The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-20
ORIENTAL MAGIC.
SOME WONDERS RELATED BY
ANCIENT TRAVELLERS.
From the London STANDARD.

miracles ourselves. The best of our con-
jurors tricks have been learned in the
east and in many cases they have i'm
proved on the original. But it is not GER
tain that their modus operandi is the
same. The naked juggler who performs
in the baked earth of a compound
cannot have at his command the elaborate
machinery of tn Egyptian Hall.
The most ingenious professor" in Eu-
! rope might despair when set to achieve
this feat which is the first trial of an as
| pirant among the kakhuenS, as Sir h.
| Slade describes it. The neOphyte must
| climb a ladder of which the rungs are
\ naked swords, edge upwards, and sit
upon platform thickly studded with
J spikes for an uncertain time before he
/ even "gOes up for examination
this in the open air, among crowd of
! tribesmen. OF the stories told by Ibn
Batuta some have been verified, so to
speak, but not all. One day, when he
was talking with Mohammed Tughlak,
| at Delft, three Yogees approached and
the emperor told them to astonish his
guest. Forthwith one took the form of
cube, rose into the air and hung above
their heads Ibn Batuta faint
ed promptly, but the emperor gave
him a draught, which brought him to in
an instant. 1t has been suggested by
| those who can read the original text that
| this must have been alcohol in some form
However, when he recovered his senses
the object was still suspended. The sec
ond Yogee then snatched a sandal from
one of the bystanders and struck it
sharply on the'ground; thereupon the san
| dial mounted and slapped the cube as if
upon its face; when down the Yogee fell.
| Mohammed Tughlak promised to show
his guest things much more surprising
but Ibn was seized with a palpitation of
| the heart which put stop to the enter
| there was no "draught'' handy, On an
other occasion, however, some Chinese
| jugglers gave performance. GIN
my presence, - says that respectable trav-
eller, 'they produced a chain fifty cubits
| long, which they tOssd upwards, and it
| stood erect. A dog was then brought for
ward it ran up the chain, and, on gain
| ing the top vanished. If the same man
ner boy, panther, tiger and a lion
mounted one after another, and disap-
! peared. At last they took down the
chain and put it into a bag, no one dis
| corning how the animals were made to
vanish in the mysterious way l have de-
scribed. This, l may venture to affirm,
was beyond measure strange and snrpris
| ing"
An exact pendant to this is tale civ,
/
MIR Giles under the name Strange
| stories from o Chinese Studio The au-
| thor declares that he himself beheld the
marvels related-the only instance we
| believe, in which he vouches his personal
| experience a fact worth noting, for he
| tells a thousand marvels of the sort.
| When a little boy, Smuggling was taken
to the provincial capital for the Spring
| feast, and followed the crowd into the
| judges yamen. In the middle of the hall
| was a man with little boy, who under
/ took to perform anything demanded of
4 him. The great men seated around asked
| for peaches-it was the month of
\ March. Much "business" followed, but
| at length the 1uggler said he must get
| them from the orchard of ''the royal
mother" who dwells in heaven. He took
| from his box a piece of cord, "some tens
| of feet long" arranged 1t carefully, AMI
| threw one end into the air, where it re-
manned fixed, "as if caught by some
| thing" and he paid It out from below.
! Higher and higher the rope mounted, I'M
/ til a small piece only remained in his
hands Then the man called his boy and
| babe him climb up. Up went the boy
after more "gag," like a spider running
up its thread. and in a few minutes he
was out of sight.
| Presently peach fell down as large as
| a basin While the magistrates were ex-
|
! heap, and the man cried, "Alas some
| body has cut it, ! What will my son do
| now" At the same instant the boys
| head fell from heaven, and lamentations
which may be imagined followed. Limbs
and body came tumbling after To omit
business, - the iuggler collected them,
| put them in his box, and begged help for
the funeral expenses. The Mortified spec
tators subscribed literally, and when
| they had given as much as could be hoped,
| the man tapped upon his box saying,
| why don't you come out, you rascal,
and thank the gentlemen}" Forthwith
the boy threw up the lid, jumped out, and
bowed to the company, Smuggling says,
81 have never forgotten this strange
trick, which, as 1 have heard now, is
| performed by the White Lily sect,
who probably learned it from this man"
the White Lily, otherwise do Moth
| ing" We-Wei-Keaou. is the most dreaded
| of all the secret societies of China, said
| by Mr.. Giles to date from 1850 Mr..
| Masl1elyne, we hear, has been consulted
| upon Ibn Batuta's trick. He answered:
'These apparent effects were due, doubt
| less, to the aid of cOncaVe mirrors, the
| use of which was known to the ancients,
especially in the east; but they could not
| have been produced in the open air" The
| explanation seems almost as incompre-
| hensible to the uninitated as the state
ment itself. AS a matter of fact, how
ever, the Chinese performance did not
| take place in the open air. Sung-lung
mentions distinctly that a hall in the
| Judges yamen was the scene. Upon the
other hand, how could the rope-and the
| boy-penetrate roof But then, again,
| MIR, Giles does not notice this difficulty
| If the hall were but partially covered in,
| Mr. Maskelyne's objection might be met.
China is the most favored home of
magic in these days. The bewildering
conditions of life which Apuleius
sketched with grotesque extravaganza in
| Thessaly of old are accepted the reas a ma
| tural order of things Dead men come to
life again as likely as not, or, as is equally
probable, an evil spirit takes possession
Of their bodies, to play the mischief under
| that respectable disguise. There are no
fairies in China, no pretty tales of magic.
Often enough a supernatural being falls
in love, and the motif of a fanciful ro-
nance is provided; but it works out in
| businessike way. Very nearly always a
| bleeding head makes its appearance.
| Magistrates and torturers come on
| the scene. The single fact that
Chinese fairies-that is, the nearest
equivalent for them-are foxes "speaks
volumes" When you meet a stranger it
is always prudent to ask yourself whether
he is not a fox-more especially she, in
| the case of a lovely girl Such is the utter