Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-04-05
INDIAN JUGGLING.
WONDERFUL MENTAL ILLUSIONS AND TRICKS
From the New York Leader

| WONDERFUL MENTAL ILLUSIONS AND TRICKS.
From the New York Leader.
The fort Of Calcutta, commonly known as
Fort Williams, is one Of the most splendid
and convenient military establishments to be
found in any quarter of the globe. 1t is
very spacious, and somewhat resembles the
Tower of London, in that it consists OF
various streets and squares, adapted for diff,
ferent military purposes On all sides it is
guarded by high and sirongly-bults ram,
part, which is surrounded in its turn by a
broad and deep fosse, over which are placed
drawbritSes, leading to the principal gate.
ways. Arriving in Calcutta, a raw griffin
of course | went to inspect the lions, and
among others, the Fort.
| The Fort is often the scene of animated
festivity, from the presence of native jug.
glers, renowned for their surprising skill and
deyterity The performances of these strange
people have been so often described, that
shall only make mention ola few, for other.
wise | might tire the reader. One Of them
struck me as being curious from its having
strong resemblance to the feats recorded
in sacred history, as having been performed
by the magicans of Egypt, in the time Of
Moses, and in the presence of Pharaoh. In
deed, as it is well known that the Hindoo
! tricks have been handed down from the most
distant ages, from father to son, there is lit
>tle wonder that such similarity can exist
The particular trick alluded to, is the appar-
cnt conversion of brass coin into snake
The jugglcr gave me the coin to hold, and
then seated himself, about five yards from,
me, on mall rug, from which he never at.
tempted t0move during the whole perform
ance. | showed the coin to several persons
who were close beside me, on a form in front
of the juggler At a sign from him, not
only grasped the coin / held firmly in my
right hand, but, crossing that hand with
equal tightness with my left, I enclosed them
both as firmly as | could between my knees
or course was positively certain that the
small coin was within my double fists. The
| juggler then began sort Of incarnation, ac-
companicd by monotonous discordant kind
] of rccitatiyc, and, repeating the words, Ram,
Sammu, during some minutes. He then
suddenly stopped, and still keeping his seat,
made quick motion with his right hand,
as if throwing something at me, giving at the
same time puff with his mouth.
At that instant felt my hands suddenly
distcnd, and become partly open, while ex-
perienccd sensation as ifa cold ball of
dough, or something equally soft, nasty, and
disasreeable wasnow between my palms.
| started to my feet in astonishment also the
astonishment of others, and openingmy hands
| found there no coin, but to my horror and
alarm for of all created things | detest and
lothe the genus) | saw young snake, all
alive-oh! and of all snakes in the world, a
cobra di-capello, folded, or rather coilcd,
roundly up threw it instantly to the
ground, trembling with rage and fear, as if
already bit by the deadly reptile, which be-
gan Immediately to'crawl along the ground,
| to the alarm and alnaZement of every one
present.
The juggler now got up for the first time
since he had sat down, and catching hold of
the snake displayed its length, which was
nearly two feet two feet all but an inch
and half He then took it cautiously by
the tail, and opening his mouth to it's widest
extent, let the head of the snake drop into
it, and deliberately commenced to swallow the
animal, till the end of the tail only was yis-
BILE; then make a sudden gulp, the whole of
the snake was apparently swallowed After
this he came up to the spectators, and open
ing his mouth wide, permitted us to look in
to his throat but no snake or snakes tail
was visible; it was seemingly down his
throat altogether. .
During the remainder of the performances,
we never saw this snake again, nor did the
man profess his ability to make it rc-a ppear !:
but he performed another snaketrick, which
surprised US very much. lie took from bag
another cobra -di-capello, and walking into the
centre of the room, enclosed it in his hands in
a folded state He waved, or shook them for
some time in this condition, and then opened
his fists, when, hey presto the snake was
gone, and in its place appeared several small
ones, which he suffered to fall from his hands,
when they glided, with their peculiar undu-
lating movement, almost like the waves Of
the sea, about the floor.
While staying in Madras, before coming
home, a party of jugglcrs came forward on
one occasion to act publicly in the yard ofthe
barracks there. Many hundreds of people,
Of all kinds, different ages, both sexes, and
various denominations, including the soldiery
in garrison, assembled to witness the exhibi-
ton, and some little temporary arrangements
were made, to enable each and every one to
see and hear conveniently. The leader Of the
jugglers, who were all, of course, natives Of
IIindostan, requested the commanding officer
to place guard of men around the scene of
display precaution which was adopted,
and which proved very wise one. The floor
of the court be it observed, was composed of
sand-fine and well trodden. On this ground
then, after some preliminary tricks of an in
ferior kind, one man was left alone with a
little girl, the latter seeming about eight or
nine years Of age. Beside them stood tall,
narrow basket three or four feet high, BY
little more than foot in width. and open all
the way up No other object animate or in.
animate, appeared on the ground.
After short period, spent by the man in
conversing with the little girl, he seemed to
get angry, and began to rail loudly at her,
for the neglect of some wish Of his. The
child attempted to soothe him, but he con-
tinued to show an increased degree Of irrita-
ton as he went, at length lashing himself in
to such apparent fury, that the foam actually
stood upon his lips, and being naturally pos