The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-07-03
hings abroad.
BLACK ART IN SIAM
Is Of Hoeus- -Pocus in the Far East.

BLACK ART IN SIAM.
Bis Of Hoeus- s-Pocus in the Far East.
fuLTRICKs ny RoYALJUGGlERs-THE
BIS or ANCIENT DAYS SURPASSED IL
besENT-THAUMATURGY AT ITS ACME
EQUITABLE FEATs BY THE PoNTIFFs
RoMANcY.
|pondence Of the Ne,r York World.
BIZ, November 2s, lS74.-Last
Zen | was in Bangk ok, | heard so
4 the Sacred troop of jugglers
|klaie and their secular perform
Especially the last one in the great
hi Phnom, the remembrance Of
eemed to be vividly imprinted
minds of all who witnessed it
b | learned they were to perform
Ithc temple of Juthia during the
attending the young King of
|Dronation, | determined to make
ordinary effort to be present. My
'rince Pha.tajac, when | told him
pf the remarkable coguring and
bin ! had seen in Japan, and in
Also, at the Rajah's court, near
|abad, used to shrug his should
bys;-"That is all trick You
c'e the royal troop Of Paklaie.
y know that sorcery is indigenous
y Of Laos ?" Then he would add
tOurse you cannot see Tepada and
you are not initiated, nor a
Siam" And he would give me
Satisfaction about it, question him
b.
sng since | was conyersing with a
Priest in Saigon, and he told me
Scarcely knew how to understand
|eal with these people. II was
ing to native" said he, "upon
ERECTION of Lazarus as a proof Of
siour's divine mission n' "Why,
iothing,' said the man. "Tcpada S
rom Paklaie do that every time
form. saw them revive the old
'tuug. .Tieng myself at the great
Of Phnom, and everybody knows
'ieng has been dead these 600
nd only comes to life once in
when Tepada's people want him.
be father of Tepada, Of Norodom,
of all their race, and comes when
! him"
pd, indeed, that the prospect was
b for me to see the feats of this
bus fraternity. The royal family
is claimed to be native of Paklaie,
troop OF jugglcrs is of the royal
branch, however, that only claims
not imperial prerogatives. They
|rform in public at all, nor in the
of witnesses at any time, except
b occasions. One of these is the
|ion of the dead king; the other,
hation of the young king. This is
to have been their custom from
memorial. | could not hear that
|rformances had ever been wit
by any white man or stranger.
no one was admitted but certain
of the Siamese nobility, having
relationship to the royal blood or
hierocratic afiinities, and certain
said to be "initiated," aud holding
des in a semireligious coufrateraity
Dur Freemasonry in purposes per-
t in regard to which | have never
lie to get any very definite infor-
These privileged persons flock to
ormances whenever they take place
lines not for a generation---but
D one or the other of five of the
lmp!es or pagodas of Siam and
rtheless, when / found on Novem-
hat the French frigate La Refine
ssais was going round from Saigon
kok, to participate in the corona
emonies, and that | could secure
in her as a supernumerairc, l very
packed my portmanteau and went
Arrived at the Siamese capital, |
time in calling to pay my respects
amiable friend, Prince Pha-tajac.
the house hold Of His Royal High
the greatest possible distress OF
The coronation was to come oil on
!. 1t was now the 7th, and Nine.
the Princes first wife-a
eaturc she is, too, fitted to adorn
le--was laid up in all the agonies
miiablc bone felon, which neither
opean nor the native doctors of
/ could make any head against !
very man for the occasion and l
like a veritable Deus ex machina.
,bcred me of my old grandmothers
for the atrocious ailment--a reme-
ID infallibIc in thousand trials-
roceeded to apply it, with such
fleet that in three days Nine, Liti
ut the house again, very nearly as
ever, and in a fever to give me
Iial proofs of her gratitude
. then that / broached to the
my desire to witness the perform
Tepada's troop, in tho temple OF
on the morning Of the 10th. II
ply impossible, he said. The law