The herald., 1897-01-17
EXTINCTION OF THE ELEPHANT
Mans Demand for Ivory Has Made the
Noble Animal a Curiosity

| The last sale of African ivory at Ant
| werp on November consisted of 112. .O0C
pounds, which entities 1t to rank second
( in Importance among the four sales held
| this year. These quarterly sales of ivory
at Antwerp are important both with
respect to the number of tusks offered
and their dimensions.
Not less remarkable than the wonder
| full extinction OF the buffalo in North
America is the threatened similar ex-
| tinction of the African elephant by prac-
tically the same means About a quarter
of century ago the African elephant
was plentiful as far north as 1G degrees
above the equator, and great herds of
them could be heard trumpeting in the
environs of Suakin, on the Red sea; but
the native Hamram hunters of Abyssin-
ia, together with the European and, Arab
hunters and traders, began the work of
humiliation of these African elephants
of the choices breed.
This was done by four methods The
Hamram hunters. whose sole object was
to kill the beasts for their tusks, hide and
meat, used as their only weapon a broad
bladed two-edged Damascus sword,
straight as an arrow and about four feet
long. Four or five Of these shifty ma
tives would espy herd-say a she ele-
phant and her family. If the mother
was gone the others fell an easy prey.
The natives, dressedlo only in single gar
ment, assailed the creatures from under
| meath, hacking the legs until, as a re-
suit of the loss of blood, the elephant
sank to the ground and was then easily
dispatched.
A second means was the ordinary Ara
Dian elephant rifie-a weapon eight feet
long, requiring a giant to fire it, always
with rest for the barrel.
Going toward the equator, as the herds
1,axr h.
seeking forage in the grassy bottoms.
both native and European hunters re-
sorted to the third method, which con-
sisted in digging deep pit, grassing it
over and by one or another ruse driving
the herds into the pit, where the leader
could be easily dispatched with a rifle,
and the others either shot or captured
alive for training as beasts of burden
or as parts of circuses or menagerie car
Avans.
The fourth method, the most cruel and
reckless of all, was that practiced gen.
orally in the region of Gondokoro, about
260 miles north of the equator This re-
Quired small army f hunters and driv-
ers, who drove all the elephants of a re-
sion of several miles square, during a
dry period, into the tall grass. This
combustible material was then fired and
the quarry-young and old, male and fe-
male-perished by the hundreds, produc-
ing harvest of ivory, but always more
or less damaged by the roasting and
lessened in its commercial value Tusks
showing the effects Of such burning can
be seen at any large dealers in this city.
By the method described all the ele-
phants in this region, with that terri
tory reached by camel route from Zan-
zibar to Lake Tanganyika, were driven
to the great central plateau of the cent?
nent and through the jungle, down from
Nyangwe, along the valley of the Congo.
The formation of the area where the ele-
phants now roam in their wild state Is
like an inverted~saucer in shape, which
1act limits their wanderings. When
this preserve shall be thoroughly ex-
haustedNas it soon promises to be-the
elephant will no longer exist in Africa
New York Tribune.