…as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life
Our note: Ishmael in the chapter on the lee shore, on the calm island inside every person.
Verified in the full text of Moby-Dick on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2701
Painted the same decade: Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine, Théodore Chassériau, 1851