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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1908)
2 THE SUXDAT OREGOMAX, PORTLAND, JULY 5, I90S. uuhlNQ FOR BY FRANK G. CARPENTER. SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND elephants were killed In Africa last year, and more than a million and a half pounds of ivory were taken from them and shipped off to Europe. Of this, I fully one-third came from Zanzibar, f another third was from Portuguese !East and West Africa, and a large 'part of the balance was from the val j ley of the Congo. Cape Colony fur inished a hundred thousand pounds, 1 Egypt three hundred thousand pounds, and a large part came from the Niger territories and Lagos. During the past 6lx months I have been traveling through the lands of ivory and ele phants. I saw tusks for sale in the ; Egyptian Sudan. At Mombasa I was 'shown $50,000 worth of Ivory in one jplle, and during my travels through (Uganda and German East Africa I .passed many long lines of porters car trying elephants" tusks on their heads (or tied to long poles, which rested on thelr shoulders. A Great Ivory Market. Zanzibar has for years been one of the chief Ivory markets of the world. ;There are companies here which have their buyers and traders scouring Ger man and British East Africa, as well as the Portuguese possessions, farther south. These men take beads, cottons and other merchandise to trade with the natlvrs, and when they have ac cumulated a cargo they send it on the heads of porters down to the sea coast. Much is now coming to Lake Victoria and over the Uganda railroad to Mom basa. A great deal goes to Tabora, in the center of German East Africa, and thence on east to Bogomoye, on the coast opposite Zanzibar, while other caravans bring ivory to Bogroro, and It Is sent thence by railroad to Dar ea Salaam. There are herds of elephants about the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, and the hunting goes on in the forests of the Great Rift valley. In British East 4- ,j 4 "t ft -a, 4 Africa it costs ?2f0 for tho rlslit to fchoot pleThnnts, and a liuntcr dares not kill more tlian two during a soa un. It Is aealnst the law to kill the laty elephants or cow elephants there, end the same regulations prevail in T'eanda. In the rtrltish Sudan a license la required to shoot any kind of hip name, and this is also true of British Central Africa. In German Kast Af rica hunters are charped a few rupees for their elephant shootlns: licenses, Init they must pay a royalty to the Kovernment on all the ivory they Ret. As it Is, there Is considerable protit In the business, and in the German col onies a fairly stood hunter often makes Mur money. A single elephant may Slve tusks worth a thousand dollars end upward, and an old bull may pro duce three or four hundred pounds of the choicest Ivory. African Ivory tho Best. This African ivory brings the high est prices in the markets. It is su perior to any other in the size of the tusks. I have seen some which are nine feet long, and there are some which weigh as much as 200 pounds raeh. The average weight of a tusk Is much less than this, and one of loo pounds Is quite valuable. In India the average tusk does not weight BO pounds, but that of tho African ele phant Is much heavier. Many of the tusks are broken when they are brought into the market. The ele phants use them for plowing tip roots and tearing down trees, and also for fighting: their enemies. The average tusk is strong and elastic, hut it can be broken, and the ends are some times snapped off. Ivory tusks are always sold by weight, and the trad ers tell me that in buying them of the natives they have to be careful to see that pieces of Iron and bits of stone bae not been driven Into the hollows of the horns to make them weigh more. Pulling an Kloiluint's Tooth. Many of you have been In the hands of a dentist and have oen how he almost breaks your Jaw in pulling a molar with a long root. The tusks are really ele phant's teeth, and it is difficult to get them out of a dead elephant. They are fitted Into a bony socket, and the roots go almost up to the eyes. A tusk eight feet long may have two feet of its root Imbedded in the skull, and If it Is taken away at once the head has to be chopped to pieces to get it out. In addition to the tusks the elphant had six great teeth inside its mouth on each side Its Jaw above and be low, and these are almost as firmly Imbedded as the tusks themselves. Th tusks are hollow about half way up. The smallest forms a big load for a man. while one weighing 150 pounds requires four porters to carry 1 it. Such men are paid from 3 to '$ cents a day for their labor, so that In Africa, Sixty-Five Thousand kft a. sL'Sr Pi A t At tho cost heavy. of transportation s not Demi Ivory. Have you ever heard of dead ivory? There Is a vast amount of it still left In Africa, and thousands of pounds are shipped to the ports every year. Dead Ivor j- comes from animals which have died a natural death, or from tusks which have been gathered by the chiefs of the villages and stored away. Ivory has always been an evidence of wealth in Africa, and some of the petty African kings have piled up ivory as our misers hoard money at home. Some of them have buried it near the villages, and others have made stockades of ivory tusks about their dwellings. During recent years some of such ivory has been gathered together, but there is said to be much buried yet to be unearthed. In addi tion to this is the Ivory of elephants which have died natural deaths. This Is composed of the enormous tusks of aged elephants which have dropped in their tracks or have been killed by lions and other wild animals. Their bones lie where the huge animals fell, and the earth and leaves have cov ered them so that they are frequently hidden from view. am told that the pygmies have killed many elephants with poisoned arrows, but, not know ing the value of the tusks, have left them lie idle where they fell. Some of this dead ivory has been injured by the forest fires, but that imbedded In the mud or covered with vegetation is still of great value. Elephant Meat. I met the other night an old ele phant hunter who has made many thousands of dollars In ivory. He has not only shot elephants, but eaten them, and he tells me the meat is not at all bad. A good-sized animal often weighs as much as five tons, and when one is killed the natives come in for miles around and have a great feast. They cut up the huge beast with axes and knives and tear the meat off in strips and smoke it as we smoke beef. They make elephant steaks and roasts, and they cook the trunks and feet in holes In the ground. The foot is con sidered a delicacy. It is prepared by making a fire in a hole and laying the foot on the burning coa'.s. Some sticks are then placed over the mouth of the hole and a layer of green leaves is spread upon them. A thick deposit of earth Is placed on top, and the meat Is allowed to cook and steam for sev eral hours. After it is taken out the skin is removed, when the Jelly-like interior is ready for eating. I am told that It is so tender that It can be scooped up with a spoon. The ordi nary elephant steak is black in color, and when cooked it looks and tastes a little like corned beef. A Great Ivory Trust. The Kuropean nations which have col onies In Africa are trying to keep the elephants from being destroyed. This is !4& I r ' i J$t ." W 4 Vs1 It, X jocose especially so of Belgium, which hopes some day to form an ivory monopoly. A great part of the elephants still living are in the Valley of the Congo, and so many have died that it is expected that ivory will grow more valuable from year to year. As it is now the amount sold brings in millions of dollars, and most of this comes from the auctions at Antwerp. In that city there are several hundred thousand pounds of Ivory on hand, and sales are made about four times a year. These sales are duly advertised and buy ers from everywhere come in to attend them. The other chief markets are Liv erpool and London. During a recent visit to the Colonial Musuem at Brussels I saw one of the heaviest elephant's tusks ever found. It weighs over 200 pounds, and as I stood beside it It reached high above my head. The biggest ivory tusk ever discovered was brought to Tabora, In German East Africa, in 1SS6.. and was shipped from there to Hamburg. It was almost ten feet In length. The ivory dealers here tell me that the best of the ivory goes to America, and that the second and third-class tusks are consumed in Europe. The fourth grade ivory is sent to East India for filigree work, and the poorest of all goes to China, where it is used for Inlaying furniture ' and boxes. The very best quality of ivory is employed in making piano keys and fan sticks, and also for the little statuettes cut out by the Jap anese. Much of the product goes into billiard balls, knife handles, combs and fancy articles. During a visit I once paid to Sheffield. England. I was shown about tlOO.OOO worth of ivory which had been brought there to be used for knife handles, 'and I saw them sawing up the tusks into strips for this purpose. In such work every scrap of the material is saved, the shavings and dust being val uable for making Ivory black or artists' pigments. Mammoth Ivory. Some of the most remarkable ivory used within recent years is that which has come from the mammoths found in the tundras of Siberia. This is from huge animals which lived ages ago, but whose bones, protected by the frozen soil of Northern Asia, are as good today as when the animals died. It Is even said that in some cases the entire carcasses of the mammoths have been found, their frozen flesh, skin and hair having been thus kept for these thousands of years. The first of this frozen ivory was found over 300 years ago. and about 70 years since the annual output was estimated at over 100,000 pounds. It is said that Animals Are Slain Every Year to T Z4 ?4h 3 'vT'rg , At, aw jwj&t jyzzrjtcj&tzrr, more than 1600 mammoth tusks were sold in the year 1872. At present the greater part of said ivory is going to China. It does not compare in quality with our elephant ivory, the greater part of it being poor, while some is abso lutely worthless. Zanzibar Versus Dar es Salaam. The Germans are now competing with the British for the transcontinental trade of Central Africa. The old slave route began at UJiJi, on Lake Tanganyika, and came across German East Africa to Bogo moyo and thence by boat to Zanzibar. The slave traders loaded their slaves with ivory tusks and made them carry them across country. When they got them here they sold both slaves and ivory to the Zanzibar merchants. In such cases many of the slaves were females, and were used to supply the harems of Ara bia, Syria and Turkey, as well as of Egypt and other Mohammedan countries of North Africa. Such merchandise was known as black ivory, in contradistinc tion to tho elephants' tusks, called white Ivory. Since Germany has gotten possession of the mainland opposite here the ivory trade has been diverted to Dar es Salaam, and a large part of the product now goes there. This trade will Increase with the building of the railroad, which Is now be ing pushed on toward Lake Tanganyika It will go to Tabora, and from there probably on to TJjiJi. with a branch to the Victoria Nyanza. The shipping of Dar es Salaam is rapidly increasing. That port has a good harbor, and the largest steam ers are now calling there. Queer African Natives. The Germans are rapidly exploring their colonies, and they are finding . some strange things away out here in the Af rican wilds. They have altogether seven or eight million of the natives in their part of the white man's burden; and they are divided up into many nations and tribes. Some of the most intelligent axe about Tabora, and It is from there that the colony expect to get the labor to culti vate the plantations along the seacoast. The natives of that region have a king and subordinate chiefs; and women are so highly regarded that they are some times elected as the chiefs of their re spective villages. These people believe In spirits, and they think that the dead live again, as spirits. Every chief has .a hut in which the spirits are supposed to dwell. They have medicine men and witch doc tors; and they think that a good medicine man can change himself into a wild an .VS. C4 4 if ss'Trr-fT WvO' 4 J 4 A ssjuvzrB.Aft. imal at will and thus torment his ene mies. Kducation of the Xegroes. The Germans are ruling these people to some extent through their chiefs, and they are establishing schools to teach them. The missionaries are also at work In different parts of German East Af rica, and the government has high schools and manual training schools with European teachers, who use' col ored assistants. This work Is Just in the beginning, but it promises to grow. Fifty-two colored teachers are already employed and the schools have several thousand pupils. There are but few whites in the in terior of that colony, and almost none excepting officials. In Tabora there are eight foreigners, of whom six are mili tary officials. In TJJljl. on Lake Tan ganyika, there are only four white men, two are ci"ilians. one being a doc tor and the other a trader. At Usam buru, at the head of the lake, there are four Europeans, and at Bismarkburg on the southern end there are only two. both of whomare officials. At Mwan za. on Lake Victoria. I found about 20 Europeans equally divided between the military and civil branches of the gov ernment. Among the AVashashl. There is a queer town of Lake Vic toria belonging to the Germans which I have not mentioned in my previous letters. I called there during my tour around the lake. It Is known as Shi ratl, and It lies near the boundary of British East .Africa. The country about it. is beautifully rolling. The hills slope gently up from the lake, and upon them stand hundreds of thatched huts, an Indian business sec tion and a fort belonging to the Ger mans. The people are somewhat like the Kavirondo and a little like the Ma sai. They are dark brown in color, are well formed and of a good height. I talked with one chief who was fully seven feet tall, standing like a giant above his fellows, who averaged, I judge, about five feet six. The Washashl, like the Kavirondo, do not worry over their wardrobes. Those I saw were almost naked. Many of the women had only a. string of beads about them and some wore fringes of beads two or three inches long hanging from their waist belts. The men were often clad in a single goat skin, which was shifted, so . that it covered now the back and now the front of the person. All wore jewelry. I saw many- dandies who had on great 7 f V Furnish the World With Ivory coils of wire, and one whose arms and legs were wrapped with brass wire, the size of a lead pencil. Another man had coils of this wire on his upper arm, and that so tight that the flesh seemed to be growing over them. I counted the strands on one woman's calf. It had eighteen parallel strands of the thickness of a lead pencil, from where the swelling began to the knees. Other I wise, the lady was bare to the fringe apron which ran around her waist. Many of these natives had shields of enormous size, made of skins fastened to a framework and painted in bright colors, and they had head dresses of ostrich feathers which looked odd in contrast with their nude bodies be neath. They all carried spears, and were celebrating a war dance. The houses of Snirati are round huts Invalid Receives 2000 Letters a Week Charles Noel Douglas, Bedridden for Ten Years, Song-Writer and Editor. ON the wall of a little 'bedroom in the apartment-house at 1442 Pacific street, Brooklyn, N. Y., hangs the framed photograph of a famous actor with an inscription reading: ."To Charles Noel Douglas, the bravest man in the world." The man who brought out this enthusiastic sentiment lies flat on his back across the room. Despite the fact that this man is bedridden and has a body often racked .with pain he is a human dynamo. Charles Noel Douglas has not known what it is to have a healthy, strong body since 1S97, but in these eleven years, de spite difficulties that would have driven an ordinary man insane or Induced him to give up the apparently hopeless strug gle, he has achieved more than many a man does in a lifetime of health and strength. He Is eJitor of two publica tions and associate editor of three others. Through these mediums it is his proud boast that he reaches six million people scattered all over the United States, and to these six millions he is a friend, counselor, guide and teacher referred to, admired and beloved. He Is the author of 700 lyrics and Jingles. He is the pub lisher of his own volume of poems, which In thousands of homes is regarded as a household treasure. He has compiled two volumes of quotations which con tain 40,000 separate paragraphs. He is the author of popular and topical songs without number, which are sung by many of the best-known artists on the vaudeville stage. Besides, he has writ ten a number of vaudeville playlets and monologues, In addition to a dozen plays for amateurs. He gets more mail prob ably than any other individual in New York, not excepting philanthropists and millionaires. A week that brings 2000 letters is not at all unusual, most of them from women who tell him the In nocent secrets of their hearts. In the midst of all this Industry, though a "shut-In" himself, he finds time to help other shut-Ins. and is perpetually scheming to find, and to assist other bed ridden ones who are no more fortunate than himself, but lack his tremendous will and energy. He writes anything and everything. Vaudeville singers call him up and tell him they want a brand new lyric in 24 hours. Sometimes Mr. Douglas's reply is to sing the desired lyric back over the telephone. Occasionally a singer tells him his or her new song has caught the crowd like wildfire, and encore verses absolutely must be had by the next performance. Mr. Douglas seldom fails them. "My head is hum ming with ideas." he says. "The trouble is I can't get them out fast enough." Many of the most popular performers on the stage owe their greatest song hits to him, and he numbers his theatrical friends by the score. By the side of the photograph of Francis "Wil son, who called him "the bravest man," is a portrait of Edna May, who pre sented it, with the inscription, "A Happy New Year to the author of the prettiest and most successful song 1 have ever sung, "My Cozy Corner Girl.' " Mr. Douglas keeps four persons pretty busy. His nurse, who is also hia stenographer, looks after all his lite rary work. A young man secretary receives and assorts his mall and a young girl attends to mall orders and nls filing system. To give an idea of the man's talk; "Walt a moment and I'll show you my book of lyrics In the original type written form hand it to me, will you. Miss Rutherford see here what a stack of them. I sold that to Eva Tanguay she's one of my best friends picture hanging over there here's another she's going to bring out next month here's one that went to Nat Wills Francis Wilson took that I sold that to Judge a scream that Is here's one I sold to Fanny Rice made a big hit wait while I sing it to you isn't that great? she was tickled to death with it here's one that I'm go ing to hold till I get a good price for It listen to this melody won't that bring 'em down, eh?" He is all enthusi asm and ambition. He stops turning over his lyrics for a' moment to tell about a cripple out in Omaha who wrote him a pitiful letter about his desire for a little home of his own. Mr. Douglas nublished the appeal and 3 1 with thatched roofs and walls of up right sticks chinked with mud. The lnterlorof each house is divided Into two compartments, one for the men and the other for the cattle. The cooking fire is made in the center of the hut, the blaze being usually started by means of friction. Just as our In dians made fire before Columbus came. The people sleep on the ground, using pillows of wood. Outside many of the huts I saw gran aries. These are tall, round wicker work baskets made of cane or plaited rushes, chinked tight with cow dung. They are raised upon poles a foot or so from the ground, and have conical roofs of thatch. There is a little door at the top of each granary, through which the corn is put In or taken out. Zanzibar. June 8. hardly had the publtpation appeared when a wealthy woman telephoned him : that she was ready to give $300 toward a home for the cripple. "Now wasn't that great, eh? It's a good world lots of people with kind hearts in' it all you have to do is to tell them of some one tnat needs help and then watch 'em rise. It's bully, bully nothing like it think of being able to do things for a shut-in 1000 miles away, eh? rve organized a so ciety a Sunshine Society that now has 20,000 members every blessed one of 'em willing and anxious to help. I get pitiful letters by every mail ah, if people only knew or the misery in the world! But I don't go It blind. I make sure first. Not long ago I got an appeal for help from down South. I wrote to the Postmaster of the town and he replied that the writer was an able-bodied negro woman who had plenty but wouldn't work you see, I'm business-like about it no grafters need apply." Mr. Douglas had never written a line, he says, till his trouble came on him. The story of his life and the way he has come up out of the valley is no less remark able than the man himself. He was an actor originally "right much of a matinee idol I was. too. In those days." he said, with a chuckle. He came from England in 1S88. He was with a road company in Montana when a stage fall proved to be only too real, but he did not suffer from its effects till several years afterward. Then he suddenly was stricken with some spinal trouble and in February, 1837, he found himself helpless. He came to Brooklyn and went to a hospital. After nine months there the doctors told him . they could do nothing for him. They told him he must leave and go to a public hospital. He was without money and al most friendless. He begged the hospital authorities to give him a week in which to earn money for himself. Rather amusedly they gave him the week's time. "I thought and prayed," says Mr. Doug las. "At last, somehow, the inspiration came to me to write a song. I had to bor row pen and ink and even the stamp to mail it. I sent It to IMay Irwin. After two days of heartbreaking suspense I got a check from her for $20. In my ex hilaration I dashed off another lyric and sent it to Weber & Fields. They replied with another $20. I nearly died of Joy. Ah. the Joy of creation, of being able to earn your living! I continued to write, but the alternating suspense and joy and discouragement were too much for me. The little strength I had gave way and for months afterward I was barely able to move. "I won't go into details. The life I spent for three years is too horrible for print people don't like to read of sad things. ' Finally, in September, 1902, the tide turned and I was able to move Into a little home of my own. Ah. the joy! I had not seen the outside world in six years. Now I looked out on a band of children at play and thanked God that I was alive! Things have not gone smoothly since not by any means but I have been able to work most of the time. What more can a man ask. anyhow? But at first It was hard, hard, hard! I ask you what is harder than ' to write a column of good English, any how? Consider the manual Iabo th strain on the brain. I never gave up hope. I worked. That's the thing to do work! Don't sit around and dream and say, 'I'll do it tomorrow when I feel more like if get busy, grab hold of it. butt right in. I have no fool ideas about the work I do. you understand I don't write for the highbrows but I get at the people. They write me letters right out of their hearts ah that's what makes life worth while! To work, to be able to help the folks not as well fixed as you. to be independent ah, it's fine to be alive !" Mr. Douglas is nothing if not Inde pendent of spirit. He objects strongly to having his physical disabilities empha sized and much prefers to be known for his work. He is the last man in the world to plead for a hearing simply because he is a "shut-In. When the physical side of being bedridden is dwelt on," he says, "it puts one in the freak class, and I think I have done enough good work to be reckoned with on a literary basis alone." You can search all over New York, you can talk to men who have earned money, fame, power, position, men with active brains and bodily vigor but you will hunt long before you will find another man who is such a well-spring of bubbling Joy in living as Charles Noel Douglas, who is flat on his back at 1442 Pacific street, Brooklyn. New York Press.
