AMBERGRIS.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1924, Page 1

AMBERGRIS.

HIGHLY PRIZED ARTICLE. Ambergris, a substance duo to certain unknown pathological conditions of the soertn whale, always lias been a highly prized commercial article. It was once thought to possess wonderful medicinal properties, and for this reason was a valuable gift to the temple gods. The pilgrims to Alccea to-day often employ it as an olfering to the Prophet’s shrine. The Turks* used it as a soiee for flavouring fancy dishes used at the most important banquets. It has far a long period been valued by the perfumery trades. Ambergris is formed only in sperm whale. It has never been known to he associated with any other species of whale. It never is yielded hy a whale in good health, hut is often found in the intestines of sperm whales stiflering from intestinal inflammation, due probably to irritation caused by a surfeit of cuttlefish, the Ireaks of, which destroy or injure the intestinal lining. As much as £15,009 has been paid in recent times for the ambergris extracted from a single captured whale. The present price of common ambergris is nltout £3 an ounce, while ambergris of good quality sells for £8 an ounce. In ancient times much larger prices were paid for it. Ambergris is usually tiiuml as a gie\ or blackish mottled fat floating upon the surface of the oceans frequented by sperm whales. It has always been one of the richest prizes of the sea. Many sailors, sea captains and merchants have made great fortunes out of the discovery of a .single floating mass of ambergris picked up in the sea. Sailors’ eyes are always on the lookout. for it.

This remarkable substance has a peculiar odour, which has the unique property of penetrating everything it touches. AVhen a drop is rubbed on the hand, it requires many washings to take the odour away. Its value to the perfumer lies not so much in its intrinsic: worth as an odour, hut rather as a fixative for richer odours. It has unusual properties tor combining with other odours and making them longlasting.

Whaling in recent times is not so actively pursued as it once was, and the sperm whale is getting scarcer and scarcer. This means that tlie outlook for the making of many new rich linds of ambergris on the seas is not good. It seems that within a comparatively short time the sperm whale will be destroyed. and ambergris, like many other commercial substances that were among the richest and most luxations articles in the world’s markets, will pass away and be remembered in a historical sense, or through the use -.if substitutes and synthetic chemicals.