HORNS AND TUSKS 303 



preserved in the treasuries among the Chinese, who assert 

 that it is a desirable article because the approach of poison 

 causes it to exude. It is said to be the bone from the fore- 

 head of a bull. Its best quality is the one passing from 

 yellow into green; next comes one like camphor, then the 

 white one, then one coloured like the sun, then one passing 

 into dark gray. If it is curved, its value is a hundred dinar 

 at a weight of one hundred drams; then it sinks as low as 

 one dinar, regardless of weight." 



In another passage this writer states that the "bull" 

 furnishing this horn was said to have its habitat in the coun- 

 try of the Kirgiz, northern Turks. The "Bulgar" brought 

 from the northern sea teeth of a fish over a cubit in length, 

 from which knife-handles were sawed out. If a whole tooth 

 were not available, separate pieces were joined together 

 to form the handle. That the material used was not 

 elephant ivory was quite evident, as in most cases the tooth 

 constituting the handle had been left essentially in its original 

 form. Some of the knife-handles even found their way to 

 far-off Mecca, where the material was known as "white" 

 chutww, and so prized was it among the Egyptians that they 

 were willing to pay "two hundred times its value" for it. 

 Finally the writer casts doubt on the assertion that the 

 chutww, properly so called, was really found among the 

 Kirgiz, and thinks that it also was the main portion of a 

 tooth or horn.* 



The first definite and accurate knowledge of walrus ivory 

 was brought to Europe by the bold Norse navigator, Othere 

 of Helgeland, Norway, on his return from a voyage made by 

 him, at a date between 870 and 880 A, D., around North 

 Cape and to Perm. The Norse captain reported the results 

 of this trip to King Alfred the Great, his chief object being 



*Dr. Berthold Laiifer, "Arabic and Chinese Trade in Walrus and Narwhal Ivory," pp. 

 1, 2. Reprinted from the T'oiing Pao, Vol. XIV. 



