298 WILD ANIMALS. 



advertisetoent than for anything else, applied for a company of 

 State Militia to destroy an animal lie wanted killed ; so in some 

 respects history repeats itself in these matters, but in this latter 

 instance the execution was expeditiously accomplished. 



The most extraordinary and almost marvellous shot that pro- 

 bably ever killed an elephant was recorded in the Colombo Observer 

 in January, 1858, in the following paragraph : " Although it is 

 still deemed unsafe to move Major Milman from Kapregan, we 

 rejoice to hear that he is in no danger. It seems an elephant 

 charged him, and was within a few feet of him, when Mr. Tyn- 

 dale, determined to save his friend's life, fired. The bullet went 

 through Major Mil man's left shoulder, splintering a small portion 

 of the bone. But the end was answered ; the bullet which had 

 thus disabled Major Milman killed the elephant, which fell within 

 a few feet of him. So narrow an escape and under such circum- 

 stances is unprecedented." 



In Siam and Burmah the elephant, or at least the variety 

 called a " white elephant," is held in great veneration and kept at 

 Court as the sacred appendage of royalty. Many people are 

 under the impression that the people worship the animal, but this 

 is a mistake. They have peculiar superstitions regarding it, one 

 being that it is the incarnation of some future Buddha, and will 

 therefore bring blessings on the country which possesses so great 

 a treasure, in consequence of which, at the Court of Siam, the 

 principal white elephant ranks next to the princes of the blood. 

 In Burmah a similar animal takes rank immediately after the 

 king.^ 



As a matter of fact these elephants are not white, but only a 

 light coffee-colour, somewhat lighter in shade than the ordinary 

 animal. Some naturalists contend the colour is the result of a 

 disease or of albinoism. 



In 1883, Barnum, at a considerable cost, secured one of these 



1 This was -written before the annexation of Burmah and the imprisonment of the 

 king, occurrences followed by the death of the royal white elephant, but whether 

 its demise was due to natural causes or to its having been killed by command of the 

 king before his departure in order to rouse the prejudices of the people against the 

 British, has not been ascertained. 



