and passed down the slope, and down the outer ring
of the orchestra.

A splendid car, drawn by white oxen, bore the rarest and gaudiest of
foreign flowers and fruits, which young girls, dressed as Hours and
Seasons, strewed in front of the procession and among the spectators.

A long line of beautiful youths and maidens, crowned with garlands,
and robed in scarfs of purple gauze, followed by two and two. Each pair
carried or led a pair of wild animals, captives of the conquering might
of Beauty.

Foremost were borne, on the wrists of the actors, the birds especially
sacred to the goddess--doves and sparrows, wrynecks and swallows; and a
pair of gigantic Indian tortoises, each ridden by a lovely nymph, showed
that Orestes had not forgotten one wish, at least, of his intended
bride.

Then followed strange birds from India, parakeets, peacocks, pheasants
silver and golden; bustards and ostriches: the latter, bestridden each
by a tiny cupid, were led on in golden leashes, followed by antelopes
and oryxes, elks from beyond the Danube, four-horned rams from the Isles
of the Hyperborean Ocean, and the strange hybrid of the Libyan hills,
believed by all spectators to be half-bull half-horse. And then a murmur
of delighted awe ran through the theatre, as bears and leopards, lions
and tigers, fettered in heavy chains of gold, and made gentle for the
occasion by narcotics, paced sedately down the slope, obedient to
their beautiful guides; while behind them, the unwieldy bulk of two
double-horned rhinoceroses, from the far south, was overtopped by the
long slender necks and large soft eyes of a pair of giraffes, such as
had not been seen in Alexandria for more than fifty years.

A cry arose of 'Orestes! Orestes! Health to the illustrious Prefect!
Thanks for his bounty!' And a hired voice or two among the crowd
cried, 'Hail to Orestes! Hail, Emperor of Africa!'.... But there was no
response.

'The rose is still in the bud,' simpered Orestes to Hypatia. He rose,
beckoned and bowed the crowd into silence; and then, after a short
pantomimic exhibition of rapturous gratitude and humility, pointed
triumphantly to the palm avenue, among the shadows of which appeared
the wonder of the day--the huge tusks and trunk of the white elephant
himself.

There it was at last! Not a doubt of it! A real elephant, and yet as
white as snow. Sight never seen before in Alexandria--never to be seen
again! 'Oh, thrice blest men of Macedonia!' shou