The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-05-29
Elephants and Ivory.

! IL Is hard to say whether mankind II
general, and this nation III particular
would be worse off for the loss of ele
phantS or for the loss of ivory. Th,
noble beast has, indeed, been Of sucl
Infinite use to us in India--sometine.
as contributor to the amusement OF
| BRUSH sportsmen, who, perched upol
| his Dack, securely enter tho Jungle il
pursuit of the tiger, and sometimes a.
the transporter Of mountain cannon ul
rocky pass-that it is as difficult tC
conceive Of India without elephants
as or Ireland without agitators
Yet III this and every other civilized
| country the loss of ivory would be moro
| sensible felt than the gradual destruc
! ton of the elephant in the land of hi,
! birth. Hitherto neither science nor re-
| search has been able to discover an,
substance so weighty in it's specific gra,
witty, so firm of texture, fine in grain
ana elastic i'll quality as the core Of the
ELEPHANTS tuSk, out of which billiard
DallS are made, with which, as with
tortoise shell, costly cabinets are inlaid
and which contributes the finest ma
terlal for turner's and decorators. AS
Tor what is called vegetable ivory, it is
but lit to furnish toys with which the
vendors OF worthless books, of mapa-
zines, and OF trash Of all kinds torment
passengers upon the railways of the
United States. 1t is not billiard balls
alone that will be missed when iyory
has risen to such prohibitive prices as to
be practically beyond the reach of COM
merce. What substitute can be found
for the handles of dinner knives and
pOcket-kniveS, for the backs of hair
brushes and the boxes which adorn the
toilet tables of ladies'? Some sanguinc
Americans tell us, indeed, that paper,
III the form called "papicr machc,n will
take the place of ivory, rs in the United
States 1t is dispacing ''wrought lronn
for the wheels of railway cars, and fur
nlShlng material out of which canoes,
boats, and even larger vessels are made.
But, how us regards specific gravity,
beauty or color, capability of taking the
highest polish, and elasticity, can
mashed paper pretend to bear conlpari-
son with ivory? 1t is useless to conceal
from ourselves that the world seems
about 10 lose one Of its most valuable
anu beautiful substances, and to lose it
forever. Under these circumstances,
With what patience can we think of
tlloSe elephant hunters who have killed
Ile nuDlcSt OF animals in w;lntOn sport
and with needless cruelty? Yhe prohibi-
ton to Slay elephants in certain districts
or lllndOStan has come too late for their
general rescue, while South Africa,
whittier hosts of British marksmcn-we
VIII not call them sDOrtSmcll-have di-
IS beginning to be as destitute nf l,iy
game of all kinds rs the continent Of
Europe itself. In those "Elepllant
Ha.mtsh OF which MIR. Henry Faulk-
ner, late Of the Seventeenth Lanciers," :"
discourscd in il book bearing that name
and published in 1868, there will soon
apparently be no elephants, no hipopo-
tamllscs, no lions, no bull'aloes left.
The advancing armies OF man are, in
short, cxtingliishing the native fauna OF
the "Dark Contincnt," and the same
mischief is going on i'll every other
quarter of the globe.