*Quoin is not a Euclidean term. It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics. I know not that it has been defined before. A quoin is a solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one side, instead of the mutual tapering of both sides.
The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil, formed by the crossing and recrossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent. The upper part, known as the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale. And as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front, so the whale’s vast plaited forehead forms innumerable strange devices for the emblematical adornment of his wondrous tun. Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state. Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part of the creature. Though in life it remains perfectly fluid, yet, upon exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is just forming in water. A large whale’s case generally yields about five hundred gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the ticklish business of securing what you can.
I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was coated within, but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken pearl-coloured membrane, like the lining of a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale’s case.
It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since—as has been elsewhere set forth—the head embraces one third of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship’s side.
As in decapitating the whale, the operator’s instrument is brought close to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents. It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.
Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and—in this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale’s great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped.
Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and firmly held by a hand on deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the company, to whom he vivaciously cries—he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this cautious search is over, a stout iron-bound bucket, precisely like a well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert hands. These last now hoist the bucket within grasp of the Indian, to whom another person has reached up a very long pole. Inserting this pole into the bucket, Tashtego downward guides the bucket into the Tun, till it entirely disappears; then giving the word to the seamen at the whip, up comes the bucket again, all bubbling like a dairy-maid’s pail of new milk. Carefully lowered from its height, the full-freighted vessel is caught by an appointed hand, and quickly emptied into a large tub. Then remounting aloft, it again goes through the same round until the deep cistern will yield no more. Towards the end, Tashtego has to ram his long pole harder and harder, and deeper and deeper into the Tun, until some twenty feet of the pole have gone down.
*Quoin si neno la Euclidean. Ni ya hisabati safi ya baharini. Sijui kwamba imewahi kufafanuliwa kabla. Quoin ni kitu imara ambacho hutofautiana na wedge kwa kuwa na mwisho wake mkali unaundwa na mwinuko mkali wa upande mmoja, badala ya kuunganishwa kwa pande zote mbili. Sehemu ya chini iliyogawanywa, inayoitwa junk, ni shina moja kubwa la mafuta, lililoundwa na kuvuka na kuvuka tena, katika seli elfu kumi zilizovamia, za nyuzi nyeupe zenye nguvu, zenye nguvu katika urefu wake wote. Sehemu ya juu, inayojulikana kama Kesi, inaweza kuchukuliwa kama kubwa Heidelburgh Tun ya sperm whale. Na kama vile ile mti mkubwa maarufu umechongwa kwa njia ya ajabu mbele, ndivyo na paji la uso la nyangumi lenye umbo la mviringo, linalotengeneza vifaa vingi vya ajabu kwa ajili ya mapambo ya kiashiria ya tun yake ya ajabu. Kwa kuongezea, kama vile ile ya Heidelberg ilijaa divai bora zaidi ya mabonde ya Rhenish, hivyo tun ya nyangumi ina ya thamani zaidi ya mavuno yake yote ya mafuta, yaani, spermaceti yenye thamani kubwa, katika hali yake safi kabisa, safi, na yenye harufu nzuri. Wala hakuna kitu chochote cha thamani kama hicho kinachopatikana katika sehemu nyingine yoyote ya kiumbe. Ingawa katika maisha inabaki kuwa kioevu kikamilifu, bado, baada ya kufunuliwa kwa hewa, baada ya kifo, huanza kuwa halisi, ikitoa matawi mazuri ya kioo, kama wakati barafu ya kwanza nyembamba na laini inapoanza kuunda katika maji. Kwa kawaida, ndama mkubwa hutoa karibu galoni mia tano za manii, ingawa kutokana na hali zisizoweza kuepukika, kiasi kikubwa cha manii hiyo huvuja, huvuja, na kuvuja, au kwa njia nyingine hupoteza kabisa katika shughuli ngumu ya kupata kile unachoweza. Sijui ni nini nyenzo nzuri na ghali Heidelberg tun ilikuwa coated ndani, lakini katika superlative utajiri kwamba coating hakuweza kuwa na kulinganishwa na hariri lulu-rangi utando, kama lining ya pelisse nzuri, kuunda uso wa ndani ya kesi ya sperm whale. "Tunaona kwamba ""Heidelberg Tun"" ya Pumpkin whale inashughulikia urefu wote wa sehemu ya juu ya kichwa; na kwa kuwa, kama ilivyoelezwa mahali pengine, kichwa huchukua theluthi moja ya urefu wote wa kiumbe, kisha kuweka urefu huo chini ya futi nane kwa pikipiki ya ukubwa mzuri, una zaidi ya futi ishirini na sita kwa kina cha tun, wakati ni up up na chini kwa upande wa meli. """ Kama vile katika kukata kichwa cha nyangumi, kifaa cha mwendeshaji huletwa karibu na mahali ambapo mlango unalazimishwa baadaye katika jarida la spermaceti; kwa hivyo, lazima awe mwangalifu sana, ili msukumo usio na uangalifu, usio wa wakati usiofaa uingie katika patakatifu na kupoteza yaliyomo yake ya thamani. Ni mwisho huu decapitated ya kichwa, pia, ambayo ni hatimaye kuinuliwa nje ya maji, na kushikiliwa katika nafasi hiyo na kubwa kukata tackles, ambao hempen mchanganyiko, upande mmoja, kufanya kabisa jangwa la kamba katika robo hiyo. Hivyo mengi kuwa alisema, kuhudhuria sasa, naomba wewe, kwamba ajabu na katika kesi hii maalum karibu mauti operesheni ambapo Sperm Whale's kubwa Heidelburgh Tun ni tapped. Nimble kama paka, Tashtego mounts juu; na bila kubadilisha msimamo wake erect, anaendesha moja kwa moja nje juu ya overhanging mainyard-mkono, kwa sehemu ambapo ni hasa miradi juu ya Tun hoisted. Yeye amebeba pamoja naye kifaa kidogo kinachoitwa mjeledi, kilicho na sehemu mbili tu, kinachotembea kupitia kipande kimoja cha mbao. Kuhifadhi block hii, hivyo kwamba ni hangs chini kutoka uwanja-mkono, yeye swings mwisho mmoja wa kamba, mpaka ni kukamatwa na imara uliofanyika na mkono juu ya deck. Kisha, mkono juu ya mkono, chini ya sehemu nyingine, Hindi drops kupitia hewa, mpaka dexterously yeye ardhi juu ya kilele cha kichwa. Huko - bado juu juu ya kampuni iliyobaki, ambaye yeye anaomboleza kwa nguvu - anaonekana kama Muezzin wa Uturuki akiita watu wazuri kwa sala kutoka juu ya mnara. Kwa kuwa alipelekwa kwa jembe lenye ncha fupi, alitafuta kwa bidii mahali panapofaa pa kuanza kuvunja tun. Katika biashara hii yeye huendelea sana makini, kama mvuvi wa hazina katika baadhi ya nyumba ya zamani, sauti kuta kupata ambapo dhahabu ni masoned katika. Wakati huu wa kutafuta kwa uangalifu umekwisha, ndoo ngumu iliyofungwa kwa chuma, kama ndoo ya kisima, imewekwa kwenye ncha moja ya mjeledi; wakati ncha nyingine, ikiwa imeinuliwa kwenye deck, inashikiliwa na mikono miwili au mitatu ya tahadhari. Sasa hawa wa mwisho wananyanyua ndoo hiyo kwa mkono wa yule Mhindi, ambaye mtu mwingine amemfikia kwa nguzo ndefu sana. "Akiweka fimbo hiyo ndani ya ndoo, Tashtego anaongoza ndoo hiyo chini hadi itakapotoweka kabisa; kisha, akitoa amri kwa mabaharia, ndoo hiyo inakuja tena, yote yakibubujika kama ndoo ya maziwa ya msichana wa maziwa.""" Meli hiyo iliyokuwa imejaa mizigo inashushwa kwa uangalifu kutoka juu, inashikiliwa na mkono uliowekwa, na kutolewa haraka ndani ya beseni kubwa. Kisha inapopanda tena juu, inapita tena katika mzunguko uleule mpaka kisima kirefu hakitatoa tena. Karibu na mwisho, Tashtego anapaswa kuingiza fimbo yake ndefu kwa nguvu zaidi na zaidi, na kwa kina zaidi na zaidi ndani ya Tun, hadi fimbo hiyo itakaposhuka kwa meta ishirini.