THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i,  1892. 
142 
THE  COST  OF  BILLIARD  BALLS. 
The  tusks  for  billiard  balls  fetch  the  highest 
price  in  the  trade;  as  much  as  £110  per  hundred- 
weight has  been  paid  for  them,  which  is  more 
than  double  the  rate  for  the  ordinary  kinds.  As 
ivory  ages  the  water  it  contains  evaporates,  and 
for  this  reason  the  Tithe  Commissioners  will  not 
use  ivory  scales,  as  the  evaporation  of  the  fluid 
makes  them  alter  in  length  and  breadth.  The 
shrinkage  is  also  taken  account  of  in  the  billiard 
ball  trade.  The  balls  alter  in  the  two  diameters 
at  different  ratios  if  they  are  kept  in  a different 
temperature  from  that  in  which  the  teeth  have 
been  stored,  hence  the  keeping  of  the  teeth  in 
large  quantities,  and  the  making  of  the  balls  out 
of  tusks  only  a little  bigger  than  themselves,  so 
that  there  may  be  no  margin  in  the  ratio  of 
shrinkage.  Ivory  keeps  white  longest  if  exposed  to 
light  under  a glass  shade,  but  in  that  position,  as  in 
museums,  it  dries  as  it  gets  old,  and  then  it  flakes, 
and  has  to  be  restored  by  boiling  in  gelatine. 
CUTTING  UP  THE  RAW  MATERIAL. 
There  is  a process  for  cutting  the  tusks  in  spiral 
shavings  so  as  to  obtain  large-sized  sheets,  and 
some  such  device  seems  to  have  been  used  by 
the  ancients,  not  only  for  their  tablets,  but  also 
for  the  faces  and  naked  limbs  of  their  heroic 
chryselephantine  or  toreutic  statues,  of  which 
we  have  heard  so  much.  The  cutting  up  of  a 
tusk  in  the  ordinary  way  to  the  best  advantage 
is  a delicate  operation.  The  saw  is  about  two 
feet  long,  a fiftieth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  from 
an  inch  and  a half  to  three  inches  wide;  the 
teeth,  five  or  six  to  the  inch,  sloping  a little 
forward,  at  an  angle  between  that  of  the  hand- 
saw and  the  cross-cut  saw.  The  tusk  is  never 
quite  circular  in  section,  and  this  irregularity 
has  to  be  allowed  for  in  making  out  the  cuts, 
and  all  along  the  centre  of  the  tusk  there  is  a 
speck  due  to  the  apices  of  the  successive  hollows, 
which  also  has  to  be  dodged  by  the  cutter ; and 
sometimes  he  will  find  a bullet  in  the  tusk  to 
bother  him,  and  rarely,  very  rarely,  the  bullet 
may  be  of  the  golden  sort,  used  by  Eastern 
potentates  so  frequently  in  fiction  and  so  seldom 
in  fact.  No  part  of  the  tusk  is  wasted : the  blocks 
go  to  the  turner  and  carver  and  tableknife- 
maker,  the  spills  or  rinds  go  to  the  penknife-maker, 
the  sawdust,  like  the  shavings,  goes  to  the  con- 
fectioner’s as  a stiffener  for  jellies,  and  to  the 
lacemaker’s  as  a dressing  for  curtains,  and  to 
other  trades  in  which  a strong  fine  size  is  re- 
quired ; the  scraps  go  to  the  ivory  black  burner, 
and  out  of  every  hundredweight  only  15  lb. 
remains  to  be  burnt  into  black,  which  is,  how- 
ever, worth  from  £16  to  £20  per  ton. 
POLISHING  PROCESS. 
After  the  ivory  has  been  turned  or  carved,  it 
is  polished  on  a wheel.  The  ivory  worker’s 
wheel  is  like  a gigantic  penwiper ; it  consists  of 
round  pieces  of  cloth  screwed  fast  between  disks 
of  wood  two  or  three  inches  less  in  diameter 
than  the  cloth,  and  thus  affording  a pliant  edge 
projecting  beyond  the  wood  for  the  curvilinear 
surfaces  of  the  umbrella  or  parasol  handles,  or 
whatever  it  may  be  that  is  submitted  to  its  touch. 
Common  work  is  polished  on  a series  of  wheels, 
one  fed  with  Trent  sand,  one  with  loam,  another, 
perhaps,  with  chalk;  the  better  work  is  treated 
first  perhaps  with  emery  paper  of  the  finest, 
made  finer  by  rubbing  two  pieces  face  to  face  ; 
secondly,  with  whiting  and  water  thick  as  cream 
used  on  wash  leather  or  linen  or  cotton  rag  so  thin 
that  the  fingers  can  feel  through  it ; thirdly,  with 
Clean  water;  and  fourthly,  with  a slightly  oiled  rag. 
INFERIOR  IVORY. 
But  all  ivory  does  not  come  from  the  tusk, 
some  comes  from  the  grinder,  and  though  it  is 
not  always  easy  to  distinguish  between  an  Indian 
and  an  African  tusk,  there  is  no  doubt  about 
the  species  when  the  molars  are  examined.  There 
are  now  only  two  species  of  elephants,  the  In- 
dian and  the  African.  The  Indian  has  molars 
with  parallel  folds,  the  African  has  them  with 
lozenge-shaped  folds;  the  other  distinguishing 
marks  being  that  the  Indian  has  small  ears, 
while  the  African  has  large  ones,  a yard  long ; 
the  Indian’s  trimk  has  a finger  at  the  upper 
lobe  while  the  African’s  trunk  has  both  lobes 
much  alike ; the  Indian’s  hind  foot  has  four  or 
five  nails,  while  that  of  the  African  has  but  three, 
and  the  Indian  is  ten  feet  high,  while  the  Afri- 
can is  eleven.  But  though  elephant  ivory  is 
almost  the  only  kind  now  seen  on  the  ivory 
floor,  there  was,  and  is,  a sort  of  ivory,  commer- 
cially so  called,  coming  from  the  hippopotamus 
and  the  walrus.  The  Custom  House  description 
of  ivory  is,  “ Teeth  elephant’s,  sea-cow,  sea-horse, 
or  sea-morse.”  Walrus  ivory  is  poor  stuff,  the 
outer  part  of  the  tooth  being  alone  of  any  good, 
the  middle  being  more  like  coarse  bone,  but 
“sea-horse  ivory,”  which  by  some  perversion 
had  become  the  name  for  hippopotamus  ivory, 
is  harder  all  through  than  elephant  ivory  and 
the  outer  coat  of  enamel  is  so  hard  that  it 
resists  steel  and  strikes  fire,  and  has  to  be 
removed  on  the  grindstone  before  the  inner 
material  can  be  worked.  At  one  time  sea-horse 
ivory  was  chiefly  used  by  dentists  for  artificial 
teeth,  but  the  day  for  that  has  gone  by,  and 
the  only  ivory  practically  known  to  commerce  is 
that  of  the  elephant,  which  the  disappointed 
broker  threatens  to  boil  for  tea  when  it  does 
not  realise  the  price  on  which  he  can  make  a 
profit,  and  which  costs  on  the  spot  in  Africa 
about  a third  of  what  it  is  expected  to  sell  for 
in  Mincing  Lane. 
CONSULAR  REPORTS. 
TAMSUI  (FORMOSA,). 
Mr.  W.  Holland  forwards  on  April  29th  his  report  on 
the  trade  of  Tamsuifor  the  year  1891.  He  writes : — 
* * * 
Tea. — Though  the  actual  export  of  tea  was  18,139,733 
lb.  or  some  938,000  lb.  in  excess  of  1890  !he  value  was 
only  £667,383  at  the  1891  rate  oflhe  tael  Even  if  the 
valueis  reckoned  at  the  1S90  rate  of  5s.  2d.,  it  only  gives 
£701,318  or  more  than  £95  000  short  of  the  figures  tor 
1890.  The  only  conclusion  therefore,  is  Shut  'he  teas 
were  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  so  commanded  a poorer 
price.  This  tas  been  explained  to  me  a-  fo’.'ows  by  the 
agent  of  one  of  ihe  British  firms  in  Twatutia  : — 
“The  Tamsui  tea  planters  bed  to  contend  against 
two  thiDgs  which  undoubtedly  militated  againet  the 
quality  of  the  first  and  second  pickings.  Heavy  and 
continuous  rains  washed  the  goodness  out  of  the  spring 
tea,  whilst  the  holding  off  of  foreign  buyers  for  two 
months  later  than  usual  necessitated  the  sorting  of 
unpacked  and  partly  fired  leaf  in  the  oouutry, 
with  very  imperfect  aooommodatioD.  Thus  tea 
which,  under  ordinary  oircumstances  would  have 
arrived  in  a brisk  and  fresh  condition  came  down  in 
frequent  instances  with  most  of  its  attractive 
points  evaporated,  this  being  particularly  noticeable 
in  the  higher  grades.” 
I may  mention  that  the  holding  off  on  the  part  of 
foreign  buyers  for  two  months  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  OoloDga  weie  obtainable  at  the  opening  of  the 
season  at  more  favourable  rates  in  Amoy  than  in 
Tamsui  ; and  therefore  as  nearly  all  the  firms  here 
are  branohes  of  Amoy  firms,  the  latter  went  in  for 
large  purchases,  whilst  the  Tamsui  branches  held  of£. 
