THE WHITE WHALE 27 
about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think 
for. 
The bar-room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping 
in the night previous, and whom I had not as yet had a good look at. 
They were nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates, and 
third mates, and sea carpenters, and sea coopers, and sea blacksmiths, 
and harpooneers, and ship keepers ; a brown and brawny company, with 
bosky beards; an unshorn, shaggy set, all wearing monkey-jackets for 
morning-gowns. 
You could pretty plainly tell how long each one had been ashore. 
This young fellow’s healthy cheek is like a sun-toasted pear in hue, 
and would seem to smell almost as musky; he cannot have been three 
days landed from his Indian voyage. That man next him looks a few 
shades lighter ; you might say a touch of satin wood is in him. In the 
complexion of a third still lingers a tropic town, but slightly bleached 
withal ; he doubtless has tarried whole weeks ashore. But who could 
show a cheek like Queequeg? which, barred with various tints, seemed 
like the Andes’ western slope, to show forth in one array, contrasting 
climates, zone by zone. 
“Grub, ho !” now cried the landlord, flinging open a door, and in we 
went to breakfast. 
They say that men who have seen the world, thereby become quite 
at ease in manner, quite self-possessed in company. Not always, 
though: Ledyard, the great Yew England traveller, and Mungo Park, 
the Scotch one; of all men, they possessed the least assurance in the 
parlour. But perhaps the mere crossing of Siberia in a sledge drawn 
by dogs as Ledyard did, or the taking a long solitary walk on an empty 
stomach, in the negro heart of Africa, which was the sum of poor 
Mungo’s performances — this kind of travel, I say, may not be the very 
best mode of attaining a high social polish. Still, for the most part, 
that sort of thing is to be had anywhere. 
These reflections just here are occasioned by the circumstance that 
after we were all seated at the table, and I was preparing to hear some 
good stories about whaling; to my no small surprise, nearly every man 
maintained a profound silence. And not only that, but they looked 
embarrassed. Yes, here were a set of sea-dogs, many of whom without 
the slightest bashfulness had boarded great whales on the high seas — 
