THE TUSKS. 
249 
killed by Mr. Oswell was two hundred and twenty- 
four pounds; near to the point of their insertion in 
the head they measured twenty-three inches in girth 5 
whilst their length along the curve was seven feet, 
eleven inches. The tusks of another shot by a Boer 
on the Mariqua River were still larger, weighing no 
less than three hundred and three pounds. Gordon 
Cumming speaks of one in his collection as mea¬ 
suring ten feet nine inches in length along the 
curve, and one hundred and seventy-three pounds 
in weight. Methuen makes mention of a still finer 
tusk, its perpendicular length being eleven feet, six 
inches; and Hartenfels, in his “ Elephantographia ,’ 5 
speaks of one exceeding fourteen feet. But, enor¬ 
mous as are the above dimensions, they are 
as nothing in comparison with a tusk that, ac¬ 
cording to Klokner, was sold at Amsterdam, the 
weight of which was three hundred and fifty 
pounds.* 
As a rule, I would remark, short tusks are 
weightier in proportion than long ones. I once 
shot a comparatively young male elephant, the 
tusks of which, notwithstanding their being broken 
off at the points, and that neither protruded above 
six or seven inches beyond the lips, weighed forty- 
three and fifty-seven pounds, respectively. Had 
they been perfect, and fully developed, my firm 
impression is they would have exceeded one hundred 
and fifty pounds each. 
The formation of the tusks is very irregular, 
* Is it not possible that this tusk belonged to a defunct species of 
elephant—the so-called Mammoth-tusks, of which naturalists tell us, 
have been known to weigh upwards of four hundred pounds each. 
