The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-10-13
JUGGLERS In INDIA.
BY " CARLETON"


ONE morning when / was in India j
heard the beating of a drum and the
squeaking ola fiageOlet under my window.
Ii was not inspiring music. The drum
mer cid not play with such spirit as some
of the boys played who went into. the
army, and the flageolet had an unpleas-
ant squeak to it. was too weary with
travelling and too tired of sight seeing to
look out and see what was going on. Be-
sides it WAS very hot da :, and the mer-
curry in the thermometer was up to one
hundred and ten in the shade. had my
coat, vest, stockings and shoes of, and
was lying on couch with a pu1akd going
backward and forward few inches
above my face. Do you ask what
punka is? 1t is great fan. India is
very warm country in summer, and the
Europeans and few Americans who live
there are obliged to resort to many ex-
pedients to keep cool The Hindoos be.
ing natives Of the country, can bear the
heat; but foreigners from cooler chimes
wilt like cabbage plant after being
transplanted on hot June morning. One
OF their contrivances for keeping cool is
the punka, or fan. 1t is heavy frame
covered with cotton cloth snd suspended
by ropes from the ceiling, 50 that it can
be s@u ing just over your bed when you
are asleep, or above the table when you
are at dinner, or little above your head
when you are writing or reading. AL
Europeans living In India have punkas
IN their houses-in bedrooms, parlors,
dining rooms and In their stores When
you go to church on Sunday you will see
one swinging backward and forward over
the ministers head while he is preaching
another over the singers, and a dozen over
the heads Of the people. They are kept
in motion by HindoO boys who stand or sit
outside OF the house, and who keep pulling
a cord that goes through hole in the wall,
and is attached to a frame of the punks.
who take turns through the day and night.
Another continuance is tanning mill,
placed outside of the house under the
piazza, with a long spout entering WIN
dow. Two men take turns at the
crank, blowing wind into the build
ing. If they did not raise the wind
in some way it would be almost
impossible for foreigner to live there
during the hot months Of the year. The
punka was going over my head and the
puller was Keeping time with the drum
mer, when my HindOo landlord, with q
great white turban on his head nearly as
| large as a bushel basket, looked into my
room and Ssid, Don't you want TO see
the iugglers Pr Certainly" had heard
| a great deal about them and wanted to
see them very much, and wentout and sat
| upon the veranda while the jugglers went
through their performances. There were
three or four persons in the party Wh0all
made a low bow and then sat down on
| the ground. They were snake charmers
as well as jugglers They sat in row,
one beating the drum, another playing
the flage0let, while third had an ana
conda wound around one arm, and around
feet long, and its wide, flat head was
raised two or three feet above that of the
| Hindoo. 1t opened its mouth, ran out its
tongue, and flashed its eyes and twisted
its head about in such snsky way that 1
| did not like the look of him at all. A
! fourth had 8 large, greenish snake wound
round his arm. One OF the charners
made low, clucking sound, and the Shiny
creature unwound himself, crawled down
| to the ground and started for the veranda
| to make our acquaintance. When he was
almost up to our feet, the charmer made
| a different cluck, and the snake, after Civ
| ing hiss and running out its red-forked
tongue, and flashing its fiery eyes, went
| back and coiled himself once more around
| the fellows arm. There were two large
earthen jars upon the ground, and now,
as the charmer MADE another cluck, two
cObras 4aised their hcads above one OF the
vessels. The bite of the cobra is very
| deadly. The poison strikes instantly
through the system, paralyzes 1t, and
brings on death very quickly.
The charmer made a whispering noise
| and they came creeping over the sides OF
the Jar and wound themselves in coils
| upon the ground just as sailor coils q
| rope upon the deck of the ship. There
they were with their heads nearly a foot
above the centre of the coil, waving them
backward and forward with their mouths
wide open, and the two sharp fsngs in
their upper jaw exposed, their eyes flash
| ing and their tongues in motion. Cobra
| de Capella is q Portuguese word, mes uing
hooded snake, and it is sometimes called
the "hooded SNAKE" because 1t has sort
of hood upon its head. The chsrmer
struck at them with his fingers, and they
struck back again. When they are en-
ragged they show their anger by putting
up their hoods, by Kissing, flashing their
eyes, and striking at everything near
them. As the cbsrmer continued to
| plague them they became very wrath.ul.
How their eyes flashed How their
tongues went And what kissing they
made! They seemed angry enough to
strike their tOrmentor dead. They are
| very slow motioned, and as there was no
danger that they would get at us, we sat
and watched them with Composure; be-
sides we knew that the charmer had them
under perfect control; for when they
were as angry as they could be, he gave a
low whistle which Gained them in a mo-
ment and sent them back into the jar.
Then the chsrmer put his hand into an
other vessel and took out dozen or more
great scorpions. Their sting causes ex'
cruciating pain-far worse than that OF
hornets These were as large as some OF
the crabs that live along our Ocean shores,
and were ugly looking creatures; but he
handled them as calmly as II they were
canary birds, or white mice, or any other
harmless thing. He hung them upon his
ears, upon his bare arms as ii they were
bracelets, and the creatures never thought
of hsrming him 1t was wonderful to see
the power of these chsrmers over such
yenomous creatures There are some
men in the world who are endowed by
nature with remarkable power over the
lower order of creation
But these jugglers could do some very
clever tricks-sOme that would puzzle
you completely. They have one trici