Not P but Moby-Dick (40)

[Mark Kohut]

My papermaking 'find" was just to show a possible double meaning for
Melville,
after all you sailors defined a swinging mat of grass...Smile

On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 8:58 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Early for me. I was right the first time. Got distracted by
> papermaking.....
>
> On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 5:56 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> editing here: It sounds like the beds he is describing here are wooden
>> platforms, rather than hammocks, and mats are both mattress and blanket.
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 5:53 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> A mat of woven grasses, or, sometimes simply a couple of armloads of hay
>>> thrown into the hammock, which passed as a bed for many sailors. The
>>> hammocks are suspended in rows from timbers in the below decks. Woven grass
>>> is a pretty good insulator as a mattress.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 2:40 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> All I can find is this. From a book on making paper:
>>>>
>>>> FOUND INSIDE – PAGE 156
>>>> ... grass mat and its wet sheet are then lifted off the frame with a
>>>> rolling movement and deposited on a board , once ... swinging the mould
>>>> .
>>>> The laid cover is secured between two wooden frames , and when forming
>>>> is
>>>> complete the two halves ...
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Nov 8, 2023 at 5:24 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
>>>> >
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > From Chapter 54:
>>>> >
>>>> > “Lakeman!—Buffalo! Pray, what is a Lakeman, and where is Buffalo? ”
>>>> said
>>>> > Don Sebastian, rising in his swinging mat of grass.
>>>> >
>>>> > What is this "swinging mat of grass" exactly? Is it a mat made of
>>>> grass?
>>>> > Then how is it swinging?
>>>> > --
>>>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>> >
>>>> --
>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>>
>>>