The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-05
r1oH COSTS 4 HUMAN LIFE.

No Wonder Billiard Balls Bring Good
 Price-Dangers of Hunting Elephants In
 Tropical Jungles-IvOry Growing More
 Scarce Every YeaF-Expert Ivory Work
 men.
 [Erom the Chicago Record,l
 Every ivory billiard ball in use in the world is said to have cost the life of a human being Most of this, heavy ex- pense has been paid in the jungles of central Africa, where man does not count for half as much as a bumped OK or trained ape. For nature has built an effectual barrier about her culttva- tors of billiard balls-the elephants and he who would penetrate 1t must take his life In his hands.
 Tn the first place she has provided an atmosphere of great heat, reeking half the year with moisture In which Turk the germs of hundred unnamed dis eases, and rent for two seasons with sudden storms accompanied by neaVy rains. Then there Is the barrier of a rank and tangled vegetation through which no roads but those of the jungle folk have yet pierced. The huge trees conceal fierce wild animals, poisonous snakes, and insects whose stings mean death at the end of days of suffering. Impossible morasses, lakes, broad riv- CTS and mopntain ranges are also nu- merous, and yet more dangerous are the jealous savages who have learned enough of civilization to distrust It anu who know that a. man never protests against robbery after he is dead.
 So the elephant is given chance to grow a little before the haryesters of the ivory crop can>reach him. When he has trumpeted for a few score years and his tusi1s have made him power in the. herd, some native hunter spies him assi1e thrashes through the jungle or wahes in morass. Then great number of the bravest warriors gather and buildsa huge enclosure of vines, into which the elephant one day walks. From the surrounding trees come a shower of arrows and perhaps 9 bullet or two from an ancient gun obtained at a hundred times its value from some wandering trader. The elephant charges about trumpetfng, but on every blQG Cilb OdIGkGI AOltAo kiiiAA 1iAs <Ss soSs he fails, overcome by numbers. Then his great tusks are packed away and row Of naked natives carry them for days through the jungle until they are placed in the kings treasury as part of the wealth as well as the currency of a pation.
 Sometimes the elephant Is killed by means of a huge beam shod on it's un- der side with stone or iron knife which is so arranged as to fall when fhe elephant steps under 1t.
 Some tribes have enriched themselves by finds of .dead ivory" or the tusks from elephants which have perished in years gone by. The smaller pieces are frequently used for uprooting stones, digging in the earth, and for various implements of warfare.
 After d time traders from England and from other countries appear and the tusks are bartered for bright noth- angs-old- and shop-worn fa- brics, food, whlskey and firearms. Then there Is another long period of transporting the precious ivory on the backs of natives, with the constant aanger, of attack from hostile tribes and the treachery of friendly ones. At last it is aboard ship, and after weeks on the sea 1t arrives at the great ports, where 1t is sold to carvers and manu- facturers.
 The best ivory comes from Africa. Some of the tusks are from eight to ten feet long and often weigh one hundred and seventy pounds. The Indian ele- phants tusks are much shorter and of less weight, and the great demand has reduced the supply to an extent that it is now rare to find a large tusk. Indi- an ivory is not so good in quality as zhat from Africa. Much of the ivory used in Russia and in other parts of Europe Is found in northern Russia and Siberia in the remains of prehistoric rnammoths. Where the skeletons have always been frozen in the earth the Ivory is as good as the ordinary Indian