WHALES AND DOLPHINS 327 



long period there was great confusion between spermaceti and ambergris; one 

 beincr often called white amber, while the other was invariably designated by a 

 term equivalent to grey amber. Which was the original spermaceti still remains 

 to be proved. 



In regard to what we now call ambergris, it may be mentioned that although 

 in former days this was extensively employed in medicine, it is now used only in 

 perfumery. It is solely a product of the sperm-whale, and appears to be a kind of 

 biliary calculus, and generally contains a number of the horny beaks of the cuttle- 

 fishes and squids, upon which the whales have fed. Its market-price is subject to 

 considerable variation, but from £3 to £4 per ounce is the usual average for 

 samples of good quality. In 1898 a merchant in Mincing Lane was the fortunate 

 owner of a lump of ambergris weighing 270 lb., which was sold in Paris for 

 about 85s. per ounce, or £18,360. In regard to the origin of the name, it appears, 

 from an article by an American naturalist, that ambar (i.e. the creature moving in 

 the waters) is the Arabic name of the sperm-whale ; and hence we have ' grey- 

 ambar,' or ' ambergris,' as the designation of the grey aromatic substance yielded 

 by this species, while the other product, the glistening white spermaceti, is known 

 as ' white ambar,' or ' amberblanc' In the Ethiopic Bible, anbar, another form 

 of ambar, is used for Jonah's whale; and this suggests that sperm-whales were 

 formerly common in the Mediterranean, where they are now comparatively scarce. 

 This is confirmed by the fact that sperm-whales are mentioned, under the name 

 of ndkhirw (i.e. ' blower,' equivalent to the Greek physeter, which has the same 

 meaning), in Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, dating from between 885 and 860 B.C. 

 The author of this derivation is thus led to conclude that Jonah's whale was a 

 sperm-whale. He also points out that there appears to be some connection 

 between the scriptural narrative of Jonah and the classic legend of Andromeda and 

 the sea-monster ; and that in ancient times the skeleton of a sperm-whale (believed 

 to be the sea-monster in question) is stated to have been fastened by chains to 

 the rocks at the entrance to one of the harbours at the eastern end of the 

 Mediterranean. 



In addition to the true, or great, cachalot, the Indian Ocean, and probably 

 also the tropical Pacific, is inhabited by the much smaller species known as the 

 lesser sperm-whale (Cogia breviceps), which, like its giant cousin, constitutes a 

 genus by itself. Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cuvieri) is also probably an 

 inhabitant of the Indo-Pacific, as is certainly the case with its cousin, Layard's 

 beaked whale (Mesoplodon layardi), to which reference has already been made 

 in the preceding chapter. 



The same remark applies also in the case of Heaviside's dolphin (Cephalo- 

 rhynchus heavisidei). On the other hand, the Indian porpoise (Neomeris, or 

 Neophocama, phocwnoides) is a characteristic cetacean of the Indo-Pacific, where 

 it frequents the neighbourhood of islands, and ranges from the Cape to Japan. 

 This porpoise, which grows to a length of about four feet, is specially characterised 

 by the absence of a back-fin, as well as by the presence of a patch of small bony 

 tubercles on the middle of the back ; these tubercles, or scales, being not improbably 

 the last remnants of a bony panoply in which there is good reason to believe the 

 bodies of certain extinct whale-like animals were invested. 



