Moby Dick; Or, The Whale
Page 70
It should not have been omitted that previous to completelystripping the body of the leviathan, he was beheaded.Now, the beheading of the Sperm Whale is a scientific anatomical feat,upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves:and not without reason.
Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck;on the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in thatvery place, is the thickest part of him. Remember, also, that the surgeonmust operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening between himand his subject, and that subject almost hidden in a discolored, rolling,and oftentimes tumultuous and bursting sea. Bear in mind, too, that underthese untoward circumstances he has to cut many feet deep in the flesh;and in that subterraneous manner, without so much as getting one singlepeep into the ever-contracting gash thus made, he must skilfullysteer clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts, and exactly dividethe spine at a critical point hard by its insertion into the skull.Do you not marvel, then, at Stubb's boast, that he demanded but tenminutes to behead a sperm whale?
When first severed, the head is dropped astern and held thereby a cable till the body is stripped. That done, if it belongto a small whale it is hoisted on deck to be deliberatelydisposed of. But, with a full grown leviathan this is impossible;for the sperm whale's head embraces nearly one third of hisentire bulk, and completely to suspend such a burden as that,even by the immense tackles of a whaler, this were as vain a thingas to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers' scales.
The Pequod's whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the headwas hoisted against the ship's side--about half way out of the sea,so that it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element.And there with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it,by reason of the enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head,and every yard-arm on that side projecting like a crane overthe waves; there, that blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod'swaist like the giant Holofernes's from the girdle of Judith.
When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamenwent below to their dinner. Silence reigned over the beforetumultuous but now deserted deck. An intense copper calm,like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfoldingits noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.
A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alonefrom his cabin. Taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, he pausedto gaze over the side, then slowly getting into the main-chains he tookStubb's long spade still remaining there after the whale's decapitationand striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended mass,placed its other end crutchwise under one arm, and so stood leaningover with eyes attentively fixed on this head.
It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midstof so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx's in the desert."Speak, thou vast and venerable head," muttered Ahab,"which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and therelookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell usthe secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast divedthe deepest. That head upon which the upper sun now gleams,has moved amid this world's foundations. Where unrecordednames and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot;where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballastedwith bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awfulwater-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast beenwhere bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor's side,where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down.Thou saw'st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship;heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave;true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them.Thou saw'st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates fromthe midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnightof the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed--while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that wouldhave borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms.O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and makean infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!"
"Sail ho!" cried a triumphant voice from the main-mast-head.
"Aye? Well, now, that's cheering," cried Ahab, suddenly erectinghimself, while whole thunder-clouds swept aside from his brow."That lively cry upon this deadly calm might almost converta better man.--Where away?"
"Three points on the starboard bow, sir, and bringing down herbreeze to us!
"Better and better, man. Would now St. Paul would comealong that way, and to my breezelessness bring his breeze!O Nature, and O soul of man! how far beyond all utterance are yourlinked analogies; not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter,but has its cunning duplicate in mind."
CHAPTER 71
The Jeroboam's Story