# Popular Mechanics/Volume 49/Issue 1/Wealth from Ambergris

This Whale Is Worth About $4,000, a Humpback Variety Common in the Pacific but Never Known to Be a Producer of Ambergris
By JOHN EDWIN HOAG
If you were walking along a piece of ocean beach, and something assailed your nostrils—a smell like all the musty, mouse-infested cellars of the world rolled into one overpowering odor—you'd probably do what most people would do under such a circumstance—flee. But the person who does that risks walking right away from the possibility of sudden and unexpected wealth—a mass of ambergris washed up by the sea. A small fragment of it is worth $1,000. Larger masses have brought $25,000 to $150,000.
While ambergris may be unknown to the majority of people, it is the base of perfume's pleasing fragrance, as well as the chemical element which makes the best perfumes expensive. How a substance that smells like nothing else on earth can be transformed into the odor of roses, violets, lilies of the valley, and other delicate fragrances of the most exquisite perfumes, is merely one of the tricks of the chemical trades, and it is done as effectively as the ancient alchemists of fairy tales turned base metals into gold.
Ambergris is a product of the sperm whale. If there is romance in the prospecting of mountains and deserts for gold and other valuable minerals, the searching of the seas for ambergris is infinitely more romantic. The "prospecting ground" for this substance is the whole seven seas, and every mile of the shore line of all the continents and islands. It is naturally most abundant in the waters inhabited by sperm whales, which usually prefer water that is colder than that chosen by other whales. Ambergris floats, and the occasional piece of it which becomes dislodged from the body of the whale may drift for thousands of miles by wind, tide and currents. Once ashore, it may remain on the beach to disintegrate, or to be picked up by the lucky finder who is able to recognize it.
The world's supply of ambergris has never been sufficient to lower the market value to a point to make the search for it less romantic than it is today. No satisfactory substitute for it having ever been found, the price is always high. For market purposes, the substance is divided into two classes, black and gray, which serve to indicate both color and quality. Gray ambergris often has brownish tinges, or may be mottled to a sort of pepper and salt color. Gray ambergris is the best quality, and is therefore most in demand. Only limited quantities of gray ambergris have been available during the past year, with the result that the latest New York quotation upon it is now $35 per ounce.
Drift ambergris, the kind that the sea ​washes up on the beaches, may be found almost anywhere the land and sea meet. In the United States it is more abundant on the Atlantic coast than on the shores of the Pacific. This is for the obvious reason that sperm whales are scarce in the eastern Pacific, while fairly abundant in the western part of the Atlantic. Drift ambergris is usually found in small pieces but quite frequently in masses of sixty to 250 pounds.
On the Pacific coast there are six commercial whaling stations. They are scattered from Mexico to Alaska, with two in California. These stations have been in operation for years, and report only eighteen sperm whales taken among the hundreds caught. Yet, several noteworthy finds of ambergris have been made there.
Into Port with a Whale, and a Lump of Ambergris That Brought Fisherman $6,720
As may be surmised, the greater part of the commercial ambergris now reaching the markets, comes from the bodies of sperm whales taken by the crews of whaling ships. When a sperm whale is caught, the carcass is always carefully dissected for even the smallest piece of ambergris. The wealth derived from such a find is divided between the owners of the ship and the crew. The world's greatest source of drift ambergris, where it is usually picked up at sea before it ever reaches shore, is in the Indian ocean and the China sea. These seas are infested with thousands of Chinese junks, East Indian and Malay "proas" (native sailing canoes), "sampans" and other craft, manned by hundreds of Asiatic coolies, who ply their trade as fishermen, but who are always on the watch for any floating object that may look or smell like ambergris.
Considering the varying color, weight and consistency of ambergris, the only fairly reliable identification left for one who knows nothing about it is the smell. So, when one is at sea, or along the beaches, the source of an unusually unpleasant smell may always be considered worth investigating. It may not be ambergris, but if it is—your financial worries may be ended.
¶ Popular Mechanics Magazine does not publish the name of the maker or seller of any device described in its pages, but this information is kept on file and will be furnished free upon application to our Bureau of Information.
"GAME" TESTS AUTOISTS' SKILL FOR DRIVING LICENSES
Candidates for Auto-Driving Licenses Taking Tests at the Traffic Board; Model Street and Cars Represent Actual Conditions Autoists Would Be Required to Meet
People sitting at a table and apparently playing a game with tiny automobiles on a model street is a common sight in the motor-vehicle license offices at Los Angeles. But the "game" is a serious one, for the persons about the table are being tested as to their ability to solve traffic problems while driving an automobile. The examination is part of the formality connected with issuing drivers' licenses and, before permission is granted to operate a car, the candidate must prove that he can satisfactorily manage the little autos and answer the problems put to him about how he would drive his own car. His solution of the questions is illustrated with the models.
GROWING UMBRELLA HANDLES
Three years of careful attention are usually required to shape the young trees that are to be fashioned into umbrella handles. At the end of the first year, the tree is trimmed back, quite short, and the wood twisted into various shapes. The carvings are sometimes made at this stage. and the designs swell as the tree grows. One of the chief tasks of the cultivators is to keep the sap flowing and to prevent the tree from dying in its crippled condition. After cutting, each stick is sun-dried and then given a vapor bath to soften the wood for the final shaping.
PAPER BEDROOM SLIPPERS GIFT TO HOTEL GUESTS
Souvenir Bedroom Slippers of Paper for Hotels to Supply to Their Guests
Bedroom slippers, Japanese style, made of paper, and inclosed in a paper envelope. are being provided for guests in many hotels. The slippers have a sole of cardboard and toes of a heavy crepe paper, the edges being bound with a narrow tape, sewed on, so that it also holds the toe in place. The envelope, made of the same heavy crepe paper as the toes, is fitted with a snap-button fastener.
RAISE CACTUS APPLES ON FARM FOR JELLY AND CANDY
Cactus Plant with Some of the Apples Used for Making Jellies and Candies
Near San Fernando, Calif., is a large farm devoted to the raising of cactus apples, the pulpy product of one of the species of the familiar desert plant. The apple is used for the making of jellies and candies or is eaten in its natural state. It has a sweet taste and is about eighty per cent water. An acre of land will produce 500 to 600 boxes of the apples, which were selling for $1.25 a box last season.
WORKERS PRODUCE MORE TODAY DESPITE SHORTER HOURS
Sixty-seven workers, in 1923, were producing as much as 100 men did in 1899, in spite of the shorter hours prevailing five years ago, according to a survey of productive efficiency in the manufacturing industries by the national-industrial conference board. This was accomplished by the development of machinery and better organization. Today, iron screws are being made by automatic machinery at a ratio of 1,000 to every one formerly made by hand. The ratio for spikes is about 200 to one, and in various other branches of the metal trades, many articles are being made by machine methods at the rate of fifty to one by the old hand processes. In the automobile industry, thirty workers in 1925 could do as much as 100 in 1914, the board discovered. In the production of food and food products, seventy-five persons in 1925 performed as much work of all kinds as did 100 in 1899.
BIG SMOKESTACK KEPT DARK TO PROTECT BIRDS
The 506-foot smokestack of a copper company in Great Falls, Mont., ordinarily lighted at night with flood lamps, is being kept dark part of the time to protect migrating birds. For some reason, it has exerted an attraction on birds and hundreds of them have been killed by flying against the shaft. Small birds, as well as ducks, geese and other larger kinds, have met death in this way. When the Boy Scouts learned of the conditions, they requested the company officials to keep the stack in darkness during the seasons of bird migration.
AUTO HAS TWO EXTRA BODIES FOR ICE AND BAGGAGE
Baggage Carrier on Running Board Is Replica of Real Car
Fender carriers for ice and luggage are exact duplicates of the body of the automobile on a car introduced in California. Even the door handles are similar, the windows have real glass, backed by curtains, and the top is hinged at the rear, the "sun visor" making a convenient handle. The carriers in this style are less conspicuous than the ordinary type and are said to be more efficient because of the ease with which they can be opened and the extra protection offered the contents by their construction.
CAGING THE FLOODS BEHIND STEEL AND CONCRETE
WAVES ARE MADE WITH BOXES FOR MOVIE SCENE
By Rocking These Boxes on Pivots, Realistic Waves Were Produced for a Motion-Picture Scene on Location near Los Angeles
By means of weighted boxes on levers, realistic waves were produced on a quiet pool in the Los Angeles river for depicting a South Sea island motion-picture scene. The disturbers were carefully moved to give the waves a long rolling action, as much like those of the ocean as possible. The illusion was strengthened by imitation tropical vegetation on the beach.
CHEMICAL ICE FREEZES PIPE WHILE THE SUN SHINES
Use of chemical ice solved a perplexing water problem in Washington, D. C., recently, saving much time and work and making it unnecessary to shut off the supply to Georgetown. It became necessary to cut in an extension to one of the mains, but this could not be done without first stopping the flow and there were no shut-off valves convenient for that section. To have halted the supply entirely would have resulted in a serious water famine over a large area. An engineer suggested that the pipe be frozen on either side of the place where the break had to be made. Ice and salt were packed about the main but they only chilled the water. Finally, a chemical company was appealed to. They brought out a small box of chemical ice with a temperature of 160 degrees below zero. While the sun shone on the workers, they quickly froze the pipe, the entire process taking less than twenty minutes. The extension was cut in, the sun was allowed to thaw the pipe out again, and a tie-up in service, that might have cost many thousands of dollars and much inconvenience, was avoided.
LUNCH CAR IS EASILY MOVED ON GIANT CASTERS
What are said to be the largest casters ever constructed have been made for a sixty-foot lunch car to simplify the task of getting it in and out of difficult places at carnivals, race tracks, fairs, and the like. The units each weigh 425 pounds, are more than twenty-five inches high and the wheel itself is twenty inches in diameter with a six-inch tread. Roller bearings facilitate moving, and there is a special locking device to keep the car steady.
The Lunch Car on Its Big Casters. Left, Close View of One of the Supports
ORCHIDS GROWN UNDER GLASS RIVAL TROPIC KIN
Samples of Cultivated Orchids, Various Stages in Growth of Plant, and inside the "Nursery," Where the Tender Shoots Are Grown Until They Approach Maturity Orchids
Orchids grow wild in parts of the tropics, but cultivating them under glass at a California farm is a task requiring skill and patience, for it takes nearly five years for a plant to mature from the seed and only about one seed in a million produces blossoms. The flowers will remain fresh and colorful for three weeks to three months, if left on the plant, and from ten days to two months in water after cutting. Healthy plants can be counted on to live for fifty to 100 years if properly tended. How successful cultivation has reduced prices is shown in the case of one variety that formerly sold for $1,250 a plant. It can now be purchased for $15. The California producers are trying to grow and orchid twelve inches across.
THE MOST DANGEROUS JOBS
Firing a railroad locomotive stands fifth among the most dangerous American occupations in a table prepared by the labor bureau. The percentage of deaths from accidents among this class of workers is 43.6, while that of the highest, drivers in coal mines, is 82.1 per cent. Powder makers are second and railroad brakemen and electric linemen third and fourth.