The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-09-20
The Jugglers Of India.

"The one class who interested me
particularly in India were the jugglers.
l have always had fancy for prying
into the secrets of prestidigitation and
l lost no opportunity of seeing these
slelght- of hand gentry at their tricks,
and found occasion to witness many of
their performances in the different parts
OF India. My investigations lead me
to state positively that the most re-
markable stories told about them are
tictions, based upon the himsiest foun-
dation of fact. The great majority of
people like to be deceived in such mat
tiers, and will shut their eyes to palpa-
BILE evidence of fraud, while travel
ers who eagerly seize upon every chance
to pad their narratives with sensational
points, naturally throw a veil of mvs-
terry around the tricks of the Indian
Jugglers. Let us take, for instance, the
two performances that have been most
frequently and most marvelously writ
ten up-that is to say, the mysterious
basket and the mango-growing tricks.
| have seen both of them over and
over again, and have found the
same easily detected frauds to ex-
ist in every case. The baskets are
bell shaped and have false bottom,
between which and the exterior wall OF
the basket there. is ample room for a
very small child to stow itself away
The spectators are not allowed to touch,
or even to come very near to the basket,
and in casual glance at the interior
one is not apt to detect the false bottom.
The basket is placed over the child. who
squats upon the hard ground, and after
sufficient time has elapsed for the
youngster to crawl into its place of con-
cealment, the juggler horrifes his audi
ence by passing his sword through the
basket, and then upon upsetting it,
shows that the child has disappeared.
Meanwhile duplicate child that close
ly resembles the first one enters upon
the scene from the background, and the
wonderful trick is completed. The
famous mango-gro trick is even
sillier than this You have, of course,
read how man of mysterious arts
plants a mango seed in a flower
pot and then makes dwarfed
fruit-bearing tree spring up from
that seed, The facts of the case are
simply these: The seed is planted and
the pot is then placed under a sort OF
tent, whose voluminous folds must not
be touched by any but the iuggler.
The latter then waters the earth in the
pot and does lot of manipulating
while his hands are concealed in the
tent. Meanwhile a fellow iuggler is
performing a series of Other tricks tC
amuse and distract the attention of the
spectators. When juggler number one
has had time to change the pot for an
other that is hidden in the folds of the
tent. he opens one side of the canvas q
little and the second pot can be seer
with half grown mango tree in it.
After another interlude of the same
sort the tent door is again opened and
a third pot is disclosed which contains a
little tree bearing mango. The whole
thing is such a weak attempt at deception
that person studying it once or twice
can only wonder if any one has ever
been deceived by it. ALWAYS enjoyed
the palming performances of the clev.
erer jugglers, for their skill and rapid
ity OF action were something eXtraor.
binary, but their Undertaking. tricks
were such palpable absurdities thatthere
was actually no fun in detecting them.
-InterraeW acith Hon. John S1Oitt, IN
Francisco Call