\nprofundities the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the\r\nhighest heaven. So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting\r\nforth his tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. But in\r\ngazing at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; if in the\r\nDantean, the devils will occur to you; if in that of Isaiah, the\r\narchangels. Standing at the mast-head of my ship during a sunrise that\r\ncrimsoned sky and sea, I once saw a large herd of whales in the east,\r\nall heading towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with\r\npeaked flukes. As it seemed to me at the time, such a grand embodiment\r\nof adoration of the gods was never beheld, even in Persia, the home of\r\nthe fire worshippers. As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the African\r\nelephant, I then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most\r\ndevout of all beings. For according to King Juba, the military\r\nelephants of antiquity often hailed the morning with their trunks\r\nuplifted in the profoundest silence.\r\n\r\nThe chance comparison in this chapter, between the whale and the\r\nelephant, so far as some aspects of the tail of the one and the trunk\r\nof the other are concerned, should not tend to place those two opposite\r\norgans on an equality, much less the creatures to which they\r\nrespectively belong. For as the mightiest elephant is but a terrier to\r\nLeviathan, so, compared with Leviathan’s tail, his trunk is but the\r\nstalk of a lily. The most direful blow from the elephant’s trunk were\r\nas the playful tap of a fan, compared with the measureless crush and\r\ncrash of the sperm whale’s ponderous flukes, which in repeated\r\ninstances have one after the other hurled entire boats with all their\r\noars and crews into the air, very much as an Indian juggler tosses his\r\nballs.*\r\n\r\n*Though all comparison in the way of general bulk between the whale and\r\nthe elephant is preposterous, inasmuch as in that particular the\r\nelephant stands in much the same respect to the whale that a dog does\r\nto the elephant; nevertheless, there are not wanting some points of\r\ncurious similitude; among these is the spout. It is well known that the\r\nelephant will often draw up water or dust in his trunk, and then\r\nelevating it, jet it forth in a stream.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AM9QN704AKJS0W1C1Z4DH","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP6N67NV518GWR0WVQND2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP78506AXCW7S89TC3K3F","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:35.495Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:52.231Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}