310 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



the upper lip, and is believed to have been evolved through 

 the advantage it afforded in breaking the ice so as to permit 

 the creature to breathe, or perhaps as a deadly offensive 

 weapon. The pair of tusks of the walrus are, so to speak, 

 developed "canine teeth," and extend directly downward 

 from the jaw.* 



China affords a good market for horns of the deer, reindeer, 

 and wild sheep, as they are quite an important element of 

 the Chinese pharmacopoeia. After having been reduced 

 to a powder this is mixed with other ingredients and serves 

 for composing pills and other medicinal preparations, the 

 pills being highly prized for their supposed tonic qualities, 

 and being much favoured by the aged and those in a debili- 

 tated state of health. In view of this use the Chinese lay 

 great stress upon the perfect condition of the horns; there 

 must not be a blemish or scar on them. Reindeer horns 

 are now mainly obtained from Siberia whence they are 

 brought, by way of Vladivostock, to Hongkong. China 

 itself (principally the mountainous part of the western re- 

 gions comprised in the provinces of Szechwan and Yuman) 

 furnishes stag horns in abundance, while the horns of the 

 wild sheep are usually brought from the mountainous tracts 

 along the frontiers of Indo-China, Siam, and the Malay 

 States. It is suggested that both reindeer horns and stag 

 horns could profitably be exported to China from Alaska 

 and elsewhere within the territorial limits of the United 

 States. To be received in satisfactory state no salt or pre- 

 servatives of any kind should be used for the shipments, the 

 horns being shipped dry in sealed cases some time in the 

 course of the winter season. Prices in China vary much, 

 according to the quality of the material, and where the skull 

 is sent with the horns still attached, these are worth some 



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

 p. 18, note. Reprinted from the T'oung-Pao, Vol. XIV. 



