66 VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 



were specially white elephants with their young- ones living 

 here, the latter however were of the ordinary colour; but 

 I should not like to pledge myself for the truth of this as- 

 sertion. I mention at the same time that the white elephants 

 are considered as especially sacred and valuable among the 

 Siamese and Barmans, and are reckoned amongst their gods. 

 In the picture of their idol Potho, or as the Dutch call him, 

 Buddiik, one often finds white elephants drawn ; the animal 

 is generally represented with his trunk uplifted in homage of 

 the god. 



However, it is a very wrong idea that because this ani- 

 mal is rare it is of greater value, and we also make the same 

 mistake in pajang great sums for such an animal, if it can be 

 bought. The elephants are like the white niggers of Mauper- 

 tius, the white monkeys, rats, mice, sparrows, ravens, beetles, 

 and some such animals. The colour is surely a kind of skin 

 disease cause by the sap of the nerves, and all these animals 

 have something repulsive. I have seen many such animals 

 here in India, and lately the son of the Loximannies, prince 

 of Quedar, presented our captain with a white swallow of the 

 kind that build the celebrated bird's nests. He called this 

 bird the King of swallows, though he was a Mohammetan. 

 These kinds of animals are even hated by other animals, e.g., 

 the white ravens of Ferroi. 



Among the special plants which I found here, there 

 was a large tree of a Cargota urens ; it was not of the common 

 species. The racimes were very long, about two men's length 

 between the lowest leaves, and were divided into small 

 alternate brown sheaths. Most of the fruits were already ripe. 

 They had a smooth, fleshy, blue skin and were as big as pigeon's 

 eggs. The nut had a hard outside. The outside of the kernel 

 was very hard and had dark brown veins, but the heart was 

 very soft. 



I obtained here two kinds of Monandria, which I had never 

 seen before. One of them is in shape like the Ingofeher of 

 Mr. Eumph, but it is not this kind. The oblong pointed cone- 

 like shape is of a beautiful crimson red. 



The second kind has its blossoms at the root, growing in 

 a thick bundle; the lower lip, which is the biggest, is of 

 the most beautiful carnicie red colour, like the Amaryllis 



