The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-04-13
QUEEN vcToRlAs ODD PRESENT,

lie King OF siam Presented her WIN
Few Hairs from His White Elephant.
A few years ago the British govern
ment sent one of its distinguished dip
lomats, Sir John B0wring, to Siam,
as the head of an embassy, to present
grave and important question to the
king. Sir John was also intrusted
according to the custom of the day,
with number of valuable gifts from
Queen Victoria to his majesty, the
king. On his arrival he was granted
an audience, and after presenting the
gifts he acquainted the king with the
Object Of his miss on.
Being The representative Of 80 pow
erful monarch, Sir John was receiv-
Ell with every possible honor and great
pump. In no way could the Siamese
king SO well entertain his guests as by
a display of his Elephants and doubt
less Sir John, who later wrote about
them, WAS afforded many opportuni.
ties for obseIvinr these wonderful
animals in the LAND where so much at
tenton is paid them. At the time OF
his visit, in 1866 few European Gus.
toms had penetrated Siam and Bur-
NAH, and the ways and habits Of the
people were essentially oriental, while
the great masses of the natives were
stepped in superstition and ignorance.
Ore of their strange beliefs was that
at one time Buddba, whom they wor-
shipped as coming from the Deity,
dWelt in the cofee-colored or pink.
splashed creatures called white ele-
plants. Indeed, the Buddha was sup
posed to remain here longer than in
any other animal, and consequently
the possession of white elephant
was to possess the presence of the
Buddha. In this way great intelligence
is accredited to the animal and STA
mese were often observed talking into
the huge ears of the elephant, making
it a confident of their various Sc
crets and hoping for some answer
A short time previous to Sir John
Bowring's visit a pink-splashed ele
plant had been captured. The king
and his courtiera left the palace and
went out into the country some
distance to meet and welcome
1t. and the animal was escort
ed back to the city with much ceremony.
When Sir John had been feted and
entertained for many days and the
business of his mission was completed
he waited upon the king to announce
his return and to present his adieus
The King made him the bearer OF
various gifts to her majesty the queen
Amons these was gold box locked
by gold key, which was commended
to Sir John S especial attention as be-
ing more valuable than all the 9TH
ers. =
Whether Sir John and his suite and
the officers of the man-of-war which
bore them to England knew what the
gift was, we are not told, but the fact
that it was held in a gold box mus
have aroused much curiosity and We
may believe there were various con.
lectures regarding the mysterious gift
whether it was pearl Of great price
o rare and beautiful ruby similar tt
that preserved in the temple of thu
Emerald idol, or some of the many
gems for which Siam was famous
Upon his return Sir John at once
waited on the queen to acquaint hel
with the success of his mission ans
present the gifts which he had re
ceived from the king of Siam for he,
majesty.
In all probability Sir John HANDED
her the gold box and the gold key ant
the queen opened the casket herself
On this point history and Sir JohI
are equally silent. But this is known
that when her majesty raised the Ii.
of the golden casket she found, not 1
ruby, pearl or diamond, but few
hairs plucked from the kings whit
elephant; and as Sir John tells III
that at this time hair from the tai
of white elephant was worth Jew
ransom" we may assume that thu
queen, instead Of being disappointed
appreciated the delicacy Of the gift
which, in the eyes Of the king, WA
the most precious offering he coulI
make. CHARLES +. HOLDER.