ASIATIC ELEPHANT AND TIGER.
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.