MDDM Ch. 4 "Bongo" and the benign stereotype

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/29/01 11:20:58 PM, jbor at bigpond.com writes:

<< Captain Smith to M & D as he sends Unchleigh and Bodine up the mast ("with 
a
watch and compass") to verify the approach of the *l'Grand*:

    " ... You'll note how very Scientifick we are here, Gentlemen. Yet,"
    turning to a group of Sailors holystoning the deck, "ancient Beliefs
    will persist. Here then, Bongo! Yes! Yes, Captain wishes Excellent Bongo
    *smell Wind*!" (36-7)

Captain Smith addresses Bongo, the Lascar (a "deck ape" seems to be the
imbedded pun), as he would a domesticated animal. (He's similarly
condescending to Unchleigh it must be pointed out: "there's a good
Lieutenant" he says as he sends him poop-wards.)

While it reminds me of the way Queequeg and other of the dark-skinned, and
thus "savage", crew members aboard the Pequod are regarded and addressed (by
Ahab, by Ishmael, by the implied narrator and the implied reader there - and
thus by Melville as well?), of some of the special skills which these native
crew members possessed, and of the way that these skills and these crewmen
were valuable...>>>

Yes, yes, but you may be missing the whole point. What exactly DO Frenchies 
smell like, and, if l'Grand were the one downwind, would there be an 
equivalent "primitive" leaning far out of it's rigging, and yelling back-  
"Limey's!"