i do not know where i can find a better place than just here, to make mention of one or two other things, which to me seem important, as in printed form establishing in all respects the reasonableness of the whole story of the white whale, more especially the catastrophe. for this is one of those disheartening instances where truth requires full as much bolstering as error. so ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at moby dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.