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1Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in the preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather
2distrust this historical story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were some sceptical Greeks and Romans, who,
3standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and
4the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all
5that. One old Sag-Harbor whaleman's chief reason for questioning the Hebrew story was this:--He had one of those quaint
6old-fashioned Bibles, embellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which represented Jonah's whale with two
7spouts in his head--a peculiarity only true with respect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale, and the
8varieties of that order), concerning which the fishermen have this saying, "A penny roll would choke him"; his swallow
9is so very small. But, to this, Bishop Jebb's anticipative answer is ready. It is not necessary, hints the Bishop, that
10we consider Jonah as tombed in the whale's belly, but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And this seems
11reasonable enough in the good Bishop. For truly, the Right Whale's mouth would accommodate a couple of whist-tables, and
12comfortably seat all the players. Possibly, too, Jonah might have ensconced himself in a hollow tooth; but, on second
13thoughts, the Right Whale is toothless. Another reason which Sag-Harbor (he went by that name) urged for his want of
14faith in this matter of the prophet, was something obscurely in reference to his incarcerated body and the whale's
15gastric juices. But this objection likewise falls to the ground, because a German exegetist supposes that Jonah must
16have taken refuge in the floating body of a dead whale--even as the French soldiers in the Russian campaign turned their
17dead horses into tents, and crawled into them. Besides, it has been divined by other continental commentators, that when
18Jonah was thrown overboard from the Joppa ship, he straightway effected his escape to another vessel near by, some
19vessel with a whale for a figure-head; and, I would add, possibly called "The Whale," as some craft are nowadays
20christened the "Shark," the "Gull," the "Eagle." Nor have there been wanting learned exegetists who have opined that the
21whale mentioned in the book of Jonah merely meant a life-preserver--an inflated bag of wind--which the endangered
22prophet swam to, and so was saved from a watery doom. Poor Sag-Harbor, therefore, seems worsted all round. But he had
23still another reason for his want of faith. It was this, if I remember right: Jonah was swallowed by the whale in the
24Mediterranean Sea, and after three days he was vomited up somewhere within three days' journey of Nineveh, a city on the
25Tigris, very much more than three days' journey across from the nearest point of the Mediterranean coast. How is that?
26But was there no other way for the whale to land the prophet within that short distance of Nineveh? Yes. He might have
27carried him round by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. But not to speak of the passage through the whole length of the
28Mediterranean, and another passage up the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, such a supposition would involve the complete
29circumnavigation of all Africa in three days, not to speak of the Tigris waters, near the site of Nineveh, being too
30shallow for any whale to swim in. Besides, this idea of Jonah's weathering the Cape of Good Hope at so early a day would
31wrest the honor of the discovery of that great headland from Bartholomew Diaz, its reputed discoverer, and so make
32modern history a liar. But all these foolish arguments of old Sag-Harbor only evinced his foolish pride of reason--a
33thing still more reprehensible in him, seeing that he had but little learning except what he had picked up from the sun
34and the sea. I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride, and abominable, devilish rebellion against the reverend
35clergy. For by a Portuguese Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah's going to Nineveh via the Cape of Good Hope was
36advanced as a signal magnification of the general miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day, the highly enlightened
37Turks devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah. And some three centuries ago, an English traveller in old
38Harris's Voyages, speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah, in which Mosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt
39without any oil.
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