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There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid . The manner in which the Bishop describes it , as alternately rising and sinking , with some other particulars he narrates , in all this the two correspond . But much abatement is necessary with respect to the incredible bulk he assigns it . By some naturalists who have vaguely heard rumors of the mysterious creature , here spoken of , it is included among the class of cuttle - fish , to which , indeed , in certain external respects it would seem to belong , but only as the Anak of the tribe . CHAPTER 60 . The Line . With reference to the whaling scene shortly to be described , as well as for the better understanding of all similar scenes elsewhere presented , I have here to speak of the magical , sometimes horrible whale - line . The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp , slightly vapored with tar , not impregnated with it , as in the case of ordinary ropes ; for while tar , as ordinarily used , makes the hemp more pliable to the rope - maker , and also renders the rope itself more convenient to the sailor for common ship use ; yet , not only would the ordinary quantity too much stiffen the whale - line for the close coiling to which it must be subjected ; but as most seamen are beginning to learn , tar in general by no means adds to the rope’s durability or strength , however much it may give it compactness and gloss . Of late years the Manilla rope has in the American fishery almost entirely superseded hemp as a material for whale - lines ; for , though not so durable as hemp , it is stronger , and far more soft and elastic ; and I will add ( since there is an æsthetics in all things ) , is much more handsome and becoming to the boat , than hemp . Hemp is a dusky , dark fellow , a sort of Indian ; but Manilla is as a golden - haired Circassian to behold . The whale - line is only two - thirds of an inch in thickness . At first sight , you would not think it so strong as it really is . By experiment its one and fifty yarns will each suspend a weight of one hundred and twenty pounds ; so that the whole rope will bear a strain nearly equal to three tons . In length , the common sperm whale - line measures something over two hundred fathoms . Towards the stern of the boat it is spirally coiled away in the tub , not like the worm - pipe of a still though , but so as to form one round , cheese - shaped mass of densely bedded “ sheaves , ” or layers of concentric spiralizations , without any hollow but the “ heart , ” or minute vertical tube formed at the axis of the cheese . As the least tangle or kink in the coiling would , in running out , infallibly take somebody’s arm , leg , or entire body off , the utmost precaution is used in stowing the line in its tub . Some harpooneers will consume almost an entire morning in this business , carrying the line high aloft and then reeving it downwards through a block towards the tub , so as in the act of coiling to free it from all possible wrinkles and twists .
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