The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-31 00:00:00

JUGGLERS.

(From an article on the "Autobiography of the Emperor
Jahangueir," in the " Quarterly Review.")
The author makes a characteristic transition from the
grave subject on which he had been just engaged to an ac-
count of the feats of some Bengal jugglers, which cannot,
he thinks, but be considered among the most surprising
circumstancts of the age. The description of the opera-
tions of these men is, however, in itself by no means un-
worthy of attention, inasmuch as it shows the degree of
perfection to whielt they carrel their various contrivances
for dece ving the imperial Court. Jahangueir was so
struck with astonishment at the wonders which they
wrought, that he ascribes them without hesitation to su-
pernatural power. The jugglers were first desired to pro•
duce upon thespot,from the seed, 10 mulberry trees. They
immediately sowed 'in separate places sped in the ground,
and in a few minutes after, a mulberry plant was seen
springing from each of the seeds, each plant, as it rose in
the air, shouting forth leaves and branche., and yietring
excellent fruit ! In the same manner, and by a similar
magical process, apple-trees, mangoes, tie•trees, almond
and waluut-trees were created, all producing fruit, which
Jahangueir assures us was exquisite to the taste. This,
however, he observes, was not all
Before the trees were removed there appear,d atnome
the foliage birds of F•ucli surprising beauty, in colour and
shape, and melody of song, as the world never saw before.
At the clese of the operation, the foliage, as ire autumn,
was seen to put on its variegated tints, and the trees gra-
dually disappeared into the earth from which ti ey hat
been made to spring."
Major Price states, that lie has himself wi,nessed simi-
lar operations on the western side of India, but that a she t
was employed to cover the process. " I have, however,"
he adds, " no conception of the means by which they were
accomplished, unless the jugglers had the trees about them.
in every stage, from the seedling to the fruit."
The reader will be amused with the Emperor's narra-
tive of some more of these "specious miracles:"—
" Oas night, and in the very middle of the night, when
half this globe" teas %%rapped in darkness, one of these
seven men stripped himself almost naked, and having

spun himself round several times, he took a sheet, with
which be covered himself, and from beneath the sheet
drew out a resplendent mirror, by the radiance of which
a light so powerful was produced, as to have illuminated
the hemisphere to an incredible distance round ; to such
a distance, indeed, that we have the attestation of travel-
lers to the fact, who declared, that on a particular night,
the same night on which the exhibition took place, and
it the distance of ten days' journey, they saw the atmo-
sphere so powerfully illuminated as to exceed the bright-
ness of the brightest day they had ever seen.
" They placed in my presence a large seething-pot or
caldron, and filling it partly with water, they threw into
it eight of the smaller smarts of irak of rice ; when without
the application of the smallest spark of fire, the caldron
forthwith began to boil ; in a little time they took off the
lid, and drew from it nearly a hundred platters full, each
with a stewed fowl at top !"
But these feats of skill fall into insignificance when com-
pared with the following extraordinary process:—
" They produced a man whom they divided limb from
limb, actually severing his head from the body. They
scattered these mutilated members along the ground, and
in this state they lay for some time. They then extended
a sheet or curtain over the spot, and one of the men put-
ting himself under the sheet, in a few minutes came from
below, followed by the individual supposed to have been
cut into joints, in perfect health and condition, and one
might have safelysworn that he had never received wound
or injury whatever !" •
This trick we can easily understand to have been per-
formed by means not unlike those which are resorted to
upon our stage, whenever it becomes necessary to hang,
draw, and quarter pantaloon in the pantomime. If it be
true, us Jahangueir relates, that his jugglers also in a mo-
ment covered a pond with a mantle of ice sufficiently
strong to bear an elephant, the machinery sent from Eng-
land to India some time ago for freezing water must have
been no novelty in that country. We should much like
to know Sir David Brewster's conjectures with respect to
the following, which must have been optical deceptions,
and in which we trace a certain similarity to soma of the
stories so amusingly cleared up in the "Letters on Na-
tural Magic."
" They caused two tents to be set up, the one at the
distance of a bow-shot from the other, the doors or en-
trances being placed exactly opposite; they raised the
tent-walls all around, and desired that it might be particu-
larly observed that they were entirely empty., 111!2; making
the tent-walls to the ground, two.eif
she seven men en •
tered, one into each tent.,. V.:he of the other men entering
either of the...tents,- thus prepared, they said they would
ndertaite to bring out of the tents any animal we chose
to mention, whether bird or beast, and set them in con-
flict with each other. Khaun-e•Jahaun, with a smile of
incredulity, required them to show us a battle between
two ostriches. In a few minutes two ostriches of the
largest size issued, one from either tent, and attacked each
other with such fury that the blood was seen streaming
from their heads; they were at the same time so equally
matched, that neither could get the better of the other,
and they were therefore separated by the men, and con-
veyed within the tents. In short, they continued to pro
duce from either tent whatever animal we chose to name,
and before our eyes set them to fight in the manner I have
attempted to describe; and although I have exerted my
utmost invention to discover the secret of the contrivance,
it has been entirely without success.

" They were furnished with a bow and about 50 steel •
pointed arrows. One of the seven men took the bow in
hand, and shooting an arrow into the air, the shaft stood
fixed at a considerable height ; he shot a second arrow,
which flew straight to the first, to which it became at.
tached, and so with every one of the remaining arrows,
to the last of all, which striking the sheaf suspended in the
air, the whole immediately broke as under, and came at once
to the earth.

"They produced a chain of 50 cubits in length, and in
my presence threw one end of it towards the sky, where
it remained, as if fastened to something in tqe air. A dog
was then brought forward, and being placed at the lower
end of the cha n, instantly ran up, and reaching the other
end, immediately disappeared in the air. In the same
manner a hog, a panther,' a lion, and a tiger, were alter-
nately sent up the chain, and all equally disappeared at the
upper end of the chain. At last they took down the
chain, and put it into a bag, no one even discovering in
what way the differer.t animals were made to vanish into
the air in the mysterious manner above described. This
I may venture to affirm was beyond measure strange and
surprising."

WHERE TO BUY A HORSE.

(From a Periodical entitled " The Horbe.")

This, to tie uninitiated, will appear a most absurd
question. Where to buy a horse? Why there are ten
thousand places ! You may buy one hundred in an
hour !! Thus it seems to those who have not tried it.
To those who have, it is a most trying and annoying
question, and we now tee one of these, on the above ques-
tion being put by an acquaintance, stretching up his
arms, thrusting out his feet, and saying, God knows!
Having given himself this relief, he starts up to prepare
himself for a tedious and wearisome hunt, knowing the
toil and drudgery that will have to be gone through to
try and prevent themselves from being taken in. But
we should premise by saying the sum that is to be given
for the horse, and the purposes, greatly adds to or dimi-
nishes the difficulty, which will be more pla'nly dive.
loped as we get further on with this chapter. Well,
having made up your mind to give a certain sum, which
you are told will not purchase a lime at a respectable
dealer's, or you do not like to go to them for fear of being
taken in, you take up a newspaper and spell over the ad-
vertisements ; one or two suit your ideas.

You go, and are most probably caught by the chnun.
tern as before described; you now will very likely have a
guinea man tumble in your way (sent by the chaunter),
who perhaps persuades you to look at some gentleman's
horse; this, toe, most probably a chaunter's or dealer's
(if not this very man's horse, as they frequently have two
and three stables), who takes care to put from five to
twenty pounds more on the horse, to enable him to
pay this jackal! well (it is a universal custom when-
they are seen attending any one, and they are all
known amongat horse sellers, whether cbaunters or
any grade of dealers, though they seldom appear to
r..!cognis.• one another), and because he is certain, if this
man bas any influence over you, that he will persuade you
to have the horse. Or you go to the repository; here you
are directly beset, and one of these fellows having got
hold of you, will most probably lug you into buying a
dealer's screw, while you imagine it is the property of
some gentleman or tradesman, or should it belong to either
of the latter, rely on it the horse is a screw. " Well, but
I pay him to examine it ; buy it for me and protect me."
"All very true, but by buying you a screw he gets paid
thrice, and that is all he cares about." This is the way,
you pay him in the yard for buying it, so does the dealer
for selling it ; the horse gets home, and then it is very
frequently discovered his vices render him useless, er
that he is unsound ; one or the other is nearly certain,
if not both. He calls on you the next day or so, hoping
you may have found out faults sufficient to induce you to
part with the horse again, knowing as soon as the storm,
which he is sure of on your first meeting, is over, that he
shall be employed to help you to get rid of your bad
bargain, and serves you as described under the head of
guinea man. Should you not find out you are taken in
(which is occasionally the case) he is disappointed of a
further immediate profit, but still hoping to victimise,
1 Ala forward to your recommendation to your friends, as he
knows, until you discover his treachery, you will consider
you have found (a rara avis) an honest horse-dealer, and
in consequence of their scarcity you will feel bound to
recommend all your friends to avail themselves of the in-
valuable assistance of so clever and honest a man ; " to
much honesty ought not to go unrewarded, it is a Ft-
mium to roguery not to encourage to deserving a man."
This was the obsetva.ion made in the hearing of ourselves
by a gentleman so completely infatuated that be would
(we suppose out of obstinacy) not believe one of tbnee
fellows had rubbed him when it was pointed out to him
under the following circumstances :—He
recommended a
guinea man us all honesty, and a paragon of petfection to
a friend, about to purchaSe a horse; this friend discovered
lie was taken in before he got home, returned the tors.,
and could neither get money nor horse again ; at the san e
time he heard several tales very prejudicial' to an honest
character, also that his friend's horse was, and had been,
an unsound one as least twelve months prior to his por-
chasing it. He then went to this friend that recommended
the guinea man, the horse was exanatned, and it was pe,i
flounced he must have been unsound prior to his purchasing

-Never place any confidence in one of them, they are
sure to take the very first opportunity that they can to
make it worth their while of. robbing you; should they
let one or two chances pate, it is Leaure they are calcu-
lating on a better, and the moment that one presents
itself, which they think will be the largest in their power,
rely on it it will not pass unregarded. Probably yon
next go to the commission yard, and are almost sure, if
you buy, either to have one belonging to the proprietor of
,he yard, or one of the hangers on, ever to be found in

these places, fathers, or sweetners. You try to make
yourself secure, and ask to see the owner ; be shows him-
self, and you are satisfied ; or it is a gentleman in the
country. These are sometimes their sweetners ; some-
times they have the temerity to mention the name and
address.of a pe.rson not in existence, so that you get your
letter returned if you write. You go to the yard and
state this; you receive for reply that was the address left
with the horse, but his owner will be here, mentioning a
stated period, or the owner is by some miracle then in the
yard; if so, you see him at once, or by appointment,
when he says at the time he gave that address he was on a
visit in the neighbourhood, so gave it expecting the horse
would have been sold before he came to town. You buy,
and are taken in, whether you discover it or not, unless
you give a good price, for at these places the proprietor
almost invariably buys such horses as are worth his while,
or sends to the dealer buying that particular class of horse,
and if not at his price, they manage to keep it till the
owner is sick, and it then comes down to their wishes
under the head of commission stables, in, where, and how
to buy a horse, this is described. It 9a 1.12 .I'4:Common
thing when a dealer calls 'lt''cone of these yards in the
morning (generally such times as they think few
gen tlemen: are there) to hear this dialogue :
`.` T.Vitreir,' have you anything ?" " Yes, but it's not
been here long enough yet, he must eat a little
more.' Away goes the dealer to call again, fully
understanding what is meant. Reader, we will also
let you know, if you have not already a pretty shrewd
guess from the foregoing. It is when the bill for keep is
a pretty good one, the owner will take such a price as the
dealer will give, or the owner, the repository keeper is
aware, is short of money, he therefore intends to keep it
till the account is as much as he intends to give for the
horse, knowing the owner will not have the money to
pay him, and theref ire must let bins have it for the bill,
thus he gets the horse nominally for a certain sum of
money, but in reality the profit on his keep less. Now
he is ready for the dealer, in their language " be has eat
enough." It is very rate that the owner gets a fair price
for his horse; this being the case, you would imagine the
buyer must get a bargain. This, however, is equally
rare; the reasons above, well considered, will account for
this. Did you ever sell a horse at any of these places?
Did you ever get a fair, or any thing like a fair price for
one? Did you ever buy at these places? and have they
not always proved the dearest horses? Hive you ever
been able to buy, at the soundest, any thing better
than a good screw, except where sots have paid full as
much as you would have paid elsewhere for a Found fresh
young horse? Then what has become of your good sound
horse, which you have sold for little money at these
places, if they are not to be bought at the price you sold ?
The prelude to these questions has informed you.