Ambergris, the rarest and most valuable of all the products, is a secretion from the intestines of the sperm whale and results from a disease. It is a very rare article and is worth almost its weight in gold, selling usually at $300 a pound. Its chief use is in the preparation of fine perfumeries. It is believed that the largest amount taken by one ship was brought back by the “Watchman” of Nantucket, which vessel found eight hundred pounds in 1858. Small amounts were sold every year in New Bedford even up to the year 1913. The Turks used it in cooking and also carried it to Mecca for the same purpose that frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s in Rome. Some wine merchants used to drop a little into their wine as a spice, and it was said that the Moors used it in green tea as a flavoring to present to their guests. The whale is used for food chiefly by the Japanese and Esquimaux, and a famous doctor belonging to the latter tribe some years ago recommended the blubber for infants. In fact, the whale would perhaps be considered a good dish were there not so much of him. Whale-meat is said by some to resemble boarding-house steak. In France, during the Middle Ages, the tongue was considered a great delicacy, and by some epicures the brains, mixed with flour, were much sought after. The largest income received by the whalers of America in any one year was in 1854, when they netted $10,802,594.20, although the record size of the fleet was attained eight years before. The five years from 1853 to 1857 inclusive yielded a return of $51,063,659.59, the catch of each year selling for fifty per cent. of the total value of the whaling fleet. The total value of the cargoes from 1804 to 1876 was $331,947,480.51. Captain W. T. Walker, of New Bedford, is called the counting-house hero of the American Whale Fishery. He purchased in 1848 an old whaleship called the “Envoy” that was about to be broken up, and when ready for sea this ship stood the owner $8,000. He could get no insurance; nevertheless he “took a chance,” and after a three years’ voyage he returned and had netted for himself the extraordinary sum of $138,450, or 1,630 per cent. The largest profit, however, was made by the “Pioneer” of New London, in 1865, the value of her cargo being $151,060. For a short voyage Frederick Fish, who has been mentioned before, holds the record for his ship the “Montreal,” which brought back a cargo worth over $36,000 after a voyage occupying only two months and fifteen days. There were many unprofitable voyages, and many were the ships that came home with barrels filled with salt water instead of oil for ballast. Some vessels, as whalemen say, didn’t have enough oil to grease their irons. METHODS OF CAPTURE AND “TRYING OUT” “Whales has feelin’s as well as anybody. They don’t like to be stuck in the gizzards an’ hauled alongside, an’ cut in, an’ tried out in those here boilers no more’n I do!” _Barzy Macks’s Biology._