The more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my inability to express it. At times there are
gestures in it, which, though they would well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable. In an
extensive herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are these mystic gestures, that I have heard hunters who
have declared them akin to Free-Mason signs and symbols; that the whale, indeed, by these methods
intelligently conversed with the world. Nor are there wanting other motions of the whale in his general
body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced assailant. Dissect him how I may,
then, I but go skin deep. I know him not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale,
how understand his head? much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has none? Thou shalt
see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face shall not be seen. But I cannot completely
make out his back parts; and hint what he will about his face, I say again he has no face.