A SOLDIER'S FIND

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2642, 13 December 1915, Page 3

A SOLDIER'S FIND

AMBERGRIS, OR WHAT? Recently a find which may prove to be ambergris was made .011 tho seashore somo Jittlo distance along fclio coast from Island Bay. If the material proves to bo ambergris, the finder should be onriched to , tho extent of several thousand jxiunds sterling. The discoverer is said to be a Mr. Smith, who is now being trained, in one of tho military camps. There is some 'uncertainty about tho nature of' the find. Two experts in chcmical analysis have been requested to make tests of the material, but the result of their analyses is not yet available. In any case, chemical analysis need not prove finally whether a thing is or is not ambergris (according to ono local authority). ■ Ono of the experts to whom tho problem has been referred told a Dominion representative that ho has an open mmd on the subject. • He is prepared to be convinced that it is either amber•gris, or that the luck of Mr. Smith and his associates is not so good as they hope. Tho stuff is rather new, and a decision may be made with greater ease and certainty after somo little Ja'pso of time. However, an opinion which carries weight with one of the analysts is that of an old whaler. 7 The old man is reputed to have never made a mistake about ambergris, and he gives it as his unqualified opinion that it is the real thing—ambergris worth thousands. It seems that frequently thero has been great uncertainty about similar discoveries, and .the matter has only been decided by sending a sample to one of the big Continental manufactories, which use large 1 quantities of it. A few years ago a New Zealander made a find which all, tho experts in tho country (except one) swore was not amberI gris. The one exception sent a sample to France, and received a reply that the factory would take as much of tho material as was procurable, at a sum . stated. He forwarded the communication to the address of the finder, who had a large quantity of the material, but from that day to this the'.investigator never heard more of the party who picked up a fortune in the course of a casual stroll. It is supposed that he packed his kit for France,' to' convert his ambergris to gold. ; 1 Another instance of. the uncertainty about ambergris is the fact - that; a bank oncc paid out on a> big find, and when attempting , to market- the stuff 'was told'that it was,not the real;thing.