QUEST FOR AMBERGRIS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 20 July 1925, Page 6

QUEST FOR AMBERGRIS

A VALUABLE COMMODITY

Last year a. good find of about 70 ounces of ambergris, worth about £l5O. was made in Taranaki Bight-, but the largest find ever' made in New Zealand was in 1910, and comprised 11,000 minces, found by I lie captain of one of the Norwegian whalers off tho Solan ders. Foveaii.\ Strait. The value of that particular find was over £22,000 (41s per ounce), and tlie duly paid on ilwas £150.* Tho best, quality .is that which came from the whale three or four years before, is washed up-beyond high water mark and is buried in the dry sand for two or three years. Tho best spot, in the South for ambergris is between Doughboy Bay am I Mason ’s Bay, oil the West Coast of the South Island, and this is one of the places where one man parades the beach every morning in his search. Another place is the long beach between Ahipara and Cape Maria Van Diemen. All this beach is main highway up to the north end, and is used by settlers, so is fairly . well patrolled. Many pieces are also found hi Taranaki Bight and other parts of the west coast of the North Island. While not tho case in New Zealand, in other' pails of the world dogs are employed to search for ambergris. Thev are taught the smell and are tneji kept fairly hungry, being rewarded with a piece of meat when thev make a find.