To produce this enormous amount of ivory, and that imported into other countries, not less than seventy-five thousand elephants a year are destroyed. It has been estimated that fifty-one thousand are killed annually on the western coast of Africa, and probably twenty-five thousand does not cover those slaughtered in other localities. Much of this ivory comes from Africa, about one-fourth being obtained in India. In 1875-77 the yearly product of the latter country was between nine thousand and seventeen thousand pounds; a certain amount of this being cut from the tusks, not necessitating the death of the animal. All the tuskers which are taken by Sanderson and others, in Asia, have their tusks shortened or cut, the tips being valuable ivory. The end is bound with a brass ring to prevent the tusk from splitting: Jumbo’s tusks were cut off in this way. As the tusk is continually growing, the pulp being converted into ivory, the trimming operation can be repeated at certain intervals, generally every eight or ten years. The finest ivory is that obtained from Equatorial Africa; either the natives bringing it out, or, as we have seen in a former chapter, Europeans penetrating the little-known recesses of the Dark Continent to procure it. The west-coast ivory, when received, is generally almost black upon the outside, and presents any thing but an attractive appearance. The tusks are received by the wholesale trade, as Westendorp & Co. of London, and Grote & Co. of New York, the leading ivory-firms, wrapped in raw hides, sewed up by raw-hide thongs. These outside wraps are called “Schroons” by the trade. The different ivories have various tints; and an expert can tell at a glance where a tusk, or even a small piece of ivory, came from. The ivory which is shipped at Calcutta has a slight pink hue, and is very fine; while that received from Egyptian ports is brittle and poor. A visit to the ivory-vaults of the Messrs. Grote & Co., New York, would well repay any one interested in the subject of the economic value of animals. Here all kinds of ivory may be seen, and the extent and variety of objects made from it are astonishing. Here we find numbers of rings of ivory which are awaiting shipment back to Bombay, where they will be sold as bangles or bracelets to Hindoo women. Numerous flat ivory slabs are sold to Sheffield, England; and, finally, we may see them returned in the shape of knife-handles.