INDIAN JUGGLER'S TRICKS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1678, 3 October 1887, Page 3

INDIAN JUGGLER'S TRICKS

('* Cbriatain Union.")

Mr E. Stanley Robertson, lately m the Bengal Civil Service, m a recant article gives an amu-idg account of some ot* the trioka of an lad an Juggler. He Bays : — When he entered the room he spread the cloth upon the floor and Bat down upon it, with his back to the wall, the door rf the room being on his right hand. His spectators were disposed m the following fashion : Mr Smyth sat on a chair nearly lo the middle of the room, I was ail. Inn on a Bofa U6ar the door. The Parsee merchant stood m tbe doorway about an arm's length from me. The servants Btocd about m groups, the largest group being between the door and the conjurer. As soon as he bad settled himself he turned to the Parsee and a.ked for the loan of a rupee. The Parsee at firat demurred a little, but, on being guaranteed against loss, he produced the coin. He wa. going to put it into the conjurer's band, but tbe latter refused, and told the Parsee to band it to Mc Smyth's bearer. The bearer took it, and, at tbe request of the conjurer, looked at it and deolared it to be really a rupee, The conjurer tbeo told him to hand it to his master. Mr Smyth took it, and then followed thiß dialogue — CoDJur^r : *' Aro ycu sure that is a rupee V Smyth: "Yes." Conjurer : " Close your hand on it and hold it tight. Now think of some country m Europe, but do not tell me your thought." . Then the conjurer ran over the namea of several countries, such bb France, Germany Russia, Turkey, and America — for the native of India Is under the impression that America is m Europe. After a momenta pause Mr Smyth eaid he had thought of a country. " Then open your hand," said the juggler, "6ee what you have got, aud tell me if it is a coin of the country you thonght of." It was a five-franc piece, and Mr Smyth had thought of France. He was going to hand tbe o.ln to the conjurer but the latter said :— "No ; pass it to the other sabib." Mr Smyth accordingly pnt the five-fn.no piece into my hand ; I looked closely at It, then shut my band, and thought of Russia. When I opened it 1 found, not a Buesian but a Turkish silver piece, about the biz 3 cf the fivefranc piece, or of our own crown piece. This I handed to Mr Smyth, and suggested that he shou'd nar__e America, which he did and found a Mexican dollar In his band. The coin, whatever it was, had never been m tbe conjurer's hand from the time tho rupee was borrowed from the Parsee merchant. Mr Smyth and hia bearer had both of them closely examined the rupee, and Mr Smyth and I turned over Beveral times the five-franc

piece, the Turkish c.in, and tbe dollar ; bo the trick did not depend on a reversible coin. Indeed, it could not, for the coin underwent three changes, ns has been seen. I need only add, for the information of these readers who know not India, tbat a rupee is only about the sige of a florin, and therefore about half the weight of a five^franc piece, The juggler performed several other trickß that day, but they were of a commonplace kind, and m no way comparable to the coin trick, which I have seen rivalled by any other conjurer m India or Europe. The following evening Mr Smyth and I were to dine at the mesa of the 23 th Native Infantry. We told some friends m the regiment of the tricks our juggler had shown us ; they a.ked us to invite the man to perform after dinner m tbe meBB drawing-room. He came accordingly, and began by showing some very commonplace trioks. I wanted him to do the coin trick, but ho made some excuse. I should mention that one cf the officers was himself an amateur conjuror, and Mr introduced him and our juggler to each other as comrades m art magic, Possibly our juggler may have been afraid that the captain would detect his method ; or perhaps he only felt nervous about repeating a trick which must have depended very much on mere guess-work Be this as it may, he would not perform the coin trick at the mess. But he did another almost equally wonderful. As before, he was seated on a white cloth, which this time, 1 think, was a tablecloth borrowed from the -pees sergeant. He asked someone present to produce a rupee, nnd to lay it down at a remote edge of the cloth. 'Ihe cloth being three or four yards m length, the conjurer could not t uch the coin without being seen, and, m fact, did not touch it He then aßked for a sigDet ring. Several were offered hira, and he choße out one which bad a very large oval seal projecting well beyond tbe gold hoop on both sides. This- ring he tossed and tumbled several times m his hands, now throwing it into the air and catching it. then shaking it between tha clasped hands, all the time mumbling balfinarticulate words m some Hindustanee : patois. Thtn setting the ring down on 1 the cloth at about half arm's length m front of bim, he said, slowly and dis- ' tinctivcly, m good Hindustanee, "Ring, ', rise up, and go to the rupee." The ring rose, with the Beal uppermost, and, resting \ on the hoop, slowly, with a kind of dancing cr jerking motion, it passed over 1 J the cloth until it came to where the rupee ' lay on the remote edge, then it lay down on J tbe coin. The conjurer then said, " Ring, 5 lay hold of the rupee and bring it to ime," The projecting edge of the seal" seemed to grapple with the edge of the coin ; the ring and tbe rupee rose into a ?. kjnd of wrestling attitude, and, with the came dancing or jerking motion, the two 6 returned to within reach of the juggler's t e hand. I have no theory to explain either ! " of these two tricks. I should mention, , c however, that the juggler disclaimed all • supernatural powers, and alleged that be , performed his tricks by mere sleight of hand it will be observed that he had no ® preparation of his surroundings, no machinery and no confederate ,