“Ambar” was the most precious product naturally available. At 25 pesos the ounce, a pound of it in a tooled leather case made a princely gift to a high official in New Spain. Whether it was ambergris or fossilized resin is still a matter of genial debate. The author leans toward the latter, jewel amber, partly because of the well-founded arguments of Eugene Lyon, and partly from reading in a report attributed to Pedro Menendez Marquez that “from Cape Canaveral to Santa Elena there is a quantity of ambar thrown up on the coast. There are whale fisheries there but it does not come from whales. It is believed to be resin produced by the sea, which hardens in the air.” [Note 84: Anon. 11/20/1655; Juan de la Rosa, San Luis 12/24/1677 in Leturiondo visita of 1677-78; Pedro Menendez Marquez fragment of a voyage description 1573] AN36 (Bushnell KC)