ght to wear a sword is a coveted distinction
throughout Jeypore state.

The palace stables contain three hundred horses, but the equipages and
trappings are more interesting than the animals. There are some superb
Arab steeds, however. A visitor noting the army of grooms wonders that
the management is not better systematized; but a word from your
traveling companion, who knows the ways of maharajahs, is to the effect
that an Indian nabob is forced by custom to support thousands whether
there be work for them or not. His Highness's stables and
carriage-houses somehow suggest a circus in winter quarters. The fact is
that Jeypore's ruler takes little interest in horseflesh and
carriagemakers' creations. His preference is for elephants--animals
befitting a dynasty descended from the sun and moon.

"Will the sahibs visit the elephant stable!" The sahibs communicate
their desire to do so. Mahouts with pikestaffs lead the way, and a
myriad of hangers-on swarm in the train of the visitors. The
accoutrements seen en route to the stable are interesting, surely,
especially the howdahs. Some of these are of silver. One was used by the
Prince of Wales; another was fashioned for the Maharajah's use at the
Delhi durbar, and a gorgeous one is reserved for the viceroy whenever
that mighty personage pays a state visit to Jeypore. A half-dozen
howdahs are specially fitted for the Maharajah's favorite sport,
tiger-hunting. Some of the howdah cloths represent a fortune in gold and
silver bullion, while a few are saved from tawdriness by the skill of
the embroiderer in silk.

[Illustration: COURT DANCERS AND MUSICIANS, JEYPORE]

The elephants are now trumpeting impatiently for inspection. Their
compound is a series of roofless walled enclosures, and a visitor notes
with grateful appreciation the strength of the chains anchoring the
beasts to mother earth. A leviathan is straining at his tether in a mad
effort to reach a vagabond who is tantalizing him with a pike, and your
guide--one of the official messengers with sword and shield--says: "He
no like Hindu people; last week he kill two." Beasts as docile as
kittens take nuts from your hand, and evince disappointment when more
are not forthcoming. Five magnificent tuskers, that promptly obey their
keeper's command, are used by His Highness for tiger-hunting; and a bevy
of complaisant elephants, quartered in a single stable, have grown old
in carrying tourists up the Ambir hills, it is exp