IVORY POACHERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 October 1924, Page 9

IVORY POACHERS.

A PROFITABLE PROFESSION _ From . The Times.) . , Hown beyond the Juba and the Tan?, , v s, ana away over the scorching desert plains beside the Lorian fc>wamp tnat dead :to Italian Somaliland, theu! nas been carried on for many years a most prohtable trade in lvoiy. The iif« of the ivory poacher has oeen the tiieme ot many romantic stories, givingthe lawbreaker something of the on ait acter of a hero, but there is a little romance m the ivory trade in Kenva. in the earlieivdays before the British rule had become a fact, and when ivory traders did hot venture far beyond the coast, the Somali tribes found the value of the dreamy white tusk of the elephant. . Their instinct for, combined With their wandering life and love of that personal decoration and adornment uhich is made possible by only money omit up the system which robs Kenya to-day of nearly £IOO,OOO per annum The trade m stolen ivory is enormous ihe Somali has enlisted the aid of the less intelligent tribes, and out of the constant slaughter by native hunters or The great herds of tuskers which inhabited the areas far from white settlement, Kenya supplies half of the markets of Eastern Africa from Zanzibar to Port Said.

Across the uninhabited stretches r score of camels—in charge of a dozen turbanned Somalis, whose giant frames are ornamented by brightly-coloured •bawls thrown in picturesque carelessness over the shoulder—arc shuffling along through the sand when thev are Md up by a patrol of King’s African Rifles in charge of an efficient sunbronzed and smiling officer. The miii tary forces are the administrators c r the turbulent frontier, and their power is absolute. The, Somalis may or may not resist; it depends upon, the vaule of the loads of the camels, hut thev will most certainly argue with guttural fluency. If they try to escape when the patrol appears over; the skyb‘n“ them is a brief, exciting chase and a whirl of dust. Perhaps one or two Somalis roll off their mules into tbo sand, and there .ar© regrettable oasuM. ties to report, hut eventually the little military patrol rounds tbo camelr into a disorganised heap. and. there ar<discovered in the mat ba/rs which cover the backs of the animals broken, jagged pieces of ivory the size of a man’s fist-—the unbeautifnl remains of a magnificent pair of tusks.

, The existence of a free market in Italian Somaliland, where the prices paid are as good as those obtained at public auctions in Zanzibar. Mombasa, or Kampala, has encouraged the smuggling of ivory to such an extent that the whole of the military force of the frontier is unable to control the evil. The Somali knows that ivory, in the piece brings prices which show a considerable profit. If it is difficult to get the whole tusk through, he smashes the ivory with a hammer, and, instead of stuffing his camel haric bags with grass, he fills them with broken ivory. It is-a dangerous, but a lucrative trade, and until the Italian Government decides to help, the illegal traffic and the dreadful slaughter will continue.

There is one other article which is almost as valuable. The horn of the rhinoceros is at least worth 6s per lb - and it is much more easy to handle. Tn a recent capture beyond the Lorian Swamp the military found the horns of no-fewer than 180 rhino! But in this instance the chief offender is the native. He; has organised a perfectly good traffic with Tanganyika Territory through the Taveta country, and his methods are very simple. His women folk, who live near the frontier, are in the habit of carrying to market the legitimate produce of the reserves in gourds. narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. ,In those innocent vessels there may be transported maize meal, or ghee, or eggs, or anything unromantic, hut if a Game Department native scout is lucky he may find something else. He will probably discover that the bottom of the gourd has been cut out very carefully ; that the horn o ? a rhinoceros has been inserted; and that the circular piece from the bottom of the gourd has been so . neatly replaced that it appears to he a perfectly natural vessel. . As a profession, smuggling in Kenyq bo,, its attractions. The chances of discovery are about 1 per cent. Th' - ' traffic is so widespread, and the steff ■A t.ho Gaum Department is «o small, that detection of cases is Glided only by luck or information sold fm- a. priro in rqvenge for something of a persnnnl -nature -with 'which the GoVel'Phot, which in -+cnlf is an interesting storv — +he only true romance of the ivorv trade.