Moby-Dick; or, The Whale · Moby-Dick, ch. 104 · block 10

“Not far from the Sea-side, they have a Temple, the Rafters and Beams of which are made of Whale-Bones; for Whales of a monstrous size are oftentimes cast up dead upon that shore. The Common People imagine, that by a secret Power bestowed by God upon the Temple, no Whale can pass it without immediate death. But the truth of the Matter is, that on either side of the Temple, there are Rocks that shoot two Miles into the Sea, and wound the Whales when they light upon ’em. They keep a Whale’s Rib of an incredible length for a Miracle, which lying upon the Ground with its convex part uppermost, makes an Arch, the Head of which cannot be reached by a Man upon a Camel’s Back. This Rib (says John Leo) is said to have layn there a hundred Years before I saw it. Their Historians affirm, that a Prophet who prophesy’d of Mahomet, came from this Temple, and some do not stand to assert, that the…

Herman Melville · 1851
Project Gutenberg #15, credited to Eugene F. Irey; updated 10 June 2026. Based on the first American edition, Harper & Brothers, 1851, according to the source catalog.
Mapped print edition: Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851; First American edition).
Passage ¶2215: pp. 509–510 (Scanned p. 509 · Scanned p. 510)
View the scanned edition
Print pages are mapped to the Project Gutenberg transcription displayed here; this does not substitute the print edition’s text.
Locations cover whole source blocks in chapters 1–135 and the epilogue, plus the title leaf. The reading text remains Project Gutenberg #15 and can differ from this printing; consult the linked scan when quoting the print edition. The 23 source-note references have their own mapped pages. Front matter beyond the title, one decorative break, and the modern transcriber’s note are not mapped. Bracketed labels [i] and [635] are supplied for unnumbered leaves. Alignment does not certify verbatim identity.
Page alignment uses the transcription by Wikisource contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Gloss address: 104.10 · chapter.paragraph · global ¶2215
Frozen text and counting rules: g1-582503627a093f94.
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.