THE WHITE WHALE 45 
gently whittling away at its nose, meanwhile humming to himself in 
his heathenish way. 
But being now interrupted, he put up the image; and pretty soon, 
going to the table, took up a large book there, and placing it on his lap 
began counting the pages with deliberate regularity; at every fiftieth 
page as I fancied — stopping a moment, looking vacantly around him, 
and giving utterance to a long-drawn gurgle whistle of astonishment. 
He would then begin at the next fifty; seeming to commence at num- 
ber one each time, as though he could not count more than fifty, and 
it was only by such a large number of fifties being found together, 
that his astonishment at the multitude of pages was excited. 
With much interest I sat watching him. Savage though he was, 
and hideously marred about the face — at least to my taste — his counte- 
nance yet had a something in it which was by no means disagreeable. 
You cannot hide the soul. Through all his unearthly tattooings, I 
thought I saw the traces of a simple honest heart; and in his large, 
deep eyes, fiery black and bold, there seemed tokens of a spirit that 
would dare a thousand devils. And besides all this, there was a certain 
lofty bearing about the Pagan, which even his uncouthness could not 
altogether maim. He looked like a man who had never cringed and 
never had had a creditor. Whether it was, too, that his head being 
shaved, his forehead was drawn out in freer and brighter relief, and 
looked more expansive than it otherwise would, this I will not venture 
to decide ; but certain it was his head was phrenologically an excellent 
one. It may seem ridiculous, but it reminded me of General Wash- 
ington’s head, as seen in the popular busts of him. It had the same 
long regularly graded retreating slope from above the brows, which 
were likewise very projecting, like two long promontories thickly 
wooded on top. Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically 
developed. 
Whilst I was thus closely scanning him, half-pretending meanwhile 
to be looking out at the storm from the casement, he never heeded my 
presence, never troubled himself with so much as a single glance ; but 
appeared wholly occupied with counting the pages of the marvellous 
book. Considering how sociably we had been sleeping together the 
night previous, and especially considering the affectionate arm I had 
found thrown over me upon waking in the morning, I thought this in- 
