"Ambergris" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... and hundreds of lamps shone upon the pillars which supported the room—lamps of manifold colours—which gave to the vast chamber the magic hues of a fairy palace, and in the midst thereof seemed to float a transparent blue cloud—it was the light smoke of ambergris and spices which the damsels blew forth from their long narghilis. But what impressed Irene far more than all this magnificence, was the figure of the Sultana Asseki, to whom she was now conducted. A tall, muscular lady was sitting at the end of the room on ...
— Halil the Pedlar - A Tale of Old Stambul • Mr Jkai
... constrains us to employ more words than the ancients needed. But having before observed that Virgil endeavours to be short, and at the same time elegant, I pursue the excellence and forsake the brevity. For there he is like ambergris, a rich perfume, but of so close and glutinous a body that it must be opened with inferior scents of musk or civet, or the sweetness will not be drawn out into ...
— Discourses on Satire and Epic Poetry • John Dryden
... Country Christmasses, Their thirty-pound butter'd eggs, their pies of carp's tongue, Their pheasants drench'd with ambergris, the carcasses Of three fat wethers bruis'd for gravy, to Make sauces for a single peacock; yet their feasts Were fasts, compared with ...
— Yule-Tide in Many Lands • Mary P. Pringle and Clara A. Urann
... rich woman now, ma'am," he said in his thick, fruity voice. "Dat am ambergris. I know it well 'nuff. I was cook on a whaleship fo' five years, and have handled little bits of ambergris two or three times, but no one in de world, I believe, ever see such a lump ...
— A Memory Of The Southern Seas - 1904 • Louis Becke
... himself for conquest; and he seemed to think that, owing to his long residence among camels, he might have imbibed so much of their natures as to have become a fit subject for the perfumes of musk and ambergris. Accordingly, he went to the bath, his grey beard was dyed a glossy black; his hands received a golden tinge; and his mustachios were invited to curl upwards towards the corners of his eyes, instead of downwards into his mouth, as they usually ...
— The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan • James Morier
... fitted for cruises of moderate length had its origin in Europe, where the Basques during the Middle Ages fairly drove the animals from the Bay of Biscay, which had long swarmed with them. Not a prolific breeder, the whales soon showed the effect of Europe's eagerness for oil, whalebone and ambergris, and by the beginning of the sixteenth century the industry was on the verge of extinction. Then began that search for a sea passage to India north of the continents of Europe and America, which I have described in another chapter. ...
— American Merchant Ships and Sailors • Willis J. Abbot
... was not an angel, nor Composed of musk or ambergris. By justice And generosity he gained his fame. Do thou but exercise these princely virtues, And thou wilt ...
— Persian Literature, Volume 1,Comprising The Shah Nameh, The - Rubaiyat, The Divan, and The Gulistan • Anonymous
... country those famous balms grow of which there are some few plants in that part of Judaea called Gilead. Musk, ambergris, and numerous gums, so precious in Europe, are here in their native climate. It is said the Sultan of Egypt pays a vast tribute to the monarch of this country to hire him not to cut off the source of the Nile, which he might easily do, and cause the river to flow in some other ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch
... druggist, where she furnished herself with all manner of sweet-scented waters, cloves, musk, pepper, ginger, and a great piece of ambergris, and several other Indian spices; this quite filled the porter's basket, and she ordered him to follow her. They walked till they came to a magnificent house, whose front was adorned with fine ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous
... salt, and European goods, for which they give in exchange red cedar boards, timber of different kinds, ponchos of various qualities, hams, pilchards, dried shell-fish, white-cedar boxes, embroidered girdles, and a small quantity of ambergris which is found ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 • Robert Kerr
... must always have new ground, or the worms will destroy them. They went into the house with us. They also spoke about Theunis, and we disabused them of several things. They showed us some pieces of ambergris, which their brother had brought from the Caribbean Islands, and which we thought was good. We said to them what we deemed proper for them, and took our leave, reaching the ...
— Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 • Jasper Danckaerts
... wakes, Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes. I write of Youth, of Love;—and have access By these, to sing of cleanly wantonness; I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece, Of balm, of oil, of spice, of ambergris. I sing of times trans-shifting; and I write How roses first came red, and lilies white. I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing The court of Mab, and of the Fairy King; I write of Hell; I sing, and ever shall Of Heaven,—and hope to ...
— Six Centuries of English Poetry - Tennyson to Chaucer • James Baldwin
... country Christmasses— Their thirty-pound buttered eggs, their pies of carps' tongues, Their pheasants drenched with ambergris, the carcases Of three fat wethers bruised for gravy; to Make sauce for a single peacock; yet their feasts Were fasts, compared with ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson
... successful cruise, they sailed for Port Royal, with the ship full of treasure, such as vicuna wool, packets of pearls from the Hatch, jars of civet or of ambergris, boxes of "marmalett" and spices, casks of strong drink, bales of silk, sacks of chocolate and vanilla, and rolls of green cloth and pale blue cotton which the Indians had woven in Peru, in some sandy village near the sea, ...
— On the Spanish Main - Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. • John Masefield
... muttered Cairn, disgustedly; "poor Sir Michael's fortune won't last long at this rate!" He glanced at the smoking mibkharah. "Phew! effeminate beast! Ambergris!" ...
— Brood of the Witch-Queen • Sax Rohmer
... the slender vase at his elbow, and in the vague pervading perfume that was not what one put on handkerchiefs, but rather like the scent of some far-off bazaar, a smell made up of Turkish coffee and ambergris and dried roses. ...
— The Age of Innocence • Edith Wharton
... found large pieces of ambergris on the coasts. When they discovered that the Spaniards value it, they gathered it, and have made profit from it. The past year of six hundred and two, some natives found in the island of Sebu a good-sized piece of ambergris, and when their encomendero heard of ...
— History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2 • Antonio de Morga
... immovable groves on the substrata of the Balearic Islands, and on the coasts of Naples and Africa. Ambergris was constantly being found on the steep shores of Sicily. Sponges were growing in the tranquil waters in the shadow of the great rocks of Mallorca and the Isles of Greece. Naked men without any equipment whatever, holding their breath, were still descending to the bottom as in primitive ...
— Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) - A Novel • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... Greenland anamaks, long and dark; huge sperm-whales, swimming in the midst of ambergris, in which took place thomeric battles that reddened the ocean for many miles around; the great Labrador tegusik. Sharp-backed dolphins, the whole family of seals and walruses, sea-dogs, horses ...
— The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras • Jules Verne
... look ye, a man must be neighbourly and companionable. Zouns! sir, we would slit any nose that was turned up at us honest fellows.—Ay, sir, we would slit it up to the gristle, though it had smelt nothing all its life but musk, ambergris, and court-scented water.—Rabbit me, I am a soldier, and care no more for a ...
— The Fortunes of Nigel • Sir Walter Scott
... shows: He makes the figs our mouths to meet And throws the melons at our feet; But apples plants of such a price, No tree could ever bear them twice. With cedars chosen by His hand From Lebanon He stores the land; And makes the hollow seas that roar Proclaim the ambergris on shore. He cast (of which we rather boast) The Gospel's pearl upon our coast; And in these rocks for us did frame A temple where to sound His name. O, let our voice His praise exalt Till it arrive at Heaven's ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy
... a clean bottle, a pint of inodorous spirit of wine, an ounce of oil of lavender, a teaspoonful of oil of bergamot, and a tablespoonful of oil of ambergris. ...
— The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing - A Manual of Ready Reference • Joseph Triemens |
