THE WHALE - 90

by Herman Melville in English Fiction Stories

CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails. “De balena vero sufficit, si rex habeat caput, et regina caudam.” Bracton, l. 3, c. 3. Latin from the books of the Laws of England, which taken along with the context, means, that of ...Read Morewhales captured by anybody on the coast of that land, the King, as Honorary Grand Harpooneer, must have the head, and the Queen be respectfully presented with the tail. A division which, in the whale, is much like halving an apple; there is no intermediate remainder. Now as this law, under a modified form, is to this day in force Read Less