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Note on :
Ambergris
Ambergris like this one has been collected for centuries along the schors of the Indian ocean
This substance is found floating on the sea, or thrown by the waves upon the shores of various countries, particularly in the southern hemisphere; it is now
generally believed to be produced in the intestines of the spermaceti whale. It is found in roundish or amorphous shaped pieces, usually small, but sometimes of considerable magnitude; and masses
have been found weighing from 50 to 200 pounds. These pieces are often composed of concentric layers; they are of various colors, usually gray, with brownish yellow and white streaks, often dark
brown or blackish on the external surface. They are opaque, lighter than water, and of a consistence like that of wax, and have a peculiar aromatic agreeable order, and are almost tasteless, and
soften with the warmth of the hand. Ambergris is insoluble in water, but will dissolve in hot alcohol. Ambergris is used as a perfume, and as a perfume for liquors. The scent is of seaweed, wood
and moss with a sweet undertone of unequalled tenacity.
Only 3-4% of all sperm whales killed by the Soviet whaling fleet were found to contain ambergris.
The bacterium Spirillum recti physeteris is thought responsible for the production of the pleasant odor principle of ambergris in the gut of the sperm whale.
During digestion, perhaps initiated by the sharp beak of a squid which are found in the amber and encouraged by a flow of bile, a dark, sticky resinous mass builds up in the stomach of some
whales. This becomes squeezed into a bolus in the intestine, where it picks up more squid beaks and detritus, growing as new strata are added to its surface, until the whole lump is excreted; it
floats on the ocean surface or breaks up into smaller aromatic pieces which eventually drift ashore. This is ambergris. Ambergris consists of 80% ambrein, a cholesterol derivative.
End of Middle-Ages View on Ambergris Trade by the Portuguese.
Ambergris is so important in East African trade that it is mentioned by more then 110 medieval authors. By the end of the Medieval period the Portuguese arrive in East Africa. Their most early authors already note the presence of amber in the trade. Under I give a not exhaustive list of where it is mentioned.
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
SUMMARY OF A LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA, CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
1506 August 31
…………. Item, two other brigantines with 42 marcos (230gr*42) of gold and 129 teeth of ivory and 20 marcos (230gr*20) of silver and seed-pearl (a tiny pearl weighing less than a quarter of a grain.) and a little amber and 180 slaves in both discounting quantities of corn and rice one of these carried a safe-conduct from Pero d’Anhaya and everything was given back save the gold and ivory. ………………
Taken from: The first Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East Indias by the Portingals, in the time of King Don John, the second of that name. By Hernan Lopes de Castaneda. Translated into English by Nicholas Lichefield 1582.
(When describing the first trip of Vasco da Gama to India: 1497–1499).
(Mombasa in 1498)
…………… After our two men had seen the city, they were conducted back to the king, who ordered them to be shown ginger, pepper, cloves, and wheat, giving them samples of them all to be carried to the general, with assurance that he had great store of all these commodities, and would give him his loading if he desired it. They were likewise told, that he had great plenty of gold, silver, amber, wax, ivory, and other riches, which he would sell at lower prices than they could be bought in any other place. …………
(Malindi in 1498)
……….. In this city also there are many Gentiles from the kingdom of Cambaya in India, who are great merchants and trade to this place for gold, which is found in this country, as likewise ambergris, ivory, pitch, and wax; all of which commodities the inhabitants of Melinda exchange with the merchants of Cambaya …………..
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol 4
(Tristao da Cunha loots Brava in 1507)
…………… When that was done he ordered the city to be plundered, in which they found very rich spoils of gold, silver, stones, silk cloths, cotton, ivory, amber, and many odors, spices, and all kinds of merchandise, and it was so much that it was not possible to find it in all nations of the fleet. …………..
Taken from: Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and his Viceroyalty. From the Lendas da India of Gaspar Correa (1492-1563); accompanied by original documents. Transl Stanley.
(First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1498)
(Return voyage to Melinde in 1499)
… The King sent his minister immediately after them with two boats laden with packages of fine white stuffs and coloured stuffs of many sorts and patterns, and many fine muslins; and he sent word to the captains that he sent that for their masters and pilots and crews, and that they were to distribute it among them to each man, as they thought fit, so that they might not be discontented with his country. He also sent for the Queen a piece of ambergris, set in silver, of the length of half an ell, and of the thickness of a man's waist; …… (the fleet send also big gifts back to the king)
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
ISLANDS OF THE GREAT VCIQUES.
………………. In these Vciques much amber is found of good quality, which the Moors collect and sell in other places, ………………
SOFALA
………………… ivory, which is found all round Sofala, which they likewise sell in the great kingdom of Cambay at five or six ducats the hundred weight, and so also some amber, which these Moors of Sofala bring them from the Vciques. ………………….
Taken from: Ethiopia oriental, Volume 1 By João dos Santos. (d1622); His book is about 1580-1600.
P157
………… It is very well known that this amber is born at the bottom of the sea, where it is found in large quantities. A ship went from Mozambique to the island of S. Lourenço (Madagascar), and set sail along the said island, where the ‘outbreak’ occurred that night, and the next morning the sailors raised their grapnels (2) to leave there and continue their journey as They did, but after they got her into the ship, they saw that grapnel fingers were full of the most excellent white amber, (from the place) of twenty or so arms on which the ship was anchored that night. The same happened to another ship, near Cabo das Correntes.
Roque de Brito Falcão who was captured by the Turks, going from the coast of Malindi to India, being in his captaincy on the same coast, had a piece of amber, which came out in that place, which was the size and almost the shape of a very large couscous heap.
P158
Between the Linde and Quilimane rivers, a piece of millet-amber was found, which was more than twenty arratels (3), and the Kaffirs went to sell it to a Portuguese man called Francisco Brochado, who kept it in these river-lands, thinking that it was a loaf of something. During the time that I was on the island of Quirimba, another piece of white amber, as large as it is said, washed up on the shore, which the Moors of Xanga (Shanga in the Quirimba Islands) picked up and distributed among themselves, and then sold it in pieces of an arratel each, little more or less.
In the year of the Lord 1596, a mountain of very excellent white amber washed up on the coast near the city of Brava, and near the coast of Malindi, which amber, according to the Moors who found it, said, was so thick and tall that one could not see one to another when leaving the amber in their midst. And there was so much of it that the Moors from Brava and many from the city of Magadaxo came and took many pieces of it and it was sold very cheap. This new one came to Mozambique, and D. Pedro de Souza, who was then captain of the fortress, flew to a fusta (1), and ordered him to go to Brava, and buy as much amber as he could, and after going there a year later he still found so much, that I brought a casket full of it to Mozambique very cheaply.
(2) grapnel: small anchor with 4 or 5 fingers.
(3) arratel: is an old Portuguese weight equivalent first to 14 and then to 16 ounces.