TUSKS IN SO UTH AFRICA 1 1 



than that from Matabililand, where the tusks of big full-grown bulls 

 weighed, as a rule, from 40 Ib. to 60 Ib. Tusks weighing over 60 lb., 

 though not numerous, were, however, by no means uncommon ; but 

 those over 70 lb. were few, while a weight of over 80 lb. was very 

 uncommon. 



" Many thousands of bull elephants have been killed in South 

 Africa during the last seventy years, but out of that number probably 

 less than fifty carried tusks weighing 100 lb. each, although a few of 

 abnormal size have been recorded. One such large tusk was, for 

 instance, brought to Bamangwato from the Lake Ngami district in 

 1873 by a Boer hunter named Bauer, which weighed 174 lb. This 

 was a single tusk bought from the natives ; and whether it originally 

 belonged to a one-tusked elephant, or whether its fellow was broken 

 or disposed of elsewhere, is unknown. An elephant carrying enormous 

 tusks was wounded and lost in 1868 or 1869 by a Boer hunter 

 named Potgeiter in the bush between the Vungo and Gwelo rivers 

 within seventy miles of Bulawayo. It was found dead a few days 

 later by a native hunter, and its tusks, which came into the possession 

 of a trader at Bulawayo, measured 9 feet in length, and weighed, 

 together, a little over 300 lb. A pair of tusks of about the same 

 weight was obtained from Umzila, king of the Gaza Zulus, in 1874 by 

 Mr. R. Benningfield of Durban. The elephant with the largest tusks 

 shot by a European in South Africa is, however, apparently one killed 

 on the Zouga river in 1849 by Oswell, who recorded the aggregate 

 weight of the tusks at between 230 lb. and 240 lb., and their length 

 rather less than 8 feet. The elephant itself was the smallest of all the 

 old bulls shot by Oswell. 



" Cow elephants in South Africa, when full grown, carry tusks 

 weighing on an average from 10 lb. to 14 lb. ; tusks of 20 lb. 

 weight were always rare, though I saw one which weighed 39 lb., 

 while its fellow was nearly as heavy. Although, as a rule, both sexes 

 of African elephants carry tusks, in every herd there used to be one or 

 two, or sometimes more, tuskless cows ; but in all my experience I have 

 seen only one tuskless bull. Both cows and bulls occasionally have 

 but one tusk, and when that is the case there is no rudimentary tusk 

 on the opposite side, the tusk -sheath being filled with solid bone. 

 More than once I have noticed the calf of a tuskless cow with well- 

 developed tusks. Nowhere in South Africa have I observed the tusks 

 of either bull or cow elephants to be of unequal size owing to the fact 

 of one having been exclusively used for digging ; neither do I believe 

 that in this part of the country are the tusks commonly used for such 



