The record-union., 1899-04-10
MAMMOTH IVORY.
GREAT SUPPLIES OF 1T AVAIL
ABLE IN SIBERIA.
Will Suffice for the Worlds Con.
sumption for Many Years
to Come.

! There We're no Otnef SOuTcS. " supply
this beautiful substance would appar-
emily soon reach a prohibitive price.
AS matter of fact, there exists, how
ever, in the frozen tundras of Siberia
supply of ivory which will probably
suffice for the worlds consumption for
many years to come. This ivory is the
product of the mammoth (Elephas prim-
igenius), a species nearly allied to the
| Indian elephant, but protected from the
cold of the Arctic region by coat CT
long, coarse hair, with finer Woolly
under fur at the base.
| How the mammoths were enabled to
exist in region where their remains
became SO speedily frozen, and how
such vast quantities of these became
accumulated in certain spots are ques-
tions which do not at present seem
capable of being satisfactorily an
swered 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 all
most crammed with such remains. It
may, however, be remarked that the
contents of the stomachs of the froze II
species of rhinoceroses which were their
fellow-inhabitants of the tundras, con-
tain remains of pine needles and other
vegetable substances. 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 accumu-
lations of bones of large recent NAM
mails which have been met with in Ger
tain districts of East Africa. Although
outside scientific and commercial circles
comparatively little is known with re-
gard to the subject in England, NAM
moth ivory in place of being modern
discovery was known to the ancients,
and has for centuries been an article of
| trade and manufacture. 1t is, how
ever, only recently that the history of
the subject has been worked out, and
for this we are largely indebted to the
labors of Sir H. H. Howorth and DR.
Trouessart of Paris Baron Nordens-
kiold has likewise contributed impor-
tant information on the subject in the
f'Voyage of the Vega And it is from
these sources that the following para
graphs are mainly compiled.
MENTIONED BY PLINY.
| If we may take the buried ivory"
mentioned by Pliny on the authority
of Theophrastus; a disciple of Aristotle,
to be the same as mammoth ivory, We
may regard this substance as known
to the western world in the time Of
Alexander. But apart from this. NAM
moth ivory was evidently familiar at a
very remote time to the Chinese, who
spoke of the animal by which it was
yielded as '.thien-shu' the mouse that
hides. This mythical creature. which
was compared in size to an elephant.
was reported to lead a subterranean ex-
istence like mole, with bones as white
as ivory, and the flesh cold but pure
and wholesome, this reference to the
coldness Of the flesh apparently point
ing to their acquaintance with frozen
mammoth carcasses. In Europe Egin-
hard, the historian of Charlemagne,
states that among the presents sent to
the Emperor of the West by the Nalff
Harounal Raschid in the year S07 were
the horn of a licorne" and claw OF a
griffon. These rarities We're long pre-
served in the royal treasury at ST.
Denis, and, from description given in
a work dated 1916 it appears that,
while the former was mammoth
tusk, the latter was the horn of the
woolly Siberian rhinoceros.
During the ninth and tenth century
Arab traders appear to have estab-
lished trade route from Northern
| Russia or Siberia to Persia or Syria
and their records refer to the occur
| renee of buried ivory near the city of
Bolghari, on the Volga, which was
| probably situated on or near the site
OF the modern Mini Novogorod The
hrst Siberian mammoth tusk imported
! into Western Europe in modern times
was brought to London in the year 1911
! by one Josias Logan, by whom it had
been purchased from the Samoyedes of
the Pechora district. Concerning this
specimen Baron Nordenskiold writes
that as Englishmen at that time Wis
tied Moscow frequently, and for long
periods, remark occurring in Purchas
history appears to indicate that fossil
ivory first became known in the capital
of Russia some time after the conquest
of Siberia
ORIGIN OF THE WORD NAM
MOTH"
Be this as it may, it is in evidence
from the account of Avril, who trav
eled in Russia during 1855, that fossil
ivory was at that time imported into
China and other Asatic countries,
where it was highly esteemed, and it is
stated that it was largely employed by
! Turks and Persians for ornamenting
sword and dagger hilts, being preferred
to Indian ivory on account of its whittier
color and finer grain. And here it may
be incidentally mentioned that, accord
ing to the same author, the Russian
| term mammout is a corruption of the
Hebrew behemot, or behemoth, which
| the Arabs made mehemot. Canon
Tristram is, however, of opinion that in
| the Bible behemoth often refers to the
hippopotamus; and, if this be correct, a
| transferrence of the name would ap-
| pear to have been made by Arabs, this
being the less improbable since it is
stated in Hebrew to be applicable TO
any large beast
! Apart from this there is record that
about 1922 Peter the Great ordered the
collection of tusks and other remains Of
the mammoth for the museum of ST.
! Petersburg. And between 1850 and
ITO a Russian trader, named Liakhoff,
established an extensive importation of
mammoth ivory from the districts lying
| between the Khotanga and Anadyr riv
ers, and likewise from one of the south
| ernmost islands of the New Siberian
group, which still bears his own name.
Surveys subsequently made by the Gov