424 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



weight of 81 lbs.; the left tusk was slightly shorter, 8 ft. 2 

 in. in length, the weight being almost the same, 80.2 lbs., 

 giving a combined weight of 161.2 lbs. The heaviest, 

 though not the largest of the Indian tusks reported in Mr. 

 Rowland Ward's valuable record, were two from Burma 

 acquired by the Marquis of Waterford. The respective di- 

 mensions and weights of the members of the pair are given 

 as follows: length 7 ft. 3f in., circumference 17j in., weight 

 102 lbs.; length 7 ft. Sj in., circumference 17| in,, weight 

 97j lbs.; combined weight 199J lbs. The tusks are espe- 

 cially interesting, as they belonged to the sacred white ele- 

 phant of King Thibaw. In another Burma pair the tusks 

 each had a circumference of 18f in., but only measured 6 

 ft. 8 in. and 6 ft. 5 in. in length, respectively; the joint 

 weight was 167 lbs. These data show how much shorter 

 and lighter are the very largest of the Asiatic tusks as com- 

 pared with those of the same class from Africa. 



Several remarkable carved ivories are in the Memorial 

 Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. One of the 

 finest is an ivory sword hilt and sheath, the blade having 

 been forged by Munechika, an armourer of Japan, who 

 flourished about 986 A. D. The design carved on the ivory 

 hilt shows a Rakan, one of the sixteen most learned dis- 

 ciples of the Buddha. The bushy eyebrows characteristic 

 of these Rakan figures are here so finely wrought that they 

 stand out from the head like white thread. The scab- 

 bard bears an image of Benten, the Goddess of Purity and 

 Love; beneath this figure is another Rakan with an attend- 

 ant. In the Natural History department of the Museum 

 are twenty -five ivory tusks decorated with "scrimshaw" 

 work by American sailors, and in the Indian Room are 

 forty -five tusks carved by Eskimos. Besides these Ameri- 

 can curios the Indian Room contains Oriental ivories col- 

 lected by the late John Bardwell, who began his collection 



