Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-24

1 This is said to be the first sign of return to I life He then gradually commences to
 breathe, opens the eyes, and reeovers consci- l ousness, continuous friction of the body be- | ing carried on all the time.
 Here is 8 further curious statement ot l opinion on the subject of the Indian stories l from an equally rare source, the little p&n- phlet of Sir Claude Wade, published in 1887. | I was present. he writes, at the Court oi 1 Runieet Singh when the Fakir, mentioned by i the Hon. Captain Osborne, was buried alive I for six weeks and, although I arrived few hours after his actual interment, and did not, | consequently, witness that part of the phe- nomenon, I had the testimony of Runjeet | Singh himself, and others of the most cred ible witnesses of his court, to the truth of the Fakir having been buried before them and, from my having been myself present when he was disinterred, and restored to state of perfect vitality in position so close to him as to render any deception impossible, 1t Is my firm belief that there was no collision in producing the extraordinary sight which I have to relate. I will briefly state what I l saw, to enable others to judge of the weight due to my evidence, and whether any proof of collision can, in their opinion, be detect ed. On the approach of the appointed time,
 according to invitation, accompanied Run
 jeet Singh to the spot where the Fakir
 had been buried. It was in a square building, called a b07TG dU7rd, in the middle of one of the gardens adjoin- ing the palace at Lahore, with open veranda all round, having an inclosed room in the centre. On arriving there, Runjeet Singh, who was attended on the occasion by the whole of his court, dismounted 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 examina- tion we seated ourselves in the veranda oppo- site the door, while some of Runjeet Singh's 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 dark room was to be seen. Runieet Singh and myself then entered it, in company with the servant of the Fakir, and, light being brought, we descended about three feet below the floor of the room, into a sort of cell, where wooden box about four feet long and three feet broad with slop- ing roof contained the Fakir, the door of which had also paddock and seal similar to that on the outside On opening it we saw a figure inclosed in a bag of white linen, fast ened by a string over the head, on the expo- sure of which grand salute was fired, and the surrounding multitude came crowding to the door to see the spectacle. After they had gratifed their curiosity, the Fakir's servant, putting his arms into the box, took the figure out, and, closing the door, placed it with it's back against it, exactly as the Fakir had been squatting like Hindu idol 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 ser want then began pouring warm water over the figure but as my object was to see if any fraudulent practices could be detected, I pro- posed to Runjeet Singh to tear open the bag and have perfect view of the body before any means of resuscitation were employed. I 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 shriveled and stiff the face full, the head reclined 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, heat about the region of the brain which no other part exhibited. The servant then commenced bathing him with hot water, and gradually relaxing his arms and legs from the rigid state in which they were 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 the top of the head-a process whichshe twice or thrice repeated. He then pulled out of his nostrils and ears the wax and cotton with which they had been stopped,
 
 inserting the point of knife between his teeth, and while holding his jaw open with his left hand drew the tongue forward with his right, in the course of which the tongue flew back several times to it's curved posi- tion upward in which 1t had originally been, so as to close the gullet. He then rubbed his eyes with ghee Cor clarified butter) for some seconds, till he succeeded in open ing them, when the eyes appeared quite mo- tionless and glazed. After the cake had been applied for the third time to the top of his head the body was violently convulsed the nostrils became inflated, when respiration en- sued, and the limbs began to assume natur- al fuilness but the pulsation still faintly perceptible. The servant then put some of the ghee on his tongue and made him swallow it. A few minutes afterward the eye-balls
 became dilated and recovered their nat ural color, when the Fakr recog- nized Runjeet Singh sitting close to him, and articulated in low,
 sepulehral tone, scarcely audible. Do you
 the affirmative, and invested the Fakir with
 a pearl necklace and superb pair of gold
 bracelets, and pieces of silk and muslin, and
 shawls, forming what is called khelat, such
 as is usually conferred by the Princes of h.
 dia persons of distinction. I share en-
 tirely in the apparent incredulity of the fact
 of man being buried alive and surviving the
 the trial without food or drink for various
 periods of duration but, however incompat-
 ible with our knowledge of physiology, in the
 absence of any visible proofs to the contrary,
 l am bound to declare my belief in the facts
 which I have represented, however i'm
 possible their existence may appear to oth-
 CTS"