Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1855-12-11
The ynagIers of IndIa.

From the first of series of interesting ar.
tices entitled" Sketches of India" now
publishing in the Crayon, We extract the fol-
| lowing
One morning, after 1 had passed some days
at Madras, went to the 'esarden house. Of
one of my English friends, to see an exhibit
ton of some iugglers who had been sent for
the night before TO come up fioin the Black
Town. The jugglers of Madras are famous
as the best in India. They form caste hy
themselves Their skill is the result of prac-
tice of successive generations, and their art is
a Hereditary one. 1t was about six o'clock in
clear September morning, and our party
consisted OF five or six spectators Coffee
having been served we took our seats on the
verandah, on the shady side of the house.
While the juga@ms, of whom there were fi-
teen or twenty, ranged themselves on the grass
at the further side of the avenue, ten or twelve
feet wide, that run between us and them
Behind them was green field, on which, at
some distance, grew few trees and Towering
shrubs. There was nothing near them that
could afford hiding place Or shelter. The men
Wore nothing but the dhotee or tight cloth
about their loins; two of them were very old
with white boards lying upon their dark skins.
Inc women were clothed in the common
hight. loose dress of the lower classes, and the
L
OF their art. their musical instruments, and
the hat,cireular baskets, in which their snakes
for the lugglers are also snake eharmers by
Professionally around upon the grass
One OF the young men began the exhibit
ton with some common tricks of slight of
hand, remarkable only from the fact that his
dress and the ground afforded him no aids
Then another came forward, and throwing
four brass balls into the air kept them in con-
slant motion, now making them circle about
his head. now throwing them in opposite di-
rections under his arms aud over his shout
ders, now chasing one with incredible quick
ness OF eye and quickness of hand, with in
comprehensive delicacy making them wheel
about him as if they were obedent servants of
his will. Such exquisite skill makes ones
own hands utterly clumsy and Inefficient
All the while that this iuggler was playing so
beautifully With the glittering brass bnils. one
OF his companions beat upon dull drum,
while the others looked on, and now and then
at some peculiarly successfully or long sus-
tanned flight, broke out with murmur Of en-
couraging applause. Then followed in quick
succession other remarkable feats of agility,
strength, and skill-feats OH poles, with
swords, with stones, with ribbons-feats, in.
deed, of all sorts, and all done with an appa-
rent ease, that made them not less pleasant
than wonderful TO see. The jugglers seemed
subtle and 1.-THE as spirits
:" Not tied or nlanaclei with joint or limb,
| Nor founded on the brittle strength Of hone,
Like cumbrous flesh" t
But the most wonderful performance that
we saw this morning was feat of pure Jug
| Cling, of which l have never been able to find
any solution. One of the old men came for.
ward upon the graveled and hard rodden av-
| enue. leading with him woman. He made
her kneel down, tied her arms behind her,
and blind folded her eyes Then bringing
| great bag net made with open meshes of rope,
| he put 1t over the woman, and laced up the
mouth, fastening it with kpotted INTERVIEWING
cords III such way that it seemed an impos-
sibility for her to extricate herself from it
The man then took closely woven wicker
basket that narrowed towards the top, lifted
the woman in the net from the ground, and
| placed her in it, though it was not without
! tile exertlon of some force that he could crowd
her through the narrow mouth, Having sue
ceeded In getting her into the basket, in
| which, from its small size, she was necessari.
! lyln most cramped position, he put the COW
er upon it, and threw over it wide strip of
cloth, hiding it completely. In moment
| placing his hand under the cloth, he drew
out the net quite united and disentangled-
lie then took long, straight, sharp sword,
| muttered some words to himself while he
sprlnkled the dust upon the cloth, and put
| same upon his forehead, then pulled off and
threw aside the covering. and plunged the
sword suddenly into the basket.
Prepared as i'll some degree we were for
!. this, and knowing that it was only decep-
ton, it was yet impossible to see it without
cold creeping of horror. The quiet ard en-
ergy with which he repeated his strokes, driv-
ing the sword through and through the bas-
ket while tie other jugglers looked on, APP
parently as much interested as ourselves, were
very dramatic aid effective. Stopping after
he had riddled the basket, he again scattered
dust upon its top, lifted the lid, took up the
basket from the ground, showed it to us emp
ty, and threw il away, Al the same moment
we saw the woman approaching us from
clump of trees at distance of at least fifty or
sixty feet.
Throughout the whole Of this inexplicable
feat, the old man and woman were quite re-
moved from the rest of their party The bas.
ket stood by itself oil the hard earth, and so
much beneath the verandah on which we
were sitting, that we could easily see all
around it. By what trick our watchful ewes
were closed, or by what means the woman
invisible escaped, was an entire mystery, and
remains unsolved. The tent is not very un-
common one, butno one who had seen it ever
gave me clue to the manner in which it was
performed.