science may be a brown elephant in actual colour. The points were the
mottling of the face, the shape and colour of the eyes, the position of
the ears, and the length of the tail. Certainly the "Lord White Elephant"
had, to the most cursory observation, a peculiar and abnormal eye. The
iris was yellow, with a reddish outer annulus and a small, clear, black
pupil. It was essentially a shifty, treacherous eye, and I noticed that
everybody took particularly good care to keep out of range of his
lordship's trunk and tusks. The latter were superb--long, massive, and
smooth, their tips quite meeting far in front of his trunk. His tail was
much longer than in the Indian elephants, and was tipped with a bunch of
long, straight, black hair. Altogether he was an unwholesome,
disagreeable-looking brute, who munched his grass morosely and had no
elephantine geniality. He was but a youngster--the great, old, really
white elephant which Yule describes had died some time back, after an
incumbency dating from 1806. The "White Elephant" was never ridden now,
but the last King but one used frequently to ride its predecessor, acting
as his own mahout. We did not see his trappings, as our visit was paid
unawares when he was quite in undress; but Yule says that when arrayed in
all his splendour his head-stall was of fine red cloth, studded with great
rubies, interspersed with valuable diamonds. When caparisoned he wore on
his forehead, like other Burmese dignitaries including the King himself, a
golden plate inscribed with his titles and a gold crescent set with
circles of large gems between the eyes. Large silver tassels hung in front
of his ears, and he was harnessed with bands of gold and crimson set
freely with large bosses of pure gold. He was a regular "estate of the
realm," having a _woon_ or minister of his own, four gold umbrellas, the
white umbrellas which were peculiar to royalty, with a large suite of
attendants and an appanage to furnish him with maintenance wherewithal.
When in state his attendants had to leave their shoes behind them when
they enter his Palace. In a shed adjacent to that occupied by the "Lord