{"id":"01KJNXJV784W86YNR3N438348W","cid":"bafkreih54hv246nzmwfyoilqwi24zgr5bdiltsth2ejh472btmonp23uom","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":845385,"char_start":837661,"chunk_index":118,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":1931,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"elephant 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\nThe more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my\r\ninability to express it. At times there are gestures in it, which,\r\nthough they would well grace the hand of man, remain wholly\r\ninexplicable. In an extensive herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are\r\nthese mystic gestures, that I have heard hunters who have declared them\r\nakin to Free-Mason signs and symbols; that the whale, indeed, by these\r\nmethods intelligently conversed with the world. Nor are there wanting\r\nother motions of the whale in his general body, full of strangeness,\r\nand unaccountable to his most experienced assailant. Dissect him how I\r\nmay, then, I but go skin deep; I know him not, and never will. But if I\r\nknow not even the tail of this whale, how understand his head? much\r\nmore, how comprehend his face, when face he has none? Thou shalt see my\r\nback parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face shall not be seen.\r\nBut I cannot completely make out his back parts; and hint what he will\r\nabout his face, I say again he has no face.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada.\r\n\r\nThe long and narrow peninsula of Malacca, extending south-eastward from\r\nthe territories of Birmah, forms the most southerly point of all Asia.\r\nIn a continuous line from that peninsula stretch the long islands of\r\nSumatra, Java, Bally, and Timor; which, with many others, form a vast\r\nmole, or rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and\r\ndividing the long unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded\r\noriental archipelagoes. This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports\r\nfor the convenience of ships and whales; conspicuous among which are\r\nthe straits of Sunda and Malacca. By the straits of Sunda, chiefly,\r\nvessels bound to China from the west, emerge into the China seas.\r\n\r\nThose narrow straits of Sunda divide Sumatra from Java; and standing\r\nmidway in that vast rampart of islands, buttressed by that bold green\r\npromontory, known to seamen as Java Head; they not a little correspond\r\nto the central gateway opening into some vast walled empire: and\r\nconsidering the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels,\r\nand gold, and ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental\r\nsea are enriched, it seems a significant provision of nature, that such\r\ntreasures, by the very formation of the land, should at least bear the\r\nappearance, however ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping\r\nwestern world. The shores of the Straits of Sunda are unsupplied with\r\nthose domineering fortresses which guard the entrances to the\r\nMediterranean, the Baltic, and the Propontis. Unlike the Danes, these\r\nOrientals do not demand the obsequious homage of lowered top-sails from\r\nthe endless procession of ships before the wind, which for centuries\r\npast, by night and by day, have passed between the islands of Sumatra\r\nand Java, freighted with the costliest cargoes of the east. But while\r\nthey freely waive a ceremonial like this, they do by no means renounce\r\ntheir claim to more solid tribute.\r\n\r\nTime out of mind the piratical proas of the Malays, lurking among the\r\nlow shaded coves and islets of Sumatra, have sallied out upon the\r\nvessels sailing through the straits, fiercely demanding tribute at the\r\npoint of their spears. Though by the repeated bloody chastisements they\r\nhave received at the hands of European cruisers, the audacity of these\r\ncorsairs has of late been somewhat repressed; yet, even at the present\r\nday, we occasionally hear of English and American vessels, which, in\r\nthose waters, have been remorselessly boarded and pillaged.\r\n\r\nWith a fair, fresh wind, the Pequod was now drawing nigh to these\r\nstraits; Ahab purposing to pass through them into the Javan sea, and\r\nthence, cruising northwards, over waters known to be frequented here\r\nand there by the Sperm Whale, sweep inshore by the Philippine Islands,\r\nand gain the far coast of Japan, in time for the great whaling season\r\nthere. By these means, the circumnavigating Pequod would sweep almost\r\nall the known Sperm Whale cruising grounds of the world, previous to\r\ndescending upon the Line in the Pacific; where Ahab, though everywhere\r\nelse foiled in his pursuit, firmly counted upon giving battle to Moby\r\nDick, in the sea he was most known to frequent; and at a season when he\r\nmight most reasonably be presumed to be haunting it.\r\n\r\nBut how now? in this zoned quest, does Ahab touch no land? does his\r\ncrew drink air? Surely, he will stop for water. Nay. For a long time,\r\nnow, the circus-running sun has raced within his fiery ring, and needs\r\nno sustenance but what’s in himself. So Ahab. Mark this, too, in the\r\nwhaler. While other hulls are loaded down with alien stuff, to be\r\ntransferred to foreign wharves; the world-wandering whale-ship carries\r\nno cargo but herself and crew, their weapons and their wants. She has a\r\nwhole lake’s contents bottled in her ample hold. She is ballasted with\r\nutilities; not altogether with unusable pig-lead and kentledge. She\r\ncarries years’ water in her. Clear old prime Nantucket water; which,\r\nwhen three years afloat, the Nantucketer, in the Pacific, prefers to\r\ndrink before the brackish fluid, but yesterday rafted off in casks,\r\nfrom the Peruvian or Indian streams. Hence it is, that, while other\r\nships may have gone to China from New York, and back again, touching at\r\na score of ports, the whale-ship, in all that interval, may not have\r\nsighted one grain of soil; her crew having seen no man but floating\r\nseamen like themselves. So that did you carry them the news that\r\nanother flood had come; they would only answer—“Well, boys, here’s the\r\nark!”\r\n\r\nNow, as many Sperm Whales had been captured off the western coast of\r\nJava, in the near vicinity of the Straits of Sunda; indeed, as most of\r\nthe ground, roundabout, was generally recognised by the fishermen as an\r\nexcellent spot for cruising; therefore, as the Pequod gained more and\r\nmore upon Java Head, the look-outs were repeatedly hailed, and\r\nadmonished to keep wide awake. But though the green palmy cliffs of the\r\nland soon loomed on the starboard bow, and with delighted nostrils the\r\nfresh cinnamon was snuffed in the air, yet not a single jet was\r\ndescried. Almost renouncing all thought of falling in with any game\r\nhereabouts, the ship had well nigh entered the straits, when the\r\ncustomary cheering cry was heard from aloft, and ere long a spectacle\r\nof singular magnificence saluted us.\r\n\r\nBut here be it premised, that owing to the unwearied activity with\r\nwhich of late they have been hunted over all four oceans, the Sperm\r\nWhales, instead of almost invariably sailing in small detached\r\ncompanies, as in former times, are now frequently met with in extensive\r\nherds, sometimes embracing so great a multitude, that it would almost\r\nseem as if numerous nations of them had sworn solemn league and\r\ncovenant for mutual assistance and protection. To this aggregation of\r\nthe Sperm Whale into such immense caravans, may be imputed the\r\ncircumstance that even in the best cruising grounds, you may now\r\nsometimes sail for weeks and months together, without being greeted by\r\na single spout; and then be suddenly saluted by what sometimes seems\r\nthousands on thousands.\r\n\r\nBroad on both bows, at the distance of some two or three miles, and\r\nforming a great semicircle, embracing one half of the level horizon, a\r\ncontinuous chain of whale-jets were up-playing and sparkling in the\r\nnoon-day air."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:19.080Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:01:19.080Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KJ6WPT018SDDANE6N7Q8E428"}}