WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



obtained the lion's share of the profits of the enterprise. 

 Many caravans successfully combined the ivory trade 

 with the slave trade. On the shoulders of slaves, 

 bought or captured natives, the precious teeth were 

 often shipped to the market, in which the carriers, too, 

 could be sold. This was surely the most simple and 

 profitable solution of the question of transportation. 



The treasures of ivory brought to the coast increased, 

 and the number of the ivory - producing animals de- 

 creased phenomenally when rifles and ammunition be- 

 came articles of trade with the natives of the interior 

 districts. 



It sounds strange, but it is true, that the innocent 

 billiard-players of civilized countries are largely respon- 

 sible for the almost total extinction of the African ele- 

 phant. There is no material, from which the best 

 quality of balls may be turned on the lathe, so soft and 

 so elastic as the ivory tusk of the female elephant. 



Conditions have changed ; the hunting expeditions 

 on a large scale are a thing of the past. There are still 

 caravans of smaller size fitted out to carry on this 

 trade in ivory, but they are obliged to penetrate far 

 into the interior to accomplish their purpose. Some 

 years ago I met such a caravan, about four hundred 

 strong. They traversed and retraversed the com- 

 paratively unexplored country between Lake Rudolf 

 and the Nile, which is still rich in ivory. This caravan 

 was supplied with breech - loading rifles. They used 



90 



