2-982-092 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Prince of Wales's Animals from India, 1876. 'Thaars; an incident on the road; Musk Deer; Wild Cat...Jung Pershad and Sepa Kali...two elephants, from Nepaul...are attended by two Indian mahouts and a boy, whose...dusky red complexion and unknown speech, catch the attention of visitors to the gardens. Two of the regular keepers employed by the Zoological Society were at Portsmouth...when the [HMS] Serapis arrived...They accompanied the larger pair of elephants from Portsmouth to London, travelling along the high road. In this journey, as may well be supposed, the appearance of those fine young monsters, must have excited some astonishment among the country people...a commercial travelling agent in his gig was beaten in a race he had rashly challenged, in the confidence that he could do a better pace with the one-horse vehicle than that of the elephants'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.