362 MAMMOTH IVORY. 



whereas in the African species both sexes are furnished with tusks of 

 large size, in its Asiatic cousin they are generally restricted to the 

 male sex, and even then in certain cases may be but very poorly 

 developed. 



Again, it appears that in modern times, at all events, much of the 

 ivory yielded by the Asiatic elephant is worked up in the land of its 

 birth, comparatively little reaching Europe in the raw state. Conse- 

 quently, for recent ivory, the European market is very largely 

 dependent upon the product of the African species, for which the great 

 commercial emporia are London and Antwerp. Now, although a few 

 years ago elephant hunting was a profitable trade in the remoter dis- 

 tricts of southeast Africa, the herds have been^so reduced in number 

 that comparatively little ivory is obtained at the present day. More- 

 over, the great stocks of ivory formerly possessed by the native chiefs 

 have been largely reduced or exhausted over the greater portion of the 

 country. It is true, indeed, that in the Congo district elephants are 

 still locally al)undant, while the opening up of the Egyptian Soudan 

 may ver}^ probably introduce to the market a supply of tusks from 

 Kordofan, Dafur, and the Bahr-el-Gazal districts. But if these regions 

 prove productive in ivory it is only too likely, unless proper precau- 

 tions are taken, that they will comparatively soon be shot out. And 

 if the production be not placed under restriction, it is evident that the 

 annual supply will be relatively small. 



It is clear, therefore, that African ivor}" is likel}^ to become grad- 

 ually scarcer and scarcer, and if there were no other source of supply 

 this beautiful substance would apparently soon reach a prohibitive 

 price. 



As a matter of fact there exists, however, in the frozen tundras of 

 Siberia a supply of ivory which will probably suffice for the world's 

 consumption for many years to come. 



This ivory is the product of the mammoth {Elephas primigenius)^ a 

 species nearly allied to the Indian elephant, but protected from the 

 cold of the Arctic regions by a coat of long, coarse hair, with a finer 

 woolly underfur at the base. The tusks, too, of the mammoth were 

 larger and more curved than those of its living Asiatic relative, being 

 sometimes twisted into a spiral almost recalling that formed by the 

 horns of the African kudu. From the abundance of these tusks it is 

 further probable that they were developed in both sexes. 



In addition to dwelling on the Arctic tundras of the Lena, Yenisei, 

 and Obi valleys, as well as extending to the New Siberian Islands 

 (which in past times evidently formed a portion of the Asiatic main- 

 land), and Alaska, the mammoth roamed over a large portion of Europe 

 in Pleistocene times. And in the gravels and brick earths of our 

 English river valleys its tusks, teeth, and bones are of comparatively 

 common occurrence, while quantities of similar remains are dredged 



