TREASURE FROM THE SEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 454, 8 September 1928, Page 1

TREASURE FROM THE SEA

ROMANCE OF AMBERGRIS

BIG FINDS IN NEW ZEALAND

A C S JLLECTION of lumps of coal and of old and sea-grev ‘;*7,\ mOStU r omantic Poking junk, and yet some of it worth its weight in gold. of Mr eV w a i l t tab u S J ere littered with the stuff at the home him l alter H - Mason when a Sun reporter called to see Im. it was the far and anciently-famed ambergris—treasure trove of surf-beaten beaches.

surf brings ambergris up

on the beaches from Cape Maria Van Diemen 10 points as close to Auckland City as Manukau Heads. Most of the substance which finds its way into the hands of Mr. Mason, who is a merchant, comes from the Ninety Mile Beach, but some godo finds have been made at Piha.

After storms there are regular searchers for the stuff. Some have motor-cycles on which they scour the beach. Others have trained dogs to sniff out the distinctive smell of ambergris. The man rides leisurely along on horseback after high water, and gets off to examine anything at which the dog sniffs.

Many a struggling settler, says Mr. Mason, has been put on his financial feet again by finding a largish lump. Many more have been raised to the seventh heaven of delight by discovering a foul-smelling mass, and then dashed to the depths by the report of experts, who have said that it is nothing more than a piece of overripe fat tossed overboard by a ship’s cook.

"KING OF AMBERGRIS” In the South, ambergris is much more plentiful, but the quality, which depends on the mellowness it has acquired through immersion in the sea, is not so good. Stewart Island is a famous place for it, Mason’s Bay, Doughboy Bay, and those bays called Little and Big Hellfire—so named not because of the heat, but because of the fury of wind and wave—being favourite haunts of the searchers. The “uncrowned king of ambergris” of New Zealand Is Mr. Adam Adamson, who lives a hermit’s life for most of the year on Stewart Island. In the winter and spring months he de-

serts the villages and scours the exposed western beaches, returning actually with sacks of ambergris. His last find, according to Mr. Mason, was about 3,400 ounces, which is valued at about £BSO. . After the season of privation Mr. Adamson returns to tbe civilisation of Invercargill or Dunedin, becoming an immaculately dressed city dweller for a few weeks.

Several youths cycle through from Invercargill to Riverton, an old whaling station, and often find fair quantities of the stuff. On some of the Stewart Island beaches a method of sluicing the sand has been successfully introduced. The biggest recorded find was made by Mr. John Leask, of Leask’s Bay, Stewart Island, who kicked up what seemed a boulder buried in the sand at Mason’s Bay, where he has a farm. The boulder proved to be about 2,000 ounces of ambergris. This discovery was made about seven years ago.

FORTUNE FOR WHALERS Ambergris, which is formed in the intestines of the spermaceti whale, is, strangely enough, seldom found by whalers. Even when it is found in a whale it is usually so “raw” as to be almost valueless. But some years ago a Norwegian whaling party came across a sperm whale dead on a Southern beach. It was practically full of ambergris. What the real value of it was nobody knows, but it is supposed to have been insured for £60,000. Mr. Mason thinks that It might, have been worth £1,000,000. In the north, Mr. Lloyd, of Plhama, was lucky enough to find a piece weighing 800 ounces, and supposed to have realised £750, about four years ago. A man named Shine made a big find in the region of the Ninety Mile Beach.

Like wine and violins, ambergris improves with age, and only a sea change can bring it to its mellow maturity. In its new state it is black or brown, evil-smelling, and soft like putty. Exposure changes its to dark and silver grey, and there is a fossilised kind of crumbly white. Some of it is streaked like marble. It is peculiar odour varies from a “musky” small to one resembling aromatic tobacco. The grey kind is the most valuable, and “best flavoured clear grey” realises the price of gold on the London market, but is worth much less here.

“Fish stories are usually exaggerated,” said Mr. Mason, “but their exaggeration is nothing to that of tales of whales and of their product, ambergris.” MAY DISAPPEAR Ambergris is seldom found on the east coast of New Zealand, the set of the currents evidently taking it to the western shores. It is practically limited to countries in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Recent finds have been nothing like the old ones in weight and value, and Mr. Mason is of the opinion that this is due to the slaughter of whales In the Ross Sea. While there is still a good deal of “old grey” found, the “new soft” kind has almost disappeared. If the slaughter continues, he is of the opinion that ambergris may disappear completely from the shores of New Zealand. Legend states that the ancient Egyptians used to dip ambergris in their tea to give it aroma. Now it is used mostly in the art of blending and fixing perfumes, and also in the blending of wines. A little is used in New Zealand. The expert’s test for the substance is to put a match to it. It burns like sealing wax, giving off a strong odour, and remains sticky for some time. The biggest hoax in Mr. Mason’s experience occurred at Hawera some years ago, when the discovery of a lump worth £30,000 was reported. It was sent up to him post-haste, and he was asked to wire urgently his report. The telegram, “Not ambergris,” blasted the dreams of a fortune.