6 I'HILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTXONS. [aNNO 1791. 



//. 0)1 the Production of Ambergris. A Communication from the Committee ef 

 Council appointed for the Consideration of all Matters relating to Trade and 

 Foreign Plantations; with a prefatory Letter from William Fawkener, Esq., 

 to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. , P. R. S. p. 43 . 



" Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade, IVhitthall, I5th Jan. 1791. 

 Sir, — Lord Hawkesbiiry, President of the committee of Privy Council ap- 

 pointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Planta- 

 tions, having received a letter from Mr. Champion, a principal merchant con- 

 cerned in the Southern Wliale Fishery, informing him, that a ship belonging to 

 him had lately arrived from the said fishery, which had brought home 362 ounces 

 of ambergris, found by Mr. Coffin, captain of the said ship, in the body of a 

 female spermaceti whale, taken on the coast of Guinea; his lordship thought fit 

 to desire captain Coffin, as well as Mr. Champion, to attend the lords of the 

 committee, that they might be examined concerning all the circumstances of 

 the fact before mentioned; and I am directed by their lordships to transmit to 

 you a copy of the examination of these 2 gentlemen, that you may communi- 

 cate the same to the r. s., if you should think that any of the circumstances, 

 stated in this examination, will contribute to remove the doubts hitherto enter- 

 tained concerning the natural history and production of this valuable drug. I 

 send you also a piece of the ambergris so taken out of the whale, and some of 

 the bills of the fish called squids, which are supposed to be the food of sperma- 

 ceti whales, and which were ibund partly in the ambergris taken from this female 

 whale, and partly on the outside of it, and adhering to it. I have the honour 

 to be, &c. W. Fawkener." 



At the Council Chawher, Whitehall, Jan. 12, 1791. 



By the right honourable the Lords of the committee of Council appointed for 

 the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations. 



Read — Letter from Mr. Alexander Champion, a principal merchant con- 

 cerned in tlie Southern Whale Fishery, to Lord Hawkesbury, dated the 2d 

 instant, acquainting his lordship, that captain Joshua Coffin, of the ship The 

 Lord Hawkesbury, is lately arrived from the Southern Whale Fishery ; and that 

 the said ship, besides a cargo of 76 tons of spermaceti oil and head-matter, has 

 brought home about 36o ounces of ambergris, which the said captain took out 

 of the body of a female spermaceti whale on the coast of Guinea. 

 Mess. Champion and Coffin attending, were then called in, and the following 

 questions were put to Mr. Coffin, viz. 



a. Have any of the whales, taken before by ships sailing from Great-Britain, 

 to your knowledge, contained any ambergris.'' — a. None, that ever I heard of. 

 The American ships have at times found some. — a. Was the ambergris, found 

 by you, in a bull or cow fisli? — a. It was found in a cow fish. — q. Is it usual to 



