476 
r«F TROPICAL AQRICULTURIST 
[Januarv I, 1892. 
Jt*murTr-.i»trA 
LARGE PIECES OF A:MBERGK1S. 
The exoocdiogly high prices (equal to fully three 
times the weight in gold of the drug) which perfu- 
lucrs hare been oompellod to pay for the iinoet 
ambergris lately is the best proof of the indispensa- 
bility of the drug in the preparation of bi^d>-<’^sHa 
perfumes. For orer a year the price of the best 
ambergris has now ranged from 180'.'. to ‘200s. per 
oz., and until quite lately there did not eecm to bo 
any prospect ot an early fall in prices. I'he small 
compass within which a very valuable quantity of 
the drug may bo imported without attracting atten- 
tion, and the ease with which the requirements of 
the Customs regulations that all goods imported 
shall be entered under their proper name and at 
their full value may be circumvented, where it is 
deemed advisable to keep quiet concerning a con- 
signment of ambergris, render it exceedingly diffi- 
cult to follow olosely the imports of the drug. It is 
stated, for instance, that although for many months 
fine ambergris has been thought to be exceedingly 
scarce in our market — and the visible supplly has 
been so in reality — there has been a far greater supply 
available than has appeared on the surfaoc. Under 
these oiroumstances, the recent importation, to 
wbioh we drew attention in our trade report, of a 
piece of ambergris from Melbourne weighing, it is 
said, 186 lb., and valued at 10,0001., naturallv 
caused a good deal of excitement. The piece is 
believed to be the same which was captured by a 
black man in Tasmania some time ago, and of 
which wo gave a description. But the matter still 
remains shrouded in some mystery, for the London 
oonsignees ot the paroel refuse to show the piece 
to anyone, and even dcoUne to give the slightest 
Information of any value. Whether this policy is 
a wise one or not is an arguable queetion ; it is 
oettain, however, that the mysteriouaness of the 
oonsignees has not assisted in allaying tbo fears 
of a heavy fall in the price of the drug that 
were the natural outcome of the announcement of 
the large importation. It may be presumed, 
however, that the consignees will want to dispose 
of the drug, and it is certain that they will not 
be able to do so without showing their hand. 
The historiological references to ambergris have 
recently been enriched by the publication, under 
the auspices of the Hakluyt Society, of tho account 
of the voyages of Frac^rois Leguat, a French Hugue- 
not, to the iales of Rodriguez and Mauritius, Java, 
and the Cape ot Good Hope. Tbo Biour Leguat’, 
voyages were made during tho years 1691 and 1698, 
and in bis narrative frequent references are found 
to the preoiouB perfume. He states that it occurs 
plentifully on the shores of Mauritius, as well as 
of tho island now known ae Beunion, in the Indian 
Uoean, due east of Madogaeoar, and also on those 
of the little island of Rodrignez, in the same 
latitude, where, to quote his words, ’• the aca brings 
up yellow amber and ambergreeoe." The word 
“amber-gria” (grey amber) was, in fact, given to 
the BUbstanoe expressly to distinguish it from the 
ordinary or yellow amber. Possibly both were 
believed to be of common or allied origin. Amber- 
gria has been a prized and costly luxury for 
centuries, though the Sieur Leguat does not appear 
to have been quite alive to the value of the drug 
until taught by bitter experience. At Rodriguez he 
found a large piece of the subatanoe, and carried 
it along as a curiosity, not knowing the true im- 
portanoo of the find. That piece of ambergris 
wrought its discoverer cruel misfortunes. It weighted 
about 6 lb, and as Logual’s party no longer oared 
to cany it, they disposed of it for a trifio to a 
Hutch artisan of the island, which was then a 
Httteb colony. Ihe colonists were stringently for- 
bidden to own or trade in the commodity, which 
was a monopoly of the Hutch Trading Oorapany, 
who forwarded to Batavia all the ambergris louiul 
on its outlying btations, and from that port shipped 
tho drug to Holland for sale. When ttie Governor 
of Rodriguez learnt that l.eguat’s party had traded 
in the enbstanee, ho seized all their belongings, 
I and finally baiiithed them to a barren island took, 
I where they anfferod great hardships, lu tho 
j “London Price Current of Colonial I'roduco ” of 
I 1777, whioh we reproduced in facsimile last year, 
I ambergris is quoted at 40i. to 15«. per oz- troy 
for “gray hne," while Irish amber, obtained on 
tho Atlantic coasts ot the Emerald Isle, was valued 
at ‘2S.V. per oz. Considering the respective purebaeing 
powers of money two centuries ago and at the present 
day, theee prices are quite equal to the average 
value of ambergris in recent years. 
Bo plentiful was ambergris on the shores of the 
islands in the Indian Ocean in the seventeenth 
and eighteen centuries tbst some islets otl the north- 
east coast of Mauritius became known as the “ Isles 
d'Ambre.” Ambergris was also found in the Japa- 
nesQ waters ; and the Hutch traders not only kept 
Europe supplied with it from their emporium m 
Batavia, but also imported it into the dominions 
of the various Eastern potentates with whom they 
came into oontaot. A pieoe almost rivalling tbo 
latest giant find was imported from Batavia into 
Madras in 1699, and is described in contemperary 
obronicles as a " very stately pieoe of Ambergriese, 
upwards of 800 oz." On the Madras * islands, again, 
west of Ceylon, ambergris, according to another 
seventeenth oontury-traveller was more plentiful 
than in any other part of the Indies. Any ot it 
found on shore had to be delivered up to the king, 
tho penalty lor failing to comply with this order 
being tho cutting-off of the culprit's hand. 
In the writings ot earlier travellers references to 
ambergrR are also by no moans infrequent. Zanzi- 
bar was famous for its ambergris from before tbe 
time of Marco I’olo. Bat there is no need to hark 
back to tbo half-forgotten worthies who made history 
in the Indies centuries ago for occoants of gigantio 
piocos of the valuable drug. It is true that tho 
largest single piece recorded in history as an aulhcn- 
lio fiod (it weighed 182 lb.) was one purchased 
from the King of Tydoro by the Dutch East India 
Company nearly two centuries ago, bnt from 
America stories have eiuoe come of pieces many 
times heavier than that of the King of Tydore’s, 
It is only fair to eay, however, that these American 
stories have never been backed by trustworthy 
evidence. Hence the account of the find, in tbe year 
1868, by the schooner “ Watchman, " of Nantucket, 
of 610 lb. of ambergris in a whale floating on tho 
high seas, with the stories of a C6U-Ib. piece brought 
home by an American whaler in 1886, of a 266 lb. 
trophy captured by a New Bedford whaler, and 
of a 180-lb. pieoe taken out of a whale near the 
Windward Islands, may be dismissed as “not 
proven"; and the mass of detail with which some 
of these accounts ate embollisbod may (airly bo 
regarded as having been added simply " to lend 
artistic verisimilitudo to a bold and unconvincing 
narrative," as Mr. Gilbert has it. 
It is a fact, however, that in 1882 a piece of 
ambergris weighing 12 lb., and found in a gravel- 
pit in New Zealand, was sold in tho London market. 
It rialised an average price of about 85i!. per oz. 
There is also a story current that a well known 
Mincing Lane broker was instructed some years 
ago to sell “ a bartelful ’’ of ambergris whioh had 
been tot many years in the unappreoiated pos- 
session of a gentleman who was altogether unaware 
* Maidive !— Eu. T, A, 
