IVORY 



3089 



IVORY PALM 



is used in the manufacture of billiard balls. 

 Nothing is wasted of this valuable material, 

 and every particle that remains after the tusk 

 has passed through various processes of manu- 

 facture, such as the shavings, dust, etc., is 

 saved. This is converted, by burning, into a 

 black powder called ivory black or into artists' 

 pigments. 



In commerce the tusks, horns and teeth of 

 the hippopotamus, walrus and narwhal are sold 

 as ivory. Celluloid and vegetable ivory (see 

 IVORY PALM) are also used as substitutes, but 

 no other substances take the beautiful polish of 

 ivory. 



Ivory Carving. There are in the Old Testa- 

 ment many references to the beauty and value 

 of ivory. It is interesting to note that the 

 earliest specimens of human art are carvings 

 of ivory. Thus, remarkably beautiful carvings 

 on bones and ivory were found among the 

 objects discovered in the -prehistoric caves of 

 Dordogne, in the south of France. Similar 

 objects have been discovered among the re- 

 mains left by the ancient lake dwellers in 

 Switzerland. These are the earliest dwellings 

 which prehistoric men built for themselves, so 

 far as we know. The men who produced these 

 works lived in an age when the mammoth and 

 the reindeer were still roving over Southern 

 Europe. In the tombs of ancient Egypt many 

 exquisitely-fine ivory carvings, such as boxes, 

 trinkets, statuettes and the like, have been 

 found. Among the objects brought to light in 

 the excavations of the ancient cities of Assyria 

 and Babylonia were many works in ivory. 

 Specimens of these various objects can be seen 

 in the great museums of the world. 



Ivory as a Material in Fine Arts. Ivory was 

 an important material used by the sculptors 

 of Greece. The body of many Greek sculp- 

 tures was made of wood; the face, hands and 

 other exposed portions of the statue were 

 covered with thin layers of ivory, while the 

 drapery, as well as the hair, was worked in 

 gold. The gigantic statue of Jupiter in Athens 



md the statue of the goddess Pallas in the 



arthenon at Athens, were celebrated exam- 

 ples of such sculptures. These statues were 



.he masterpieces of Phidias. 

 During the Middle Ages, and especially dur- 



ng the Renaissance, the art of ivory carving 

 had attained high perfection, and many ex- 

 quisite works from these periods have been 



conserved. Since the second part of the nine- 



:eenth century many famous sculptors have 



produced works in ivory. 

 194 



India has always been and still remains the 

 classic home of the art of ivory carvings, while 

 both the Chinese and Japanese are renowned 

 for their fine ivory work, executed with great 

 skill, patience and care. O.B. 



IVORY, VEGETABLE. See IVORY PALM. 



IVORY COAST, a colony of French West 

 Africa on the north coast of the Gulf of Guinea, 

 between Liberia and the British Gold Coast 

 Colony. It has a coast line of 380 miles, and 

 its area is 125,000 square miles. The French 

 asserted their 

 right to the dis- 

 trict about 1843, 

 but the colony 

 was not organized 

 until 1893. The 

 principal centers 

 of trade and 

 population are 

 Grand 



^LOCATION MAP 

 The Ivory Coast is repre- 



, . , . sented by the nearly square 



which has a fine black area on the Atlantic 



harbor, .Assinie, Coast 



Sassandra and Tabou, also on the coast, and 

 the towns of Abidjan and Aboisso, in the in- 

 terior. Cocoanuts and rubber are collected, 

 and the natives cultivate bananas, pineapples, 

 coffee and maize. The mahogany forests are 

 worked, and gold is found on the Comoe and 

 Bia rivers. 



The colony's ports are visited by the steam- 

 ers of two French lines, and one British and 

 one German shipping company. Since 1909 

 there has been railway communication between 

 Abidjan and Dimbokro, and a harbor at Boult 

 has also been constructed. The seat of admin- 

 istration is Bingerville. There are a number of 

 public and Roman Catholic private schools, and 

 telegraph and telephone lines connect the prin- 

 cipal towns. The yearly revenue is sufficient 

 for the needs of a growing development. 

 Population, 1912, 1,417,000; of these, Euro- 

 peans numbered about 1,100. 



IVORY PALM, a handsome South American 

 tree whose nuts have become an important 

 article of commerce. They have been used 

 extensively in the manufacture of ivory but- 

 tons, as well as chessmen and small ornaments. 

 The tree, properly known as the tagua palm 

 among the natives who gather the nuts, grows 

 very slowly to a height of twenty to thirty 

 feet, with large, gorgeous leaves shooting out 

 from the thick central stalk like graceful, 

 green ostrich plumes. Fragrant white blossoms 

 grow at the base of the lowest leaves, where 

 later a large, rough, brown bur appears. Within 



