He told me that, when
dying, the cachalot always ejected the contents of his stomach,
which were invariably composed of such masses as we saw before
us; that he believed the stuff to be portions of big cuttle-fish,
bitten off by the whale for the purpose of swallowing, but he
wasn't sure. Anyhow, I could haul this piece alongside now, if I
liked, and see. Secretly wondering at the indifference shown by
this officer of forty years' whaling experience to such a
wonderful fact as appeared to be here presented, I thanked him,
and, sticking the boat-hook into the lump, drew it alongside. It
was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-
fish--tentacle or arm--as thick as a stout man's body, and with
six or seven sucking-discs or ACETABULA on it. These were about
as large as a saucer, and on their inner edge were thickly set
with hooks or claws all round the rim, sharp as needles, and
almost the shape and size of a tiger's.
To what manner of awful monster this portion of limb belonged, I
could only faintly imagine; but of course I remembered, as any
sailor would, that from my earliest sea-going I had been told
that the cuttle-fish was the biggest in the sea, although I never
even began to think it might be true until now.
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