IVORY is the name given to the tusks of the elephant, and of the walrus or sea-horse. Each male elephant arrived at maturity has two tusks. These are extremely diversified in size, which depends principally on the age of the animal; they are hollow at their insertion into the jaw and for a considerable space therefrom, and always taper to an obtuse extremity. The colour externally is yellowish, brownish, and sometimes dark, but internally it is a cream white. The best tusks are large, straight, and light coloured, without flaws; not very hollow in the stump, but, on the contrary, solid and thick. The most esteemed are obtained from Africa, being of a closer texture, and less liable to become yellow, than those imported from the East Indies. The tusks of the sea-horse afford the hardest and whitest of all ivory. They are usually short, and very much curved; the thick end is hollow, as in the tusk of the elephant; a glossy enamel of extreme hardness covers the cortical part; and they vary in weight from three or four pounds to thirty. The horn or tooth of the narwhal, one of the cetaceous tribe, also consists of ivory, which is as hard as that of the elephant, and susceptible of a fine polish. The largest size is ten feet in length, and some inches thick at the lower extremity, forming a slender cone of a twisted or spiral figure. But its texture is in several respects different from that of other ivory; and there is a prejudice against the ordinary use of it amongst those who work in that material.

From the earliest times, the people of all the Asiatic countries, where the elephant is found, have had the art of taming the animal, and applying it to useful purposes; but no such art has ever been possessed by any African nation. Nor has this apparently been owing to any difference between the Asiatic and African elephant in point of docility; the real cause is probably to be found in the inferior intelligence and sagacity of the African people. Alexander the Great is believed to have been the first European who employed elephants in war. With regard to those made use of by the Carthaginians, it has been supposed, though with little probability, that they were mostly, if not wholly, imported from India, and that they were managed by Indian conductors, some of whom were captured by the Romans in the great victory gained by Metellus over Asdrubal. But, in the first place, the name of Indian, as used by the Romans, was so extremely vague, that no safe conclusion can be drawn from it; nor, even if the conductors were of that people, does it follow that the elephants had been brought from India. And, secondly, it is not reasonable to suppose that an active and enterprising people, like the Carthaginians, would have imported from a distant country, and at an enormous expense, an animal which, they must have known, was to be found in equal vigour and perfection in their own. On this subject. however, we beg to refer the reader to some learned and valuable notes in the Ancient Universal History (vol. xvii. p. 529, 8vo); and also to Buffon’s article on the elephant, one of the most masterly pieces of composition to be found in his admirable work.

Ivory is applied to a variety of purposes in the arts. In England, the chief consumption of that commodity is in the manufacture of handles for knives; but it is also extensively used in the manufacture of musical and mathematical instruments, chess-pieces, billiard-balls, thin plates for miniatures, toys, and small works of vertù. Articles in ivory, however, are said to be manufactured to agreater extent, and with much more success, at Dieppe, than at any other place in Europe. But the art of working in this [7:12:491]beautiful material is far better understood by the Chinese than by any other nation. No European artist has hitherto succeeded in cutting concentric balls after the manner of this people; nor have their boxes, chess-pieces, and other articles manufactured in ivory, been approached, far less rivalled, by any similar productions that are to be met with in other countries.

Ivory, in the rough state, is a very considerable article of commerce. The importation of elephants’ tusks into Great Britain, for twelve years from 1788 to 1799 inclusively, amounted to 18,914 cwts. or, on an average, to 1576 cwts. annually. Since that period, however, the trade has much increased. The imports in 1831 and 1832 were, at an average, 4130 cwts., of which 2950 cwts. were retained for home consumption. But as the medium weight of a tusk is about sixty lbs. it follows that the yearly imports of 1831 and 1832 must be taken at 7709 tusks, and that, to obtain these, 3854 male elephants must have been destroyed. But, supposing the tusks could only be obtained by killing the animal, the destruction would really be a good deal greater, and must probably have amounted to 4500 or 5000 elephants. Occasionally, however, tusks are accidentally broken, one lost in this way being replaced by a new one; and a good many are also obtained from elephants which have died a natural death. Still it is obvious that the supply from these sources cannot be very large; and if to the quantity of ivory required for Great Britain be added that required for the other countries of Europe, as well as for America and Asia, the slaughter of elephants must, after every deduction, be immense; nor can it fail to excite surprise that the breed of this magnificent animal, and consequently the supply of tusks, has not been more diminished. The western and eastern coasts of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, India, and the countries to the eastward of the Straits of Malacca, are the great marts whence supplies of ivory are obtained. The imports into Great Britain from Western Africa in 1831 amounted to 2575 cwts. whilst the Cape of Good Hope only furnished 198 cwts. During the same year, the imports from India, Ceylon, and other eastern countries, amounted to 2173 cwts∙ The price per cwt. duty (L.l per cwt.) included, of elephants’ tusks in the London market, in December 1833, was as follows :—
[table]