Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-29
IN IMMENSE QUANTITIES
Mammoth Ivory Found in the Tundras of
Siberia.
supply From Africa Is Growing
Scarcer - Much Already Taken
From the Arctic Regions.
From Knowledge.

From Knowledge
African ivory is likely to become grad
ually scarcer and scarcer; and if there
were no other sources of supply this beau
tiful substance would apparently soon reach
pr9hibitive price AS matter of fact,
there exists, however, in the frozen tundras
OF Siberia Il supply of ivory which will
probably suffice for the worlds consumption
for many years to come. This ivory is the
product of the mammoth C'elephas print
genius''1 species nearly allied to the In
diaE elephant, but protected from the cold
Of the arctic regions by a coat of long,
coarse hair, with a finer woody underfur
at the base
How the mammoths were enabled TO exist
in a region where their remains became
speedily frozen, and how such vast quant
ties of these became accumulated in GER
tain spots are questions which do not at
present seem capable of being satiSfaC torily
answered; and their discussion would ac-
cordingly be useless, not to say out of place,
on the present occasion, 1t will suffice to
say that such accommodations do exist, and
that the soil of certain portions of the
tundras seems to be almost cramlned with
such remains.
1t may, however,, be remarked that the
contents of the stomachs of the frozen
MANN tbs, as also those of the two species
OF rhlROcerOSeS which were their fellow in
habitants of the turdras, contain remains
of pine needles and other vegetable sub
stances And from this it may be inferred
that the tundraS themselves were clothed
with forest during the mammoth epoch;
since the theory that the carcasses were
carried down by the rivers flowing from
warmer southern regions into the Arctic
ocean can scarcely merit serious attention.
Possibly some light may be thrown upon
the subject by the great accumulat lions of
bones of large recent mammals which have
been met with in certain districts of east
Africa. Although outside scientific and
commercial circles comparatively little is
known with regard TO the subject in Eng
land, mammoth ivory, in place of being
modern discovery, was known to the an
clients. and has for centuries been an article
of trade and manufacture.
With regard to the amount of mammoth
ivory that comes into the market, accounts
are by no means SO numerous nor
curate might be desired 1t is stated,
however, that in 1921 Yakut brought back
five hundred puds forty pounds to the pud)
from the New Siberian Islands; and be-
tween the years 1926 and 1881 the amount
annually sold in Yakutsk ranged between
one thousand and five hundred to two
thousand pud, in addition to that disposed
Of al other towns
Many writer's speak of seeing boat-loads
of tusks on the Lena and Yenisei-a steamer
which carried Baron Nordenskioid in 1873
having d cargo of over one hundred. About
the year 1910 DR.. Middendorff who visited
the country, estimated that the annual out
put Of Siberian ivory reached 10000
pounds, representing at least a hundred
individual mammOths; so that the total
number of animals whose remains have
been exported since the conquest of Siberia
must be between twenty thousand and
thirty thousand.