Ivory

“ He says that ivory is used in Rua by the Pagans as we use wooden stanchions or posts to support the eaves of our houses, that ivory holds their huts up, and he believes great stores of it are known to the savages, where some of their great hunters have killed a large number of elephants, and have left the ivory to rot, not knowing how valuable it is, or where a great herd of elephants have perished from thirst or disease. ”

“ From the earliest dawn of the human race until our time, Ivory has held a first place as a material for making the pleasing little luxuries of life, religious or civil. Cave-Man has left behind him incised sketches of animals, the product of his leisure moments; all literature tells of the use of it, and the digger’s spade turns up a series of charming objects, from the ornamental hair combs of a prehistoric princess, who dazzled the Egyptian court some 7000 years B.C., to the ivory-handled walking-stick of some gouty old Greek who lived at the outset of this most prosaic era. ”

“ I believe the Chinese have alone successfully produced the famous concentric balls of ivory, for which they have been so long and justly famous. Nothing is wasted in the ivory-shop. Even the dust is collected, and sold to the New-York florists, who claim that its results upon roses and other choice flowers are astonishing. ”

“ A beautiful treatment of ivory was used in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Saracens of Egypt; they frequently worked a fine geometric inlay of ivory upon ebony; in other examples ivory panels were pentagonal, hexagonal, or star-shaped, and carved with delicate arabesques, the framing of the panels being of cedar or ebony. In India ivory carving reached a high degree of perfection, especially in the many ivory combs, with pierced and relief work representing the figure of Buddha surrounded with foliage and richly caparisoned elephants. ”

“ One hundred and sixty pounds of solid ivory, or rather more in its green state, is too great a weight for two men to bear for long across a broken country. I sat watching the job and smoking the pipe of contentment, when suddenly the bush opened, and a very handsome and dignified native girl, apparently about twenty years of age, stood before me, carrying a basket of green mealies upon her head. ”

“ The little canals are not packed closely together, but are separated by spaces of about their own diameter. To these tubes, the regularity of their disposition and their delicacy, the ivory owes its fineness of grain, and its remarkable elasticity. By examining them, an expert can distinguish elephant ivory from any other; as they have a peculiarity of making a series of decided bends in their course, from the axis to the periphery, which produces a graining in the ivory, unique and peculiar. ”

“ Figs. 164 and 165.—Carved ivory figure of a woman (?) standing, the arms deficient; They were fitted into square sockets on each side, and were fastened by large bronze nails, one of which remains. A row of five leopards’ heads hanging from the waist-belt, edged with rows of pellets, or perhaps eyelets, but much defaced. The lips are very thick and the nose broad. The pupils of the eyes are represented by deep circular cavities. No tribal marks apparent, the breasts are not large, but pendant. The whole of the ivory is very much weathered and pitted, especially the legs and base. ”

“ It is the demand for ivory that is causing the death of the elephant, and already ivory is much higher in price than it was years ago. Whenever man runs short of anything he is sure to invent a substitute Now, in the case of ivory a clever vegetable imitation has been placed on the market. ”

“ The ivory, being the softer material, of course wears away faster than the enamel; hence the latter, plating the front of the tooth, is always left with a sharp-cutting edge.
The position this genus should occupy, in a systematic arrangement of the rodents, has always354 been a stumbling-block and a matter of doubt, in great measure attributable to the fact that but a single species of the genus is known, and very few specimens have hitherto been obtained. A fine male specimen has recently been set up in the British Museum collection, that I caught near my camp on the prairie. ”

“ It may be said, by those who disbelieve in the extermination of this animal, that, as elephants have provided ivory for several thousand years, they will go on doing so; but I would remind them that in olden days ivory was an article in limited demand, being used chiefly by kings and great nobles; it is only of late years that it has increased more than a hundredfold. ”

“ Since the appearance of the folding-fan, various materials have been pressed into its service, including ivory, tortoise-shell, lacquer, mother of pearl, the various woods—especially sandalwood, the more precious metals, silk, skin, and paper.
No nation possesses a keener appreciation of ivory as a vehicle for artistic expression than the Chinese, whose carved balls in concentric spheres of open work are the wonder of western peoples. Ivory fans date from a very remote period, it is believed as early as 990 B.C., and are marvels of patient ingenuity. ”

“ Phytelephas macrocarpa.—The vegetable ivory plant, a native of the northern parts of South America. The fruit consists of a collection of six or seven drupes; each contains from six to nine seeds, the vegetable ivory of commerce. The seeds at first contain a clear, insipid liquid; afterwards it becomes milky and sweet, and changes by degrees until it becomes hard as ivory. Animals eat the fruit in its young green state; a sweet oily pulp incloses the seeds, and is collected and sold in the markets under the name of Pipa de Jagua. ”

“ To our great disappointment we learnt that ivory was out of the question, as we were informed a Swahili caravan, [Pg 215] which had accompanied a white man from Kismayu, had been up some two months before, and had bought up all the available ivory. [14] We decided, therefore, to invest in sheep, and proceeded to open our bales of cloth, wire, and beads, in readiness for the market. I returned to the village at which George and I had camped with the safari on our arrival the preceding evening, taking with me half a dozen men and some cloth, wire, etc. ”

“ The old cracks of antique ivory are very easily imitated. There is more than one method for producing them, the most common is to plunge the piece into boiling water and then dry quickly before a fire. The operation can of course be repeated until the desired effect is attained. Here also smoke and tobacco-juice can perform miracles. Sometimes ivory pieces are placed in a fermenting heap of fertilizer or wet hay. The methods are, in fact, most varied, and an inventive spirit seems of great assistance to the faker in devising new schemes every day. ”

“ The King's voice lost some of its harshness. "What of ivory? Has all my ivory been burned for firewood, a pot to boil?"
The treasurer continued to knock his head. "Supreme Ruler of The World and The Stars, your ivory completely fills a hundred large and closely guarded vaults." ”

“ The quality of ivory varies according to the districts whence it is obtained, the soft variety of the eastern parts of the continent being the most esteemed. When in perfect condition African ivory should be if recently cut of a warm, transparent, mellow tint, with as little as possible appearance of grain or mottling. Asiatic ivory is of a denser white, more open in texture and softer to work. But it is apt to turn yellow sooner, and is not so easy to polish. Unlike bone, ivory requires no preparation, but is fit for immediate working. ”

“ Ivory as an Article of Manufacture.—There are several sorts of ivory, differing from each other in composition, durability, external appearance, and value. The principal sources from which ivory is derived are the western coast of Africa and Hindostan: Camaroo ivory is considered the best, on account of its colour and transparency. In some of the best tusks the transparency can be discovered even on the outside. The manufacturers have a process by which they make poor ivory transparent, but it lasts only for a short time. ”

“ The Ivory-bill is never seen attacking the corn, or the fruit of the orchards, although it is sometimes observed working upon and chipping off the bark from the belted trees of the newly-cleared plantations. It seldom comes near the ground, but prefers at all times the tops of the tallest trees. ”

“ A carver easily detects a piece of Indian from African ivory. Fossil ivory is brought in good quantities from Siberia; it is whiter and harder than any other, but is still esteemed and much used. The finest ivory is reserved for crucifixes and large objects. The fang or root of the tusk, being bony and opaque, is used only for common purposes and small inferior articles.
The carving of Dieppe is carried on partly by piece-work, and partly by the masters and their apprentices working together, in their atéliers. The Orphan Asylum often provides apprentices for this work. ”

“ I want the carved ivory comb in the hair of the wife of the high priest. It is much more valuable than the mirror of Rhodopis. It came from a queen of Egypt who lived a long time ago, and whose name is so difficult that I cannot pronounce it. Consequently the ivory is very old, and as yellow as if it were gilded. It has a carved figure of a young girl walking in a lotus-marsh. The lotus is higher than she is, and she is stepping on tiptoe in order not to get wet. ”

“ Ivory of the best quality comes from the west coast of Africa, under the names of Cameroon, Angola, and Gaboon ivory. This is brought down from the interior, and retains a larger proportion of the ‘fat’ or gelatine, from the fact, probably, that it is more recently from the animal. In this state it is called ‘green’ ivory. It is more translucent, and not so white as the Egyptian and other kinds, called ‘white’ ivory, that have been lying a longer time and in a more sandy region, and exposed to the heat of the sun until the animal matter has disappeared. ”

“ The greatest skill of the worker is, perhaps, shown in the original cutting, as here much waste can be made by ignorance or carelessness. Often the cutter finds cavities in the ivory, and not uncommonly bullets, and parts of various weapons. These have been shot into the tender pith at the base of the tusk, and, in time, become incorporated in the ivory. ”

“ The oldest Hebrew mention of ivory is in the notice of the products brought to Solomon from Ophir, or India. Among these are ivory tusks—shen-habbim, i.e. 'teeth of habbīm,' a word which has been interpreted as from Skt. ibha, elephant. [5] But it is entirely doubtful what this habbīm, occurring here only, really means. [6] We know from other evidence that ivory was known in Egypt and Western Asia for ages before Solomon. And in other cases the Hebrew word for ivory is simply shen, corresponding to dens Indus in Ovid and other Latin writers. ”

“ ONE day two Bald Men simultaneously discovered a piece of ivory gleaming brightly in a dark corner. They both sprang forward to pick it up. A quarrel followed, beginning with words and ending with blows. The victor lost, as might well be expected, the few grey hairs that he still possessed. The coveted treasure which he got as the prize of his victory was—an ivory comb. ”

“ Before applying these stains the ivory must be prepared by first polishing with whiting and water and washing quite clean. Next immerse it for three to five minutes in acid cold water (1 part muriatic acid to 40 or 50 of water, or the same proportion of nitric) . This extracts the gelatine from the surface of the ivory. Extreme cleanliness and absence of grease or soiling is most important; the ivory is not [Pg 145] to be touched by the fingers, but removed from one vessel to another by wooden tongs, one pair to each colour. ”

“ This popular definition of good and inferior ivory is however, in point of fact, somewhat incorrect, since ivory obtained from the coast of Africa is often much inferior to that obtained from the Indian Archipelago. The best rule for determining the quality is probably that of its vicinity to the equator. The ivory brought from within the 10th degrees of north and south latitude is incomparably the finest in the market; it is at the same time the most transparent, which of itself is a valuable characteristic. ”

“ New ivory may be bleached by exposing it in the sunshine, and wetting it constantly, or it will crack; but till the ivory is cut up, you cannot tell whether it will be good or not. Pieces may be bought cheaper that have a hollow in the middle, they serve very well for pedestals of vases, by screwing another bit into the hole, or for boxes, by gluing in a piece of ebony to fit the hollow. ”

“ He was the sort of man in whom nearly every one confides.
"We're after Tippoo Tib's ivory!" said Fred, plunging into the middle of things. "Monty has gone to drive a bargain with the King of Belgium. Do you think it's a wild goose chase?"
Courtney chuckled. "No," he said. "I wouldn't call it that. They've been killing elephants in Africa ever since the flood. Ivory must have accumulated. It's somewhere. Some of it must be so old and well seasoned as to be practically priceless, unless rats have spoiled it. Rats play old Harry with ivory, you know." ”

“ Ivory is the name commercially given not only to the substance constituting the tusks of the elephant, but also to that of the tusks of the hippopotamus and walrus, the hornlike tusk of the narwhal, etc.
2. The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc.
3. Any carving executed in ivory. Mollett.
4. pl. Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. [Slang]
Ivory black. See under Black, n. -- Ivory gull (Zoöl.) , a white Arctic gull (Larus eburneus) . -- Ivory nut (Bot.) , the nut of a species of palm, the Phytephas macroarpa, often as large as a hen's egg. ”