PRECIOUS AMBERGRIS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1929, Page 3

PRECIOUS AMBERGRIS

MISTAKES AND DISILLUSION. ] Several large finds of ambeygris this summer have aroused widespread inIterest in this rare and precious substance. Experts are of opinion that the .supply about these shores is diminishing on account of the wholesale slaughter of the sperm whale from which alone it comes, but, however that may be, the past season has been a very prolific one. That is not wholly I good news for the fortunate finder, for I the ambergris market is one that can 1 he easily overstocked and depressed.. One of the few men who deal in' ambergris is Mr W. H. Mason, of Ponsppby, states the “New’ Zealand Herald.” Many years ago he was in the perfumery business with his father and they then bought ambergris for 1 use. Vague and extravagant ideas of the public on the subject of ambergris, leading to absurd incidents ending in disappointment, came under Mr Mason’s notice. One find, which was lodged with due care in the strongroom of a Napier bank was subsequently described by a, London expert as “a poor sample of low-grade tallow in an advanced stage of decomposition.” A similar disil-

lusionment fell to the lot of a Dargaville business man who, when cutting up a stranded whale, came upon something he was sure must be the precious substance. Carefully -concealing his good fortune he returned to

tho carcase with horse and cart at dead of night. What exact part of the whale’s anatomy it was that he bore away with, him is not regarded, but it. is sufficient to say that it was

not ambergris. Such mistakes are easily understood by anyone who has seen a collection of samples of ambergris such as Mr Mason has at his home. They are mostly black or grey lumps waterworn like stones or wood found on the beach, and there is nothing about the appearance of any of them to catch the eye of the uninitiated. So i greatly do the samples vary in appearance that it is hardly possible to give any general description that would apply to them all. At the upper end of the scale, most valuable of all, is the silvery grey kind, coloured like cigar ash and having something like the appearance of pumicestone. Price levels of ambergris cannot be stated with any exactness, but in normal times the best may be reckoned to be worth in London about its weight in gold. The value in New Zealand would be considerably less.

Next to the silver grey conies the white or fossilised ambergris, with a honeycomb formation. After that come light and dark greys, and then brown and various forms of black. Blank is the most common and least valuable of all, and on the shores of Stewart Island it can be gathered literally by I the ton. COLOURS AND PERFUMES. The perfume of the fossilised ambergris is sweet and faint. The various greys are characterised by an aromatic, tobacco-like, musky odour and are very sweet when properly dried. This process means a shrinkage of weight of anything up to 25 per cent. The low-grade immature black ambergris generally has an objectionable scent. This is worth very little at any time, and when there is a plentiful supply of better grades available it is worthless.

Speaking of record finds, Mr Mason said Mr John Leask, of Leask’s Bay, Stewart Island, held a record for a long time with a piece weighing 2000 ounces, and picked up near his farm. Next to this was a find at Pihama made by Mr Lloyd. This weighed 750 ounces, and is understood to have realised about £l7OO at Home.

There was a very large find at WaiJierahera, from the proceeds of which 4he discoverer was able to establish himself in a hotel business. The greatest haul of all was made some years ago in the extreme south of New Zealand by a group of Norwegian whalers, who were down on their luck. They came across a dead whale, the carcass of which proved to contain ambergris said to have weighed 56cwt. It was afterwards sold to a French syndicate for £125,000. Nobody knows what the full market value might be. “It might have been close on £1,000,000,” said Mr Mason. When visiting Stewart Island some time ago Mr Mason found the feeling strongly prevalent that part of this huge stock was still being placed on the world’s markets and continuing to keep prices depressed.

Previous records of loose pieces have been decisively broken twice this season by the finding of a piece of 17211 a on a North Auckland beach and of a lump of 1991 b a few days later at Invercargill. Mr Mason said he did not take this to indicate any likelihood of an increase of supplies in the future.

A picturesque figure who is understood to make a handsome living from searching for ambergris at Stewart Island is Mr Adam Adamson, a sturdy Scotsman, who served with distinction fn the Great War. He spends the period of boisterous westerly winter weather about the bays on the southwest of Stewart Island, where, by the fury of wind and sea, the ambergris is lifted bodily out of the water and carried chains away inland. Quite alone he lives the life of hunter and hermit for months, returning each season literally with sackfulls of booty, on the proceeds of which he is able to enjoy the refinements of civilisation. Ambergris is used chiefly in the making of high-grade perfumes, where it acts as a blender and fixer of the bouquet, for which purpose it is also used in the manufacture of wine. The better grade ambergris in spirits of wine makes a very sweet perfume The demand for it for such purposes in New Zealand is very restricted, and it is nearly all sent Home.

In New Zealand, for some reason not apparent, the ambergris is nearly all found on the West Coast. The time to look for it is after heavy westeily weather, when it may be found above high-water mark. Not a few residents near North Auckland beaches spend part of their time patrolling with more or less success for ambergris* and there are instances recorded where fox terriers have been trained to become most useful in the search. The master goes along on horseback or even on a motor-cycle, and when alst} doS BtOPS tQ snif £ investigates

Whatever the value of a find might be it is any rate sufficient to give encouragement to that hope that springs eternal in the human breast.