This singular reverence for an albino elephant has existed in Burmah for centuries. An English traveller who visited that country three hundred years ago describes the same treatment of this beast which may be seen at the present time.
Even the hairs of this creature are supposed to insure good fortune. In 1855, a foreign ambassador delivered some presents to the King of Siam, who ordered many presents to be given in return. On the conclusion of the ceremony, the King himself, with much solemnity, placed in the hands of the ambassador a small golden box, locked with a golden key, which he said was far more precious than all the other presents. The box, when opened, was found to contain a few hairs of a white elephant!
And, after all, this elephant is not white, but of a dull yellow color. It has white or reddish eyes, and is a very ugly-looking beast. No greater proof could be found of the moral darkness and ignorance of the natives of certain portions of India than their superstitious veneration for this animal.
F. O.—Read the paragraph appended to a letter from Ida Belle D. in the Post-office Box of Harper's Young People No. 51.
Hallie C. W.—The Hawaiian Islands were discovered by a Spanish navigator about the middle of the sixteenth century, but they remained comparatively unknown until visited by Captain Cook in 1778, who gave them the name of Sandwich, in honor of Lord Sandwich, an English statesman who conducted the naval affairs of England during our Revolutionary war. On St. Valentine's Day, 1779, Captain Cook was killed at Hawaii, the largest island of the group, in a quarrel with the natives. Mauna Loa, the volcano on the island of Hawaii, which has recently been in a state of eruption, is said to have the largest burning crater in the world.
Edmund H. B.—There is no especial time for the printing of "Wiggles."