Most of the respectable gentlemen in Lucknow maintain an elephant for their own use, where it is almost as common to meet them as horses. Though most persons, I observe, avoid falling in with, the royal cortège, (which is always announced by the sound of the dunkah), unless they are disposed to court the King's observation; then they draw up their elephant, and oblige the animal to kneel down whilst the King passes on, the owner standing in his howdah to make salaams; others, I have seen, dismount in time, and stand in a humble posture, with the hands folded and the head bowed low, doing reverence and attracting his Majesty's notice as he passes on. These little acts of ceremonious respect are gratifying to the King, and are frequently the means of advancing the views of the subject to his favour. The khillauts, presented by the King, vary in the number of the articles composing the gift, as well as in the quality. The personal rank, and sometimes the degree of estimation in which the receiver is held, is defined by the value and number of an individual's khillaut. I have known some gentlemen tenacious to a foible, about the nature of the khillaut that could consistently be accepted; I have heard it even expressed, 'I shall be disgraced in the eyes of the world, if my khillaut has not the full complement usually conferred on men of my rank'. It is the honour they value, not the intrinsic worth of the articles, for it is no uncommon thing to find them distributing the dress of honour amongst their dependants, on the same day they have received it.