Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Hieroglyphic Marks on the Sperm Whale

The visible surface of the Sperm Whale presents numerous marvels. Almost invariably, it displays all-over oblique crossed marks resembling fine Italian line engravings. These marks appear to be engraved upon the body itself rather than on the isinglass coating. They often serve as a ground for hieroglyphical delineations, earning the whale comparison to mysterious inscriptions on pyramids or ancient rocks on the Upper Mississippi. Like those ancient markings, the whale remains undecipherable.

Scratches on the Sperm Whale’s Flanks

Besides the regular linear markings, the whale frequently displays his back and flanks partially effaced by numerous rude scratches of irregular, random appearance. These scratches resemble marks that geologist Louis Agassiz believed were left by floating icebergs on New England coastal rocks. The narrator suggests such scratches result from hostile contact with other whales, as they are most often observed on large, full-grown bulls of the species.

The Whale’s Blubber as a Natural Blanket

The skin or blubber is stripped from the whale in long pieces called “blanket-pieces”—a term the narrator considers apt and expressive. The whale is indeed wrapped in his blubber as in a genuine blanket or poncho slipped over his head and skirting his extremities. This cozy blanketing enables the whale to remain comfortable in all weather conditions, seas, times, and tides.

The Whale’s Adaptation to Arctic Cold

Without this cozy coating, a Greenland whale could not survive the shuddering, icy northern seas. While other fish thrive in Hyperborean waters, these are cold-blooded, lungless creatures whose bellies themselves act as refrigerators—they warm themselves under iceberg lee like travelers before fires. The whale, by contrast, has lungs and warm blood like humans; freezing his blood would be fatal. Yet remarkably, the Polar whale not only survives but maintains blood warmer than that of a Borneo native during summer.