Elephants Killed for Ivory

1896

One-fifth of the world's commerce in ivory comes to Great Britain, and it will astonish most people to learn that 15,000 elephants have to be killed every year to keep our markets supplied with the precious substance. Altogether, to keep the whole world in ivory — apart from fossil tusks — 75,000 elephants are slaughtered annually.

Africa is the great ivory country, and in the Congo basin, the best hunting ground there are supposed to be about 200,000 elephants, worth altogether about half a million sterling. The average weight of ivory obtained from a single elephant is about fifty pounds. Tusks weighing about a hundred pounds each have been procured, but this is very rare.

The most expensive tusks are those used in the manufacture of billiard balls; they cost, as a rule, $550 a hundred-weight.

Ivory dust and shavings are used by confectioners to stiffen the more expensive kinds of jellies. The scrapings are often burnt and made into a paint known as "ivory black," worth about $100 a ton.

The hardest of all ivory is that obtained from the hippopotamus. It will emit sparks like a piece of flint when struck with steel, and is principally used in making artificial teeth. — Answers.