This elephant, which was no whiter than the Barnum specimen, lived in great pomp in the palace enclosure, eating and drinking out of huge silver buckets.
The finest white elephant caught in late years is described by Mr. Carl Bock, who states that it was brought into Bangkok with all the pomp and ceremony of an emperor. According to Mr. Bock, it was quite an albino, the whole body being of a pale reddish-brown color, with a few white hairs on the back. The iris of the eye, the color of which is held to be a good test of an albino, was a pale Naples yellow. The animal was blessed and baptized in presence of the king and the nobility. One of the high priests presented it with a piece of sugar-cane, on which was written the elephant’s name in full, and which it very readily ate. The following is a translation of its description painted on a red tablet, hung over one of the pillars of its stall: “An elephant of beautiful color; hair, nails, and eyes are white. Perfection in form, with all signs of regularity of the high family. The color of the skin is that of lotos. A descendant of the angels of the Brahmins. Acquired as property by the power and glory of the king for his service. Is equal to the crystal of the highest value. Is of the highest family of all in existence. A source of power of attraction of rain. It is as pure as the purest crystal of the highest value in the world.”
As the white elephant is so highly esteemed in the Oriental countries, it would be surprising if obstacles were not laid in the way of their being taken to foreign lands. Hence a white elephant was never seen in a Western country before the advent of Mr. Barnum’s now famous Toung Taloung, whose passage from its native country to America was highly exciting and dramatic.
The first white elephant ever seen out of its native land was one that was exhibited in Holland in 1633. The second was the Barnum elephant, which was brought to England in 1884, and from there shipped to America.[6]
Sir John Bowring states that it is almost impossible to put a price upon a white elephant; and he mentions fifty thousand dollars as a sum that might buy one; adding that a single hair from the tail of a white elephant was worth a Jew’s ransom. The Barnum white elephant, it is said, cost two hundred thousand dollars by the time it was landed in America,—probably the most expensive pachyderm that ever lived. The agents sent to Siam and Burmah by Mr. Barnum had instructions to obtain the finest white elephant that money could buy. They crossed the Pacific, sailed down the coast of China, and finally reached Siam, where they endeavored to gain an interview with the first king. By him they were referred to the second, who indignantly refused their offer to purchase one of the white elephants. Some of the people, hearing of it, became enraged; and the men narrowly escaped injury. For months they followed up various clews, but at last found an elephant owned by the estate of a nobleman, whose widow agreed to part with the animal, which to her was an expensive luxury. Finally all arrangements were made; and the elephant was placed in a boat, and floated down the Irrawaddy to Rangoon. At almost every village they had difficulty, the people seeming to have a strong objection to the creature leaving the country: finally some fanatical natives secreted themselves in the steamer, and, it is believed, poisoned the noble animal, for it died suddenly before reaching Singapore. I have seen photographs of it, and the tusks are now in the possession of Mr. J. H. Hutchinson of New York. The elephant was, if any thing, a finer specimen than Toung Taloung.
The white-elephant hunters became so discouraged, that they returned home, but were, however, sent out again, and went through almost a repetition of their former experience. Through the influence of some English residents, they finally secured a typical white elephant. The permission of King Theebaw was essential before it could leave the country, and this was obtained with the condition that the white elephant should always receive the same attention that it did in Burmah. This was readily consented to, as it was to Mr. Barnum’s interest to exhibit the animal with the same surroundings that characterized its life in Siam. The following is the bill of sale sworn to by H. Porter, Esq., notary public at Rangoon:—
NINTH DECREE OF TA SUNG MONG 1245 (BURMESE ERA). AT KAREN VILLAGE, DOANG DAMEE.
We who have signed below, Moung Tsaw, Kyah Yoe, Shoay Att Hpaw, these three having heard the statement of the American master, a rich man’s agent from a distant country who wishes to have and possess the Nyan Zone [sacred elephant] Toung Taloung, which we now own, from the estate of Htan Yoe Ban, who is dead. We having sworn him [the agent] before God, and under the holy tree on the hill, he promises he will take him [elephant] straight to his master, to love and protect him from all misery. If not, he knows he cannot escape the evil abode. We have got from American master 30,000 gold rupees [about $200,000] to repair our gods, images, and monasteries.
We write and give this document under our own free will and to sign.
MOUNG TSAW.
KYAH YOE.
SHOAY ATT HPAW.