160 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



elephants played a part. This is Englished by Phillips, as 

 follows :* 



"About an hour after the King has been sitting upon his 

 Throne, seven stout Elephants bred up for War are brought 

 out. One of these Elephants has his seat fix'd upon his back, 

 if the King should have a mind to ride out. The others are 

 cover 'd with cloaths richly embroider 'd, with chains of Gold 

 and Silver about their Necks; and there are four that carry 

 the King's Standard upon their Cruppers, fasten 'd to a 

 Half-Pike, which a man, seated on purpose close by, holds 

 upright with his hand. These Elephants are brought within 

 fifty paces of the Throne, and when they come before the 

 King, they make their obeysances to him, laying their 

 Trunks to the ground, and then lifting them up above their 

 Heads three times; every time he makes a great cry, and then 

 turning his back to the King, one of the Leaders turns up 

 the cloath, that the King may see he is in good case. There 

 belongs also to every one a cord, which is put round his 

 body, to show how much he is grown since the last year. 

 The first of these Elephants, which the King most esteems, 

 is a great furious creature, that has five hundred Roupies 

 allowed him every month. He is fed with good Victuals, 

 and a great quantity of Sucre, and they give him Aqua-vitae 

 to drink." 



The gift of an "elephant of state," one worthy by its 

 physical perfection and gorgeous trappings of bearing a 

 sovereign in royal processions and progresses, has ever been 

 regarded by Oriental potentates as a most valuable testi- 

 monial. Therefore, in 1877, when the Government of India 

 wished to make an appropriate and acceptable present to the 

 Shah of Persia, a State elephant was considered to be the 

 best choice. The important matter of suitable equipment 



*" The Six Travels of John Baptista Tavernier"; made EngUsh by J. P., Loudon, 168J;, 

 Pt. II, p. 123. 



