"These are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean’s skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang."
Musing: This is so Melville - beautiful language rocking you into a deep reverie, then a stabbing reminder of what is being said. Brilliant.