 say I, myself, have known three instances similar to
this; that is in two of them I saw the whales struck; and, upon the second
attack, saw the two irons with the respective marks cut in them, afterward taken
from the dead fish. In the three-year instance, it so fell out that I was in the
boat both times, first and last, and the last time distinctly recognised a
peculiar sort of huge mole under the whale's eye, which I had observed there
three years previous. I say three years, but I am pretty sure it was more than
that. Here are three instances, then, which I personally know the truth of; but
I have heard of many other instances from persons whose veracity in the matter
there is no good ground to impeach.
    Secondly: It is well known in the sperm whale fishery, however ignorant the
world ashore may be of it, that there have been several memorable historical
instances where a particular whale in the ocean has been at distant times and
places popularly cognisable. Why such a whale became thus marked was not
altogether and originally owing to his bodily peculiarities as distinguished
from other whales; for however peculiar in that respect any chance whale may be,
they soon put an end to his peculiarities by killing him, and boiling him down
into a peculiarly valuable oil. No: the reason was this: that from the fatal
experiences of the fishery there hung a terrible prestige of perilousness about
such a whale as there did about Rinaldo Rinaldini, insomuch that most fishermen
were content to recognise him by merely touching their tarpaulins when he would
be discovered lounging by them on the sea, without seeking to cultivate a more
intimate acquaintance. Like some poor devils ashore that happen to know an
irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive salutations to him in the
street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance further, they might receive a
summary thump for their presumption.
    But not only did each of these famous whales enjoy great individual
celebrity - nay, you may call it an ocean-wide renown; not only was he famous in
life and now is immortal in forecastle stories after death, but he was admitted
into all the rights, privileges, and distinctions of a name; had as much a name
indeed as Cambyses or Cæsar. Was it not so, O Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan,
scarred like an iceberg, who so long didst lurk in the oriental straits of that
name, whose spout was oft seen from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it not so, O
New Zealand Jack! thou terror of all
