"His jets are erect, full, and black like soot; so that from so abounding a smoke in the chimney, you would think there must be a brave supper cooking in the great bowels below. Sea fowls are pecking at the small crabs, shell-fish, and other sea candies and macaroni, which the Right whale sometimes carries on his pestilent back."
"A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly."
Posted by: David Morris | October 14, 2009 at 07:40 PM
The picture, by the way, is of a sperm whale, whereas in this passage Melville is describing a Right whale. Right whales, of course, give no spermaceti, so its the sperms that preoccupy Ahab et al. for most of the book, but I've always loved this vivid digression on the Right. Nothing beats the chapter on cetology though (which is why you should never read an abridged edition of MD).
Posted by: Justin E. H. Smith | October 14, 2009 at 08:33 PM