Hindoo Jugglers.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 178, 8 April 1873, Page 7

Hindoo Jugglers.

(From the Dark Blue Magazine.) . Some Hindoo jugglers now came aft, and requested permission from the Captain to exhibit some of their really wonderful feats. : Having obtained it, they sat down, four in number, and commenced by causing a black j boy on board to sit down on the deck. One j of their number then taking a piece of chalk drew a white line right down his forehead,! all the time reciting a chant, in which the I other three joined, the burden of it being! chick-war, ar-ar-chick-chick, &c, repeated 1 very quickly ; lie then, without removing his j hand, drew a purple, then a blue, then a red, ! and, lastly, a black line, and finally showed ', us tiie original piece of white chalk in his hand, reduced in size certainly, but uncon- : taniinatod by the numerous" colours that I adorned the boy's face. They next did the

ball trick. Four little bulls are produ:ed, and throe boll-shaped cups of metal, the size i f a small eo "co-cu". These three cups th<<v ■ deposit on the dick, month dov.nv,a"ds, and t 0:1 lift ihe.u all u;-, ahowiny there is no- , thing 11 idercioath. Tapping the tops of tl 0 • cups with h'a wind, t.e per'oriner tosses tlio four balls about from hand to hand, thou , luddeuly exposes his palms ; hi, the bails aro gon-j ! He ag-in liff.s the cups. Two era empty, one litis all four balls underneath. Replannig the cups., the four balls still remaining under the same cup, ho twists his wand about, touches their tops, lifts them, and two of them has one ball each under 'hem, and the remaining one lias two. It U nipossible to detect the secret of this trick, which is varied in innumerable ways. The juggler then did the sword trick. A sword, about two feet long in the blade, was thrust down the open .throat of one of them, and must have reached .to his "navel. Ho s'ood for some minutes with the blade down his stomach and the thick hilt sticking out from his mouth. He then slowly ' withdrew it, and, having wiped it, performed several sleight-of-hand tricks with the weapon. The same man then took an iron rod, bent like ail S, with one end fashioned into the likeness of a snake's head. Opening his mouth, lie put this up one of his nostrils, so that we saw the iron head at the back of his throat ; it was twisted about several times before it was withdrawn. The fire-eater then started up. He put a j piece of light-coloured stone between his I teeth, and took several strong inspiration:!, j whereupon smoke and flame suddenly darted from his nostrils. This also lasted upwards of a minute, after which betook a piece of wadding and set it afire from the flames coming out of his mouth. After this one of their number procured a bit of thread, and allowed us to cut it up into small pieces. He then swallowed it in a minute, and drew it out again perfect as before it was cut. The sane man drew out after the thread an immense long worm about six feet in length. Another I of their number amused us with playing six I balls, spinning at the same time a top, and j balancing it perfectly with its apex revolving round the extremity of a long rod resting 0:1 his forehead. The heavy weight trick "was next performed. If, is hardly fair to call this ;i trick, since the dull thud.an iron.ball of :201b. makes on.the back of the performer is not to be mistaken, as he catches it alternately on the muscles of his arms and on the--small of his bank. The two tricks of the day wen* vet to come. Neither of then, I think, haa been satisfactorily explained. The first performed was the snake trick. The man shows you an empty, basket, and then the dried j skins; of two cobra capellas siu-;k together, aud lets you examine closely both them and j die basket. Placing the skins in the basket, I he plays plaintively for about five minutes on a sort of flute called the Charmer. The j I'd is then lifted, and the two skins arc seen tilled out, the" heads darting hither and thither, aud the bodies still writhing in each other's embrace. The circle round the basket is immediately enlarged. The snako charmer squeezes some of the poison out of the mouth of one on to his arm, and shows it to us. The flute is again played, and the snakes, obedient to its voice, returned into the basket. When the lid is once more taken off, nothhig is to be seen but the t.vo dried skins. The snakes could not, however well educated, have disappeared Without our seeing them, and none of us can explain it without allowing supernatural powers to the liihdol .