Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER 83

  Jonah Historically Regarded

  Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whalein the preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather distrust thishistorical story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were somesceptical Greeks and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagansof their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale,and Arion and the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditionsdid not make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all that.

  One old Sag-Harbor whaleman's chief reason for questioning the Hebrewstory was this:--He had one of those quaint old-fashioned Bibles,embellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which representedJonah's whale with two spouts in his head--a peculiarity only truewith respect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale,and the varieties of that order), concerning which the fishermenhave this saying, "A penny roll would choke him"; his swallow is sovery small. But, to this, Bishop Jebb's anticipative answer is ready.It is not necessary, hints the Bishop, that we consider Jonah as tombed inthe whale's belly, but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth.And this seems reasonable enough in the good Bishop. For truly,the Right Whale's mouth would accommodate a couple of whist-tables,and comfortably seat all the players. Possibly, too, Jonah mighthave ensconced himself in a hollow tooth; but, on second thoughts,the Right Whale is toothless.

  Another reason which Sag-Harbor (he went by that name)urged for his want of faith in this matter of the prophet,was something obscurely in reference to his incarcerated bodyand the whale's gastric juices. But this objection likewise fallsto the ground, because a German exegetist supposes that Jonahmust have taken refuge in the floating body of a dead whale--even as the French soldiers in the Russian campaign turnedtheir dead horses into tents, and crawled into them.Besides, it has been divined by other continental commentators,that when Jonah was thrown overboard from the Joppa ship,he straightway effected his escape to another vessel near by,some vessel with a whale for a figure-head; and, I would add,possibly called "The Whale," as some craft are nowadayschristened the "Shark," the "Gull," the "Eagle." Nor havethere been wanting learned exegetists who have opinedthat the whale mentioned in the book of Jonah merely meanta life-preserver--an inflated bag of wind--which the endangeredprophet swam to, and so was saved from a watery doom.Poor Sag-Harbor, therefore, seems worsted all round.But he had still another reason for his want of faith.It was this, if I remember right: Jonah was swallowedby the whale in the Mediterranean Sea, and after three days'he was vomited up somewhere within three days' journey of Nineveh,a city on the Tigris, very much more than three days'journey across from the nearest point of the Mediterranean coast.How is that?

  But was there no other way for the whale to land the prophet withinthat short distance of Nineveh? Yes. He might have carried himround by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. But not to speakof the passage through the whole length of the Mediterranean,and another passage up the Persian Gulf and Red Sea,such a supposition would involve the complete circumnavigationof all Africa in three days, not to speak of the Tigris waters,near the site of Nineveh, being too shallow for any whale to swim in.Besides, this idea of Jonah's weathering the Cape of Good Hopeat so early a day would wrest the honor of the discovery of thatgreat headland from Bartholomew Diaz, its reputed discoverer,and so make modern history a liar.

  But all these foolish arguments of old Sag-Harbor only evinced hisfoolish pride of reason--a thing still more reprehensible in him,seeing that he had but little learning except what he had picked up fromthe sun and the sea. I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride,and abominable, devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy.For by a Portuguese Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah's going toNineveh via the Cape of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnificationof the general miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day,the highly enlightened Turks devoutly believe in the historical storyof Jonah. And some three centuries ago, an English traveller in oldHarris's Voyages, speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah,in which Mosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt without any oil.

  CHAPTER 84

  Pitchpoling