Some have said that this Sacred White Elephant of Barnum’s was a sand-papered and scrubbed elephant of ordinary profane habits, who was painted. But it is more probable that Barnum was fooled by his conception of a Sacred White Elephant as really white, and that his agents thought that a genuine Sacred White Elephant would have enough publicity value, even if the color was not up to expectations. The elephant did have great publicity value, but as a curiosity he did not last long. Most people who visited the Barnum & Bailey circus were disappointed when they did not see a cream-white elephant, and Toung Taloung was subsequently returned to the circus winter quarters at Bridgeport, where he perished in the fire that destroyed those buildings in 1887. The Adam Forepaugh circus, one of the strongest rivals of Barnum & Bailey, determined to have a Sacred White Elephant that would really be white, but Adam Forepaugh did not trouble to send to Burmah or Siam for his specimen. The elephant trainers prepared a white elephant by the sacred use of sufficient paint, and with careful applications every other day of a preparation that would not too easily wear off, a White Elephant of Siam, but truly white, was with Adam Forepaugh’s show. Just at this time the Prince of Siam was traveling in the United States, and after much trouble he and his suite were persuaded to visit Forepaugh’s circus and pass upon the elephant. There were no interpreters present. When the Prince entered, Adam Forepaugh is said to have rushed up to him, slapped him on the back cordially and vigorously, and said in American: “There now, Prince, ain’t that the kind of elephants you have in your country?” The Prince was too astonished, and his suite too shocked, to deny anything, and they left the circus hurriedly. Adam Forepaugh took this as a sign of unqualified approval, and he advertised accordingly. VI The Barnum & Bailey show continued to increase in size each year, and also to increase its receipts. Efforts were continued to supply more startling novelties and larger performances. “Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Russian Boy,” or “The Great Ethnological Congress of Strange Savage Tribes,” were supplemented by other attractions each year. The newspaper reviews of the progress of the circus through the country are the panegyrics to a victorious army of entertainment. Every town of any size throughout the East, South, and Middle West of the United States soon had its “Barnum Day,” heralded weeks in advance by large bills showing the satisfied smile of the veteran showman. [Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF JO-JO, THE DOG-FACED BOY, IN SIBERIA BY ONE OF BARNUM’S AGENTS _From a circus bulletin_] During one of the annual tours of the circus the press agent, one M. H. Warner, kept a diary of events that gives the best possible impression of the magnitude, crudity and diversity of the enterprise: