chief among these motives was the overwhelming idea of the great whale himself. such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity. then the wild and distant seas where he rolled his island bulk; the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale; these, with all the attending marvels of a thousand patagonian sights and sounds, helped to sway me to my wish. with other men, perhaps, such things would not have been inducements; but as for me, i am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. i love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. not ignoring what is good, i am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in.