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232 IVOKT. II,3B
36.
IVORY (^ ^).
Siang-ya, or ivory, comes from several countries of the Ta-shi and the two
countries of Chon-la and Chan-ch'ong. The Ta-shi product is the better, and
that of Chon-la and Chan-ch'ong is inferior. Among the Ta-shii countries it is 5
only at Ma-lo-mo that one finds any large supply.
The elephant lives in the depths of the hills and the remotest valleysj
but every now and then he comes out of the wild into the plains and tramples
down everything, so that man is afraid to come near him.
Elephant hunters make use of bows of extraordinary strength and pois- lo
oned arrows. When hit by an arrow the elephant runs away, but before he
has gone a U or two, or a little more, the arrow poison acts and the
animal falls down dead. The hunters follow him, remove the tusks from the
carcass and bury them in the ground. When ten tusks or more have been
collected, they are brought to the Ta-shi, who ship them to San-fo-ts'i and i5
Ji-lo-t'ing (0 Rp ^) for barter.
Large specimens weigh from fifty to an hundred catties. The tusks which
are straight and of a clear white colour and which show a pattern of delicate
streaks come from the Ta-shi; whereas the produce of Chon-la and Chan-
ch'ong consists of small tusks of a reddish tint, weighing only from ten to 20
twenty or thirty catties, and of tips of tusks, which can only be made into
scent holders (^ ^). Some people say that elephants are caught by decoys,
and I presume that the tame elephant is used for this purpose.
Note.
Besides the countries here mentioned, our author states elsewhere that ivory was procured 25
from various countries in the Malay Peninsula, from Sumatra, Java, and Coromandel. The prin-
cipal source of supply was the Berbera and Zanguebar coasts. Ma-lo-mo, or Merbat, was only the
great entrepot of the ivory trade. Conf. Piin-ts'au-kang-mn, 61A,io—ii.
Our author's apparent ignorance as to the method of capturing elephants is strange as he has
told us in. a proceeding chapter (supra, p. 117) the way followed by the Arabs. Ling-wai-tai-ta, 30
9,1-2, describes also the method followed in Tongking for capturing elephants, their management
in captivity, their intelligence, etc..
Masudi, Prairies d'or, III, 8, says the negroes of East Africa (Zendjs) killed great num-
bers of elephants for the ivory which was sent to Oman and shipped thence to China and India,
so that very little reached the Moslim countries. See also Marcel Devic, Le Pays des Zendjs, 35
170—187.
Gerini, Researches, 627, thinks that Ji-lo-t'ing was very likely Jelatang on a small
stream, a little to the south-west of the present Jambi town in Sumatra. Conf. supra, pp. 62, 67.