From Richard Reynolds #2

!cid_X_MA2_1273448932@aol, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. The accompanying article read in part. "He (Barnum) sent an agent, J. B. Gaylord, to Siam, with orders to buy or hire from the King, one of these creatures. The Siamese court met the proposition with an indignant refusal. Nothing daunted, Mr. Gaylord heard of a white elephant owned by a Siamese nobleman. He agreed to pay 100,000 dollars for it (RJR note - -pure fabrication). It was smuggled down to Moulmein (Mawlamyaing), Burma (Myanmar), but, when on the point of being being transshipped to Singapore, it died of poison intentionally administered by some unknown person. "Nil desperandum is Mr. Barnun's motto. He now offered 200,000 dollars (RJR note - - another publicity fabrication) for a sacred white elephant. This aroused the zeal of hundreds of active fortune hunters, and at length, after months of diplomacy and bribery, a sacred white elephant was purchased from King Theebaw of Burmah, the royal documents which record the transaction setting fort its genuineness. " "This creature is seven feet six inches high, and of a piebald color. His face, ears, the front of his trunk, and his front feet, and part of his breast are of a pinkish flesh color; the rest of his body is of light ashen hue." "He arrived at Liverpool last seek by the steamship Tenasserim, and was at once taken on a special car, by the London and North-Western Railway Company, to the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park . . ." "In his own country this elephant was called Toung Taloung, a name which the sailors on board the Tenesserim modified, after their custom, into "Old Tounge." As regards the adjective this is misnomer, the new comer, being only fifteen years old, is still in his boyhood. He has been re christened Buddah. His tusks are are remarkably fine." "At the Zoological Gardens he occupies the apartment formerly tenanted by the much lamented Jumbo. who went last year (actually 1882) to push his fortunes in the New World. The house in question has been done up for his reception, and the walls and pilasters in front of the stall have been draped in green baize." "On Saturday and Sunday last Buddha held grand receptions, and, despite the season of the year, the Zoo was crowded . Much interest was felt in Buddha's mahout, Radum Raddi, a half-breed Burmese, from the neighborhood of Mandalay. He was dressed in full national costume, and the contrast between the white of his dress and his dark, flowing hair was most picturesque." "People were undeniably disappointed in Buddha's color. They had hoped to see a creature looking as Jumbo might look, supposing him to have previously tumbled into a gigantic flour bin. **Why do they call him white** asked a puzzled lady. **Well ma'am** was the reply. ** he's not werry (sic) white, perhaps, but then you see he's werry (sic) sacred.** " To Barnum's great disappointment the American public asked the same question. Here is another figure attributed to the Illustrated London News - - -