[describing a beached whale]: The whale was not a long one, physically speaking
- say thirty-five feet - but he smelt much longer; he smelt as much as a mile
and a half longer, I should say, for we traveled about that distance beyond
him before we ceased to detect his fragrance in the atmosphere. My comrade said
he did not admire to smell a whale; and I adopt his sentiments while I scorn
his language. A whale does not smell like magnolia, nor yet like heliotrope
or "Balm of a Thousand Flowers;" I do not know, but I should judge
that it smells more like a thousand pole-cats.
- "Concerning The Answer To That Conundrum," The Californian,
October 8, 1864
If you cannot have a whale's good opinion except at some sacrifice of principle
or personal dignity, it is better to try to live without it. That is my idea
about whales.
- "An Undelivered Speech," 25 March 1895
Graphic from New
York Herald, 15 April 1906, Magazine Section. p. 4.
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