THE AMBERGRIS KING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10060, 30 January 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE AMBERGRIS KING.

- ... , . . ( On the end-'of an old wharf in Pro- t vincetown, :MisS3Chu.setLs. stands a small commonplace, building.known locally, as c the palace of the ambergris king. -, This is i the workshop of David- C- Stull, ambergris buyer and expert ._ This, man buys a t mysterious substance .froni England Sea-dog 3 and whalers which is more precious than gold- and much..more difficult 1 to obtain. A ton of .this stuff would readilv bring £200,000, while samller quan- 1 titles 'sell from £4O to £IOO, per poiuid. Mr Stull is ([Opted, by the_Xew. York Sun c in an explanation .of , this little known i article. We lead: .. .. * "We don't know just what ambergris is. : We only. know. that- it.' is the result oi t some disease or irritation of a whales \ digestive organs. bperm whales . teed i chiefly on squid or cuttlefish, would 1 perhaps be s better article of diet, if they did not have beaks as,hard and;as sharp ] as those of parrots. Here are some, of < these ,beaks thjit- I Have taken, from am- i benxris. .And liere -are the oves and feelers i of squid; alii o5 4hem from pieces of am T ( gerris- It is probahle Uiat ttie b<iny t and other indigestible parts of the squid i irritate the-stomach:or. .the intestines of £ the whale, causing the secretion of a snb- s stance which..-finally. • becomes, ambergris, i So far nothing has been discovered which i will take the place of ambergris as a base 'i tit the manufacture of perfumery. It is ( tho best binder-known. Dissolved in al- < colhol it holds also in solution the vaii- 1 otis oils and essences of which -perfumes j 3re composed, llie quality of a perfume < depends very largely on the amount of ambergris it contains. . The best French perfumers use 6ix ounces of ambergris to - .a gallon. One <jr two manufacturers iu < this country use the earae proportion! i Others "put in four ounces. In cheaper • perfumes it is cut down to two'ounces, i and so on -until tbe very- lowest grades | are reached in which there is not -a- trace ; of amliergris. consequence is that the mixture has no permanence whatever. ■