THE SPERM WHALE OR CACHALOT 
In colour, the upper parts of this whale are black or greyish black, 
the under parts much lighter and greyer. 
The blubber of the Cachalot, as the Sperm Whale is frequently 
called, furnishes the valuable sperm oil of commerce, and the great 
reservoir in the head or ' case,' contains the spermaceti. The latter is a 
clear oily liquid which can be bailed out while warm, but afterwards 
hardens to a white waxy substance. 
Another valuable product of this animal is Ambergris, a secretion 
found in its stomach or sometimes floating in the water. Mr. W. G. 
Burn Murdoch {Modern Whaling and Hear Hunting, p. 314) describes 
it as " a solid fatty substance of a marbled grey-and-black appearance, 
and generally contains the beaks of cuttle-fish, which form the principal 
food of the Cachalot or Sperm Whale. When fresh it has an intolerable 
smell, but after exposure this goes and leaves what some people call a 
' peculiar sweet earthy odour.' " 
Ambergris is used as a basis in the manufacture of perfumes and 
brings a great price, as much as twenty-five shillings an ounce. 
The Sperm Whale has a wide distribution throughout the warmer 
waters of the world, inhabiting the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans 
and travelling in large bands or ' schools.' 
From time to time it gets stranded on the coasts of the British 
Islands. 
One of the earliest recorded is that by Sir Thomas Browne, who 
mentions a ' spermaceti whale ' stranded at Hunstanton, Norfolk, early in 
the seventeenth century. An earlier record, which seems to refer to this 
species, may be found in Sir R. Baker's Chronicle, published in 1650. 
In this the statement is made that " In her seventeenth year [Queen 
Elizabeth's, 1575) a vast mighty whale was cast upon the Isle of Thanet 
in Kent twenty ells long, and thirteen foot broad from the belly to the 
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