It was until very recently believed that the
Asiatic elephant yielded the largest teeth, and those imported from
Pegu, Cochin-China, and Ceylon, sometimes weighed 150 lbs. Specimens,
however, have been obtained from the interior of Africa of much
greater weight and dimensions. Mr Gordon Cumming has in his collection
a pair of teeth taken from an old bull elephant in the vicinity of the
equator, of which the larger of the two measures 10 feet 9 inches
long, and weighs 173 lbs.; and Mr Cawood, who resided thirty years at
the Cape, has another pair in his possession measuring 8-1/2 feet
each, and weighing together 330 lbs.
Besides these contemporary races of elephants, the market is
extensively supplied by the fossil ivory derived from the tusks of the
great mammoth or fossil elephant of the geologist. The remains of this
gigantic animal are abundantly distributed over the whole extent of
the globe. They exist in large masses in the northern hemisphere,
deeply embedded in the alluvial deposits of the tertiary period.
Humboldt discovered specimens on some of the most elevated ridges of
the Andes; and similar remains have been found in Africa. In the
frozen regions of the far North, surrounded by successive layers of
everlasting ice, the fossil ivory exists in a state of perfect
preservation, and it constitutes indeed an important article of
commerce in the north of Europe.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66