And as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front,
so the whale's vast plaited forehead forms innumerable strange
devices for the emblematical adornment of his wondrous tun.
Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished
with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys,
so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious
of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti,
in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state.
Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part
of the creature. Though in life it remains perfectly fluid,
yet, upon exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins
to concrete; sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots,
as when the first thin delicate ice is just forming in water.
A large whale's case generally yields about five hundred
gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances,
considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away,
or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the ticklish business
of securing what you can.
I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun
was coated within, but in superlative richness that coating could
not possibly have compared with the silken pearl-colored membrane,
like the lining of a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface
of the Sperm Whale's case.
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