210 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



them. On any ivory they may secure, a tax of from 2.50 

 francs to 5.50 francs per kilogram, according to the weight 

 of the tusks, is to be collected at the time the ivory is regis- 

 tered. No elephants having tusks of less than 2 kilograms' 

 weight may be hunted. 



Non-hunters may obtain for 1,000 francs the authoriza- 

 tion to kill two adult male elephants. The ivory secured in 

 this way must be registered, but no tax is levied on it, the 

 cost of the permit being regarded as sufficient. 



Any elephant may be killed when this is necessary for 

 the defence of person or property. All ivory so obtained 

 must be given over to the State, which will pay for it an 

 indemnity equivalent to a quarter of its value. The same 

 rule applies to the ivory of elephants found dead. 



No special tax is to be levied on the commerce in ivory. 

 The merchant who buys ivory still unregistered must, on 

 registering it, prove that it has come from a proper source; 

 otherwise, the ivory is to be confiscated. 



An export duty is to be levied on ivory at the time of 

 its exportation. 



The natives of the Belgian Congo are permitted by the 

 State to retain as their own property half of the ivory they 

 may secure by elephant hunting, the price for the other 

 half being put at such a reasonable figure as to assure a 

 good profit should the native choose, or be able, to buy it. 

 The fact that ivory is a peculiarly valuable commodity is 

 fully realized by the natives of the Congo, for it has served to 

 a certain extent as a medium of exchange ever since Arab 

 traders first penetrated into this region.* 



That elephants are growing scarce in the Belgian Congo 

 is denied by traders who are familiar with the territory, the 

 statement being made that along the course of the Kasai 



*Vice-Consul General Ross J. Hazeltine of Boma, Daily Consular and Trade Reports, 

 February 5, 1913. p. 627. 



