According to careful measurements taken on the porch at Mount Vernon he was fifteen hands high, and his body and limbs were very large in proportion to his height; his ears were fourteen inches long, and his vocal cords were good.

He was, however, a sluggish beast, and the sea voyage had affected him so unfavorably that for some time he was of little use.

In letters to Lafayette and others Washington commented facetiously upon the beast's failure to appreciate "republican enjoyment." Ultimately, however, "Royal Gift" recovered his strength and ambition and proved a valuable piece of property.

He was presently sent on a lour of the South, and while in South Carolina was in the charge of Colonel William Washington, a hero of the Cowpens and many other battles.

The profits from the tour amounted to $678.64, yet poor "Royal Gift" seems to have experienced some rough usage on the way thither, arriving lame and thin and in a generally debilitated condition.