The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1875-10-26
Indian Juggling,

Indian Juggling,
The fort of Calcutta (says traveller
commonly known as Fort William, is
one of the most splendid and convent
ent military establishments to be found
in any part 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
various military purposes. Oa all sides
it is guarded byga high and strongly
built rampant, which is surrounded in
its turn by. a broad and deep fosse, over
which are placed bridges, leading
to the principal gateways. The. fort is
often the scene of animated festivity,
from the presence Of native jugglers,
renowned for their surprising skill and
dexterity, Tue performances of these
strange people have been so often de
scribed, that shall only make mention
of one which struck me as being curious
from its having strong resemblance to
the feats recorded in sacred history, as
having been performed By the magicians
in Egypt, and in the time of Moses, in
the presence of Pharaoh. Indeed, as
| It is well known that the Hindu tricks
have been handed down from the most
distant ages, from father to son, there
| is little wonder that such similarity
can exist.
Tie particular trick alluded to is the
,apparent conversion of q brass coin in
to snake. The juggler gave me the
coin to hold, and then seated himself
about five yards from me, on a small
rug, from which he never attempted to
move during the whole performance. ]
showed the coin to several persons who
were close beside me, on forum in
front of the juggler. At a sign from
him not only grasped the coin / held
1 firmly in my right hand, but crossing
that hand with equal tightness with my
left, inclosed them both as firmly as
could between my knees. Of course
was positively certain that the small
coin was within my double fist. Th'
ljuggler then began sort of incantatior
!, accompanied by monotonous discor
dant kind of recitative, ana repeating
d the words, Gram, Summa," during SOM
minutes. He then suddenly stopped
| and, still keeping his seat, made quicl
motion with his right hand, as if throw
ing something at me, giving at the sam
time a puff with his mouth.
i At that instant felt my hands sud
denly distend and become partly open
while experienced sensation as if
r cold ball Of dough, or something equal
FLY soft, nasty and disagreeable, was no'
] between my palms. I started to m
u feet in astonishment, also to the aston
ishment of others, and, opening m.
hand, found there no coin; but my hor
ror (and alarm, for Of all created thing
q II loathe and detest the genus), l saw
0 young snake, all alive-oh! and Of a
It snakes in the world, copra-di-capellt
!. folded, or rather coiied, roundly up.
= threw it instantly to the ground, tren
/, bling with rage and fear, as if alread
l. bit by the deadly reptile, which begs
!. Immediately to crawl along the groun'
ir to the alarm and amazement Of ever
IS one present. The juggler now got U
l. for the first time since he had sat dow
Is and catching hold of the snake displa..
o1 ed it's length, which was nearly two fe
Is two feet all but an inch and half
ID He then took it cautiously by the ta
i. and, opening his own mouth to ]
ia widest extent, let the head of the snal
j. drop into it, an6 deliberately commen
[y|ed to swallow the animal, till the end
n the tail was only visible; then, maxim
sell sudden gulp, the whole OF the snal
ID was apparently swallowed. aiai
n les After this he came up to the spect
is tors, and opening his mouth wide, pc
at mitted us to look into his throat, but !
if snake tail was visible; it was seemin
th ly down his throat altogether. Duril
r. the remainder Of the performance
s- never saw this snake again, nor did t
We man profess his ability to make it rea
n pear; but he performed another sna
= trick which surprised US very much
a He took from his bag another copra-'
ed capello, and walking to the center
We the room, inclosed in his hands ir
or folded state. He waved or shook the
re for some time in this condition, anG tn
or opened his fists, when, hey! presto
10 the snake was gone, and in its place
N. peared several small ones, which
he suffered to Fall from his hands, wh
is they glided, with their peculiar undu
as ting movement. almost like the wa,
N. Of the sea, about the floor. l.e ~