A procession beneath the ancient palace of Man Singh at Gwalior

India's elephants, in addition to its architectural monuments and the customs of its people, attracted the attention of Western travelers. Many seem to have been greatly fascinated by elephant processions, and included descriptions of such events in words and/or illustrations in their published travel journals and memoirs.
In 1896, the successful American artist Edwin Lord Weeks described the city of Gwalior and its famous fifteenth-century palace in his travel journal, in a manner similar to Captain Mundy in 1832. Both writers speak of the palace atop a rocky ridge that arose from the extensive arid plain below. In this unpublished sketch, Weeks shows a winding procession led by several elephants,horsemen, and attendants on foot, on a narrow curving path along the steep ridge. A glimpse of the palace appears in the upper right corner.