94 S£ALS AND WHALES OF THE BRITISH SEAS. 



fish, which form the food of the Sperm Whale. The nucleus of the mass is 

 generally the horn)? beaks of these creatures, and the substance itself is found 

 in the intestines of the Sperm Whale, or on the shores of the seas frequented 

 by this species; no other Whale is known to be subject to these bezoars. It 

 was formerl)- believed that the origin of ambergris was in some way connected 

 with the sea, and when it was afterwards found in Whales, the fact was simply 

 attributed to their having swallowed it. Sir Thomas Browne writes of the 

 Sperm Whale which came on shore at Wells, in 1646;— "In vain was it to 

 rake for ambergriese in the paunch of this Icviatlian, as Greenland discoverers 

 and attests of experience dictate that they sometimes swallow great lumps 

 thereof in the sea ; insufferable fcetor denying that inquiry ; and yet if as 

 Paracelsus encourageth, ordure makes the best musk, and from the most 

 fcetid substances may be drawn the most odoriferous essences ; all that had 

 not Vespasian's nose i^Cui odor hicri ex re qnalibel) might boldly swear here 

 was a subject fit for such extractions" (vol, i., p. 356). It was not imtil 1783, 

 in a paper read before the Royal Society by Dr. Swcdiaur, that a scientific 

 account of the origin of ambergris was made known. At the present time 

 its medical virtues, whicli were formerly considered veiy great, are altogether 

 at a discount, and the onl)' use to which it is applied is in the preparation of 

 perfumer)'. 



The South Sea whale-fishery was long prosecuted b)' the Americans 

 before the British ships took part in it, from 1771 to 1775 Massachusetts is 

 said by McCulloch to lia\-e had 121 vessels in this trade; about the beginning 

 of the American war, howe\'er, the English also sent out ships, and in 1791 

 had 75 vessels engaged in the South Seas. The number of British ships, as 

 with those employed in the northern fisheries, varied considerably, influenced 

 probably by the varying amounts of bounty offered by the Government, but 

 never exceeded 75 ; in 1S15 they hai,! fallen ofi' to 22; in 1820 they again 

 rose to 68, from which the)- gradually fell to 31 in 1829, all of which sailed from 



