SOUTH SEA FISHERY. 179 



valuable application, however, has long heen in the 

 manufacture of candles, in which it maintains a 

 considerable rivalry with wax, as cheaper and not 

 less elegant and agreeable. 



Ambergris, according to its quantity, is a pecu- 

 liarly valuable product of the Sperm Whale ; often, 

 however, we might say generally, it is not at all 

 found in them. Sometimes it sells in London not 

 much under <. 1 an ounce, but frequently two or 

 three voyages are accomplished, and successfully too, 

 without any ambergris being obtained. It is seldom 

 or ever found in the young fish ; but only in those 

 of full size, or rather of great age. It is generally 

 considered the result of some diseased process in the 

 intestinal canal, to which the individual has been 

 subjected. The quantity obtained, therefore, is very 

 various. The mate of the Ocean reported to Messrs. 

 Quoy and Gaimard, as an extraordinary occurrence, 

 that, on one occasion, he extracted fifty pounds from 

 a single animal. We remember seeing it stated on 

 good authority, that a single piece of precisely the 

 same weight was found by some sailors on the coast 

 of the Bermudas, who, calculating that they had 

 made their fortune, lost no time in escaping to 

 England. Still larger masses sometimes, though 

 rarely, have been found ; the largest we have seen 

 mentioned weighed two hundred pounds. (Fr 

 Cuviers Hist. 303.) Ambergris is found in con- 

 siderable quantity on the coasts of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. It is highly esteemed by the Malays, as 

 by most orientalists ; some of whom reserve it ex- 



