The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-03-13
THE BLACK ART IN SIAM.
WONDERFUL TRICKS BY ROYAL JUGGLERs
THE MIRACLES OF ANCIENT DAYS
SURPASSED IN THE PRESENT.


SURPASSED IN THE PRESENT.
SAIGON, November 2S.-Last year, when
was in Bangkok, heard so much of the
sacred troop of jugglers from Paklaie
and their secular performances-especia
the last one in the great pagoda of Phnom,
the remembrance of which seemed to be
vividy imprinted upon the minds of all
who witnessed it-that, when 1 learned
they were to perform again in the temple
of Juthia during the festivities attending
the young King of Slams coronation, L
determined to make an extraordinary
effort to be pesent. My friend, Prince
Pha-tajac, when l toldshim of some of the
remarkable conjuring and ledgerdemain l
had seen in Japan, aud in Bengal also,
at the Raiah's court, near Moorshedabad,
used to shrug his shoulders and say !;
This is all trick ! You should see the
royal troop of Paklaie. Don't you know
that sorcery is indigenous to the soil of
Laos ?'' Then he would add, But of
course you cannot see Tepada and Moro
dom ; you are not initiated, nor a noble of
Siam" And he would give me no more
satisfaction about it, question him as l
might.
Not long since I was conversing with a
Jesuit priest in Saigon, and he told me
that he scarcely knew how to understand
or to deal with these people. II was ex.
patiating to native,'' said he, ''upon the
resurrection of Lazarus as a proof of the
Saviour's divine mission. why, that is
nothing said the man. 'Tapada's people
from Paklaie do that every time they per-
form. l saw them revive the old Saint
StungTeing myself at the great pagoda of
Phnom, and everybody knows Stung-Teing
has been dead these 600 years, and only
comes TO life once in awhile, when Tepada's
people want him. He is the father of
Tepada, of Norodom, in fact of all their
race, and comes when they cali him.
l found, indeed, that the prospect was
very slim for me to see the feats of this
mysterious fraternity. The royal family
of Siam is claimed to be natives of Paklaie,
and this troop of jugglers is of the royal
race-a branch, however, that only claims
priestly, not imperial prerogatives. They
never perform in pnblic at all. nor in tho
presence of witnesses at any time, except
upon two occasions. One of these is the
incremation of the dead king the other,
the coronation of the young king. This is
reported to have been their custom from
time immemorial. l could not hear that
their performances had ever been witnessed
by any white man or stranger. Indeed,
no one was admitted but certain branches
of the Siamese nobility, having either re-
lationship to the royal blood or certain
hierocratic affinities, and certain persons
said to be initiated and holding high
grades in semi-religious confraternity
akin TO our Free-masonry in purposes
perhaps, but in regard to which I have
never been able to get any very definite
information. These privileged persons
flock to the performances whenever they
take place-sometimes not for generation
but always in ore or the other of five of
the great tembles or pagodas Of Siam and
Laos.
Nevertheless, when I found on Novem-
Der 1 that The French frigate La Reine
des Erossais was going round from Saigon
to BaDkok, to participate in the coronation
and that l could secure passage
in her RS a supernumeraire, l very quickly
packed my portmanteau and went aboard.
Arrived at the Siamese capital, I lost no
time in calling to pay my respects to my
amiable friend, Prince Pha-tajac. found
the household of his Royal Highness in
the greatest possible distress of mind. The
coronation was to come off on the 10TH It
was now the 7th, and NTme Litti- Mon
datch, the Princes first wife-a noble |
creature she is, too, fitted to adorn any +,
eircle--was laid up in all the agonies of a
formidable bone fclon, while neither the |
European nor the native doctors of Bang |
kok could make any head against it. |
was the very man for the occasion, and / (
seized it like veritable Deus &c machina
[ remembered me of my old grandmother's |
remedy for the atrocious ailment-a remedy |
proved infallible in 4 thousand trials |
and I proceeded to apply it with such |
happy effect that in three days Nine. Lit /
was about the house again, very nearly as
we'll as ever, and in fevor to give me /
substantial proofs of her gratitude.
1t was then that | broached to the
Prince my desire to witness the perfor-
nance of Tepada's troop, in the temple of
Tuthia, on the morning of the 18th. 1t
vas simply impossible, he said. The law
would not allow it. 1t was sacrilege. The
initiated would tear me limb from limb
sooner than permit such an intrusion upon
heir sacred rights. Failing with Pha-
ajac, Tesorted to Liti. She hesitated. -
reminded her fiber finger. She espoused
ny cause with the persistence and intelfi-
renee for which the Siamese women are
loted. | do not know exactly how it
.ame about. l know that there was
erlible amount of diplomacy. was given
o understand that certain royal person
ge had finally been induced to interfere,
nd that the Iedoubtable Tepada himself,
t first decidedly hostile, had been brought
0 consent. At any rate l was told that