This, it will be seen, is in strict conformity to the usage of the ancient Egyptians, who employed the tall fan emblem in a precisely similar way; these proud plumes serving a double purpose—an ornamental, and, in the case of Egypt, even an heraldic purpose, and also the purely utilitarian one of affording the animal some relief from fly pests. The peacock has ever been regarded as a sacred bird, both by the peoples of the East and the West. The Greek fable of Argus the hundred-eyed, the sleepless guardian of Io, serves to connect the idea of extreme vigilance with that of true kingship, _i.e._ the universal preserver and father of the people. The peacock therefore presented a double significance to the minds of the Hindu peoples; it expressed the vigilance of kingship together with its magnificence. The peacock feather emblem of royalty is the sign or insignia of the king’s high office, and the principal evidence of his sovereignty: wherever a king appears he is accompanied by an attendant bearing this emblem, which appears in all pictorial or other representations of royalty. It was, doubtless, in the first instance a fly-flap, and is either composed entirely of feathers, or, it consists of a bunch of feathers enclosed two-thirds of the distance in a silver casing, usually ornamented with an imbricated pattern; the handle also of silver. Several examples of this object appear in the India Museum, and numberless representations occur in sculpture, illumination, embroidery, etc. The poet Valmiki tells of the sumptuous sceptre, studded with jewels, prepared for the sacrifices to Rama—a magnificent fan with a radiant garland resembling the full moon in the clear night sky. [Illustration: EMBLEM OF ROYALTY (From an illumination of a Court reception by the King of Oudh.)] The word punkhá, or pankhá, from pankh, a feather, a bird, is a generic term applied in India to all fans, pankhi meaning a small fan. This derivation serves as an indication of the early use of the plumed fan in India, which divides honours with the palm-leaf fan in point of antiquity, and doubtless also as suggesting a similarity between the beating of a bird’s wings and the movement of the fan. The earliest plumed fans probably consisted of a pair of complete wings set shoulder to shoulder, resembling the caduceus of Mercury, which was regarded as a symbol of happiness, peace, and concord, the wings expressing diligence.