St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-10
HAIRS FROM AN ELEPHANTS TAIL

The Womde,7ul Story of a circ,ss Agent.
The circus agent drew from his overcoat
pocket wallet from which he took a white
envelope. This he opened and revealed to
the gaze of the astonished reporter dozen
wiry red hairs, each of which was two or
three inches long.
s'PIucked from the tail of Light of Asia,
Forepaughs sacred white elephant" ex
planned the agent holding UP the bristes and
cycling them with an expression of venera-
ton.
''What are they good for" inquired the
practical reporter as he endeavored to dis
tinguish something remarkable about the au
burn bristIes.
''Curiosities, that's all, y replied the circus
man, and ''De Saliva, who brought Light Of
Asia from Punung to America, tells some
remarkably interesting stories about the value
of the hairs of a white elephant in Siam.
During the Journey from the interior to the
coast the keepers on all sides offered bribes
to pluck hairs from the hide of the sacred
pachyderm, and hair from the tail or trunk
is by devout BELIEVERS in Buddhu considered
a priceless religious relic. One of those red
hairs is believed TO be charm that will pro-
tect the. possess0r from all harm and assist
greatly in making him happy in future
world. A hair from a sacred elephants tail
is worth about So, and he who got possession
of a tooth from the jaws of the royal beast
was considered the most fortunate of men,
Such relics are kept in families for genera
tions, and are handed down from father to
son ''-
THE keepers must have made good dea
of money selling hair from Light Of Asia,
said the reporter.
Eyes; De Saliva says they had soft thing
until he discovered what they were doing,
and made them desist. Except the paint
brush tuft that ornaments his tail, the growth
Of hair upon Light of Asia is not luxuriant.
Solitary hairs spread out of the animals hide,
but they are not numerous, and once pulled
out by the roots, they never return. Attached
to each hair you will observe root like the
bulb of a diminutive onion. Now the native
does not value the hair unless the bulb is at
tached, and every time one is pulled out the
skin has to be punetured with the point of
sharp knife. Light of Asia's skin has by
years of careful grooming and daily baths of
milk and frequent rubbings with oil been
made as soft as kid glove, and every time
a hair was pulled out little sore appeared
When De Saliva examined the suffering Mo-
boscidian its skin was punctured in hundreds
of pieces, from which the mercenary China
men whe had charge OF him had extracted
hairs and sold them. The Cinnamon adj
mitted that they had sold over $1,000 worth
of hairs from Light of Asia, and that amount
was deducted from the purchase money paid
at Penang to the Chinese opium smuggler
through whose efforts the prineely pachyderm
was get out of Siam.
s'Where did you get these hairs!n
sob they are part of lot that DeSalva con-
fiseatcd when be discovered how the China
men were working"
well, couldn't you have procured them
from any one of the (twenty-fve) other ele-
plants Mr. Forepaugh has with the show and
then passed them of as sacred hairs from the
epidermis of Light Of Asiat' said the lrepor-
ter, eyeing the red bristles suspiciously.
30 no. the hair on an ordinary elephant is
as black as tar. This is red. Yes take one
and keep it as a curiosity" and he picked
out one and generously gave it to the local
historian.