IVORY VALLEY.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17386, 11 June 1928, Page 6

IVORY VALLEY.

AFK IC'A'S G LAUDED SECRET. From beneath the brims of their pith helmets the Uganda Game Commissioner and two of his subordinates stared inquiringly into the sun-baked compound as the outer gate swung open. •An odd cavalcade poured in. First came a giant ox, and on its back rode a man with a flowing white burnous. Behind the ox shuffled his retainers. “Mohammed Abdullah, the outlaw! W'e thought him dead these ten years!” gasped the amazed Commissioner.

Thus did Mohammed Abdullah, notorious slave raider, ivory smuggler, one-time Mahdist, arrive in Entebbe in quest amnesty. Abdullah is growing old. For years a price in silver rupees'has rested on his head. Once he was leader of a band of ruffians who came to be known in British East Africa as “the world’s toughest vagabonds.” His proposition to the British authorities was that, in return for amnesty, his declining days, might be

spent iu peace, and lor an Imposing reward lie would disclose tlie position of a vast store of ivory, worth, he estimated, £150,000,000. “Grant me three weeks, O Great One.” he said, “and I shall return with proof. ” Some time later Mohammed Abdullah re-appeared. His beasts carried 100 great tusks of the finest ivory. These he unloaded, and departed again into the foothills leading to that vast eleplant belt extending between lakes Victoria and Tanganyika westward to the teeming Congo. He announced that another hundred tusks would bo forthcoming on his return. The legend oi the “Valley of Ivory” has persisted for years. It is to the effect that somewhere in the heart of the Dark Continent lies a valley to which, since the beginning of time, elephants have gone to die. It is strange that the carcases of elephants, dead from natural causes jire never found in the jungle. Study of this phenomenon leads men to believe the giant boasts, sensing old age or disease retire to some remote secret valley there to die amid the whitened hones of their forbears.

No white man ever has seen the vallev. No African native will admit he

has been there. Associated with the tale is the name of Tippoo Tib, who died a quarter of a century ago. Tippoo Tib, says African legend, discovered the “Valley of Ivory.” He,died without revealing his secret, and then Mohammed Abdullah began smuggling vast stores of ivory to the coast. In making his overture to the Game Department, Mohammed admitted iiis store of ivory had been cached a century ago, and that he received the key to its position from a friend. Could that friend have been his uncle, Tippoo Tib? “Ivory,” says a natural history expert, “lias often been buried by African chiefs. If it is buried in a damp or wet soil it will last many years. In sandy soil, or where it is alternately wet 'and dry, it will rapidly go to pieces. “Ivory under water continually where there is no contact until the air and only slight variance in temperature, will last almost indefinitely.” There are men who will credit the wily Mohammed or his late uncle with having discovered the “Valley of the Elephants,” sinking the best tusks under the silent waters of Uganda’s mighty lakes.

SERIOUS CHARGE

A young man was arraigned by the head of his firm on a serious charge.. His culpability was suspected by his employer, who came upon him behind some packing cases furtively smoking cigarettes, and appearing extremely guilty, recognising the aromatic odour of the tobacco, and knowing that someone had half emptied his tin that morning the master charged the young man wtih helping himself without permission. He pleaded guilty and said that he was dying lor a smoke, so he helped himself to his employer’s Bears’ Tobacco. The employer pardoned him under the circumstances, as the temptation was so strong. Did you know Bears’ is now obtainable in handy pocket tins containig 20z., 1/6? Also sold loose by weight at Sd per ounce.