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But was there no other way for the whale to land the prophet within that short distance of Nineveh ? Yes . He might have carried him round by the way of the Cape of Good Hope . But not to speak of the passage through the whole length of the Mediterranean , and another passage up the Persian Gulf and Red Sea , such a supposition would involve the complete circumnavigation of all Africa in three days , not to speak of the Tigris waters , near the site of Nineveh , being too shallow for any whale to swim in . Besides , this idea of Jonah’s weathering the Cape of Good Hope at so early a day would wrest the honor of the discovery of that great headland from Bartholomew Diaz , its reputed discoverer , and so make modern history a liar . But all these foolish arguments of old Sag - Harbor only evinced his foolish pride of reason — a thing still more reprehensible in him , seeing that he had but little learning except what he had picked up from the sun and the sea . I say it only shows his foolish , impious pride , and abominable , devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy . For by a Portuguese Catholic priest , this very idea of Jonah’s going to Nineveh via the Cape of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification of the general miracle . And so it was . Besides , to this day , the highly enlightened Turks devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah . And some three centuries ago , an English traveller in old Harris’s Voyages , speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah , in which Mosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt without any oil . CHAPTER 84 . Pitchpoling . To make them run easily and swiftly , the axles of carriages are anointed ; and for much the same purpose , some whalers perform an analogous operation upon their boat ; they grease the bottom . Nor is it to be doubted that as such a procedure can do no harm , it may possibly be of no contemptible advantage ; considering that oil and water are hostile ; that oil is a sliding thing , and that the object in view is to make the boat slide bravely . Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat , and one morning not long after the German ship Jungfrau disappeared , took more than customary pains in that occupation ; crawling under its bottom , where it hung over the side , and rubbing in the unctuousness as though diligently seeking to insure a crop of hair from the craft’s bald keel . He seemed to be working in obedience to some particular presentiment . Nor did it remain unwarranted by the event . Towards noon whales were raised ; but so soon as the ship sailed down to them , they turned and fled with swift precipitancy ; a disordered flight , as of Cleopatra’s barges from Actium . Nevertheless , the boats pursued , and Stubb’s was foremost . By great exertion , Tashtego at last succeeded in planting one iron ; but the stricken whale , without at all sounding , still continued his horizontal flight , with added fleetness . Such unintermitted strainings upon the planted iron must sooner or later inevitably extract it . It became imperative to lance the flying whale , or be content to lose him . But to haul the boat up to his flank was impossible , he swam so fast and furious . What then remained ?
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