476 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner by the Indians near the 

 mouth of the Tanissee, relates that after being transferred 

 through several tribes, from one to another, he was at 

 length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri to a 

 river which runs westwardly; that these bones abounded 

 there; and that the natives described to him the animal to 

 which they belonged as still existing in the northern parts of 

 their country; from which description he judged it to be 

 an elephant. Bones of the same kind have been found, 

 some feet below the surface of the earth, in salines on the 

 North Holston, a branch of the Tanissee, about the latitude 

 of 36j° North. From the accounts published in Europe, I 

 suppose these are of the same kind with those from Siberia." 



PRIVATE COLLECTIONS OF IVORIES 



There are in the United States many privately owned 

 ivory collections. The finest of these belongs to Henry 

 Walters, of Baltimore, and forms part of his splendid mu- 

 seum on Mt. Vernon Square, one of the most complete on 

 the American continent. Here are shown authentic and 

 characteristic works of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzan- 

 tine, Carolingian, Early French, Early German, Italian, and 

 Spanish workmanship, as well as some of the later specimens 

 of French work, including the finest examples of Moreau- 

 Vauthier, the greatest modern ivory carver. There are 

 also notable specimens from Japan, China, Siberia, and 

 other Asiatic lands. 



One who has principally devoted attention to collecting 

 ivories from the Congo, or made of Congo ivory, is Thomas 

 F. Ryan, of New York, whose efforts were favoured by 

 friendly relations with the late King Leopold II. A master- 

 piece of Belgian art is a crucifix in which the cross measures 

 36 in. in length, while the figure of the Crucified is 24 in. high. 



In the collection of T. S. Van Volkenburgh are wonder- 



