The Arkansaw traveler. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1882-1???, 1883-09-22
IVORY.
Nee york Hour.l

fsNcW 10TH 1ouf.
An ivoy-hafted knife to the ordi,,r
diner-out is simply piece Of table ~
lery, useful at meals, but devoid OF =.
nance. He wonders not AZ the ineenr,,,,
that made the steel and fashioned -,
blade with It's keenly-cutting edge. 81.
dom does he bestow a thought on n.
half. In his eye il is only knife hand.
and he does not allow It's antecedents -
interfere with his appetite. But througs
what An experience this tit Of ivory. -
smooth and shining, has passed !,
once formed part Of an elephants ,usk
and was probably dug out Of the deser
or found in some dense Afican fores.
whilst the jackals or the vultures were
Teasing on the animals carcass. |, was
most likely carried hundreds of mile.
over trackless country, and through
territory peopled by hostile tribes ready "a
shed blood for its possession. Like far.
ivory IS frequently very difficult to &c,
and when, by the exercise Of strength.
endurance, watchiulness and cunnIpg
the dusky natives have brought it to the
shore, they deserve a substantial prize
for the precious load that has fatigued
their limbs and made their shoulders
ache. A ,usk recently sold at Liverpool
weighed no less than one hundred and
forty-one pounds, and it can scarcely be
said that the Africans yoke is easy and
his burden light when he has to toll along
in tropical heat, with An elephants too:h
in his grasp. But the obstacles to De
overcome in getting the ivory to A
civilized region are not entirely respons..
bic for the present high prices in the
market. The elephant is defunc, in
Egypt, and tusks are only attainab.e
there by dredging in the sand: but the
levia,han of the woods is by no means
extinct in Africa and India, and would
possibly yield an abundance of ivory II
the demand only grew as slowly as his
teeth. The extensive use to which ivory
IS put is really the secre, Of the advance
in its value. Il is no longer looked upon
as material out of which to fashion the
beautiful chessmen and exauisitiyely
carved figures that stand as curiosities
On quaint sideboards- II is utilized in
making such vast number Of articles in
daily use, from the dainty ivory-backed
hair brush to the most lilliputian of pocke,.
knives, the from Observation-Disclosures
billiard-ball to the fox-headed scarf-pin,
that the price of the elephants tusk mus,
60 up. So dear has ivory become, in
deed, that one doubts whether Solomon.
with all his wealth, would have ven,ured
had he lived in these days, to make :
great throne of ivory OVERLAND with the
bes, gold.' AT recent Liverpool sale
SIX thousand dollars a ton was the sum
obtained for ,usks. from Angola and
Gaboon, and Niger ivory is almost as
dear. In three years the price has almos,
doubled. In 1879 it was possible for
brokers to buy at three thousand dollars
per ton, and since then nearly all kinds
OF ivory have risen one hundred per cent.
IN value. Stocks are now very low in
the ivory warehouses throughout Eng
land, and the fifty tons offered in the
Liverpool market were eagerly purchased,
only bangles and balls going a little
cheaper. AT the July sales last year there
were seventy-two and one-half tons
offered-East Indian. thirty-seven and
one-half tons: Egyptian, six and three
/ quarter tons; Cape, six tons: West Coast
Africa, sixteen and three-quarer tons
ana sea-horse tusks, ETC., flve and one
half tons. Common and small tusks
rose IN value fifteen dollars, and thirty
dollars per one hundred weight on the
previous London prices and even at the
increased quotations various lots Of
excellent Gaboon and Cape ivory were
Withdrawn, the owners feeling confident
tina, they could obtain more money. The
average supply at the July sales in Lon
don for the past nineteen years has been
one hundred and thiry-six tons. The
largest supply at any one sale was two
hundred and three and one-quarter tons
in the third sal e of 1873, and the smallest
seventy-two and one-half tons at the
summer sale in 1882 Nor is il probable
tina, any very large quantity Of ivory will
ever again be offered in the English
markets, for sale has been established
at Rotterdam, and in addition to the con-
signments disposed of there, many of the
tusks come direct to this country, where
the material is often applied to the mos,
fantastic and extravagant purposes. ANY
man wishing to become modern Crcsus
need only to give up dreaming abou, the
discovery of his pet philosophers stone,
and md substitute for ivory.