But all these foolish arguments of old Sag-Harbor only evinced his
foolish pride of reason--a thing still more reprehensible in him,
seeing that he had but little learning except what he had picked up from
the sun and the sea. I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride,
and abominable, devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy.
For by a Portuguese Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah's going to
Nineveh via the Cape of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification
of the general miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day,
the highly enlightened Turks devoutly believe in the historical story
of Jonah. And some three centuries ago, an English traveller in old
Harris's Voyages, speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah,
in which Mosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt without any oil.
CHAPTER 84
Pitchpoling
To make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages
are anointed; and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform
an analogous operation upon their boat; they grease the bottom.
Nor is it to be doubted that as such a procedure can do no harm,
it may possibly be of no contemptible advantage; considering that
oil and water are hostile; that oil is a sliding thing,
and that the object in view is to make the boat slide bravely.
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