The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-11-07
EAST INDIAN JUGGLERs.
Hagicians without Accessories who
Bewflder the Most Critical
Spectators.

dividual; he does not appear before his au-
dence in the glory of evening dress; his
only costume is cloth around his middle.
And thus, if coat-sleeves or pockets at all
assist in magic, the Indian juggler is at a
decided disadvantage, for both his arms
and legs are bare. He is thin an unnat-
urally thin, wiry looking individual-the
Indian juggler l do not know why he
should be thin, but do not recolect ever
having seen fat Indian juggler.
Recently | had visit from an amalga-
mated troupe consisting of seven members,
five men, one woman and boy. Probably
the seven had conjoined their entertain
ments for that particular day only, and the
next day they might be performing sepa-
rately again. If | give description of
what this party of seven did, you will have
a fair idea of a Juggling entertainment in
India
Two of the Seyen-0ne woman and one
man-perform a single trick only, name
ly, the famous basket trick. The man took
an oblong basket about two feet long,
one foot broad, and say foot and half
foot with ropes and put into net made of
rope, which was securely tied, so that she
was practically i'll sack of network. She
Was then lifted and placed into the basket
on her knees. But two-year-old child
would have filled the basket, and the re-
suit was that the whole upper portion of
the woman was above the basket. The
woman bent her head; the juggler placed
the lid of the basket on her shoulders, and
then threw sheet over the whole-hiding
both woman and basket from view. In
about minute he pulled away the sheet
folding it up into his hands, and behold,
the lid was in its proper place, and the wo-
man was gone! The juggler now took
sword about five feet long, and with it he
pierced the basket through and through in
all directions, horizontally, diagonally; up
ward and downward; but there was no
sign of any one inside. He even removed
the lid, jumped into the basket with his
feet and danced in it, until one came to the
conclusion that, wherever the woman had
gone to, she was not inside. The juggler
again took the sheet, and after We had ex-
amined it he spread it over the basket,
holding it tent-shaped the apex where his
hand was being about three feet from the
ground. In minute he withdrew the
sheet once more, and, behold, the woman
was back in her old position on her knees
in the basket; but the ropes and net had
disappeared, and she was now unbound
This trick has few variations, one of
which is that after the woman disappears
the basket is handed round to show its
emptiness, and some other trick is exhibit
ted. in the middle of which the female per-
former appears before the audience ere amy
one can notice where she comes from.
THE MANGO AND SNAKE TRICKS.
A third juggler now made his salaam,
and began by performing the beautiful
mango tree trick. He took an earthen-
ware pot. filled it with earth moistened
with little water, and placed among the
earth a mango seed which We had exam
ined beforehand. This done, he threw
sheet over the pot, and almost Immediately
removed it again, when We behold, to our
astonishment, that the seed had in the
space of say, half a minute become young
mango tree. Again the sheet was thrown
over the pot, and on being second time
removed, the mango had doubled in size.
The same process was repeated third
time, and now the tree was covered with
small unripe mangoes. This time the jug
gler plucked the tree up out of the earth,
displaying the roots and the remains of
the original mango stone from which the
tree was supposed to have sprunn.
The snake trick, which was the next
item in the entertainment, is one which
has a peculiar fascination for native
onlookers, for the fatal ravages of poison
Gus serpents in India for centuries have
produced horror of such reptiles among
natives. Our juggler showed us parched
skin which had once belonged TO large
cobra. We examined it carefully, and
were quite sure it was serpent's skin and
nothing more. He placed the skin in a
circular straw basket about six inches
deep. The basket was likewise examined
and we found no double bottom or any
other popularity about it. When he put
the lid upon the basket it contained moth
ing but the empty skin-that we We're
equally assured Of The wonderful sheet
before mentioned was again brought into
requisition, and was spread over the bas-
ket containing the dry skin. After the per-
Torrance of some mystic maneuvers in
the air with little wooden doll, the sheet
was withdrawn, the lid removed, and out
of the basket arose huge kissing cobra,
his hood spread in anger and his forked
tongue darting in and out of his mouth,
Some native servants who were looking on
fled precipitately in all directions; but the
iuggler quickly took out an Indian must
cal instrument-not unlike a miniature set
of bagpipes-and began to play. change
came over the spirit of the cobra's spleen
his anger died away; he stood up with hall
of his body in perpendicular attitude, ano
presently began to sway to and fro in a sort
of serpent dance to the music. In wore
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