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Moby-Dick; or, The Whale · Moby-Dick, ch. 32 · block 26

Book I. (Folio), Chapter IV. (Hump Back).—This whale is often seen on the northern American coast. He has been frequently captured there, and towed into harbor. He has a great pack on him like a peddler; or you might call him the Elephant and Castle whale. At any rate, the popular name for him does not sufficiently distinguish him, since the sperm whale also has a hump, though a smaller one. His oil is not very valuable. He has baleen. He is the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more gay foam and white water generally than any other of them.
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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 ¶913: p. 153 (Scanned p. 153)
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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.
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Gloss address: 32.26 · chapter.paragraph · global ¶913
Frozen text and counting rules: g1-582503627a093f94.
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