COMMENTING UPON THE Zoroastrians, in I836, Hawthorne's American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge concludes with a judgment of their prime symbol: There is, in truth, nothing that can be seen or felt, which combines so many symbolic attributes of splendor, terror, and beneficence, as fire.' Whether the germinous seeds planted by Hawthorne during his Pittsfield companionship with Melville included any thoughts on the literary promise of these Orientals who worshipped with no unnatural idolatry,2 we still do not know, but there is adequate evidence that through a variety of generally well known sources Melville acquired a fair knowledge of their religion and used it with skill to strengthen the metaphysical argument of Moby-Dick. Aware of fire as an ancient and complex symbol associated with both creation and destruction, Melville not only takes advantage of traditional Occidental fire symbolism but also relates the fire symbols to the Zoroastrian religion. The Parsees, or Indian Zoroastrians, were known for their extraordinary religious orthodoxy. Melville intended his Parsee harpooner to be the orthodox follower of an orthodox faith, who in his unreasoning orthodoxy ironically reduces religion to ritual. In this matter of faith, Fedallah is both a foil to the rationalistic rebel Ahab and a reminder that orthodoxy, though on the lee shore of faith, is not without its dangers. The depth and logic of the fire symbolism is especially evident in the carefully designed relationship between the Parsee and Ahab, both questers and fanatics, both hunting the