IVORY. 
273 
merce. Taking large and small together, twenty- 
eight thousand tusks are said annually to find their 
way into England alone, which will give some idea of 
the great destruction committed amongst the animals 
in question. The number killed in South Africa is 
very great. Some idea of the havoc among them 
may be formed from what the distinguished tra¬ 
veller, Doctor Livingstone, tells us, cc that within a 
year and a half of his and Mr. Oswell’s discovery of 
Lake Ngami, no fewer than eleven hundred elephants 
were slaughtered on and about the Zouga, the river 
that falls out of that fine sheet of water.” 
Ivory is chiefly used for knife-handles, carved 
ornaments, chess-men, billiard balls, musical and 
mathematical instruments, and so forth. Dieppe, 
where works of every description and the most 
beautiful finish are prepared, would appear to be 
the grand manufacturing place for this article. 
The valuable discovery of flattening ivory by sub¬ 
jecting it to heat has considerably enhanced its 
value and usefulness. The price of good bull- 
elephant teeth in the London market varies from 
five to ten shillings per pound. 
The texture of the ivory brought from Africa, I 
may add, is said to be superior to that of India, 
arising, it is supposed, from the drier atmosphere of 
the first-named Continent, which tends to harden 
and consolidate the tooth. 
In olden times, ivory was also in great request. 
It is stated that its consumption in architecture, 
painting, sculpture, &c., was at one period so great 
in ancient Lome and Greece that the supplies ob« 
T 
