In all the magnificent ceremonials and pageants of the Orient, the elephant forms a prominent feature: and even to-day we are delighted and amused with the impressive spectacle a herd presents as it marches in the procession of the circus; the dignified bearing of the animals, their measured tread, and large stature, all adding to the grandeur of the scene. That this was recognized in olden times, is well known; and, whenever a king desired to show his power and riches to the best advantage, the elephant was employed. Bernier has given a vivid description of some of the processions of the East. “I cannot avoid,” he says, “dwelling on this pompous procession of the seraglio. It strongly arrested my attention during the late march, and I feel delight in recalling it to my memory. Stretch imagination to its utmost limits, and you can conceive no exhibition more grand and imposing than when Rochinara Begum (Aurengzebe’s sister), mounted on a stupendous Pegu elephant, and seated in a mik-dember, blazing with gold and azure, is followed by five or six other elephants, with mik-dembers nearly as resplendent as her own, and filled with ladies attached to her household. Close to the princess are the chief eunuchs, richly adorned and finely mounted, each with a cane in his hand; and, surrounding her elephant, a troop of female servants from Tartary and Kashmire, fantastically attired, and riding handsome pad-horses. Besides these attendants, are several eunuchs on horseback, accompanied by a multitude of pagys, or lackeys, on foot, with large canes, who advance a great way before the princess, both to the right and to the left, for the purpose of clearing the road, and driving before them every intruder. Immediately behind Rochinara Begum’s retinue appears a principal lady of the court, mounted and attended much in the same manner as the princess. This lady is followed by a third; she by a fourth; and so on, until fifteen or sixteen females of quality pass, with a grandeur of appearance, equipage, and retinue, more or less proportionate to their rank, pay, and office. There is something very impressive of state and royalty in the march of these sixty or more elephants; in their solemn and, as it were, measured steps; in the splendor of their mik-dembers, and the brilliant and innumerable followers in attendance. And if I had not regarded this display of magnificence with a sort of philosophical indifference, I should have been apt to be carried away by the similar flights of imagination as inspire most of the Indian poets, when they represent the elephants as carrying so many goddesses, concealed from the vulgar gaze.”