And as if the now tested reality of his might had in formerlegendary times thrown its shadow before it; we find some booknaturalists- Olassen and Povelson- declaring the Sperm Whale notonly to be a consternation to every other creature in the sea, butalso to be so incredibly ferocious as continually to be athirst forhuman blood. Nor even down to so late a time as Cuvier's, were theseor almost similar impressions effaced. For in his Natural History, theBaron himself affirms that at sight of the Sperm Whale, all fish(sharks included) are "struck with the most lively terrors," and"often in the precipitancy of their flight dash themselves against therocks with such violence as to cause instantaneous death." And howeverthe general experiences in the fishery may amend such reports asthese; yet in their full terribleness, even to the bloodthirsty itemof Povelson, the superstitious belief in them is, in some vicissitudesof their vocation, revived in the minds of the hunters.
So that overawed by the rumors and portents concerning him, not afew of the fishermen recalled, in reference to Moby Dick, theearlier days of the Sperm Whale fishery, when it was oftentimes hardto induce long practised Right whalemen to embark in the perils ofthis new and daring warfare; such men protesting that although otherleviathans might be hopefully pursued, yet to chase and point lancesat such an apparition as the Sperm Whale was not for mortal man.
That to attempt it, would be inevitably to be torn into a quicketernity. On this head, there are some remarkable documents that maybe consulted.
Nevertheless, some there were, who even in the face of thesethings were ready to give chase to Moby Dick; and a still greaternumber who, chancing only to hear of him distantly and vaguely,without the specific details of any certain calamity, and withoutsuperstitious accompaniments were sufficiently hardy not to fleefrom the battle if offered.
One of the wild suggestions referred to, as at last coming to belinked with the White Whale in the minds of the superstitiouslyinclined, was the unearthly conceit that Moby Dick was ubiquitous;that he had actually been encountered in opposite latitudes at one andthe same instant of time.
Nor, credulous as such minds must have been, was this conceitaltogether without some faint show of superstitious probability. Foras the secrets of the currents in the seas have never yet beendivulged, even to the most erudite research; so the hidden ways of theSperm Whale when beneath the surface remain, in great part,unaccountable to his pursuers; and from time to time have originatedthe most curious and contradictory speculations regarding them,especially concerning the mystic modes whereby, after sounding to agreat depth, he transports himself with such vast swiftness to themost widely distant points.
It is a thing well known to both American and English whale-ships,and as well a thing placed upon authoritative record years ago byScoresby, that some whales have been captured far north in thePacific, in whose bodies have been found the barbs of harpoonsdarted in the Greenland seas. Nor is it to be gainsaid, that in someof these instances it has been declared that the interval of timebetween the two assaults could not have exceeded very many days.
Hence, by inference, it has been believed by some whalemen, that theNor' West Passage, so long a problem to man, was never a problem tothe whale. So that here, in the real living experience of livingmen, the prodigies related in old times of the inland Strello mountainin Portugal (near whose top there was said to be a lake in which thewrecks of ships floated up to the surface); and that still morewonderful story of the Arethusa fountain near Syracuse (whose waterswere believed to have come from the Holy Land by an undergroundpassage); these fabulous narrations are almost fully equalled by therealities of the whalemen.
Forced into familiarity, then, with such prodigies as these; andknowing that after repeated, intrepid assaults, the White Whale hadescaped alive; it cannot be much matter of surprise that some whalemenshould go still further in their superstitions; declaring Moby Dicknot only ubiquitous, but immortal (for immortality is but ubiquityin time); that though groves of spears should be planted in hisflanks, he would still swim away unharmed; or if indeed he should everbe made to spout thick blood, such a sight would be but a ghastlydeception; for again in unensanguined billows hundreds of leaguesaway, his unsullied jet would once more be seen.
But even stripped of these supernatural surmisings, there was enoughin the earthly make and incontestable character of the monster tostrike the imagination with unwonted power. For, it was not so muchhis uncommon bulk that so much distinguished him from other spermwhales, but, as was elsewhere thrown out- a peculiar snow-whitewrinkled forehead, and a high, pyramidical white hump. These werehis prominent features; the tokens whereby, even in the limitless,uncharted seas, he revealed his identity, at a long distance, to thosewho knew him.
The rest of his body was so streaked, and spotted, and marbledwith the same shrouded hue, that, in the end, he had gained hisdistinctive appellation of the White Whale; a name, indeed,literally justified by his vivid aspect, when seen gliding at highnoon through a dark blue sea, leaving a milky-way wake of creamy foam,all spangled with golden gleamings.
