El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-16

that the animal may run up MS trunk
As l left one of the sawmllls L threw
piece Of silver TO the man on the blgSest
elephant He rubbed the beasts head
with his heel and thereupon the ele-
plant threw his great trunk high into
the air and gave me royal salute
The White Elephant.
Burma ranks with Siam as the land of
the white elephant The people mere
are Buddhists and they believe that the
souls of human beings, when they pass
away, go into the bodies of animals
Moreover, they think that the spirits
of the good and noble go into the bodles
of white animals, and as the elephant is
one OF the largest Of beasts, evety white
elephant contains the soul of a hero.
King Thibaw, the last native ruler OF
Burma, had a palace for his white eie-
plants, and they were treated like kings.
When they went out umbrellas OF Wnl1e
and gold were held over them, and they
had golden tassels in their ears ana
golden plates on their foreheads Tney
were bathed daily in scented waters
and they drank out of vessels decorated
with gold. Each beast had his own at
tendants, who did nothing but wait upon
him, and the man who found a white
elephant and brought it to the palace
was ennobled, and paid no taxes for tne
rest of his life. When the British TOOK
the country they captured the white eie-
plants, and today if one were TO De
found he would be given job at the
hauling of logs.
The Royal Beasts of Siam.
In fact, about the only place where
the white elephant has any semblance OF
royalty left is SIAM The common peo-
pie there worship him, and the KING
now and then rides out upon one In
great state. The national coat OF arms
/ Is picture OF this royal beast. 1t has
its place upon the flag and also upon
the principal coins. With the awaken
ing of the country and the new move
ments, however, superstftions are pass
| ing away. The better classes think
much as we do, and his majesty the
KING keeps his white elephants only
out OF sentiment and respect for the De
! llefs of his people. He has elephant
stables connected with his palaces, and
there are several of these socalled white
animals in the stalls. 1 visited them
during my last stay in Bangkok They
were chained to stone posts and were
watched by keepers, who chewed the be-
tel and spat on the ground as they made
the elephants perform for me.
THESE beasts were of an aShy gray
color and they looked dirty rather than
white. am told that their color comes
from a disease somewhat like leprosy,
ana tnat this sometimes causes the AMI
MAJ affected to go crazy Indeed.
white elephant is usually a rogue ele-
phant, or one which should always be
watched and never allowed to go loose
The elephants now in the stables al
bangkok are from the northern part of
slam. All those of the country belong
10 the king, but the man who can send
IN a white elephant is still rewarded, and
the advent of new one causes general
rejoicing, for il is looked upon as a
sign of good luck and prosperity.
The Gateway to south Asia.
write this letter in what is the most
uptodate booming city of the far east.
Rangoon is the capital Of Burma. II is
growing faster than Calcutta.
1t already stands third among the
great ports Of the Indian empire, crowd