IVORY.
One of the most valuable, and certainly the most beautiful, of animal
products is the substance we call ivory, which composes the upper incisor
teeth of elephants. From the very earliest times, it has been esteemed by
man, and has gradually grown more valuable as years have gone by, until
now the demand is so great that the extermination of the noble animals
that produce it is threatened, merely that we may have knife-handles,
billiard-balls, piano-keys, and many articles of luxury.
The trade in ivory is of great antiquity; and doubtless, in very
early times, there was a far greater demand for it than at present,
and elephants were slaughtered in vast numbers. But after this, came
a cessation; and the great animals had an opportunity to increase.
According to Herodotus, Africa yielded her tributes of elephant teeth to
the kings of Persia. The people of Judæa built ivory palaces; and even
the galleys of Tyre, according to Pliny, had benches of ivory. In the
Odyssey, we read of the luxury of the early Greek princes,—
“The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay.”
The Etruscan attributes of royalty were sceptres and thrones of ivory,
and the ancient kings and magistrates of Rome sat upon ivory seats.
It is said, that, in the time of Pliny, the supply of African ivory
almost gave out, when, only two centuries earlier, it was so plentiful,
that, according to Polybius, the finest tusks were used as door-posts on
the confines of Ethiopia, and even for palisades about the fields.
The decay of the ivory trade commenced with the fall of Rome: no longer
were the commonest articles made of ivory, and even the Roman ivory
tablets (_libri elephantini_) fell into disuse.
This sudden change was not without its effect; and, at the beginning
of the seventeenth century, elephant tusks were a drug in the market.
According to Battell, “the natives had their idols of wood in the midst
of their towns, fashioned like a negro: and at the foot thereof was a
great heap of elephants’ teeth, containing three or four tons of them;
these were piled in the earth, and upon them were set the skulls of dead
men, which they had slain in the wars, in monument of their victory.”
When the Portuguese first established themselves at Angola and Congo,
they found that the natives had accumulated vast stores of ivory, which
was applied to the same superstitious uses. The Portuguese collected all
they could, and shipped the tusks to Europe, reaping a rich harvest, and
so depleting the supply, that in the middle of the seventeenth century
it was almost exhausted again. In 1840 there were eleven manufactories
of ivory goods in Dieppe, France; and nearly every large city to-day has
one or more such. The extreme tastes that in the time of Leo X. required
ivory beds, are not gratified in the present day; yet there is a constant
demand for ivory.
[Illustration: PLATE XVI.
ASIATIC ELEPHANT AND TIGER.
_Page 199._]
It is extremely difficult to obtain the facts regarding the importations
of ivory in former years. In eleven years, from 1788 to 1798, 18,914
hundred-weight of ivory were imported into Great Britain, or about an
animal importation of 192,579 pounds. In 1827 about 118,000 pounds were
imported.
In the sixteenth century the English traded for ivory on the Guinea
coast; and a few years ago, even Cape Town was a headquarters for
quantities of ivory; but the restricted area of the elephant, results in
the tusks being taken to the nearest shipping-places on the coast, nearer
Central Africa.
The natives were often grossly cheated. Mr. Burchell saw a party of
twenty,—men, women, and children,—who had brought a thousand pounds of
ivory to Cape Town, and only received the simplest articles for it. In
the interior he met a Hottentot who had bought twenty fine tusks of
the Bachapins, at a rate of a sheep for a tusk. These men offered Mr.
Burchell two oxen and two tusks (each too heavy for a man to carry) for a
gun. The native chiefs of to-day have a better appreciation of the value
of ivory, and Europeans cannot hunt for elephants without making them
valuable presents.
The present demand for ivory comes principally from England, America, and
the European nations; while many tusks, as the huge teeth are called, are
sent to China. In 1885, which may be considered an average year,—though
the importations differ, and there has been a depression,—439 tons of
ivory were imported into England, for which several million dollars were
paid.
By the courtesy of F. Grote & Co. of New York, and Westendorp & Co.,
London, I am enabled to present a table of extreme interest, showing the
imports of ivory into Great Britain for the last forty years. It tells
an interesting story of the destruction of the elephant: it is also
interesting to note how the averages differ. The average number of tons
for the years 1845-49 was 294; 1870-74, 627 tons; and for 1880-84, 514
tons; the imports of 1885 showing a falling off of one hundred tons. The
imports by the year are as follows:—
+=====+=====+
|YEAR.|TONS.|
+-----+-----+
|1845 | 325|
|1846 | 273|
|1847 | 314|
|1848 | 232|
|1849 | 328|
|1850 | 406|
|1851 | 302|
|1852 | 426|
|1853 | 436|
|1854 | 457|
|1855 | 437|
|1856 | 491|
|1857 | 489|
|1858 | 624|
|1859 | 539|
|1860 | 542|
|1861 | 589|
|1862 | 568|
|1863 | 499|
|1864 | 538|
|1865 | 548|
|1866 | 541|
|1867 | 489|
|1868 | 473|
|1869 | 649|
|1870 | 667|
|1871 | 645|
|1872 | 586|
|1873 | 630|
|1874 | 605|
|1875 | 680|
|1876 | 567|
|1877 | 627|
|1878 | 652|
|1879 | 444|
|1880 | 536|
|1881 | 546|
|1882 | 425|
|1883 | 596|
|1884 | 466|
|1885 | 439|
+-----+-----+
To produce this enormous amount of ivory, and that imported into other
countries, not less than seventy-five thousand elephants a year are
destroyed. It has been estimated that fifty-one thousand are killed
annually on the western coast of Africa, and probably twenty-five
thousand does not cover those slaughtered in other localities. Much of
this ivory comes from Africa, about one-fourth being obtained in India.
In 1875-77 the yearly product of the latter country was between nine
thousand and seventeen thousand pounds; a certain amount of this being
cut from the tusks, not necessitating the death of the animal.
All the tuskers which are taken by Sanderson and others, in Asia, have
their tusks shortened or cut, the tips being valuable ivory. The end is
bound with a brass ring to prevent the tusk from splitting: Jumbo’s
tusks were cut off in this way. As the tusk is continually growing, the
pulp being converted into ivory, the trimming operation can be repeated
at certain intervals, generally every eight or ten years.
The finest ivory is that obtained from Equatorial Africa; either the
natives bringing it out, or, as we have seen in a former chapter,
Europeans penetrating the little-known recesses of the Dark Continent to
procure it.
The west-coast ivory, when received, is generally almost black upon the
outside, and presents any thing but an attractive appearance. The tusks
are received by the wholesale trade, as Westendorp & Co. of London, and
Grote & Co. of New York, the leading ivory-firms, wrapped in raw hides,
sewed up by raw-hide thongs. These outside wraps are called “Schroons” by
the trade. The different ivories have various tints; and an expert can
tell at a glance where a tusk, or even a small piece of ivory, came from.
The ivory which is shipped at Calcutta has a slight pink hue, and is
very fine; while that received from Egyptian ports is brittle and poor.
A visit to the ivory-vaults of the Messrs. Grote & Co., New York, would
well repay any one interested in the subject of the economic value of
animals. Here all kinds of ivory may be seen, and the extent and variety
of objects made from it are astonishing. Here we find numbers of rings of
ivory which are awaiting shipment back to Bombay, where they will be sold
as bangles or bracelets to Hindoo women. Numerous flat ivory slabs are
sold to Sheffield, England; and, finally, we may see them returned in the
shape of knife-handles.
Some of the largest tusks in the Grote vaults are six inches in diameter
at the base; and the tusk at the door of this firm, on 14th Street,
used as a business sign, is nearly nine feet in length. This house
manufactures almost every article that ivory can be made into; and
objects ranging from billiard-balls to flat spatulas, for testing flour,
may be seen in their cases. Billiard-balls require the choicest kind of
ivory. The best are made here, and sell at five dollars each. I believe
the Chinese have alone successfully produced the famous concentric balls
of ivory, for which they have been so long and justly famous. Nothing is
wasted in the ivory-shop. Even the dust is collected, and sold to the
New-York florists, who claim that its results upon roses and other choice
flowers are astonishing. It is also used in tempering certain steel
tools, and in the manufacture of some acids.
To respond to this great demand, many professional ivory-hunters are
constantly in the field. In a single season a small party have obtained
twenty thousand pounds of ivory; for which they received twenty thousand
dollars at Khartoom, or one dollar per pound. The tusks of elephants
differ much in size; and, to show the loss in wear, Holub states that the
wear on a pair of African tusks in the animal’s lifetime may equal six
pounds,—the ivory being ground down when the animal uproots trees, and
uses them in similar ways.
In the Abyssinian and Taba regions, tusks rarely exceed forty pounds, and
average only about twenty-five. In Equatorial Africa they average about
forty pounds, and range up to one hundred and fifty.
Gen. De Lima, returning from Mozambique, brought two straight tusks
for a cross on the high altar of the cathedral at Goa. One weighed one
hundred and eighty pounds, and the other one hundred and seventy. They
had the slightest possible curve. “The Friend,” a paper published in
Ceylon, states that the officers of the ships “Quorrah” and “Alburhok,”
engaged in the Niger expedition, were shown two tusks by a native king
which measured two feet and a half in circumference at the base, were
eight feet in length, and weighed two hundred pounds each. According
to Broderip, a tusk of three hundred and fifty pounds weight was sold
at Amsterdam; but he gives no authority. Tusks often take peculiar
shapes. An elephant was seen, in 1844, in the district of Bintenne,
near Friars-hood Mountain, one of whose tusks took a complete turn,
then resumed its original direction; and in the museum of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, there is a spiral tusk. The most remarkable
freak of nature relating to tusks, that I am familiar with, is recorded
by Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S., who was with Livingstone on the Zambesi. In
various chapters, one, two, three, and four tusked elephants have been
referred to; but this giant had nine. Mr. Baines says that it was shot in
1856; and a Mr. Edwards, a partner of Chapman, with whom he travelled,
bought six of the tusks. “It had on the right side five, and on the left
four, all growing, as usual, out of the upper jaw. The pair occupying the
usual place were of about thirty pounds weight each; just behind them
projected a pair somewhat larger, pointing downward and backward; between
these were situated two others, and before and behind them in the right
jaw were two more, but in the left only one, behind all these, being much
smaller.”
The ivory is always sold by weight; and the buyers are often deceived, as
the tusks are liable to contain cavities, or have the pulp loaded with
metal by designing traders. The size of the tusk generally determines the
price; the larger it is, the more valuable, those below six or seven
pounds being held at less than half the price per pound than those much
larger. Many tusks are ruined through the ignorance of the natives. They
are generally, however, transported with great care, the finest being
wrapped in wax, or some similar substance.
Before considering the different kinds of ivory, and the various uses
to which it is put, let us glance at its composition. In structure, it
is equivalent to dentine, the material of which nearly all teeth are
composed, and has an organic base or matrix, which upon examination
is seen to be permeated by a vast number of very small and delicate
canals, each of about one-fifteenth of an inch in diameter, which seem
to commence at the pulp-cavity, presumably the axis, and extend outward
to the periphery of the tusk. The little canals are not packed closely
together, but are separated by spaces of about their own diameter. To
these tubes, the regularity of their disposition and their delicacy,
the ivory owes its fineness of grain, and its remarkable elasticity. By
examining them, an expert can distinguish elephant ivory from any other;
as they have a peculiarity of making a series of decided bends in their
course, from the axis to the periphery, which produces a graining in the
ivory, unique and peculiar.
Ivory is often confused with bone, but is a very different substance. It
is much finer in general structure, much more elastic, and is without
the canals that convey blood-vessels through the bones. If a section
of a tusk is made some distance from the growing pulp, the centre, or
core, will be found to be darker than the rest, and of a different
nature. This is the remains of the pulp. The outer portion of the tusk
is still different, or composed of a compact layer of cementum that
covers or encloses the entire tusk. The intermediate substance is ivory,
which shows many circular lines about the central dark spot, calling to
mind the growth-marks seen in sections of trees, and due to the fact
that in all ivory there are great numbers of very minute spaces known
as “interglobular spaces.” The localities occupied by these spaces
are characterized by a smaller proportion of lime-salts and a greater
proportion of organic matter than other portions. Hence this part of the
ivory is not so dense as the rest, and is more liable to decomposition:
so, in many of the fossil tusks that are found, a sectional view often
shows it separated into six or seven distinct rings, the intermediate
organic matter having disappeared. It is supposed, that, in living ivory,
these interglobular spaces are filled with some organic substance.
According to Von Bibra, ivory contains from forty to forty-three per
cent of organic matter; while human dentine contains from twenty-four to
thirty-four per cent.
From its delicate structure, ivory takes a rich polish; and it is also
susceptible of being dyed. The ease with which it is carved, makes it one
of the most valuable of all materials for artistic carving.
The ivory used in England and America is mostly from the African
elephant; but in Russia much of it comes from the tusks of mammoths,
described in chapter fourth. These elephantine monsters existed in great
numbers in former days; and in some localities, their tusks are found
in great abundance. When the first explorers examined the New Siberian
Islands, they found mammoth tusks projecting from the sand in many
places; and in others the tundra seemed to be fairly made up of them.
The best localities are at the mouth of the Lena and other Arctic rivers
and the Liakhoff and New Siberian Islands.
The mammoth tusks are much more curved than those of existing elephants,
and much heavier, weighing as much as three hundred and twenty pounds a
pair. Some are preserved as perfectly as if the animal had but recently
died, while many more are ruined by the weather; but to-day, even after
years of collecting, the supply may be said to not only equal the demand,
but to be practically inexhaustible.
As a rule, the mammoth ivory is too dry and brittle for fine work, and is
said to turn yellow. Fine tusks bring large prices. One recently offered
to the Oxford Museum was valued at five hundred dollars; and about ten
years ago, over one thousand were sent to London for sale, weighing from
one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty pounds each. The best of
these found a ready market; but, as a rule, mammoth ivory is not esteemed.
Westendorp has investigated this ivory, and finds that about fourteen per
cent is good; seventeen per cent could be used in some way; fifty-four
was bad; and fifteen per cent utterly useless. He considered about 1_s._
6_d._ per pound a fair price.
The life of the ivory-hunter of the North is equally as dangerous as
that of the South, as the tusks, as a rule, are found only in the most
desolate places; yet there is an element of excitement about it far
greater than that which is experienced in shooting the African elephant.
It is true that the great mammoth is dead; but yet the possibility of
finding the carcass of one of these monsters in the flesh, and clothed
with hair, has been sufficient incentive to keep many hunters in the
field.
In the chapter on the mammoth, some of the most remarkable discoveries
have been referred to. The ivory-hunters have for years found vast
quantities of tusks at the New Siberian Islands, which lie to the north
and east of the Lena delta.
The first mammoth tusk was brought to England by Josias Logan in 1611,
and was obtained in the region of the Petchora. It is estimated that
about one hundred pairs are yearly offered for sale; and, according to
Nordenskiöld, the tusks of at least twenty thousand mammoths have been
collected since Siberia was first investigated.
The frozen bodies of the mammoth were originally called mummies; and the
first one that is mentioned is in a sketch of the journey of the Russian
ambassador, Evert Yssbrants Ides, who, in 1692, journeyed through Siberia
to China. A professional ivory-hunter travelled with him, and described
the parts of a specimen which he found; and, to show how perfectly it was
preserved, the neck was still colored by blood.
This same collector found a pair of tusks which weighed two hundred
kilograms. He informed Ides that the heathen Yakuts, Tunguses, and
Ostyaks believed that the mammoth lived underground, just as did the
Chinese; and that it died only when it came to the surface, and saw or
smelled air.
An interesting account of the folk-lore of the natives, relating to
this point, will be found in J. B. Müller’s work referred to in the
bibliography.
In 1839 a complete mammoth was uncovered by a landslide on the shores of
a lake near the Yenisej River.
Nordenskiöld says, “Under the guidance of natives, I collected, in
1876, at the confluence of the river Mesenkin with the Yenisej, in 71°
28´ north latitude, some fragments of bones, and pieces of the hide,
of a mammoth. The hide was twenty to twenty-five millimetres thick,
and nearly tanned by age, which ought not to appear wonderful, when we
consider, that, though the mammoth lived in one of the latest periods
of the history of our globe, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions,
of years have, however, passed since the animal died, to which these
pieces of skin once belonged. It was clear that they had been washed by
the neighboring river Mesenkin out of the tundra-bank; but I endeavored,
without success, to discover the original locality, which was probably
already concealed by river-mud. In the neighborhood was found a very fine
cranium of the musk-ox.”
African-elephant ivory, which is esteemed above all others, on account
of its close grain, and less tendency to turn yellow when exposed,
is semi-transparent when first cut, and in this condition is called
“green” by the ivory-workers. As it dries, it becomes lighter, and more
opaque, owing to the drying out of the water. During this process, the
ivory shrinks more or less, as wood does; and in making box-covers,
billiard-balls, and in all delicate work, great care is required, the
ivory being generally roughly shaped, and placed in a warm room to
gradually shrink and dry true. The plates used on piano-keys are dried
and shrunk at once by being baked in an oven.
The greatest skill of the worker is, perhaps, shown in the original
cutting, as here much waste can be made by ignorance or carelessness.
Often the cutter finds cavities in the ivory, and not uncommonly bullets,
and parts of various weapons. These have been shot into the tender pith
at the base of the tusk, and, in time, become incorporated in the ivory.
A specimen of a tusk in the Odontological Society, London, shows a
spear-head embedded in the ivory, completely enclosed by it and secondary
dentine, though measuring seven and a half by ten inches. In another
instance, the tusk was formed into a cup, while the embedded spear-head
was left exposed as a stand. A javelin firmly embedded in ivory is
exhibited in the collection of the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
London.
Ivory is easily worked; and veneers have been cut, according to Tomes, by
a reciprocating saw making a spiral shaving around the tusk forty feet in
length, and twelve inches in width.
As ivory grows old, it turns yellow, especially if kept in the dark. It
is said that the ancients possessed the secret of softening it. If this
is so, it is one of the lost arts, as it cannot be done to-day; though
it is rendered more flexible by submitting it to the solvent action of
phosphoric acid.
The uses to which ivory is put are innumerable. Formerly it was used in
the manufacture of false teeth, and it is used to some extent to-day by
native dentists in India. The dust and chips of ivory are all used, and
are either boiled down into a gelatine, or calcined into ivory-black.
The confectioners are said to use ivory-dust as a basis for groups, and
it is often utilized when a delicate size is required. The calcined ivory
affords a fine black pigment called ivory-black, and is also used as fine
printing-ink, and in printing etchings and engravings.
All the objects manufactured at Dieppe to-day can, perhaps, trace back
many of their methods to Demosthenes, the father of the orator, who was
a worker in ivory. He had an extensive manufactory of cabinet-ware, and
used great quantities of ivory. He had another manufactory, where ivory
knife-handles were made, and was also a wholesale dealer in the commodity.
* * * * *
We are indebted to Messrs. F. Grote & Co. for the following interesting
item, which was received too late for insertion in the proper place:—
“The tusk which stands at our door, in 14th Street, New York, was brought
from Zanzibar, Africa, being from the species _Elephas Africanus_. Its
length, on the outside curve, is eight feet and eleven inches; its length
on the inside curve is eight feet and one half inch; its diameter at base
is six and one half inches; its weight is one hundred and eighty-four
pounds.”
This is a notable example, and one which has long excited public interest.
We are also indebted to Messrs. Totans & Schmidt, of Fulton Street,
New-York City, for the dimensions of a pair of tusks of an African
elephant, which have long graced their show-window. They measure
respectively, eight feet and six inches, and eight feet four inches, in
length. The larger weighs one hundred and thirty-five pounds, and its
circumference is twenty inches and three quarters at base.