420 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



In the Sudanese province of Bahr el Ghazel elephants 

 abound, and there is a good supply of ivory. Broken tusks 

 and those of poor quality come to Omdurman to be worked 

 up by the native carvers into serviette rings, cigarette 

 holders, mounts for sticks, and large bangles worn on their 

 arms by the natives. The better tusks are cut into three 

 pieces, the hollow end with thin sides going to Japan for 

 inlaying work; the solid middle is sent to England, the 

 tips usually go to the United States for billiard ball manu- 

 facture. The weight used at Omdurman is the kantar 

 (99.05 lbs.); in other parts of the Sudan the weight unit 

 is the farasula (29.7 lbs. or 13.478 kilo.), equivalent to the 

 weight of 480 dollars or 4,320 dirhems. Exceptionally fine 

 ivory has recently, during the war period, commanded as much 

 as £40 a kantar at Omdurman, a trifle less than $2 a pound. 

 Most of the ivory trade in the Sudan is by barter, mainly, 

 if not exclusively for cattle, preferably cows and calves, but 

 on occasion bulls may be included to make up a reckoning. 



There has been, on the whole, no very marked change in 

 the average weight of the tusks imported to Antwerp, 

 although just at the outset, in 1889, an average of 12^ kilo, 

 was reached; in 1890 the figure was lO^V kilo. These 

 high averages have not been since equalled, and were due 

 to the number of large tusks, the first to come from the 

 new ivory of the Congo; withal the total weight of ivory, 

 as will have been noted, was much less than a few years 

 later. From 1892, however, the average weights have been 

 singularly constant, if we except a single year, 1896, when 

 for some reason there was a fall to 6f kilo.; in 1913 the 

 figure was 8| kilo., equivalent to 18.46 lbs. 



In a previous chapter we have given a brief notice of the 

 work of the native Congo ivory carvers, but it may not 

 prove uninteresting, as showing the possibilities of tusk 

 decoration, to give here in detail the figures depicted in 



