The ivory king

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 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.

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:—

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 1s. 6d. 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.