Amber

The English word Amber (Also known as Baltic Amber due to its high occurence in the Baltic Sea)stems from the old Arabic word anbargris or ambergris and refers to an oily, perfumed substance secreted by the sperm whale. It floats on water and is washed up on the beaches. Due to a confusion of terms , it became to be the name for fossil resin or tree sap, which is also found on beaches. For decades Baltic amber has been arbitrarily assigned to an extinct pine Pinus succinifera; however, IR (infrared spectroscopy) studies show that Baltic amber is more closely related to resins of broad-leafed conifers of the araucaria family Araucariaceae. Following abstract taken from the manuscript of Abu Zaid Hassan titled Silsilat-al-Tawarikh throws some light on Amber described in Ayurveda.....

"The pieces that are found on the coasts of this sea (of India) are thrown there by the waves. One finds the amber in the sea of India, but no one knows where it comes from. One only knows that the best Amber is the one found at Berbera and up to the ends of the land of the Zang, and also at Sihr and its surroundings. That amber has the shape of an egg and is gray. The people of that region go to find it, riding on camels during the moon-lit nights; they follow the coasts. They ride camels who are trained for that and who know how to look for amber on the coast. When the camel finds a piece of amber, it kneels down and its owner goes to collect it. One also finds pieces of amber floating on the water of a considerable weight. Sometimes those pieces are really big. When the fish called Tal sees this piece, he eats it, but when the amber arrives in the stomach of the fish, he dies and floats on the water. There are people who look for that, with boats, and who know the times when the fish eats the amber. When they find a fish floating they pull him to the shore with iron harpoons put in the back of the fish, and with solid ropes. Then he is cut open and the amber taken out. The amber close to the belly of the fish is the mand and smells badly. One can find it among the perfume makers at Baghdad and Basra. The piece of amber which does not have the bad smell is extremely pure."