Moby Dick

Chapter 12

"Biographical"

Queequeg was from the island of Kokovoko, where he was the son of the king. He had always wanted to see more of the Christian world outside his island, and so one day he left on a whaler that had stopped at the island. He was soon disillusioned about Christians by his shipmates. He felt that he could not quite yet return to his island, and so he was living his life as a harpooner. When he heard that Ishmael was planning to go whaling, he immediately resolved to sail with him, on the same ship. They soon after went to sleep.

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References:
"For the nonce,":for the present