94 SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTLSH SEAS 



fish, which form the food of the Sperm Whale. The nucleus of the mass is 

 generally the horny beaks of these creatures, and the substance itself is found 

 in the intestines of the Sperm Whale, or on the shores of the seas frequented 

 by this species: no other Whale is known to be subject to these bezoars. It 

 was formerly believed that the origin of ambergris was in some way connected 

 with the sea, and when it was afterwards found in Whales, the fact was simply 

 attributed to their having swallowed it. Sir Thomas Browne writes of the 

 Sperm Whale which came on shore at Wells, in 1646:— "In vain was it to 

 rake for ambergriese in the paunch of this leviathan, as Greenland discoverers 

 and attests of experience dictate that they sometimes swallow great lumps 

 thereof in the sea ; insufferable foetor denying that inquiry ; and yet if, as 

 Paracelsus encourageth, ordure makes the best musk, and from the most 

 foetid substances may be drawn the most odoriferous essences ; all that had 

 not Vespasian's nose {Qii odor iucri ex re qiialibet) might boldly swear here 

 was a subject fit for such extractions " (vol. i., p. 356). It was not until 1783, 

 in a paper read before the Royal Society by Dr. Swediaur, that a scientific 

 account of the origin of ambergris was made known. At the present time 

 its medical virtues, which were formerly considered very great, are altogether 

 at a discount, and the only use to which it is applied is in the preparation of 

 perfumery. 



The South Sea whale-fishery was long prosecuted by the Americans 

 before the British ships took part in it, from 1771 to 1775 Massachusetts is 

 said by McCulloch to have had 121 vessels in this trade; about the beginning 

 of the American war, however, the English also sent out ships, and in 1791 

 had 75 vessels engaged in the South Seas. The number of British ships, as 

 with those employed in the northern fisheries, varied considerably, influenced 

 probably by the varying amounts of bounty offered by the Government, but 

 never exceeded 75 ; in 181 5 they had fallen off to 22; in 1820 they again 

 rose to 68, from which they gradually fell to 31 in 1829, all of which sailed from 



