High Noon on the High Seas 211 



The products of the sperm whale are indeed varied and valuable. 

 First, the oil from their blubber is of a finer quality than that of any 

 other species, and whale oils are today still rated in the following 

 order: 



Sperm Oil — from the blubber of sperms 

 Number i Oil — from the blubber of rorquals 

 Number 2 Oil — from the second boiling of rorqual blubber 

 Number 3 Oil — from meat, bones, and third pressing of ror- 

 qual blubber 

 Number 4 Oil — from blood, bones, scraps, and sperm meat 



What is more, the average sperm yields more oil (6^ to 80 barrels) 

 than even the mighty blue whale of equal bulk (50 to 70 barrels). 

 Second, the spermaceti, which is really a very light wax — a neutral, 

 almost tasteless, fatty substance which is a liquid between thirty- 

 eight and fort^^-seven degrees centigrade — is not only suitable for 

 the manufacture of candles, for which it was mostly used in olden 

 days, but also forms the basis of some of the finest machine oils 

 known for very delicate instruments. Third, the teeth are fine- 

 grained ivory and were previously put to many uses. The skin is high 

 in glycerin content. Finally, it is from sperm whales that the exceed- 

 ingly valuable ambergris is obtained. 



Ambergris is an altogether bizarre thing. It has been known for 

 thousands of years and has been used for an enormous variety of pur- 

 poses. The ancient Egyptians seem to have known of it and used it 

 in their temples, possibly as an incense. The Arabs first called it 

 anbar, a word which turns up in the Coptic Bible to denote the 

 "great fish" which swallowed Jonah. However, the same word also 

 means "amber" in Arabic. Ambergris, or gray amber, is a light, in- 

 flammable, fatty substance, ashy gray in color, but when cut through, 

 it shows a sort of marbling. It has a pleasant aroma, especially when 

 heated, and this is due to the presence of a bacterium with the de- 

 lightful name of Spirillum recti physeteris. Ambergris is formed in 

 the large intestines of sperm whales, apparently as the result of ulcera- 

 tion caused therein by irritations set up by the horny beaks and bony 

 rings from the suckers of the squids the whales eat. Sperms are notori- 

 ous sufferers from colic, and when they are basking on the surface 

 on very still days, the rumblings of their stomachs, punctuated by 



