The Republican journal., 1885-03-26
India's Jugglers,
TWO OF THEIR TRICKS SHOWN TO BE FRAUDS.
The one class who interested me mar

TWO OF THEIR TRICKS SHOWN TO BE FRAUDS.
The one class who interested me par
ticularly in India was the jugglers. |
have always had fancy for prying into
the secrets of prestidigitation, and | lost
no opportunity of seeing these slight-of-
hand gentry at their tricks, and found
occasion to witness many of their per-
formances in different parts of India.
My Investigations lead Inc to state posi-
lively that the most remarkable stories
told about them are tictions, based upon
the t1imsiest foundation of fact. The
great majority of people like to be de-
ceived in such matters, and will shut
their eyes to palpable evidences OF fraud,
while travellers who eagerly seize upon
every chance to pad their narratives with
sensational points naturally throw veil
OF mystery around the tricks of the In
dian jugglers
Let us take, for instance, the two per
tormances that have been most frequent
y and most marvelously written 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 exist in every case. The bas-
kets are bell shaped and have a false
bottom between which and the exterior
wall of the basket there is ample room
for small child to stow itself away. The
spectators are not allowed to touch, or
even to come very near to the basket, and
at 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 young
ster to crawl into its place OF conceal
ment, the juggler h0rrlties his audience
by passing his sword through the basket,
and then upon upsetting it, shows that
the child has disappeared. Meanwhile
a duplicate cl.ild that closely resembles
the first one enters upon the scene from
| the background, and the wonderful trick
is completed.
/ The famous mango growing trick is
even silller than this. You have OF course
read how man of mysterious arts plants
a mango seed in a flower pot and then
makes adwarfed 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 vOumnous folds must not
be touched by any but the juggler The
latter then waters the earth in the pot
| and does lot of manipulating while his
hands are concealed in the tent. Mean
while fellow juggler is performing a Sc
rles of other tricks to amuse and distract
the attention of the spectators. When
jugger number one has had time to
change the pot tor another that is hidden
in the folds of the tent, he opens one side
of the canvas a little and the second pot
can be seen with half grown mango
tree in it, After another iDterlude of the
same sort the tent door is again opened
and third pot is disclosed which con
talns little tree bearing a mango. The
whole thing is such weak attempt at
deception that a person after studying it
once or twice can only wonder if any one
has ever been really deceived by it, |
almost enjoyed the palming performances
OF the clever iugglers, for their skill and
| rapdlty OF action were something extra
| ordinary, but their materializing tricks
were such palpable absurdties that there
was actually no fun i'll detecting them.
Hon. john Swift in San Francisco Call.