The truth is, that living or dead, if but decently treated,
whales as a species are by no means creatures of ill odor;
nor can whalemen be recognised, as the people of the middle
ages affected to detect a Jew in the company, by the nose.
Nor indeed can the whale possibly be otherwise than fragrant,
when, as a general thing, he enjoys such high health;
taking abundance of exercise; always out of doors; though, it is true,
seldom in the open air. I say, that the motion of a Sperm Whale's
flukes above water dispenses a perfume, as when a musk-scented
lady rustles her dress in a warm parlor. What then shall I liken
the Sperm Whale to for fragrance, considering his magnitude?
Must it not be to that famous elephant, with jewelled tusks,
and redolent with myrrh, which was led out of an Indian town
to do honor to Alexander the Great?
CHAPTER 93
The Castaway
It was but some few days after encountering the Frenchman, that a most
significant event befell the most insignificant of the Pequod's crew;
an event most lamentable; and which ended in providing the sometimes
madly merry and predestinated craft with a living and ever accompanying
prophecy of whatever shattered sequel might prove her own.
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