The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-12-03
From the London Telegraph.
The Last of the Elephant.

OF tne nerd, rendS the tree up by its roots
and Sinbad, falling headlong to the ground
; Judges it the safest course to feign death
lhe elephant, disdaining to wreak its
rage upon lifeless enemy, picks the old
sailor up, and quietly carries him to the
great burial-place Of the tribe-a high
NIL some miles in circuit, surrounded by
impenetrable forest, and thickly covered
with the bones and tusks of generation
alLef generation of 1.-The brute which bears
between its eyes the serpent for hand ="
Slnbad, with commendable prudence, con
tlnues to counterfeit death until not an
elephant is in sight; and then, with an
alacrity equally commendabe, loads a
raft with picked tusks. makes his way
with them to Bagdad ard 50 finds himself
| once again a rich man. Modern research
mas gone far to rehahilitate the credit of
olnbad the Sailor. We now know that
! the long narrative Of his seven voyages is
no idle fairy tale, but that it embodies the
genuine traditions of old navigators such
as Hanno, and that its main facts are sub
stantially accurate The valley of dia-
monds actually exist in Ceylon; the great
r2tkh once built its nest in Madagascar
and t1apped its monstrous wings to and
| tro between the islands and the mainland
and there is good ground to believe that
the tale OF the great burial place of the
elephant race is no mere fable, but that
high up in the table-land of Central Africa
on the further side Of Tanganyika. in dis
trlcts where the white mans foot has
never yet trod, ivory is to be found as
| plentitully as in the fossil beds Of Siberia,
whence are dug up the huge mammoth
tusk5 that furnish nine-tenths OF the raw
material operated upon by our London
lyory-turner9. Indeed, it would almost
seem as il the energy OF the Zanzibar,
merchants had at length found way to
Sinbads charmed hill. Within the last
year the importation Of ivory has doubled
Itself Whence come all these tusks Has
the Nalhalla of Sinbad been actually dis
covered, and do the chiefs whose hut4
cluster round Ianganyika, and under the
shadow OF the mountains OF the Moon.
know of a vertabe Tom Tiddler's ground,
where ivory can be picked up, as in
Siberia it can be dug up by the ton; or,
does each pair Of tusk5 that finds iLs way
to England represent a slaughtered eIe-
phant; and is a war of eXterminatiou be
ing Waged, the ultimate effect OF which
must be to render the huge brute as eN.
tinct as the dinornis itself2
The latter, we fear, is the true answel.
The elephant, like the whale, is dying out
In India he is becoming almost as rare as
is the red deer in England The hunters
nave driven him further and further in
land unless something be done to pro-
tect him, he will before long become, up
on the main continent, at any rate alto
gether extinct, and Sahib will have to i'm
port his elephants from Birmah and Cey-
lon, much as we in England import our
horses from Ireland and our foxes from
| any country that will send them to us in
| sufficient number and of sufficient size
and streL 9Th. III Africa, it is true, the
evil is not yet pasttremedy. Over the vast
table lands OF that unknown continent the
elephant still roams in countless droves,
and still holds in undoubted possession
/ vast tracts 10 which rum and glass beads.
! cast iron muskets and clay pipes, printed
| calico and coarse gunpowder have never
| yet found their way. The respite how
| ever will probably be but brief Almost
! daily, caravans start from the Zanzibar
| coast to the interior, carrying with them
! all that the native heart needs to make it
| glad, and willing to take payment in ivory
Tor all That they have to offer For ten
! or 8 dozen large tusks the African chief
| can dress his wives out in beads and strip
/ ed calico, furnish himself and his minis
ters with rum and gunpowder and so at
! ford to wait patiently until next wears
! hunting season commences. The danger
! which the chase involves is exaggerated
The elephant is a dangerous beast to meet
| face TO face, but he is easily circumvent-
| ed by craft. He can be shot with poison
ed arrows; he can be frightened bv mid
| nj r~i,t i E.,l1.
| the hunter have the requisite nerve and
courage, he can be followed and ham
strung And 50 the butcherv goes on.
Year by year Zanzibar sends inland a
| larger number Of bales, and year bv wear
a larger number of tusks is carried down
to the coast We may regret the idle
waste, but we are powerless to stop it
| Nor is 1t, after all, easy to see by what
| precise arguments we are to convince a
native chief that it is his duty to allow
the elephant to multiply in peace. We
here in England are burning up our coal.
| and leaving posterity to take care of itself
and pay its own national debt; and We
can hardly expect the woolly-neadcd AT
rican to display a virtue OF which we our
selves are ignorant. What is it to him if
! in a century or so the elephant be alto
| =
he Is able to drink his rum and to dress
out his ebony charmers in gaudv yellow
and red
Vast as Africa is, its supply of elephants
is yet not limitless. The elephant is a shy
! brute he loves peace and solitude; he
multiplies slowly; and he takes many
Years to reach his fill growth The risk
/ involved in hunting him is, after all, but
| limited. and his utter extermination Is
consequently mere matter Of time. So
| long as we persist in demanding ivory
| paper-kniyes and fans, brush handles
boxes, billiard balls and chcssmen, So
long the Zanzibar traffic will 90 on; the
tusks will come down to the coast. and
the number of elephants will year by yeu
diminish.
The matter is partly one OF sentiment
and partly OF common sense and on the
ground OF sentiment the African elephan,
IS not so much to bc regretted Unlike