The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-08-17

from Nothing, and Little Boys Killed Be-
fore Ones Very Eyes.
u Bombay Letter in n. Y. Times
81 Let me give you picture of an Indian
ffggler. One stands outside my hotel
window as | write He is performing his
tricks in the dusty road without table,
cabinet, patent boxes, or any of the accom-
paniments of the American Wizard. His
sole possessions consist of three small bask-
cts. ranging in size from half-peck to a
bushel; a couple of cloths, and tripod
made of three sticks, each two feet long
and held together by string at the top.
+ Three little wooden dolls with red clothes
I tied around their necks, and each not over
/ a foot long, are the gods which enable him
to do wonderful things. He has flute in
I his mouth and a little drum in his hand.
/ He is blackfaced and blackbeared, and his
shirt sleeves are pulled up above his elbows.
+ His only assistant is little turbaned boy,
( who sits besides him. whom he will shortly
put into basket not more than two feet
square and with him win perform the noted
l basket trick of India. This trick Is one of
T the wonderful juggling tricks of the world.
I The boy S hands are tied and he is put into
I net, which Is tied over his head, and which
/ incloses his whole body so that he APP
parently cannot move, He Is now crowded
into this basket. The lid is put down aud
/ tight straps are buckled over it. The Jug
gler now takes sword and with a few
passes of these little liindoO doll babies
over it and the muttering of iueantationS
as a preliminary, ,thrusts the sword again and
again into the basket. There is a crying as
though some one was in terrible pain. 1t
Is the voice Of child and the sword comes
out bloody You hold your breath, and
did you not know it to be a trick YOU
would feel ike pouncing upon the man.
After a momeu, the basket becomes still,
the iuggler makes a few more passes, uu-
buckles the straps aud shows you there Is
nothing within it. He calls. 'Baba babal
and in the distance You hear the childs
voice. How the boy got out Of the basket
or escaped being killed by the sword and
where the blood came from do not know.
| only know it was sleight of hand per
formancc aud wonderfully we'll done.
THE MANGO TRIcK
The mango trek is performed with the
three sticks in the shape Of tripod. The
jugglcr takes a pot Of water and pours It
over a Httle pot Of earth. He then holds
ND a mango bulb about the size of a val.
mt, and putting this into the earth he
throws a cloth over the .ripod- He now
blows upon biz horn making mysterious
passes. and after q few moments. raises the
closh and you see the mango tr,s, sproating
forth from the soil More passes and
more music follow and the cioth Is pulled
down again After few moments. during
which ihc showing Of minor tricks goss
On. he pall- out the pot, and the plant has
sr,,wu about a foot above IT, TkSre =
more watering aud more incantation, aud
his iual triumph comes in showing you
bush ncerly yard high, containing great
lsayez This he will pull uP by the roots
and shna you the secd at the bottom. II
i A wonderful trick. aud hoW the man Is
able 10 manipulate the different plants with
so,hiug elsc but thin cotton cloth b. help
him, which, by the way, be aliows you to
examine. Is hard 70 conceive.
Vie hzs doscn other sicighs of hand
performances equally a. wonderful lie
pnls 4 little shell into his mouth and ap-
pears g. choke a. h. draws oat coin after
coin and balls oC stone alnost A. big aruund
a, your est lie syits Gre. a dos the
American wizard; pulls miles Of string from
his stomach. sticks pins through hts tongue
without hurting himself, and ends the pcF-
fnFnancr with snake trek, which fs 90
ms the n,si wonderful If all
10 doing hts snake sriek he asked for
piccc oC paper and asks you to hold cat
ysuf band. Yoa DO 81. aud be PLACES the
paper upon IL lie thea begins 10 play
upon hls pipe aud TO dart out his eyes -
though be saw something nsar your hand.
His whole frame becomes transformed and
he dances around you Ike a wizard, play
ing all ,he time and kcopinS his eyes on
your hand Now he starts back aud points
H. You look and see nothing and be
begins 20 play louder aud dance wilder than
ever. Remember his arms are bare a the
elbow and both Of his hands are upon his
pipe. suddenly be drops the pipe aud
continues his dance with ineaniations. lie
points 60 the paper again, aud while you
look and see nothing he eiaps bis hand
down upon i, aud pulls nP three great
cobras. which raise their hooded heads and
isst cut their Ganss in different directions
aud squirsn and wriggle As he holds them
40 before YOU. You jump back, for the
bite VI the cobra Is deadly and ! am told
that the snakes used have il some cases
no, had their fangs drawn, 4 juggleT was
killed week ago in Benares by the bite Of
a eorba which be was using in this way
and they are the mnst terrible snakes
have ever seen. At another performance
Of the same kind was present with party
Of four, and We all decided to ascertain If
We could see how this trick was done. |
stood upon a chair and overlooked the man
as he snatched up the snakes, but | could
not SEE where they came from, aud only
know that he had them, and that they
were 50 big that he crowded them with
difficulty into a little round basket the size
of peek measure.
sNAKE CHARMERS.
These jugglers are wonderful snake
charmers. They make the snakes do as
they please, and the snakes they use are Of
the most deadly kind was told by an
! Englishman at Beuares of an incident
which happened there a short time ago.
/ \ juegler was performing with snakes and
Hindoo standing by said that the iangs
Of the snake had been drawn, and that any
man could do the tricks that he was doing.
The juggler replied that they were not.
/ The Hindoo protested, and in spite of the
warnings of the jugeler seized one of the
snakes. II was cobra, and it sunk its
fauss into his arm A moment later the
man dropped TO the ground, saying he was
poisoned. and in two hours be was dead
am told that the cobra will not bite unless
he is angry, and that it is only when he Is
in this condition that his mouth fills with
venom The jugglers rely on this fact, and
by petting the cobras make them so docile
that they can work with them without