Ambergris is thrown upon this coast by the flux of the sea, but its origin is unknown.  It is found on the coast of the Indies, but the best, which is of a bluish white, and in round lumps, is got upon the Barbarian coast:  or on the confines of the land of the Negroes, towards Sihar and that neighbourhood.  The inhabitants of that country have camels trained for the purpose, on which they ride along the shore in moonshine nights, and when the camels perceive a piece of amber, he bends his knees, on which the rider dismounts, and secures his prize.  There is another kind which swims on the surface of the sea in great lumps, sometimes as big as the body of an ox, or somewhat less.  When a certain fish, named Tal, of the whale tribe, sees these floating lumps, he swallows them, and is thereby killed; and when the people, who are accustomed to this fishery, see a whale floating on the surface, they know that this whale has swallowed ambergris, and going out in their boats, they dart their harpoons into its body, and tow it on shore, and split the animal down the back, to get out the ambergris.  What is found about the belly of the whale is commonly spoiled by the wet, and has an unpleasant scent; but the ambergris which is not contaminated by the ordure in the belly of the whale, is perfectly good[20].

It is not unusual to employ the vertebrae of this species of whale as stools; and it is said, there are many houses in the village of Tain, ten leagues from Siraff, in which the lintels of the doors are made of whale ribs.  An eye-witness told me that he went to see a whale which had been cast ashore, near Siraff, and found the people mounting on its back by means of ladders; that they dug pits in different parts of his body, and when the sun had melted the grease into oil, they collected this, and sold it to the masters of ships, who mixed it up with some other matter, used by seamen for the purpose of serving the bottoms of their vessels, and securing the seams of the planks, to prevent or to stop leaks.  This whale-oil sells for a great deal of money; and the bones of the whale are sold by the druggists of Bagdat and Bassora.

The pearl oyster is at first a small thin tender substance, resembling the leaves of the plant called Anjedana, and swims on the surface of the sea, where it sticks to the sides of ships under water.  It there hardens, grows larger, and becomes covered by a shell; after which, it becomes heavy, and falls to the bottom of the sea, where it subsists, and grows in a way of which we are ignorant.  The included animal resembles a piece of red flesh, or like the tongue of an animal towards the root, having no bones, veins, or sinews.  One opinion of the production of pearls in this shell-fish is, that the oyster rises to the surface when it rains, and, by gaping, catches the drops of rain, which harden into pearls.  The more likely opinion is, that the pearls are generated within the body of the oyster, for most of them are fixed, and not moveable.  Such as are loose are called seed pearls.