Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-02-08
MUSICAL GRASS.
Wonderful Effects Produced by Gun
nine Fakirs in India.

There yet remain certain corners OF
the earth where natural wonders Of
the exceptional sort await the inspec-
ton Of the more adventurous and
curiously inclined. One of these as
yet generally unexplored corners lies
not far from the old temple caves of
Bagh, in India. Here there is lake
in which is a small islet. Around
the shores Of the lake, and of the
islet especially, is dense growth of
reed grass. The forest surrounding
both swarms with the deadly serpent
tribes and other dangerous beasts of
prey peculiar to the jungle. The
islet itself is but a tiny one, and when
viewed at a distance looks like
pyramidal basket of verdure, so over
grown is it with the tall reeds. The
only inhabitants of this isolated spot
are the ubiquitous monkeys, who
rendezvous among a few mango trees
that grow in the midst. This reed
grass is seven or eight feet high and
plumed at the top, the color effect Of
which is as Of a waving sea of black,
yellow, blue, and especially Of rose
and green"
But the wonder does not become
apparent until the evening wind be-
gins to blow. Then the gigantic
reeds awake and begin to toss un-
easily, and suddenly, in the general
silence of the forest around, there is
somewhere let loose u whole river of
musical sound, first like that of an
orchestra tuning up" and then a
flood of harmony follows, and the
whole island resounds as with the
strains Of hundreds of .Eolian harps.
1t swells and deepens, filling the air
with indescribable melody, now sad
and solemn as of some funeral march,
now rising and trilling upon the air
like the song of the nightingale,
to die away into silence with a
long-drawn sigh. Then again the
sounds rise, clashing like hundreds of
silver bells; then suddenly changing
to the heart-rending howl Of wolf
deprived Of her young. A gay taran-
telle follows; then comes the articu-
late sound of the human voice to the
vague, majestic accords of a violon-
cello-and all this represented in
every direction by hundreds Of re-
sponsive echoes. Let the wind but
rise, the sounds pour and roll in un-
restrainable, overwhelming energy
comparable to nothing but a storm
in the open sea. You hear the wind
tearing through the rigging, the
swish and turmoil and laundering
shock Of the maddened waves. A
lull, and the scene is changed to the
dim-lit vault Of cathedral, throb-
bling to the long-drawn roll Of organ
notes, ending, perhaps, in the clangor
of an alarm bell. And so it goes,
until your ears ache and your head
reels under the strain.
On the opposite side of the lake
you will see the fires Of the supersti-
tious natives, who congregate to
bring offerings to the Indian god Pan
and his hosts, who are held RESPONSE
BILE for the sounds evoked. The cum
ming fakirs alone know better, but
because of certain benefits that ac-
crue to themselves from these rever-
entail offerings, do not care to en-
tighten these bronze-faced devotees.
The explanation is very simple one.
This reed grass is hollow; it shelters
species of tiny beetle, and these
tiny insects obligingly bore the holes
in these innumerable pipes of the
great god Pan. Then comes your
fakir, and he, with his knowledge of
acoustics-for the superior class of
Hindu ascetics are deeply versed in
natural laws-enlarges and shapes
and finishes until each reed is per-
feet lutte, answering to certain key
note in the musical scal' Tic wind
is the musician 9q2 blws the pipes
thus preperc3 with RESULTS as de-
scriFe3. Why the fakir should 60 to
the trouble of attuning the reeds is
probably due to the habitual foster
ing of native superstitions by the
Brahmins in control.-[Pittsburgh
n.oDotnL