Chapter 102: A Bower in the Arsacides
Ishmael tries to understand the whale by measuring its
bones. In an effort to bolster his credibility in describing the
whale, he tells of a visit to his friend Tranquo, king of Tranque
(apparently a fictional place). In Tranque, a large sperm whale
skeleton is used as a temple, with its skull as an altar. Although
the priests protested, claiming that it is impossible to measure
God, Ishmael took the whale’s dimensions and had them tattooed on
his right arm. He had the dimensions recorded in short form because
he wished to save as much space on his body as possible for “a blank
page for a poem [he] was then composing.”
Chapter 103: Measurement of the
Whale’s Skeleton
Ishmael offers his findings, based on the skeleton of
the whale that he measured in Tranque. He believes that the largest
sperm whales are around ninety tons, and “would considerably outweigh
the combined population of a whole village of one thousand one hundred
inhabitants.” He then gives detailed dimensions of all parts of the
whale’s skeleton. These bones, he cautions, give only a partial picture
of the whale, since so much flesh is wrapped around them and they
don’t capture the essence of the living animal. He adds that a person
cannot find a good representation of a whale in its entirety.
Chapter 104: The Fossil Whale
Ishmael admits that he is “manhandling” the whale in his
description, but he says that he is doing the best that he knows
how. He decides to look at the Fossil Whale from an “archaeological,
fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.” He states that it
is impossible for him to exaggerate with the words that he uses
to describe the whale because the whale itself is so grand. He establishes
his credentials as a geologist and presents his findings. Once again,
he is unsatisfied with the picture of the whale that he has created:
“the skeleton of the whale furnishes but little clue to the shape
of his fully invested body.” This chapter gives a sense of the whale’s
age as a species and his pedigree, and allows Ishmael to meditate
on time as a construct of man.
Chapter 105: Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish?—Will
He Perish?
In awe of his subject, Ishmael finally admits defeat in
his attempts to capture the whale through description. Now he questions
whether such a fabulous monster will remain on the earth and if,
as reports have it, its size is diminishing over time. Based on
the fact that man and other animals have actually gotten larger
throughout history, Ishmael believes that it is not likely that
the whale has diminished in size. As for the whale’s continued survival,
Ishmael says that though whales may not travel in herds anymore
and though their haunts may have changed, they remain nonetheless.
He believes that their survival owes to the new home base they have
established at the poles, where man cannot penetrate. He also notes
that other large mammals have been extensively hunted and that the
whale population is likely not in danger because it has an enormous
home environment and because many generations of whales are alive
at the same time. In fact, whales are particularly likely to endure—if
there is another Noah’s flood, Ishmael remarks, whales will not
drown.
Chapter 106: Ahab’s Leg
Ahab asks the carpenter to make him a new leg, as the
one that he uses is not trustworthy. After hitting it heavily on
the boat’s wooden floor when he returned from the Samuel
Enderby, Ahab feels that his leg won’t continue to hold
together. Indeed, just before the Pequod sailed
from Nantucket, Ishmael relates, Ahab had been found lying on the
ground with the whalebone leg twisted around and almost piercing
his groin.
Chapter 107: The Carpenter
The carpenter, the do-it-all man on the ship, has to make
Ahab a new prosthetic leg. The carpenter is an able man, but he
views everything, even parts of the human body, as pieces of a machine.
