THE COMMERCE OF IVORY 439 



the Marawi traders, as they belong to the religious sect of 

 the Jains, are not able to come into direct contact with the 

 elephant tusks, because the touching of an animal substance 

 constitutes a pollution. Hence the material in which they 

 deal must be handled and weighed by Mohammedans in 

 their employ.* 



The striking change in the location of the chief distribut- 

 ing point in Europe for ivory is exemplified by a comparison 

 of statistics for 1908, and for a date twenty years earlier. 

 While at the earlier date the annual sales of ivory were 373 

 tons in London and but 6 tons in Antwerp, in 1908 sales on 

 the London market had fallen to 214 tons, while in Antwerp 

 227 tons of ivory were sold. This change in markets is of 

 course directly due to the large exportation in recent years 

 from the Belgian Congo. f 



The German territory of Cameroon in Central Africa has 

 furnished a small, but recently a decreasing, supply of ivory. 

 The figures for 1910, when 38 tons of the material were 

 exported, show a decrease of 16 tons from those of the pre- 

 vious year, the value falling off from $219,705 to $156,395. 

 The prohibition to shoot young elephants, rendered im- 

 perative in order to save the breed from extinction, has 

 been often violated by the natives, who have smuggled the 

 tusks they obtained across the French Congo. It appears 

 that with the annexation of what is called the "New Cam- 

 eroon" territory, recently ceded by France to Germany in 

 connection with the Morocco arrangement, the export of 

 ivory from Cameroon will increase, for a German sportsman 

 came across many elephants on a trip lately made to this 

 newly acquired territory, although he had failed to find 

 any in the old Cameroon territory. 



In German East Africa there has also been a falling off 



*J. L. Kipling, the Journal of Indian Art, Vol. I, No. 7, p. 50, July, 1885. 

 "^Scientific American, Supplement No. 1752, p. 79, July 31, 1909. 



