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become a synonym for something expensive, useless, and extra- 

 ordinary ; yet we are assured that there is " no such thing as a 

 white elephant." It is certain that the animals which have been 

 exhibited under this designation in Europe have only been ren- 

 dered white by more or less skilful artificial processes. Archibald 

 Forbes, in his " Olimpses through the cannon smoke," describes a 

 visit to the royal animal at Mandalay. " His Lordship, in so far as 

 his literal claim to be styled a white elephant, is an impostor of the 

 deepest dye, and a very grim and ugly impostor to boot. He is a 

 great, lean, brown, flat-sided brute, his ears, forehead, and trunk 

 are mottled with a dingy cream colour. It is not the whiteness 

 that is the criterion of a white elephant, which may be a brown 

 elephant actually in colour. The points are the mottling of the 

 face, the shape and colour of the eyes, the position of the eyes, 

 and the length of the tail. He has a peculiar and abnormal eye. 

 The iris is yellow, with a reddish outer annulus and a small, 

 clear, black pupil, it is essentially a shifty treacherous eye and 

 I noticed that everybody ' took particularly good care to keep 

 out of range of bis lordship's trunk and tusks. The latter are 

 superb, long, massive, and smooth, their tips quite meeting far 

 in front of his trunk. His tail is much longer than iii the Indian 

 elephants and is tipped with a bunch of long, straight, black hair. 

 The so-called white elephants are sports of nature and of no 

 special breed. They are called Albiuoes, and are more plentiful 

 in the Siam region than in Burma." A Siamese work tells us that 

 Xang Phnck is the Siamese name for a genuine white elephant, 

 Xang Pralat is wonderful but not otherwise eminent. The follow- 

 ing are the points looked for in a genuine white elephant — Skin 

 must have a reddish colour ; eye with reddish outer annulus; teeth 

 to have a peculiar formation, and tail to be unmutilated ; toenails 

 pure black and (says a Burmese work) five in number on the 

 hind feet. The animal must turn red when water is poured over 

 him, and must be a male to receive honors. As a rule the white 

 elephant is not healthy j his legs are usually swollen at the joints 

 and often covered with tumours ; his aides lean and hollow, and 

 his hide dry and furrowed. The Siamese consider that elephants 

 which affect a fish diet are very truculent and dangerous. They 

 also say that Hinxat is the one which wanders about the sea 

 coast and eats crabs, he will attack man at sight ; Belc eats so 

 much fish that his hide becomes scaly. 



