As the crew
toiled on, Laplandish speculations were bandied among them,
concerning all these passing things.
CHAPTER 74
The Sperm Whale's Head - Contrasted View
Here, now, are two great whales, laying their heads together;
let us join them, and lay together our own.
Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and
the Right Whale are by far the most noteworthy. They are the only
whales regularly hunted by man. To the Nantucketer, they present
the two extremes of all the known varieties of the whale.
As the external difference between them is mainly observable
in their heads; and as a head of each is this moment hanging from
the Pequod's side; and as we may freely go from one to the other,
by merely stepping across the deck:--where, I should like to know,
will you obtain a better chance to study practical cetology than here?
In the first place, you are struck by the general contrast between
these heads. Both are massive enough in all conscience; but, there is a
certain mathematical symmetry in the Sperm Whale's which the Right Whale's
sadly lacks. There is more character in the Sperm Whale's head.
As you behold it, you involuntarily yield the immense superiority
to him, in point of pervading dignity.
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