HORNS AND TUSKS 307 



with a surprising amount of skill for the production of artistic 

 objects. The clever Korjak use for their purpose both wal- 

 rus and mammoth ivory, mainly the first-named variety, 

 and also sometimes take their material from the narwhal 

 tusk, or "horn." This preserves its whiteness better than 

 walrus ivory, which is apt to turn quite yellow after a certain 

 length of exposure to air and moisture. The ivory carvings 

 executed by the maritime Korjaks have received high praise 

 for their lifelike character, notably the figures of wrestlers 

 and drummers produced by them. Their work in this re- 

 spect is pronounced to be superior to that of any other of the 

 Eskimo tribes. Thimbles and rings, as well as charms, the 

 latter cut from a single piece of ivory, are also made by them.* 

 It was from this far-away region of northeastern Asia that 

 the Chinese derived their ku-tu-si, not indeed directly but by 

 way of Korea, Khitan, and other intervening regions. That 

 walrus ivory was used by the far-northern tribes of the 

 Pacific coasts at a very remote period seems to be indicated 

 by a passage in the Chinese "Annals of the Three Kingdoms," 

 where it is stated that among the articles of tribute sent in 

 262 A. D. from the country of the Su-shen were suits of 

 "bone-armour." This use of bone-armour is only noted in 

 the case of the tribes of the northern Pacific region, and this 

 type of bone-plate armour can still be found with the 

 Eskimo and the Chukchi, walrus tusks having generally 

 furnished the material. Doctor Laufer draws attention to 

 the fact that this Chinese record of 262 A. D. is, if correctly 

 assumed to mean armour made of plates of walrus ivory, 

 the earliest dated mention of an object manufactured from 

 this substance. t 



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

 Leyden, 1913, p. 33. 



fOp. cit., pp. 36, 37; see also Science, Vol. 37, 1913, p. 342, where there is an abstract 

 of an address on "Plate Armour in America, "delivered by Doctor Laufer before the Amer- 

 ican Anthropological Association at Cleveland on January 2, 1913. 



