IVORY. 



larly known by this appenatJon. But the principal market 

 for fome time palt appears to Iiave been ai the cail coall of 

 Africa, where tlie ivory is fiippoft-d to be found of fuperior 

 quahty ; indeed the Englilli inercliaiils at Surat pay a 

 greater price for tiie tiilks fiirnidicd by this part of the 

 codll liian for fuch as are brought from any oilier part of 

 Africa. 



The bed tufKS are thcfe that are leall curved, without 

 fpots, and molt folid towards the bafe. Some writers on 

 this fubjedt pr.?tend that fuch elephants as inhabit fwarapy 

 places, generally produce blue, fpongy, and knotty tulks, 

 in every refpcci inferior to tliofe of elephants living in 

 hilly countries or 0:1 dry plains. The Ethiopian elephants' 

 tulks, according to Paul Lucas, are furniflied with larger 

 cavities, and are therefore lefs elleemed. 



In commerce, unwrought ivory pafles under the appel- 

 lation of marlil, or mortil, a word which Frifch derives 

 from the Spanidi, but is probably of Mooridi or Indian 

 origin. Tuiks under a certain weight (fome fay 14, others 

 2 5 pounds) are called C-<-w.'Av by the African merchants; 

 a word wiiich appears to be the fame with EfcarbalU, or 

 EfcarleW.e of the French, and Scarwjdks of the Spaniards 

 and Portuguefe. 



Elephants' teeth conditute a very important article of com- 

 merce Labat computed the quantity of ivory annually 

 imported into France at his time, by the Senegal company, 

 to be joo quintals, or jo,ooo pounds. In 1784 the num- 

 ber of tulks imported into Nantes was 744, belides 360 

 pounds weight ; and into Havre de Grace, in the fame year, 

 4j5 tuflis and iSoj pounds, and into Bourdeaux 5599 

 pounds. In the following year 3007 pounds and 471 tulks 

 were imported in'.o Nantes; in 1787, 16,184 pounds """^ 

 395 teeth ; and into Havre de Grace 3784 pounds. 



In an account which the houfe of commons ordered to 

 be given in, of the quantities of the principal articles in the 

 nature of raw materials, imported and ufed in the manu- 

 fadtures of Great Britain for twelve years preceding the year 

 1799, we tind the toUowing refpecling the importation of 

 elephants' teeth ; i;'c. 



17SS 1,387 cwt. 



I7S9 2,I4J 



1790 ')47'j 



1791 .^TS) 



1792 1,484 



1793 I>412 



1 794 2,203 

 "'795 i'"47 



1796 1,167 



1797 1,969 



1798 S89 



and in an account, likewife delivered to the houfe of com" 

 mon?, of the quantity of the fame articles, on an annual 

 medium of four periods of five year?, each commencing the 

 5th of January 1772, the following related to the article under 

 corilideration ; liz. Five years preceding 

 5th January 1776 690 cwt. 



1787 1.339 



1792 2,CJO 



J 799 1,291 



The component parts of ivory being the fame as thofe 

 of bones [viz. phofphate of lime combined with a gelatinous 

 fubilance), ar.d difi'ering only with regard to texture, hard- 

 refs, and whiteuefs, the preparations it undergoes in the 

 arts are equally applicable to the bones of animals. The 

 whitencfs which ivory acquires depends chiefly on the degree 



of drynefs it has acquired. When yellow, its gelatinous 

 matter is altered by the air, and appears to be combined with 

 the oxygen of the atmofphere. Oxygenated muriatic acid 

 \\ill rellore it to its original v.hitencfs. Thofe employed in 

 working ivory, diftinguilh the luh'ite and the gnat. ' The 

 furiiicr is known by the whitiflt or lemon coloured rind of 

 the tulks, the other by the brown and blackifli. The green 

 ivory (fo called from a gicenilh or faint olive colour per- 

 vading its fubltance) is preferred, it being of a clofer 

 texture, and known foon to exchange its green hue for 

 the moll beautiful white, which is lefs liable to turn yel- 

 low. This green ivory is, however, more brittle than the 

 other. 



Heat cannot be made ufe of for making ivory pliant, 

 though it is rendered fofter by being expofed to that agent. 

 It is divided by the faw ; fometimes (for delicate work) under 

 water, in order to prevent its being heated or rent in the 

 operation. It is polifhed with pumice and tripoli. Ivory 

 has been faid to become foft by being placed in milliard ; 

 but that end is attained with greater certainty by itueping it 

 in lu!ne diluted mineral acid. Both ivory and common bones 

 becorr.e alfo foft by being imraerfed in an alkaline lye made 

 of foda and quick lime. 



By burning this fubllance in clofed velTtls, and afterwards 

 levigating it with water on a porphyry (lab, we procure what 

 is called ILici ivory, much ul'ed for painting and other pur- 

 pofes that require a very intenfe velvet-like black colour. 



The following obfervations, relative to the nature of the 

 tud<sof elephant.-, are extrafted from Cuvier's excellent me- 

 moir " On living and foflil Elephants," in the .-\nnales du 

 Mufeum, and tranflated in the Philofophical Magazine, vols, 

 xxvii. xxviii. and xxix. to which, efpecially as our article 

 Elbpiia.st was written previous to the publication of that 

 elaborate memoir, we refer our readers for a more complete 

 natural hiftory of that remarkable animal. 



Cuvier, in examining the varieties of tufl<s, and the dif- 

 ferences remarked in this refpecl among elephants, obferves, 

 that their texture exhibits no important dilTerence. It al- 

 ways prefents, upon its tranfverfe feclion, thofe ilreaks which 

 proceed hke an arc of a circle from the centre to the cir- 

 cumference, and form, in growing, curvilinear lozenges 

 which occupy the whole difk, and which are more or 

 lefs broad, and more or lefs perceptible to the eye. This 

 charafter, common to all elephant ivory, and depending im- 

 mediately on the pores of their pulpy nucleus, is not to be 

 found in the tu/lvS of any other animal. It is to be feen in 

 all foflil tuiks, and it refutes the opinion of Leibnitz, 

 adopted by fome other writers, and even by Linnxuf, that 

 the mammoth horns might have belonged to the Tricliecus 

 rofmarus. The tulks of tliefe animals, however, feem wholly 

 compofedof fmall round accumulated grains. 



The fi/.e of tulks varies according to the fpecies, faxes, 

 and varieties; and as they are growing all their lives, age,' 

 more than any thing elfe, influences their dimenlions. The 

 Afri'-an elephant, as far as we are able to afccrtain, hai 

 very large tulks in both fexes The African female, 17 

 years old, the Hieleton of which is in the mufeum of Paris, 

 has larger tulks than any male or female Indian elephant of 

 tlie fame fize that we are acquainted with. It is from Africa 

 we receive the moll ivory, and the greater number of tulks ; 

 and they are alfo harder and whiter than any others. B.ut 

 our limited knowledge is confined to the elephants of the 

 weilern coalls, and to thofe of the fouth of Africa. We 

 are ignorant if thofe of the eallern Ihores rcfemble them in 

 every thing, and if there be any varieties in the interior. 

 We know from PenBaut, however, that the coail of J/Kj- 



fambique 



