The Gaikwar of Baroda, one of the few independent native princes of India, rules over a district of nearly five thousand square miles in the Bombay Presidency and traces the origin of his power to the early part of the eighteenth century. Like all Hindu rulers and high officials in India, this potentate has a special state elephant, which is adorned with magnificent trappings and surmounted by a howdah, in which ride the prince and those whom he chiefly honours.