THE COMMERCE OF IVORY 441 



The entire stock on hand, early in 1914, was but 8,000 

 pounds, and this was held in the anticipation of obtaining 

 better prices later on. The fact that most of the ivory from 

 the Sudan is now shipped either directly overland or by 

 way of Jibati is cited as one of the principal causes of 

 Aden's loss of ivory trade. Another cause is stated to be 

 the lapsing of a contract accorded by the late Negus of 

 Abyssinia, giving to one of the leading ivory dealers of 

 Aden an option upon Abyssinia's share of the ivory secured 

 in these regions.* 



In the French Asiatic colony of Laos each of the captive 

 elephants, which are quite numerous, is provided with a 

 duly registered card of identification, and if any owner of 

 an elephant decides to sell the animal out of the country, 

 he is obliged to pay half of the value into the local treasury. 

 The price is said to vary, according to age, sex, degree of 

 training, or length of tusks, from 600 to 1,500 piastres; 

 ivory brings in Laos from 15 to 20 francs per kilogram.f 



The Governor-General of French Equatorial Africa 

 reported recently that while at the time the French first 

 occupied this region a considerable stock of ivory existed 

 there, this stock has been exhausted, and the ivory exports 

 are now comparatively stationary, amounting to about 160 

 tons annually. As to a prospective increase of these ex- 

 ports, the Governor-General was not very sanguine, in 

 spite of the fact that herds of from eighty to one hundred 

 elephants are still occasionally to be met with in this terri- 

 tory, t 



Ivory, as well as hippopotamus teeth and rhinoceros 

 horns, has for years been counted among the staple products 

 of the British East African Protectorate on the Indian 



*Daily Circular and Trade Reports, Aprjl 21, 1914, pp. 397, 398. 



fH. Jacob de Cordemoy, "Les produits coloniaux d'origine animale," Paris, 1903, p. 179. 

 {Consul John Ball Osborne, of Havre, "French Equatorial Africa," Daily Consular and 

 Trade Re-ports, May 23, 1913. p. 963. 



