But Stubb, he eats the whale by its own light, does he? and that is
adding insult to injury, is it? Look at your knife-handle, there,
my civilized and enlightened gourmand, dining off that roast beef,
what is that handle made of?--what but the bones of the brother
of the very ox you are eating? And what do you pick your teeth with,
after devouring that fat goose? With a feather of the same fowl.
And with what quill did the Secretary of the Society for the
Suppression of Cruelty to Ganders formally indite his circulars?
It is only within the last month or two that that society passed
a resolution to patronize nothing but steel pens.
CHAPTER 66
The Shark Massacre
When in the Southern Fishery a captured Sperm Whale, after long
and weary toil, is brought alongside late at night, it is not,
as a general thing at least, customary to proceed at once to the business
of cutting him in. For that business is an exceedingly laborious one;
is not very soon completed; and requires all hands to set about it.
Therefore, the common usage is to take in all sail; lash the helm a'lee;
and then send every one below to his hammock till daylight,
with the reservation that, until that time, anchor-watches shall be kept;
that is, two and two for an hour, each couple, the crew in rotation
shall mount the deck to see that all goes well.
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