The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-09-24

room in the centre. On arriving there
Runjeet Singh, who was attended OIL the
occasion by the whole of his court, dis
mounted from his elephant, asked me to
join him in examining the building to
satisfy himself that it was closed as he
had left it. After our examination we
seated ourselves in the veranda opposite
the door, while some of Runieet Singh 8
people dug away the mud wall and one
of his officers broke the seal and opened
the paddock. When the door was thrown
open nothing but a dark room was to be
seen. Runjeet Singh and myself then
entered it, in company with the servant,
and light being brought, we descended
about three feet below the floor of the
room into a sort of a cell, where a
wooden box about four feet long by three
feet broad, with sloping roof, contained
the fakir, the door of which also had a
paddock and seal similar to that on the
the outside. On opening it we saw a
figure inclosed in bag of white linen,
fastened by a string over the head, on
the exposure of which grand salute was
fired, and the surrounding multitude
came crowding to the door to see the
spectacle. After they had gratifel their
curiosity, the fakir's servant, putting his
arms into the box, took the figure out,
and closing the door, placed it with its
back against it exactly as the fakir had
been squatting like Hindu idol in
in the box itself. Runjeet Singh and
myself descended into the cell, which
was so small we were only able to sit ON
the ground in front of the body, and so
close to it as to touch it with our hands
and knees. The servant then began
pouring warm water over the figure, but
as my object was to see if any fraudulent
practices could be detected, proposed
to Runjeet Singh to tear open the bag
and have perfect view of the body
before any means of resuscitation were
employed. ] accordingly did SO; and
may here remark that the bag when first
seen by us looked mildewed. as if it had
been buried some time. The legs and
arms of the body were shrivelled and
stiff, the face full, the head reclining on
the shoulder like that of corpse.
I then called to the medical gen.
tleman who was attending me to come
down. and inspect the body. which he
did, but could discover no pulsation in
the heart, the temples or the arms.
There was, however, q heat about the re-
gion of the brain which no other part ex-
hibited. The servant then commenced
bathing him with hot water and gradu-
ally relaxing his arms and legs from the
rigid state in which they we're contracted,
Runjeet Singh taking his right and his
left leg to aid by friction in restoring
them to their proper, action, during
which time the servant placed hot
wheaton cake about an inch thick on top
of the head process which he twice or
thrice repeated. He then pulled out of
his nostrils and ears the wax and cotton
with which they had been stopped, and
after great exertion opened his mouth by
inserting the point of a knife between his
teeth, and while holding his jaw open
with his left hand, drew the tongue for
ward with his right, in the course of
which the tongue few back several times
to its curved position upward, in
which it had originally been, so as to
close the gullet He then rubbed his
eyes with ghee Tor clarified butter) for
some seconds, till he succeeded in open
ing them, when the eyes appeared
quite motionless and glazed. After
the cake had been applied for the third
time to the top of the head the body was
violently convulsed, the nostrils became
inflated, when respiration ensued, and
the limbs began to assume natural full
ness; but the pulsation was still family
perceptible. The servant then put some
of the ghee' on his tongue and made him
swallow it. A few minutes afterwards
the eye-balls became dilated, and recov-
cred their natural color, when the fakir
recognized Runjeet Singh sitting close to
him, and articulated in a low sepulchral
tone, scarcely audible, ..Do you believe
me now?" Runjeet Singh replied in the
affirmative, and invested the fakir with a
Joa Sc
bracelets, and pieces of silk and muslin,
and shalls, forming what is called a
khelat, such as is usually conferred by
the princes of India on persons of dis
hnction. share entirely in the appar-
ent incredibility of the fact of a man be-
ing buried alive and surviving the trial
without food OF drink for various periods
Of duration; but, however incombatible
with our knowledge of physiology, in
the absence of any visible proof to the
contrary; am bonnd to declare my be-
lief in the facts which have represented,
however impossible their existence may
appear to others. London Telegraph.
PAINTING IN ENGLAND AND fRANcK.-
Painting, for all except Millais, Tadema,
and few others, has been poor busi-
ness since the depression set in abroad
Al40 uiduc cScn tllC Wcdltl1lCSb IllOT0 CdIc-
full of their money. The studios in Lon
don and Paris are crammed with unsold
pictures. But the Americans have
arrived, ard there is change for the
better. Mr. Vanderbilt has offered Mr.
Delahunte, rich Frenchman of Irish
descent, SIC, 900 for his picture by the
great French battle painter, of ma
poleon and His Marshals," and it is
announced that an American company
has just signed an agreement with Meis-s
sonier to pay him 600 900 frs. for two large
picturec representing episodes in the
career Of the first Napoleon. With such
golden showers falling on their French
rivals, it is easy to understand the eager
ness with which the English Royal
Academicians await the visit of wealthy
Americans. On the other hand, Eng
land has no Meissonier, for Miss Thomp-
son halts many leagues behind even the
French Neuville, and in other branches
of the art of Angelo the Par1sian studios
are admittedly more satisfactory than
those of London.
The costumer Worth's summer villa at
Virofay is described as large and very
expensive brick structure, without ar
chitsctural dignity, it being hodge
podge Of all styles, an amalgamation of
turrets, pointed and flat roofs, mon
1frnef1tal chimnevs and Qrotesuue win