Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-08-16
COUNTY, PA, BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.

TIE IroRy TRADE-The amount of ivory
consumed in the workshops of Europe, Ameri-
ca and India is immense, and yet great as it
is, the continent of Africa furnishes seven
eighths cf all that is worked up into orna-
mentS, toys, and cruciixes in France bea-
than gods, boxes and fans in India and China !;
billiard balls, boxes, miniature plates, chess
men, mathematical fuies keys for piano fortes,
organs and melodeons, fans combs, folders,
dominoes, and a thousand and one other things
in England, Germany, and the United States
The immense demand for Elephants tuskS
! (called teeth in common parlance) has Of late
years increased the supply from all parts of
Africa. At the end of the last century the
annual average Importation into England was
only 1872, 500 lbs. in 1927 it reached 364,-
784 lbs, or $3.50 tusks, which would require
the death OF at least 304Q male elephants
1t is probable that the slaughter is.much great
er, for the teeth of the female are very small,
and Burchel tells u.s. in his African travels,
that he met with some elephant hunters who
had shot twelve huge fellows, which, however,
altogether produced no more than two hundred
pounds of ivory To produce 100000 lbs
Of ivory, the present annual English import,
we should require estimating each tuSE at 90
4 lbs.) the life Of s, ,333 male elephants 1t is
said that 1000 tuskers suffer death every
year to supply the United States with cembs,
knifehandles, billiard balls, etc
/ A tusk weighing seTenty pounds and up
wards is considered by dealers as first class
/ Cuyier formed a table Of the mos. remarkable
( tusks of which any account has been given
/ The largest en- record was one which was sold
L 4 - / n i
/ In the late sales at London the largest of the
Bombay and Zanzibar was l22 los. of An
cola and Lisbon SO lbs Cf Cape Coast Cas-
lie, Lagos, &c, ia lbs. Of Gaboon Gl lbs !;
Egyptian | IA lbs. But it must not be in
fcrred from this that large tusks are now rare.
On the contrary, it is probable that more long
and heavy teeth are Eow brought to market
than in any preyious century. \ short time
ago. Julius Pratt & Co. cut up at their eS-
tabshment in Meriden CT, tu>k that was
nine and half feet long, eight inches In di-
ameter, and which weighed uearlr two hun
dred pounds The same firm, in ISjl sent to
. the Worlds Fair" IOndon the widest, finest
and largest piece Cf ivory ever saved out. BY
wonderful machinery invented in their own
factory, they saved ont (and the process Of
saving did the work of polishing at the same
timc) a strip Of ivory fortyone feet long aud
twelve inches wide 1t took the precedence
! of all the specimens sent in by England, France
or Germany, and received rcwarding atten-
tion from the Commission II may be asked
what can be dcnc with such an immense piece
of ivory We reply that the time has come
when this beautiful material can be used for
purposes of yeneerng and we shall soon doubt,
( less see tables, bureaus writing desks, and
/ other members CT the ftruituIe family render
/ ed as resnIaaden1 as the throne Of Solomon.
/ We belie7e that it is now contemplated by
Steinway & Sons to build piano whose keys
! shall not be the only portion from the teeth
of the African elephant, but an instrument
whose whole surface shall be Of FURNISHED vir-
gin ivory.
One thing is certain, that any piano-rorte
manufacturer who should first attempt this,
will make a sensation by the novelty of the
AGAR, and will doubtless be well rewarded for
/ his labor.