Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-08-24
Miracles of a MOhammedan She1kh

A New Yotk Sun correspondent writes
from Damascus, giving the following ac-
count OF miracles" performed by Mo-
hammedan sheikh or priest: Taking a
handful of skewers similar to those used for
cooking purposes, each about foot long,
he called the widest half-stripped dlsci-
pie to him, and opening his mouth, NUT
terlng the while with great apparent in
tenity of concentration prayer or invo-
cation, he with sudden jerk forced the
point clean through the check so that it
could be seen projecting on the other side.
He repeated the process with the other
cheek, the man showing no SIGN Of pain
and not drop of blood flowing from the
wound. He then went to his son, who
calmly gazed at HIM with his large swim
ming eyes, opened his mouth and received
a similar stab through the cheek without
the culver of an eyelid. I was watching
him closely and could not observe the
slightest muscular con ;raction. The poin
was clearly projecting through the skin,
and deception was impossible, as the
was every opportunity afforded for the
closest inspection. Leaving the two vic
Tins with their mouths thus trussed,
as it were, the shiekh took square box,
which, when opened, was found to con-
tain several live scorpions of unusual
size. Taking up one of these, as large
as an ordinary land crab, he handed It,
all wrlggling, darting It's tail in its efforts
to sting to man who came forward, and
calmly but rapidly dropped it into his
mouth and crunched it with great appar-
ent relish, eating it completely up. Then
we saw much larger box, containing
serpents of various sizes. These he turn
ed out upon the floor, dominating them
after the manner of serpent charmers,
and allowing them to Irvine and curl
round him. In this, of course, there was
nothing marvellous, nor indeed in what
Immediately followed, though it was
sickening to behold. Drawing live
snake about two feet long out of the box,
he held it up by the tail, when suddenly
tall man afflicted apparently with St.
Vitus' dance, with hair dishevcled, rush
ed forward with loud cry, and with
foaming lips seized the snake with both
hands, tore it violently asunder, and
plunged its bloody and palpitating end
into his mouth. This seemed the signal
for general scramble. In moment
three or four men were tearing the with
ing fragments with their teeth, and with
greediness devoured them in large mouth
fuls until not particle ofsnake remained.
They then drew back with seeming re-
luctance, wiping their bloody lips with
their hands.
But the excitement seemed to have
produced sort of fit in the man who had
first seized the snake, from which the
shelkh restored him by clasping his head
with both hands and pressing it violently,
while he again concentrated himself on
lamentations, the veins starting out on his
forehead with the intensity of his efforts.
In few moments the dervish had become
comparatively calm though for the rest
of the time observed that he continued
to twitch and jerk convulsively, while his
eyes rolled wildly.
Meantime the man and boy who had
been pierced watched the proceedings
with the utmost unconcern. AS it was
difficult to believe that to remain with
ones cheeks skewered did not at all
events produce a feeling of discomfort,
and as they must have been standing for
atleast a quarter of an hour in the same
attitude, told the sheikh to pull out the
skewers. This he did, in each case pre-