Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-31

lasisbed large sums, had, had pre-
yiousiy heard, run away the nigh,
before, and left him, | believe, even
without food. retired after the inter-
view, leaving Thebaw to make his pre-
partitions for the journey. I took ad-
vantage of the opportunity to look about
tie deserted palace, and found the white
elephant close to the great throne room.
He was a very ordinary animal, much
Ike any other young elephant; but
close inspection showed a couple OF
small, dirty white patches behind his
ears, which constitute, suppose, his
right to his title. Above him, in the
tall golden house, was white en-
broidered state canopy against the
pillars stood great gold umbrellas, and
near him a great hemispherical silver
vessel three or four feet in diameter.
from which ! suppose he drank. 1t
was empty; and as the sacred elephant
had, like the King, been abandoned. /
filed brass bowl with water and Of
feTed it to him. Whether he was not
accustomed to water or regarded brass
as an insult do not know, but the gift
produced considerable outburst Of
temper, and the bowl was roughly
treated and finally stamped on by his
sanctity, when We left to cool down to
a sense of his new position. | hope
the coming regime will respect him.
At length the King came out, after
causing a wall Of the most prolonged
kind. Arrangements had not been
made for the transport to the steamer
of himself and family until the inter-
yiew,. and the suggestion that some
doolies. such as the wounded are car
ried in, were available was regarded
as good one. Eventually a rather
common bullock carriage of his own
was entered by the King, the Queen.
and her mother, and a still commoner
one, which for dignity was perhaps in
ferior to the London four-wheeler, re-
ceiyed some others Of the household.
These were followed by a train of at
PENDANTS, mostly girls, on foot, carry
ing bundles Of baggage, and so, heavily
guarded by troops, this melancholy pro-
cession Of fallen greatness started for
the river. Even as to the road the ar
raDgements seemed defective, for a con-
siderable detour was made, of which
several explanations have been given,
the most probable, to my mind, being
that it was mistake. Anyhow, it was
dark before the Thovriah was reached,
after weary perambulation through
the streets which must have been pain
full to a degree to Thebaw. ! suppose
the ship is now well on her way to
Rangoon. The attitude of the people
seemed to me to be one of strange in
difference. At places, indeed, there
were lamentations, but the crowd
generally showed few signs OF
feeling. In most places, indeed,
even the customary attitude Of
respect was not assumed. | rode
or walked nearly the whole distance
alongside the King, and | carefully
watched the people. | am bound, how
ever. to say that subsequent converse
ton with people who are well qualified
to judge has led me to suppose that it
is possible | overe timated the value of
what ! saw. They say that so few peo-
pie have ever seen their sovereign--it
is such an unheard-Of thing for him to
move ont or show himself-that they
probably either did not know or did
not realize that he was actually passing.
They say that the people generally,
who now know that he is gone, are
really much concerned. cannot pro-
fesS to do more than report what ! have
seen and heard.