Moby-Dick: Chapter 104 Summary & Analysis

Ishmael lays out some fossil evidence for the existence of whales in far-flung locales, including the “Lombard region” of Germany and the state of Alabama in the US, where a whale was uncovered in the 19th century and believed to be a monster from the Old Testament. Ishmael states that this conception of the whale’s monstrosity is not far off; he adds that, in other jobs he has worked as a “digger” and a “miner,” and has come into contact with a good deal of fossilized bones of all types of animals. This, he believes, gives him some credential as a “geologist,” and therefore allows him to speak on this subject of the whale’s fossil ancestors.