Like some poor devils ashore that happen to known an irascible
great man, they make distant unobtrusive salutations to him
in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance further,
they might receive a summary thump for their presumption.
But not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great
individual celebrity--nay, you may call it an oceanwide renown;
not only was he famous in life and now is immortal in
forecastle stories after death, but he was admitted into
all the rights, privileges, and distinctions of a name;
had as much a name indeed as Cambyses or Caesar. Was it not so,
O Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan, scarred like an iceberg,
who so long did'st lurk in the Oriental straits of that name,
whose spout was oft seen from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it
not so, O New Zealand Jack! thou terror of all cruisers that crossed
their wakes in the vicinity of the Tattoo Land? Was it not so,
O Morquan! King of Japan, whose lofty jet they say at times
assumed the semblance of a snow-white cross against the sky?
Was it not so, O Don Miguel! thou Chilian whale, marked like
an old tortoise with mystic hieroglyphics upon the back!
In plain prose, here are four whales as well known to the students
of Cetacean History as Marius or Sylla to the classic scholar.
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