Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10
EASTERN JUGGLERS
Some Explanation of the Miracles
They Apparently Perform.
MARVELOUOLY RAPID SLEIGHT-OP HAND
They Make Trees Grow and Per-
sons Vanish From Sight.
THE GREAT ROPE TRICK

From the London Spectator
Mr. Walter Pollocks explanation of the
| great Indian rope trick, as offered in the
| Pail Mall Gazette. does not seem to us to
| explain much. With his general theory,
or apparent theory. that the Asiatlc mira
| Css" Of juggling are merely juggling tricks.
| akin In every way to the tricks which Mr..
| Maskelyne performs in London. We are
! disposed to agree. and, indeed. we can
ourselves explain one IL not three of them,
often described as if they were super
| human. But there is a remnant, never
| theless, which is not completely accounted
| for. and among them Is the trick which
Mr.. Pollock despises. and which Mr.. Mas
kelyne. If he could learn the secret. would
make a fortune out of.
| Reputed Miraculous Tricks.
| Whatever Its origin, the awe certainly ex-
ists and tends. about juggling as about
| everything else. to the accumula ton of
legend 1t is assumed that certain feats
have been performed for thousands of
years. which Is true; that they cannot be
performed in Europe, which is imaginary,
and that in certain details they mirac-
ulous outside natural means. which, in
! the present state of the evidence, is pure
| assumption. The writer, for example, has
seen three of the reputed miraculous tricks
the creation of the dwarf mango. the sit
| ting IN the air and the disappearance of
| living being from a basket in a place where
| trap-doors, concealed exits or collision were
| all alike physically impossible In the first
| place. the juggler, of the hereditary
! caste, did undoubtedly make a leaf spring
| out of the ground did make 1t grow into
| a dwarf mango, and did hand mango
| from II to be eaten. II looked wonderful
| because Of the apparent simplicity of the
! iuggler; but he performed his feat in four
J
his chudder, or muslin wrapper. so that 1t
! passed for an instant between the specta-
| tors and the plant
The writer had no doubt then. and has no
/ doubt now, that this was done not to con-
| ceal anything. but to distract attention mo-
mentarily. that the first leaf. the upgrowth
of leaves, the dwarf mango and the mango
| on II, were all of other carefully
made imitation, and that the whole mir
| acle was marvelously rapid sleight-of
| hand. There was nothing IL it at all which
| Mr.. Maskelyne could not do; for the Jug
| gler, though he had no sleeves, had tur
| ban, and the performance decidedly
less inexplicable than one carried through
| by French juggi n in the hall OF the Hotel
| de la Poste at Geneva. This performer put
| a five-franc piece of the year 1855 on
plate, promised to replace 1t by any five
| franc piece asked for, and did replace 1t by
| a ive-franc piece Of the first republic while
twenty pairs of eyes were staring at the
| plate. The writer, who held the plate and
| furnished the first five-franc piece. was GER
| tain that he had never taken his eyes off the
| coin. and was. OF course, a mere victim to
| his foolish certainty. His attention had
been distracted, as the case of the man.
| go, though by some infinitely more delicate
| method.
Sitting I'm Air.
In the case of the sitting in air the writer
has no certainty The performer, woman,
certainly seemed to defy the laws of gravi-
tation, sitting two feet from the ground In
| h. fS+ he
| of an ordinary sword. 1t Is possible how
| ever lightly as she was dressed. that she
| was sitting in a loop of wire attached TO
| the sword hilt; and she certainly never
brea thed. We believe the explanation to con-
slst in a long -practiced habit of holding the
breath, which, as we have been told, light
ems the BODY, and in some art of remaining
absolutely motionless for a certain number
| of seconds. was the opinion of profess
sional man present that the woman was in
a trance but there was certainly nothing
miraculous about the feat. though it seemed
a, the moment nearly ineXplicable.
| As to the third trick, the vanishing, the
writer Is certain. A juggler stepped. at
Madras on the deck of n PeniEsular and
Oriental Company's steamer and offered the
company assembled, who were lounging
about highly bored by the old method of
coaIng. If they would subscribe, to show
| them something better than common Jug
| Cling. The collection, of course. was forth
| coming at once; he cleared space on the
| young woman, who may have weighed
| seven stone, but more probably six, laid
| down and her husband placed over her a
shallow fat basket with n handle at the
| back, exactly resembling the baskets used
| for vegetables in East Anglia, and called
| ''frail," Then, with light and graceful
| gesture, he took up the basket and laid 1t
| down two or three feet Off The woman
| had vanished and the audible amazement
seemed deeply to crafty the juggler.
| Unfortuna tely the writer, essentially
| awkward man, In stepping back stepped
| onto the edge of the "frair' and heard a
| little cry of pain. The whole thing had
been e. piece of superb acting. The young
woman had learned to hook herself with
her fingers and prehensle toes into the
strong matwolk forming the top of the
frail, and the husband, a slight but power
full man. had learned to lift her as If he
were lifting but the basket. The writer of
course, said nothing about his awkward
ness; the juggler, after one savage glance
said nothing either, and only two years ago
the case was quoted as one of those only
seen in India. and which, owing to total
absence of machinery could not be explain
ed away.
Buried Alive.
There remain two other miracles" at
least stil to be explained. One is the self
interment practiced by some Brahmins who
are revered saints in consequence. The
writer has never seen this, but he inquired
into 1t once very carefully at Benaros, cross
examining, among others, the well-known
English pundit DR.. Ballantyne, to whom
no native told lies, and he has doubt
that on two or three occasions old Brah-
Minis have descended into prepared grave
or underground cell and have remained
there for forty days at least without APP
parent means of obtaining food or drink.
How that feat is performed he has no idea
1t cannot be a mere trick, for the whole
business has been watched by Europeans,
and II cannot be a mere case Of heightened
abstinence like the one shown at the Aqua
rum and in Italy, for though, as medical
+ records show, a human being can survive
without food for astonishing length of
time-a convict at Ipswich was more than
forty days dyipg-he cannot survive with
out water. He goes mad, to begin with.
The only possible, or rather the only prob
able, explanations, therefore, that a
few Brahmips know of drug which in
duce5 protracted catalepsy, a conceivable
solution or that no Brahmin performs the
feat who cannot, like the Col. Townshend
of hundred years ago, will himself into a
cataleptic trance and repeat this often