THE CACHALOT. 47 



Ambergris supposed to proceed from sickness. 



found in the abdomen of whales by the whale 

 fishermen, always in lumps of various shapes and 

 sizes, weighing from half an ounce to a hundred 

 or more pounds. 



The persons who are employed in the sperma- 

 ceti whale fishery, confine their views to the 

 blunt-headed cachalot. Whenever they hook 

 one, they observe, that it constantly not only vo- 

 mits whatever it has in its stomach, but also 

 commonly discharges its faeces at the same time; 

 and if the latter circumstance takes place, they 

 are generally disappointed in finding ambergris 

 in its belly. But whenever they discover a bliuu- 

 headed cachalot, male or female, which seems 

 torbid and sickly, they are always pretty sure to 

 find ambergris, as the fish in this state seldom 

 voids its faeces upon being hooked. They like- 

 wise meet with it in the dead ones, which they 

 sometimes find floating on the sea. It is ob- 

 served, that all those whales, in whose bowels 

 ambergris is found, seem not only torpid aud 

 sick, but. are also constantly leaner than others; 

 so that if we may judge from the constant union 

 of these two circumstances, it would seem that a 

 larger collection of ambergris in the belly of 

 the whale is a source of disease, and probably 

 sometimes the cause of its death. As soon as 

 they hook a whale of this description, torpid, 

 sickly, or emaciated, they immediately either cut. 

 up the above-mentioned protuberance, if thero 

 be any, or they rip opq;i its bowels from the ori- 



