CHAPTER 68
The Blanket
I have given no small attention to that not unvexed subject,
the skin of the whale. I have had controversies about it with
experienced whalemen afloat, and learned naturalists ashore.
My original opinion remains unchanged; but it is only an opinion.
The question is, what and where is the skin of the whale.
Already you know what his blubber is. That blubber is something
of the consistence of firm, close-grained beef, but tougher,
more elastic and compact, and ranges from eight or ten to twelve
and fifteen inches in thickness.
Now, however preposterous it may at first seem to talk of any creature's
skin as being of that sort of consistence and thickness, yet in point
of fact these are no arguments against such a presumption; because you
cannot raise any other dense enveloping layer from the whale's body
but that same blubber; and the outermost enveloping layer of any animal,
if reasonably dense, what can that be but the skin? True, from the
unmarred dead body of the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an
infinitely thin, transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest
shreds of isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin;
that is, previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens,
but becomes rather hard and brittle.
Pages:
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503