AMBERGRIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 4, 6 January 1938, Page 14

AMBERGRIS.

MANY RICH FINDS.

STEWART ISLAND LUCK.

PRODUCT OF BULL SPERM.

The discovery by two Hamilton residents of a piece of ambergris on the Maiora Beach, near Waikato Heads, on Sunday last, will probably start a new wave of enthusiasm among frequenters of West Coast beaches. In view of some of the rich finds that have already been mado around the New Zealand coasts, the time spent in careful scarch may return the lucky seeker a fortune in one find—or perhaps, as is more likely, nothing at all.

The greatest find yet recorded was that made by the whale chaser Campbell about 1912. This craft, which was whaling to the factory ship Mimosa, was anchored in Cuttle Cove, Chalky Sound, when the captain spied what appeared to be a sick bull sperm. Three days' chase was ended with the harpooning of the cetacean, which, when opened up proved to be full of ambergris. Several guesses nave been made as to the actual value of the ambergris found, ranging from £300,000 to £1,000,000, but probably the lesser figure is nearer the truth. It is a known fact, however, that over £65,000 worth was brought to Bluff by a chaser and dispatched to the United Kingdom for sale. Hermie on Stewart Island.

Stewart Island is best known as the headquarters of serious ambergris hunting, and most people have heard of Mr. Adam Adamson, who lived a hermit life on one of the isolated, storm-swept beaches of the island and admittedly made an excellent living from his finds. But then he knew more about ambergris, its properties and peculiarities, than any man in the Dominion. For years this hard-headed, patient Scot, who had had a distinguished military career with the New Zealand Forces, lived a Spartan life in his beach cave, coming out every year for his annual trip to Dunedin.

Favourite spots on Stewart Island among ambergris searchers are Boughboy Bay, Mason's Bay, Little Hellfire and Big Hellfire. The two latter beaches got their names from th® fury of the wind and the sea when th© roaring southerlies sweep up from the Ice Barrier and the Ross Sea to pound in fury against the rocky beaches. Many finds have been made in these localities. Chief among them, perhaps, is the lucky strike of Mr. John Leask, of Leaskfe Bay, Stewart Island, who kicked a "boulder" buried in the sand at Mason's Bay. Th® "boulder" proved to be a lump of ambergris weighing 2000oz. When one considers that ambergris may fetch from £2 to £5 an ounce, the fascination and uncertainty of ambergris hunting can be understood. Th® market value is not governed by any guaranteed price, but is a matter of quality and individual bargaining. - ' Then there is another man who spent six months beachcombing and is now to 1)0 Paying tax on an Income of £800 a year. Practically every Stewart Islander has a piece of ambergris and the menfolk keep it in their tobacco pouches, claiming that it gives the tobacco a distinctive flavour and aroma. There are many different varieties of th® precious commodity, ranging in colour from black or brown to silver gr~yand finally to that most prized of all colours—a dull amber. There ia also a chalky forin which is not so valuable. Skipper's Kick Flat A find worth .{IO,OOO was made fcy the skipper of a trading schooner in the Hawaiian group in 1910. This rich prize was floating in the sea, and it is peasant to relate that the crew shared generously in this gift from Neptune. Then, a few years, ago, a rich find' wa« recorded on the Ninety-Mile Beach, between AM. psra and Scott's Point, in,the Far North.. Westerly ,coast*, more especially thosa closest to the whale feeding grounds, are the likeliest places for ambergris •fprbspeetX*." There i* little danger of the supp'y of ambergris giving out through the slaughter of cetacean® by the whaling fleet*. According to reliable: authoriti*, the substance is formed only in me sperm/ bull whale, whereas the overwhelming majority of whales slaughtered in the Boes Sea are blue whales. , ' t

Though there are differing ■ opinions among authorities a* of the production of ambergris' hi a whale, it is accepted as a reasonable explanation by many that it Is the result of irritation set up-by the horny beake of the. squids - that tha whale has swallowed. - Whatever>~maybe the true explanation, however, cannot detract from the pleasure aig, excitement of the ambergris hunter, who, like the " gold prospector, is always expecting" to "strike it ,lucky" around the next M>nd