Not P but Moby-Dick (40)

[Michael Bailey]

Don Sebastian isn’t a sailor, he’s one of the listeners in Lima & I think
he probably is indeed lying in a hammock -


This passage is “the Town-Ho’s Story” (Town-Ho being the name of the ship -
hope it isn’t too uncultured to note that in some quarters of current
American slang, “Ho” means “whore”, thus a small amount of subliminal
snickering may ensue whilst reading it) and Ishmael was telling it in Lima
to an attentive audience, including Don Sebastian.

I was trying to read it, it’s pretty rambly (like the novel as a whole) it
concerns a whaling ship, a rebellious crew, a tyrannical captain (whose
name never seems to come up), a first mate named Steelkilt (Scotsman) and a
“canaleer” from Buffalo named Radney. Also, a sighting of the white whale.

After the telling, Ishmael has the Dons fetch a local priest so he can
swear to the veracity of the story.



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?
> --
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>