Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-11-24
The Land OF Ivory.

II an expert ivory dealer had examined
the tusks of Jumbo he could have told
very nearly where that famous animal
lived before he was removed from his
native Jungle. Humidity apd heat improve
the quality of ivory. The further an ele-
plant lives from the equator and the high
er and dryer his habitat. the less valuable
his tusks. East African tusks are not so
large. hard. or fine grained as those from
the central and western regions, and con-
sequently they sell cheaper in the market.
There is no doubt that the Congo basin.
now becoming accessible. will for years
to come be the source of the worlds larg-
est and finest supply of ivory.
Statistics of the ivory trade since 1879
show that sixty five thousand African
elephants are slaughtered annually to sup
ply the civilized markets. While it is
certain that the African elephant is DIES
tined, like the American bison. to exter-
mination. the day when he will disappear
forever from his native baunts will doubt
less be lar removed He still roams in
pl odigious numbers over vast areas of in
ner Africa. The relentless hunter, how
ever, has driven him from the coast
regions. The increased cost of reaching
the elephant hunting grounds has reduced
by one half the ivory exports of Cape
Colony and the Portuguese west coast
settlements. The exports are decreasing
at all but two points of shipment Arab
hunters penetrating far inland from Zanzi-
bar. and the enterprise OF the United Afri-
can Company on the Niger and Benue
rivers are swelling the volume of experts
from those regions: while at\ other
SANKEY'S assertion two years ago that
ivory was so abundant in the Congo basin
that it could De bought Tor almost nothing
was received with incredulty. His state
ment, however, has recently been corrob-
GRATED by number of reliable travellers
MIR. Greenfell says that on the Kas-
sal affluent, where two years ago
Wissmann's party killed seven elephants
in as many minutes, he recently saw a
Portuguese trader who had Just bought
three hundred tusks. and that tusks worth
$l5 In London could be procured for two
necklaces of glass beads. Two CONNER
cial houses, one Dutch and the other
French, have recently established agents
at Stanley Pool. One of these agents in a
single day bought nearly five tons of
ivory, Wortn $Z0,OUO, at price so small
that Sir Francis de Winton, late Governor
of Congo, said he would not reveal the
cost, because "you would all start off to
the Congo to become ivory traders"
The steamer Stanley is now on the Kas.
sal river investigating the prospects there
of the ivory trade which Greenfell. Wiss-
mann, Kund, Wolff, and others have pic
tured in glowing terms. Sir Francis de
Winton asserts that the natives through
out the Congo basin have been collecting
ivory for long time, and that it will take
years even partially to clear the country
of its dead ivory without touching the liv-
ing product When the Congo railroad is
built the Free State will depend for its
commercial prosperity upon this trade
alone, until the India rubber and other pos
sible industries of the country have been
developed.
These countless herds of elephants that
roam over all the well-watered parts of
Africa, from the Sahara desert to Cape
Colony. will furnish for years to come
the most important item among the com
modities that the continent gives to COM
merce. Their ivory also is regarded bv
all the European colonies. in their feeble
beginnings, as the most profitable. and
therefore the most desirable product of
the country.-NeW York Sun.