But this is not all. New Zealand Tom and Don Miguel, after at various
times creating great havoc among the boats of different vessels,
were finally gone in quest of, systematically hunted out,
chased and killed by valiant whaling captains, who heaved up their
anchors with that express object as much in view, as in setting
out through the Narragansett Woods, Captain Butler of old had it
in his mind to capture that notorious murderous savage Annawon,
the headmost warrior of the Indian King Philip.
I do not know where I can find a better place than just here,
to make mention of one or two other things, which to me seem important,
as in printed form establishing in all respects the reasonableness
of the whole story of the White Whale, more especially the catastrophe.
For this is one of those disheartening instances where truth requires
full as much bolstering as error. So ignorant are most landsmen of some
of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without
some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise,
of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable,
or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.
First: Though most men have some vague flitting ideas of the general
perils of the grand fishery, yet they have nothing like a fixed, vivid
conception of those perils, and the frequency with which they recur.
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