The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-07-01
THE INDIAN JUCCLERS.
Hermann, the Magician, Gives His Im-
pressions of These Much Overrated
Fakirs of the East.

Fa<irs of the East.
Hermann, who is delightful talk
er, entertained few friends in Omaha
with some of his experiences in India.
which may prove interesting reading.
Naturally on his first visit to India
Hermann was curious to see some-
| thing of the famous jugglers of whom
| travellers have told such marvellous
tales. He went out of his way to meet
| any famous performer who could only
| be reached in that manner. and the re-
suit was that between the time he
| landed at Calcutta and the time he
embarked at Bombay he had witnessed
about everything of note in juggling
| line that the country afforded.
| The opinion he formed after secur-
ingsall they could show him was that.
| apart from their skill as snake-charm-
ers, in the basket trick and one or two
other illustrations, the ability of the
entire fraternity of Indian jugglers is
beneath contempt.
Il heard a great deal about the
wonderful mango trick" said this
modern Merlin, ''in which the native
jugglers were said to plant a mango
seed in the earth, whence it would
be seen to sprout and gradually
grow into a full-size mango tree,
blossom and ripen fruit in full view of
the spectators.
"They further declared that the
fruit would be handed around to
whomever cared to taste it. Stories to
this effect had been told by so many
travellers of repute that Ireally ex-
pected to find some merit in the trick.
| At Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow,
Delhi and Bombay 1 saw native Jug
glers who did the trick and each time
| they performed it precisely as follows:
The fakirs, usually five or six in num-
ber, would squat on the ground and
the spokesman would ask the
spectators to select spot of
earth on which they desired the trick
to be performed. This being done he
would pick up the earth with small
pointed instrument in order to make
a soft spot; then putting up a skeleton
frame of tripod shape he would throw
a shawl or cloth (without which the
fakir would be like a ship without a
rudder) over it, so as to make sort OF
tent.
.'One of the conjurors. wearing a
long robe with side sleeves, would
then produce mango seed, and
placing both hands and arms under
the improvised tent would plant the
seed, his hands and arms being out of
sight under the tent during the opera
ton. His comrades would then per-
form some simple tricks with cups,
| balls, etc., after which the cover over
| the tripod would be removed and a
small sprout would be seen in the side
of the mango seed"
when the cover was again thrown
over the tripod the fellow with the
| long sleeves would once more put his
arms under the tent so formed. After
another interval of three or four min
utes the cover would be again re-
moved and there would be seen a
| branch of the mango tree about two
! feet in height, bearing few mangoes,
some green, others ripe.
THE secret of this trick is very SIM
| pie and so shallow that it requires
little explanation. The man who
| placed his hands under the cover first
inserted the sprout in the seed, and
| the next time he drew from his ample
| sleeves branch cut from neighbor-
| ing mango tree and thrust the cut end
| into the earth which had eviously
| been softened."
Some one then asked Hermann if
he had ever seen the trick performed
| of throwing ball of twine into the
air to form sort of j ack-and-the-
bean-stalk, up which the juggler
climbed out of sight pulling the string
after him. and that the pistol shot OF
a companion conjurer brought the
aerial climbe to the earth in fragments,
which, when brought together, became
a living, uninjured man again.
mo, | never saw that trick" re-
piled Hermann. and the people who
believe it can be done must have their
brains STEPPED in hasheesh. You hear
of this trick in India, but somehow /
never was able to find a conjurer who
| would attempt it. Most of the won
ders attributed to Oriental jugglers
have never existed outside of the i'm
agination of those who tell them.
The feats of snake charming, how
utterly defy detection. When / was
my room with nothing on but
snake here, Sahib. Plenty big snake
in the room.' told him to 60 off;
that had seen all his snake tricks,
and did not want to be bothered. but
he insisted on it that there were plenty
of snakes in the room, so l told him to
go ahead and call them out if there
were any.
''Re stood up in the middle of the
room and began to play on sort of
flute he had with him. Now. mind
you, there was no furniture in the
room but cot bed and two or three
chairs. He had not played two min
utes before l saw the sheet on the bed
rise up till it looked like small tent.
and then an enormous cobra crawled
out and coiled itself on the floor with
its head erect and its tongue darting
out in anger.
I'm an instant l saw other snakes
crawling from all corners of the apart
ment and they placed themselves along
side their companion. The fakir, still
playing on his flute, led the way to
the door and the snakes followed him.
He paused at the threshold and they
reared their heads in anger. just as 1
was beginning to get nervous an
other fakir crept up behind them
and cut their heads off with sharp
sword which he carried.
'Now l have no other explanation
for this trick than that the snakes
were trained to wind themselves
around the bodies of the men under
meath the breech clout. When they
entered my apartment my attention
was attracted to the spokesman, not to
his companion, and he might have
placed the snakes in the room while I
was watching the flute player. This
is my only explanation. ."-Edgar c.
Snyder, in Omaha Bee.