Moby-Dick or, The Whale / Моби Дик, или Белый кит. Книга для чтения на английском языке. Герман Мелвилл

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      “By art is created that great Leviathan, called a Commonwealth or State – (in Latin, Civitas[6]) which is but an artificial man.”

      “Silly Mansoul swallowed it without chewing, as if it had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale.”

      “The mighty whales which swim in a sea of water, and have a sea of oil swimming in them.”

      “While the whale is floating at the stern of the ship, they cut off his head, and tow it with a boat as near the shore as it will come; but it will be aground in twelve or thirteen feet water.”

      “In their way they saw many whales sporting in the ocean, and in wantonness fuzzing up the water through their pipes and vents, which nature has placed on their shoulders.”

      “Here they saw such huge troops of whales, that they were forced to proceed with a great deal of caution for fear they should run their ship upon them.”

      “We set sail from the Elbe, wind N. E. in the ship called The Jonas-in-the-Whale. * * *

      Some say the whale can't open his mouth, but that is a fable. * * *

      They frequently climb up the masts to see whether they can see a whale, for the first discoverer has a ducat for his pains. * * *

      I was told of a whale taken near Shetland, that had above a barrel of herrings in his belly. * * *

      One of our harpooneers told me that he caught once a whale in Spitzbergen that was white all over.”

      “Several whales have come in upon this coast (Fife). Anno 1652, one eighty feet in length of the whale-bone kind came in, which, (as I was informed) besides a vast quantity of oil, did afford 500 weight of baleen. The jaws of it stand for a gate in the garden of Pitferren.”

      “Myself have agreed to try whether I can master and kill this Sperma-ceti whale, for I could never hear of any of that sort that was killed by any man, such is his fierceness and swiftness.”

      “We saw also abundance of large whales, there being more in those southern seas, as I may say, by a hundred to one; than we have to the northward of us.”

      “* * * and the breath of the whale is frequently attended with such an insupportable smell, as to bring on a disorder of the brain.”

      “If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with those that take up their abode in the deep, we shall find they will appear contemptible in the comparison. The whale is doubtless the largest animal in creation.”

      “If you should write a fable for little fishes, you would make them speak like great whales.”

      “In the afternoon we saw what was supposed to be a rock, but it was found to be a dead whale, which some Asiatics had killed, and were then towing ashore. They seemed to endeavour to conceal themselves behind the whale, in order to avoid being seen by us.”

      “The larger whales, they seldom venture to attack. They stand in so great dread of some of them, that when out at sea they are afraid to mention even their names, and carry dung, lime-stone, juniper-wood, and some other articles of the same nature in their boats, in order to terrify and prevent their too near approach.”

      “The Spermacetti Whale found by the Nantuckois, is an active, fierce animal, and requires vast address and boldness in the fishermen.”

      “And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it?”

      “Spain – a great whale stranded on the shores of Europe.”

      “A tenth branch of the king's ordinary revenue, said to be grounded on the consideration of his guarding and protecting the seas from pirates and robbers, is the right to royal fish, which are whale and sturgeon. And these, when either thrown ashore or caught near the coast, are the property of the king.”

      Rodmond unerring o’er his head suspends

      The barbed steel, and every turn attends.”