Page:Moby-Dick (1851) US edition.djvu/186

154 Thus ends BOOK I. (Folio), and now begins BOOK II. (Octavo).

OCTAVOES. These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among which at present may be numbered:&mdash;I., the Grampus; II., the Black Fish; III., the Narwhale; IV., the Thrasher; V., the Killer.

BOOK II. (Octavo),. (Grampus).&mdash;Though this fish, whose loud sonorous breathing, or rather blowing, has furnished a proverb to landsmen, is so well known a denizen of the deep, yet is he not popularly classed among whales. But possessing all the grand distinctive features of the leviathan, most naturalists have recognised him for one. He is of moderate octavo size, varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and of corresponding dimensions round the waist. He swims in herds; he is never regularly hunted, though his oil is considerable in quantity, and pretty good for light. By some fishermen his approach is regarded as premonitory of the advance of the great sperm whale.

BOOK II. (Octavo),. (Black Fish).&mdash;I give the popular fishermen’s names for all these fish, for generally they are the best. Where any name happens to be vague or inexpressive, I shall say so, and suggest another. I do so now touching the Black Fish, so called, because blackness is the rule among almost all whales. So, call him the Hyena Whale, if you please. His voracity is well known and from the circumstance that the inner angles of his lips are curved upwards, he carries an everlasting Mephistophelean grin on his face. This whale averages some sixteen or eighteen feet in length. He is found in almost all latitudes. He has a peculiar way of show-