414 
MOBY DICK; OR 
CHAPTER Cl 
A BOWER IN THE ARSAQIDES 
Hitherto, in descriptive treating of the Sperm Whale, I have chiefly 
dwelt upon the marvels of his outer aspect ; or separately and in detail 
upon some few interior structural features. But to a large and 
thorough sweeping comprehension of him, it behoves me now to un- 
button him still further, and untrussing the points of his hose, un- 
buckling his garters, and casting loose the hooks and the eyes of the 
joints of his innermost hones, set him before you in his ultimatum; 
that is to say, in his unconditional skeleton. 
But how now, Ishmael ? How is it, that you, a mere oarsmen in the 
fishery, pretend to know aught about the subterranean parts of the 
whale? Did erudite Stubb, mounted upon your capstan, deliver lec- 
tures on the anatomy of the Cetacea ; and by help of the windlass, hold 
up a specimen rib for exhibition? Explain thyself, Ishmael. Can 
you land a full-grown whale on your deck for examination, as a cook 
dishes a roast-pig ? Surely not. A veritable witness have you hitherto 
been, Ishmael; but have a care how you seize the privilege of Jonah 
alone; the privilege of discoursing upon the joists and beams; the 
rafters, ridgepole, sleepers, and under-pinnings, making up the frame- 
work of leviathan ; and belike of the tallow-vats, dairyrooms, butteries, 
and cheeseries in his bowels. 
I confess, that since Jonah, few whalemen have penetrated very far 
beneath the skin of the adult whale; nevertheless, I have been blessed 
with an opportunity to dissect him in miniature. In a ship I belonged 
to, a small cub Sperm Whale was once bodily hoisted to the deck for 
his poke or bag, to make sheaths for the barbs of the harpoons, and 
for the heads of the lances. Think you I let that chance go, without 
using my boat hatchet, and jack-knife, and breaking the seal and 
reading all the contents of that young cub ? 
And as for my exact knowledge of the bones of the leviathan 
in their gigantic, full grown development, for that rare knowledge 
I am indebted to my late royal friend Tranquo, king of Tranque, one 
of the Arsacides. Eor being at Tranque, years ago, when attached to 
the trading-ship Bey of Algiers, I was invited to spend part of the Ar- 
