W'ith Flashlight and Rifle -^ 



Immense quantities of ivory have been exported \n 

 recent years. In the last ten years the Antwerp ivory 

 market has taken on an averag-e the tusks of 18,500 

 elephants yearly ; from 1S8S to 1902 it took 3,212,700 kilos 

 of ivory, each tusk weighing on an average about 8^ kilos ; 

 nearly the whole was taken from the Congo district. It 

 is just the same with regard to the other ivory-markets 

 in the world, and the above figures give a very true, it 

 sad. picture of the destruction of the noble animal. Soon, 

 when the e]ej)hants are all destroved, dealers will put 

 up prices, and then ivory will l.)ecome an article of fashion, 

 obtainable only at a fancy figure. 



All these elephants are killed merely on account of 

 their ivory. It does not say much for the highly developed 

 science of our day that it has not been able to produce 

 a substitute. Fortunately the Indian ele|)hant has a 

 happier fate in store, tor the females carry but little 

 ivory, and even the bulls do not grow very large tusks 

 compared with those of their African cousins. The female 

 elephants in Africa have tusks weighing from 10 lb. 

 to 30 lb. each-sometimes, but very seldom, as much as 

 40 lb. The males have extraordinarih large tusks. But 

 they vary very much in size, and an average of about 

 half a hundr(?dweight would come near the truth. At 

 any rale, the English oHicers in I>ritish I'.ast Africa 

 considered a tusk wcigliing ()n(; and a hall huiidrcxlweight 

 a suitable' wc(lding-pres(;nt lor the Prince ot Wales. 



This was tar Irom being a record weight. In 1S98 

 some nati\'e lumtcrs shot a \'ery old bull witli tusks weigh- 

 ing together mere than 450 11). I'oth tusks were tor sale in 



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