The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-09-12
WIZARDS OF THE ORIENT.
a TRAVELLER'S DESCRIPTION OF
WoNDERFUL TRICKS.

o65ASA -
teries in Open Day in the Midst of a
Crowd-The Trick of the Mango Nut.
The far East is the true home of Jug
glery. With Western natives its practice
has fallen into disuse, and has been stead
lily on the decline since the passing away
of the clouds of the Middle Ages. ~Jugglery
has at various times occupied the highes'
the ally and eventhe mainstay OF religion'
and even the stock in trade of the way
side vagabond.
In Egypt, Persia, India, China and
Japan it has been brought to its highest
perfection. Houdin, the Frenchman, was
a prince among European jugglers, and
our own country has produced several
who have done remarkable things. But
beside the jugglers of India and Japan
these men are the veriest tyros. ALI OF
their tricks have been explained and do
not long battle the intelligent and inquisi-
tive mind. But travelling families OF
Hindoostanese and Japanese have wan
dered from place to place for centuries
and nave performed tricks, the secrets of
which not even the most careful scrutiny
has revealed. In three centuries a first
class trick descends from generation to
generation without ever leaving the fam
lily, and the remote descendant of an In
dian of the time of Buddha still practices
the tricks of his fo~refathers without dan
ger of discovery.
NO STAGE EFFECTS HERE.
The Western juggler requires stage eff
fects, darkened lights and complicated
machinery for the performance of his in
ferior arts. The juggler of the East does
incredible things in the open air, IN the
bright sunlight, with his audience
crowded close about him. So marvellous
are the stories told of them that many
people simply refuse to believe that they
are true. In the course of a conversation
with DIR. 0. d. Norton, Jr., recently re-
turned from a trip around the world, the
subject drifted to jugglery, which is so
prominent a characteristic of the natives
of the East, whom we delight at times to
call barbarous. DR.. Norton told many
stories which will be readily believed
from his lips where all the statements of
unknown travellers would fail to bring
conviction. Said he's
Everywhere we went we saw jugglers,
and their tricks, in which skill was the
main element, were very numerous and
very astonishing. But here is one by a
Japanese Juggler which shows more hi
mere skill
THE wATER TRICK.
Eat Yokohama a juggler came on deck
and built a little box by piling sticks one
on top of the other in squares. He held
it upSso that he could see through 1T.
Then he put a bottom to it, and i'm
mediately thrust his finger down into it,
and began to pull out a long piece of
what looked like smilax. He had 40 pos
sible way of concealing it. He pulled six
or seven fathoms of it out-more than he
could have wrapped into a small bundle.
A ftQ1.xyo ri hp nprTormp6 what hn pq1l1H
the water trick.
He set a small table on the deck, first
placing under it piece of paper so that
all the legs rested on the paper. He then
piled little boxes and tables one on top of
the other, forming a sort of column, of
which the first column was the base.
Each table and box was separated from
every other by a piece of paper. Then he
stood off from the column and lifted his
wand. From one corner of the topmost
box spouted Il stream of water. When he
raised his wand the stream spouted up
higher. When he lowered it the stream
was less. Then he made water stream
from the end of the wand, and walked
about the deck with the water flowing
from it. His sleeves were rolled up; his
hands and arms were bare. In Yoko-
hama. at a theatre, | saw the same thing
on a larger scale. The juggler then made
streams of water flow from the foreheads
OIL Ills dUltuuduLS, HULL UIIc UulQSU VI d
blazing ball of pitch at the end of his
wand, and finally from the flames of two
lamps which lighted the stage.
MAKING THE MANGO GROW.
sat Singapore, on the deck Of the
steamer, a Hindoo juggler did
the mango trick. He came on board
clad in the usual turban and loose white
robe, and wearing his legs and feet bare.
His tools were a mango nut, about the
size of the ordinary sea bean, a pot of
earth, a short stick about as thick as the
little finger, and a cloth about four feet
square. He knelt upon the deck while
doing the trick, and we all bent over him.
He poured out the earth and heaped it
into a little mound. He next held up the
mango nut, then buried it into the little
mound of earth. He poured water on it,,
waved his cloth over it several times, then
pulled the cloth away and asprout about
two inches long stood up fresh and green
from the mound. He lifted it out and
we all examined it and saw that it was
fastened to the nut. He buried the nut
again, poured on more water, pressed
down the earth with his stick, made the
passes with the cloth, and, removing it,
disclosed a sprout about six inches in
length. He repeated this process two or
three times, and then had a stalk about
a foot high; He now pressed the cloth
over this, stirred the earth at its base, and
again removed the cloth. There stood a
mango bush two feet and a half high,
with small branches and full grown
leaves, looking as if they had just I'M
folded. He pulled it up and showed us
the roots, grown just as the tree had
grown. / saw this trick again on shore
and watched even closer, but could not
see how it was done.
RATHER A CORY TRICK.
Gone day at Singapore | saw a Hindoo
boy stretch upon the ground in front of
the hotel. The man who was with him
spread a white sheet over him, SO that the
outlines of his body were plainly to be
seen. He then drew a knife, and lifting
it high in the air, drove it straight through
the sheet, apparently into the body of the
boy. Blood spurted out and the body
writhed. The man pushed the knife
hard, then drew it out slowly, covered
with blood, which he proceeded to wipe
off on a rag. He then lifted up the sheet,
and the boy arose with not a stain of
blood on his white garments, and not a
rent in them anywhere.
~ did not go far into the interior of
India, but those of the Brooklyn's officers
who did saw even more wonderful things
than~these, which / win not repeat second
hand. What explanation have l? None,
absolutely none.'-CinciBldtt CONNER
cidl Advertiser.
The Folly of a Lamb.
About the first error the lamb makes in