Carla Marie Sneed, age 14, Cherokee, N.C., for her question:
What is ambergris?
Ambergris is treasure trove. You might find a lump of it worth a fortune just lying on the beach. The strange stuff brings up visions of money and perfumes, the delicate floral colognes of Europe and the heavy, musky scents of the Orient.
This treasure trove is also found floating in the sea. To find it, you must look in the right places and know how to recognize it. Many a big gob of ambergris has been passed over because someone failed to recognize it.
The best ocean for ambergris is the Atlantic. It is found on the eastern beaches of North America and on the shores of Brazil. It is found around the East Indies and on the coast of Africa. Much of it comes from the Bahama Islands and it also occurs in the Pacific off China and Japan.
A lump of ambergris looks like a gob of dark colored mush. If it is floating in the water, it is soft. If it has long been exposed to the air, it may be somewhat harder. Its colors range from dull gray to dull black and they are arranged in variegated streaks like marble. In whatever condition, the lump of ambergris will have a sweet, earthy smell.
A lump of ambergris on the beach may have a glamorous future. But its beginnings were by no means glamorous. For ambergris is made in the stomach of a sperm whale ‑ in the stomach of a very sick sperm whale. In fact, the whale may have been so sick that he did not survive his donation of ambergris to the world.
The sperm whale dwells in the deep ocean. He is a hungry meat outer with a mouth full of very fine teeth set into a pair of mighty jaws. This means he can tackle large game. And so he does. His favorite food is the giant squid, a huge octopus type fellow who also lives in the deep, deep ocean.
The squid, naturally, has no love at all for the sperm whale. When attacked, he puts up a splendid fight to save himself. The whale may be scarred with lashes from the squid s tentacles. But usually the whale wins at least to the extent where he gets a tummy full of squid.
The squid, however, his one list trick to play. His mouth is a huge parrot‑type beak. The rest of his soft body is quite digestible. But this hard, parrot beak may be too tough for the whale to direst. It is also sharp and very irritating down there inside the whale’s tummy.
Some experts say that ambergris arises from this whale stomach trouble. The whales insides give off a fatty substance, perhaps to soften the irritation. This wad of boo is ambergris. Eventually, the poor fellow nay throw it up or get rid of it sumo other way. Sometimes, it is believed that the squid really gets the last word and the whale dies. Of course, this is much too late to do the squid any good.
Ambergris' value is in the perfume industry, a tiny speck dissolved ill alcohol makes a floral type cologne. The fatty substance also retains other perfumes and essences. For this reason it is used, in small quantities, in the making of valuable perfumes.