VALUABLE AMBERGRIS. A Costly Walf of the Sea Which is Seldom Found.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 216, 20 August 1887, Page 7

VALUABLE AMBERGRIS. A Costly Walf of the Sea Which is Seldom Found.

Two sailors entered a wholesale drug store in New York the other day, carrying with | them a }>arcel which they handled as carefully as ;i young mother fondles her infant, thought they had a piece of amberwhich is a very costly substance found in the belly of a dyspeptic They were confident that they had something worth about £4,000, but upon examination, unfortunately, it was found to I be only hardened tallow mixed with dirt and salt-about as valuable ab a chattel mortf-aee on a flock of pigeons. Ihe captain "could not believe in the experts iudcmenfc and went out, still clutching his on^-gnarded treasure and expressing his distraction with a liberal use ot profanity Similar mistakes to the one already described are often made The proprietor of the store b poke of the history and use of ambergi is as follows : " Nearly every one is constantly whing amber giis. It is e\ery day in the hands of ladies and gentlemen throughout the world, but comparatively few people know anything about it. Its origin is disputed. Even scientists do not agiee upon its true source ; and although it enters all houses where civilisation 1 caches and an immensely profitable trade in the commodity is carried on, nine out of ten people whom you meet would not know what you meant if you mentioned its name. It is a slatelike substance, varying in colour from dark to IWU grey, the darkest shades, which are also denser in fibre, being the most valuable. A piece weighing from twenty to thirty-five pounds is seen but once in a life-time. The most of it handled by the dealers is made up ot pieces only a few ounces in weight. It is worth today about L 4 los per ounce, and during the last few years has sold as high as LS per ounce, in consequence of its scarcity. You are as likely, or unlikely, to find it m one place as in another. There are several theories as to its origin, the genera ly accepted one being that it is an accumulation of secietedand indigestible matter in the stomach of ft sick whale. It is found all over the globe at rare intervals by seafaring men, either floating on the water cast upon some shore or lodged inside the whale. Ihe commanders are always on the lookout for it, as among the superstitions of the sea it is considered an omen of good luck for the ship ever afterward when her master brings home a piece of ambergris. He is always allowed a portion of the profits. You could put a piece worth £2,000 in your overcoat pocket, and from this you can understand how the toilers of the ocean never cease their vigilance in hunting tor 1 '" The fact that it is the most efficient known substance in producing the lasting quality in perfumery, gives it its enormous commercial value. Civet and musk are used for the same purpose, but are not as powerful. When a perfume is made, white roses, cassia, or heliotrope, for example, the odour of the flowers would quickly pass away, as the spirits forming the body ot the liquid evaporate. Ambergris, however, prevents this, and is the indispensable boon that holds back the scent for days and weeks upon the handkerchief. When treated with alcohol it divides itself up into an almost infinite number of fine particles, which are mixed in the perfumery and remain on the fabric after the spirits have evaporated, acting as minute reservoirs and holding the pure essence of the flower after the cloth is perfectly dry. One ounce dissolved in a gallon of alcohol will make a strong tincture, and you would be required to use only a gingle ounce of this tincture in a gallon of perfumery ; which conveys an idea of how far a few ounces of ambergris will go.

A fact. —Small boy: "Give me a pound of cockles, please." Fishmonger :<" We don't sell them by weight, ; we sell them by measure." Small boy : " Then give me & yard."