Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1866-07-26

HINDU JUGGLERY.


vacations, and covers il up. In n
short time he removes the cover,
and, behold tho mango has aprouted.
Again he covers 1t up, aud again no
looks; the sprout has widened to
full grown shoot, with expanding
leaves and forming blossom. Again,
tho blossom has now fructiiied, aud
the petals lie whitening on the mould.
Again, the frst IL fully formed.
Again, il is ripening; and now
again, for the last time, the cover is
removed, when the mango, fully
ripe, IL plucked from the tree fully
grown, and gracefully handed to the
Mem Sahib to taste. In another
moment the mango tree is the
withered stick IL was il the begin
ming. Yet this is protested jug
glery, n mere delusion OF the senses
by manual dexterity, such as tho
juggler of Ashwell Tborp achieved
when he planted his acorn and reared
hlB oak, aud caused tho two goslings
to carry away the chips which tho
couple Of stout laborers had made.
Another Hindu trick is the girl
and the basket. A circle il formed,
say of soldiers, standing thick and
serried; the juggler, the child, tho
basket, Mem Sahib's friends, arc in
the center Of the circle, and the
whole scene, remember, takes place
out OF doors. The juggler, after 60
ing through his less exciting tricks
keeping up shower Of balls with
his hand while he keeps up shower
OF rings with his toes, perhaps at the
same time balancing II loose stick
tower on his chin--building up his
jointed pole on his forehead, up
which the trained goat runs and
stands with all four feet on the top,
on space not half 30 large as ones
hand-piling four or five water-pots
on his head, with a girl standing on
the top of all, with which singlar
headdress he dances about the circle,
Juggling his balls as usual or string
ing beads on n thread with bis
tongue--after holding a staff in bis
waistband and letting his brother
juggler swarm up il and lay himself
all abroad on the top, legs and arms
flying to all four quarters, and the
body balanced only on one part OF
the stomach-after these and other
kindred displays no comes to the
finale of all, the girl and the basket.
w The juggler calls the little girl to
him and begins TO play with her, at
first gently, then little more bois-
terously, until at last he thrusts her
roughly under the basket, and tells
her he shall keep her there till she is
good. The little girl begins to
whine and demonstrate from under
meath the basket; the juggler gets
angry, scolds her, and tells her to
hold her tongue, else he will whip
her; but the little one is unappeasa-
BILE, and the quarrel goes on, increas-
ing in intensity, until at last the
man, in q paroxysm Of anger draws
his sword, and thrusts it widely into
the basket. Tho screams of the
child is heart-rending, her yells and
cries agonizing; but the juggler
stabs and stabs again, and works his
sword about the wickerwork in I'M
controllable and fendish fury. Then
che child's voice ceases, and Just
few heavy sobs arc heard; then some
fainter means, fainter--fainter-as
the last gasps of a murdered child
would be---and then all is still. The
juggler pulls his bloody sword from
the basket, wipes it, and composedly
salams Mem Sahib and her friends,
who are generally in a state Of
hysterical distress; sometimes, in
deed, the soldiers are with difficulty
restrained from tearing the man to
pieces, especially in ono case known
to me, when the captain Of the com
pany, himself quivering in every
limb with horror and agitation, had
actually to defend the juggler from
the excited mon.
How it might have Jared with
him, heaven only knows, but on bis
giving a peculiar cry, the little girl
came bounding and laughing into
the Questioning from behind the
soldiers--though every man was
ready to swear that she had not
passed him, and could not have
passed through the thick ranks any
where. Now, how is that trick
donel 1t is nothing but jugglery
from first to last-as much mere Jug
glery as Tofrini's trick Of saving
one live pig into two, or as Robins
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