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Ch. 11: Elephant Tusks

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ELEPHANT TUSKS                  411
weight had diminished to 226 pounds and 216 pounds respec­tively, a loss of about 10 pounds on each tusk, over 4 per cent, of loss. The price paid by the British Museum for the one purchased for that institution was £350 ($1,750) ; for the smal­ler tusk Messrs. Joseph Rodgers & Sons paid £325 ($1,625). These wonderful examples of elephant ivory far exceed in weight, though not in length, any others that have been se­cured. The next in weight among those owned in England is one weighing 198 pounds, in the possession of Major H. B. Powell Cotton. Even tusks ranging from 100 pounds to 110 pounds in weight have been but rarely found during the past five years.
These famous tusks, the heaviest ever brought from either Africa or India, came from Kilimanjaro, East Africa. Their original weight was 236 pounds and 225 pounds, respectively, the exact dimensions of the larger one being given as follows:*
The remarkable pair of tusks noted above were bought in Zanzibar in 1900 for $5,000, and were exhibited for some time by Tiffany & Co., of New York. The Arab who killed the elephant declared that the aged animal was hardly able to drag himself along, borne down as he was with the im­mense weight of his tusks. Zanzibar ivory is of the variety known as " soft ivory," the best material for working. Some of the "soft ivory" from the West Coast is exceedingly brittle, and it is related that a tusk of this type, while stand-
*Communicated by Hugo Landsberger & Co., of London.
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