Brit — Moby-Dick

The Pequod sails northeast from the Crozetts into huge meadows of brit. Brit is a tiny yellow sea food that right whales eat. For miles the water looks like fields of ripe golden wheat.

On the second day many right whales appear. A sperm whaler like the Pequod does not hunt them, so they feel safe. They swim slowly with open mouths through the brit. The food sticks to the hairy fibers in their mouths while water spills out at the lip.

They move like farmers mowing wet grass. They make a strange cutting sound and leave blue trails on the yellow sea. From the mast-head, when they stop moving, they look like black rocks, not living animals. New watchers often mistake them for dark hills, like travelers who pass sleeping elephants and think they are soil.

Even when you know they are whales, their size is hard to believe. Ishmael says sea animals stir different feelings than land animals. The sea is still mostly unknown. It has killed countless sailors. People forget how awful it is because they hear about disasters again and again.

Ishmael says Noah's flood never really ended. Two thirds of the world is still under water. The sea swallows ships the way the ground once swallowed Korah and his followers. It even kills its own creatures. It dashes whales against rocks like a wild tiger crushing her cubs.

The sea hides danger under lovely blue water. Sharks can look beautiful. Every sea creature eats another in endless war.

Then Ishmael turns to the gentle green land and asks you to compare sea and earth to your own soul. Inside each person there is a small peaceful island, like Tahiti, ringed by half-known horrors. He warns: do not leave that island of peace. You may never find your way back.