anner of awful monster this portion of limb belonged, I could
only faintly imagine; but of course I remembered, as any sailor would,
that from my earliest sea-going I had been told that the cuttle-fish was
the biggest in the sea, although I never even began to think it might be
true until now. I asked the mate if he had ever seen such creatures as
this piece belonged to alive and kicking. He answered, languidly, "Wall,
I guess so; but I don't take any stock in fish, 'cept for provisions
er ile--en that's a fact." It will be readily believed that I vividly
recalled this conversation when, many years after, I read an account by
the Prince of Monaco of HIS discovery of a gigantic squid, to which
his naturalist gave the name of LEPIDOTEUTHIS GRIMALDII! Truly the
indifference and apathy manifested by whalers generally to everything
except commercial matters is wonderful--hardly to be credited. However,
this was a mighty revelation to me. For the first time, it was possible
to understand that, contrary to the usual notion of a whale's being
unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could
swallow--well, a block four or five feet square apparently; who lived
upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of their bulk by
the sample to hand; but being unable, from only possessing teeth in one
jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled to tear it in sizable pieces,
bolt it whole, and leave his commissariat department to do the rest.

While thus ruminating, the mate and Louis began a desultory conversation
concerning what they termed "ambergrease." I had never even heard
the word before, although I had a notion that Milton, in "Paradise
Regained," describing the Satanic banquet, had spoken of something
being "grisamber steamed." They could by no means agree as to what this
mysterious substance was, how it was produced, or under what conditions.
They knew that it was sometimes found floating near the dead body of a
sperm whale--the mate, in fact, stated that he had taken it once from
the rectum of a cachalot--and they were certain that it was of great
value--from one to three guineas per ounce. When I got to know more of
the natural history of the sperm whale, and had studied the literature
of the subject, I was so longer surprised at their want of agreement,
since the learned doctors who have written upon the subject do not seem
to have come to definite conclusions either.

By some it is supposed to be the