The Weekly Butte Record

Valuable Discovery and Huge Transaction in Ambergris--Schooner Wm. Wood,

Captain Charles W. Hussey, of Baltimore, captured a sperm whale while cruising in the Bay of California, from which were obtained eleven barrels of oil worth about $150. The most valuable part of the whale, which was a very fat one and in a perishing state when struck, consisted however in the extraordinary secretion in the intestines of about six hundred pounds of ambergris, a solid opaque inflammable substance possessing a peculiar scent, which it always retains. The largest piece before known weighed one hundred and eighty two pounds, and was purchased of the King of Tidore by the Dutch East India Company. Another piece taken inside a whale near the Windward Islands sold for £500 sterling. The article melts readily into a sort of yellowish resin, and it is soluble in alcohol, in which state it is used as a perfume. It is also employed in refining goods, by Catholics in burning incense in their churches. The article, however, is rarely obtained, and from its scarcity commands a great price, selling at from ten to fifteen dollars an ounce. The owners of the schooner hoped to realize $6,000 from the sale of it. It was sold to an enterprising firm of druggists in Boston, for the large sum of $20,000, the whale yielding $10,450, which is said to be the most valuable on record. The purchasers will probably realize $60,000.