670 PROBOSCIDEA. 



aversion to, or fear of the other. In its general habits the elephant is 

 restless and irritable, or rather "fidgety," never remaining quite still, 

 but always in motion in some way or other. 



The elephant is always guided by a mahoot, who sits astride its neck 

 and directs its movements by his voice and a spiked hook. The persons 

 who are carried on the elephant either sit in a howdah — a kind of car- 

 riage without wheels strapped on its back — or they sit upon a cushion. 

 The latter mode is preferable, as the traveler can readily change his 

 position. The motion is sometimes pleasant, sometimes fatiguing. At 

 times the pace is so rapid that a man on horseback can with difficulty 

 keep up. But this pace does not last long, and the animal usually travels 

 about twenty-four miles a day. 



Sometimes Albino elephants are discovered. The white color is 

 really the result of hereditary disease. These specimens are highly 

 prized in Siam ; the whole country, indeed, has been called the land of 

 the White Elephant. 



The King of Siam once had no less than six of these wonders of the 

 earth. They had apartments near the Palace, each having ten servants. 

 Their food was fresh grass and sugar-cane, and bananas wreathed with 

 flowers. Their dinner was set on a white table-cloth in a shady court 

 near a marble fountain. Their tusks were ornamented with gold rings, 

 their heads covered with a network of gold, and their backs supported 

 a small embroidered cushion. The White Elephant is called " The Pure 

 King," and " The Wonderful King." Whoever discovers a white ele- 

 phant is rewarded by the Siamese kings, a grant of land is made to him, 

 and his family, to the third generation, is exempt from taxes. 



A white elephant died in his temple at Bangkok in Siam, in Novem- 

 ber, 1878, which was said to have been born in 1770. Each white 

 elephant possesses its palace, a vessel of gold, and richly jewelled 

 harness ; several mandarins are attached to its service, and feed it with 

 cakes and sugar-cane. The king is the only person to whom it bows 

 the knee, and a similar salutation is returned by the prince. The one 

 above mentioned had a magnificent funeral. A hundred priests officiated, 

 the three surviving white elephants, preceded by trumpets, and followed 

 by an immense concourse of people, accompanied the remains to the banks 

 of the river, where the king and his nobles received them. A procession 

 of thirty vessels formed the cortege to convoy the funeral car to the 

 other bank for interment. 



