Image: The White Elephant, Punch 103

Description: Illustration of an African explorer attempting to sell his white elephant to a wealthy man. A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth. In 1892, the British East Africa Company (as the explorer), which was the administrator of British East Africa (including the territory of Uganda, as the white elephant), was becoming increasingly ineffective in its venture as a commercial company with colonial administrative rights – amidst conflicts between rival factions, including the Kingdom of Buganda, French Catholic, and British Protestant missionaries. By 1894, the British government (as the wealthy man) had assumed administration rights of the territory and established the Uganda Protectorate, effectively dissolving the company. The title and caption (not shown): THE WHITE ELEPHANT. PRESENT PROPRIETOR (loq.). "SEE HERE, GOVERNOR! HE'S A LIKELY-LOOKING ANIMAL,—BUT I CAN'T MANAGE HIM! IF YOU WON'T TAKE HIM, I MUST LET HIM GO!!"
Title: The White Elephant, Punch 103
Credit: Punch, vol. 103
Author: John Tenniel
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No