116 THE WHALE AND 



Ambergris for the Perfumer. Whence Derived. 



Mecca, probably to offer it there in fumiga- 

 tions, like as frankincense in the worship of the 

 Church of Rome. 



A costive whale, when struck by the harpoon, 

 will often throw up or discharge this substance, 

 and it will be found floating about him. It is 

 said to have been a Nantucket whaler that thus 

 accidentally ascertained the origin of a sub- 

 stance which had been known before vaguely 

 as an unaccountable product of the sea. Pieces 

 have been picked up by sailors about a dying 

 whale worth twenty dollars ; and masses of 

 it have been found of from sixty to two hund- 

 red and twenty-five pounds' weight, floating on 

 the surface of the ocean, in regions much fre- 

 quented by the sperm whale. We have not 

 been so fortunate as to light upon any. It is a 

 pity that nine tenths of the mineral drugs in 

 use could not be employed to purge the amber- 

 gris out of the huge intestines of sick whales, 

 rather than to turn the stomachs, and irritate 

 the bowels, and loosen the teeth, and produce 

 caries in the bones of men. 



If the gigantic denizens of the deep were as 

 much physicked, doubtless there would be full 

 as much sickness among them as among the 



