129 
THE WHITE WHALE 
Cannon Whale; the Scragg Whale; the Copper Whale; the Elephant 
Whale; the Iceberg Whale; the Quog Whale; the Blue Whale, etc. 
From Icelandic, Dutch, and old English authorities, there might be 
quoted other lists of uncertain whales, blessed with all manner of un- 
couth names. But I omit them as altogether obsolete ; and can hardly 
help suspecting them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but sig- 
nifying nothing. 
Finally. It was stated at the outset, that this system would not 
be here, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have 
kept my word. But I now leave my cetological system standing thus 
unfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the 
crane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small 
erections may be finished by their first architects ; grand ones, true ones, 
ever leave the copestone to posterity. Heaven keep me from ever com- 
pleting anything. This whole book is but draught — nay, but the 
draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience! 
CHAPTER XXXII 
THE SPECKSYNDER 
Concerning the officers of the whale craft, this seems as good a place 
as any to set down a little domestic peculiarity on shipboard, arising 
from the existence of the harpooneer class of officers, a class unknown of 
course in any other marine than the whale fleet. 
The large importance attached to the harpooneer’s vocation is evinced 
by the fact, that originally in the old Dutch Fishery, two centuries and 
more ago, the command of a whale ship was not wholly lodged in the 
person now called the captain, but was divided between him and an 
officer called the Specksynder. Literally this word means Fat-Cutter; 
usage, however, in time made it equivalent to Chief Harpooneer. In 
those days, the captain’s authority was restricted to the navigation and 
general management of the vessel ; while over the whale-hunting depart- 
ment and all its concerns, the Specksynder or Chief Harpooneer reigned 
supreme. In the British Greenland Fishery, under the corrupted title 
of Specksioneer, this old Dutch official is still retained, but his former 
