536 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



iu London recently that weighed three hundred and twenty-five 

 pounds, and measured eight and a half feet in length and twenty- 

 two inches in circumference. Think of the muscular strength of 

 head and neck necessary to support such a weight ! The impor- 

 tance of these "ivories" in combat is evident by the dread of 

 a "tusker" shown by elephants less favored. They are often 

 broken in fighting, and always show marks of considerable wear. 

 While even captive animals use them for a variety of purposes 

 e. g., a trained elephant when directed to pull a rope, will take 

 it between his molar teeth and pass it over one of his tusks to 

 get a good purchase. Nothing of less strength and elasticity 

 than ivory could withstand the strain to which it is constantly 

 exjiosed. 



Foreign bodies, as bullets, arrowheads, or spear points, are 

 often found imbedded in ivory. It is not a rare occurrence for 

 the sportsman's bullet, or the native's spear, intended to pierce 

 the elephant's brain, to penetrate the pulp cavity of the tusk and 

 there become encysted or grown over with ivory and apparently 

 have given the animal no trouble ; but occasionally the vicious- 

 ness of a " rogue," or the evident insanity of some unmanageable 

 creature, has proved after death to have been caused by the suf- 

 fering from inflammation and suppuration consequent upon the 

 presence of a leaden ball in the " nerve of the tooth." 



The best ivory is the African, and the finest quality from near 

 the equator. Much of it is brought by natives from the interior 

 to the coast and sold to Arab merchants, while many expeditions 

 are organized by Europeans to go to the interior and collect the 

 stores gathered by the native tribes. It is an extensive com- 

 merce. Four thousand pounds sterling, or twenty thousand dol- 

 lars, is considered a good result for one season's expedition with 

 one hundred and fifty men. Prices differ in different localities. 

 The "portage," or distance from coast, size, condition, care in 

 handling, and weight all affect price. 



The African ivory trade is an ancient one, and in mediseval 

 times Marco Polo, who lived from 1251 to 1334, speaks of the 

 ivory traffic in Zanzibar being " astonishing in amount." 



The tusks of the mammoth of northern Siberia, or the fossil 

 supplies, are said to furnish almost the whole material of the 

 Russian ivory workers. They are found in extraordinary abun- 

 dance, and come principally from the neighborhood of the Lena 

 and other arctic rivers and the coast islands. Mammoth tusks 

 are more slender, more curved, and much larger in proportion 

 than those of recent animals. Many have been found in the 

 frozen morasses or in the solid ice, intact and in a beautiful state 

 of preservation, having lain in their air-tight cases for many 

 centuries. 



