{"id":"01KG8AP8GDWAXMVSPSJKJRKVMG","cid":"bafkreibefupyivw5rmd2m337gqpq5jdoikpdb3lw33wfnutfogz3shakvm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10825,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.768Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":10763,"text":"chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the microscopic diligence of a\r\nLeuwenhoeck submits to the inspection of a shivering world ninety-six\r\nfac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals. I mean no disparagement\r\nto the excellent voyager (I honor him for a veteran), but in so\r\nimportant a matter it was certainly an oversight not to have procured\r\nfor every crystal a sworn affidavit taken before a Greenland Justice of\r\nthe Peace.\r\n\r\nIn addition to those fine engravings from Garnery, there are two other\r\nFrench engravings worthy of note, by some one who subscribes himself\r\n“H. Durand.” One of them, though not precisely adapted to our present\r\npurpose, nevertheless deserves mention on other accounts. It is a quiet\r\nnoon-scene among the isles of the Pacific; a French whaler anchored,\r\ninshore, in a calm, and lazily taking water on board; the loosened\r\nsails of the ship, and the long leaves of the palms in the background,\r\nboth drooping together in the breezeless air. The effect is very fine,\r\nwhen considered with reference to its presenting the hardy fishermen\r\nunder one of their few aspects of oriental repose. The other engraving\r\nis quite a different affair: the ship hove-to upon the open sea, and in\r\nthe very heart of the Leviathanic life, with a Right Whale alongside;\r\nthe vessel (in the act of cutting-in) hove over to the monster as if to\r\na quay; and a boat, hurriedly pushing off from this scene of activity,\r\nis about giving chase to whales in the distance. The harpoons and\r\nlances lie levelled for use; three oarsmen are just setting the mast in\r\nits hole; while from a sudden roll of the sea, the little craft stands\r\nhalf-erect out of the water, like a rearing horse. From the ship, the\r\nsmoke of the torments of the boiling whale is going up like the smoke\r\nover a village of smithies; and to windward, a black cloud, rising up\r\nwith earnest of squalls and rains, seems to quicken the activity of the\r\nexcited seamen.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in\r\nStone; in Mountains; in Stars.\r\n\r\nOn Tower-hill, as you go down to the London docks, you may have seen a\r\ncrippled beggar (or _kedger_, as the sailors say) holding a painted\r\nboard before him, representing the tragic scene in which he lost his\r\nleg. There are three whales and three boats; and one of the boats\r\n(presumed to contain the missing leg in all its original integrity) is\r\nbeing crunched by the jaws of the foremost whale. Any time these ten\r\nyears, they tell me, has that man held up that picture, and exhibited\r\nthat stump to an incredulous world. But the time of his justification\r\nhas now come. His three whales are as good whales as were ever\r\npublished in Wapping, at any rate; and his stump as unquestionable a\r\nstump as any you will find in the western clearings. But, though for\r\never mounted on that stump, never a stump-speech does the poor whaleman\r\nmake; but, with downcast eyes, stands ruefully contemplating his own\r\namputation.\r\n\r\nThroughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag\r\nHarbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and\r\nwhaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm\r\nWhale-teeth, or ladies’ busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and\r\nother like skrimshander articles, as the whalemen call the numerous\r\nlittle ingenious contrivances they elaborately carve out of the rough\r\nmaterial, in their hours of ocean leisure. Some of them have little\r\nboxes of dentistical-looking implements, specially intended for the\r\nskrimshandering business. But, in general, they toil with their\r\njack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool of the sailor,\r\nthey will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a mariner’s\r\nfancy.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AM7XEJTHWA7R3YZ7TZ3Y3","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP8GDQKXXA3EZW0XF6ECT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP8GDSVZ09EWY1539WZ4E","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:36.781Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:48.342Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}