, 1877-02-21

(From The SPECTATOR

O4R,-u your ISSUE VI OCtOp6l SO
ceived here On November 29-an a~lIuSion
is made to a letter by "Ignoramus, IN
which he describes a clever trick perform
ed by an Indian coniuror. 1t is rather q
coincidence that this very trick | witnessed
for the first time a few days ago, and was
much struck with It's cleyerncss, and /
think perhaps on account Of it may inter
est your readers. I notice you say, IF
the affair happened lst as it is told" 50
must assure you that my account Of what
took place is perfectly correct 0ad accurate.
We were inyi-ed to spend an evening
with a friend, and when we arrived Were
sstonished to hear the sounds Of a tom-tom
~(natiye drum), but on entering found q
surprise prepared for us, for sltllpg cross
legged on the floor was a coujuror. He
had a large white sheet spread ON the floor,
and on this he performed all his tricks, ANA
although the room was wrIl lighted with
lamps, he had, at his request, a lighted
candle on the floor at his side. lie anus
ed US for a long time with various tricks
more or less clever, but the best OF all was
the ring trick. He asked to be suppi)ed
with a rupee and a ring, saying he would
make them dance we agreed to ms re-
quest, and gave one Of my rings. lie
first held the rupee in his hand for about
two seconds 0nlY, waved it over his head
and round the lighted candle, and then
threw it about two yards or more in fr0ut
of him on the sheet; he then took the ring,
waved tia; also, and pretended to listen to
sometbiag it aajl. He then announced
that if it was his fate j"kismet') to keep
the rupee, the riug would briUg j; 10 him.
He put the ring in front OF hjm en- the
sheet, AID taking up his lIt,Io t0m-tom,
began to play and sing bis weird music j;
presently the ring began to move, then got
up and began to dance in time TO the mU-
eic, and finally walked and danced right
across the sheet, caught hold Of the rupee
and brought it back in triumph, and amidst
much applause, to the copjuror. don't
wonder that "Ignoramus" rses the word
" clawcd," for all the movements Of the
ring reminded one Of d diminutive crab.
All who were present we've iateut on find
ing out how the tricks were done, but the
cleverness Of this one baf1ed all. One
gentleman present was veiy clever at
sIeight-ot-haud himself, and he watched
avery movement of the c|onjuror most in
teutIy, and though we detected nothing
1--WE did not wish to expose thu man, a
trick is q trick and he did not profess to
be q mediuml we came to the conclusion
that he had extremely fine threads attached
to his body-theY must have been like
spiders webs, for they were not visible;
one gentleman thought he saw q thread
once, and we watched the mans toes, Gn-
gers, ears. and ever nose; we thought also
that he had wax secreted behind his ears,
and that when he waved his hands over
the lighted candle, as he repeatedly did,
his fingers became sufficiently warm to be
able to attach a little thread by means OF
the wax to whatever he was going to make
dance, &c. His requiring the lighted can
die and the white sheet seems to uphold
this theory, and in your reference to the
trick, l see you say it was /" on the mess.
table, on which the cloth was still spread;'
and this would be necessary, to prevent
the fine white threads being seen. This
easily accounts for the dancing and the
rupee coming to the conjuror, but how
about the ring walking and dancing across