The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-10-02
SOME INDIAN MAGIC.
A wRirER m An tNGLisH Paper or.
FeRs EXPLANATIONS.

Ne rciis now the Mango. the uystsi .ou-
Dissrpeafance aud the sitting ~ the Ar
tricks Are Done. bot y In the Dart on
the intcrment sNlrseie."
II h assumed that certain fcats have
is.n performed Tor thousands ~ years,
which h true. that they cannot w. pcr
frmcd In Eurupc, which Il imaginary,
lud that In ccrtoin details they arr mirnc
ulous or outside natural means which, In
the present state " the evidence, Is pure
assumption. The writer, for example, has
sewn thrce u the imputed miraculous tricks
tho creation Of the dwarf mango, the
sitting In the air and tho disappearance Of
q living being from n basket In place
where trapdoors, concealed exits or collu-
sion wcrc all alike physically impossible.
In the first case, the jugRlcr one OF the |
hereditary caste, did undoubtedly make n |
leaf spring out Of the ground, did make It |
grow into dwarf mango and did hand n |
mango from It to he eaten. IL looked won
dcrful because of the apparent simplicity |
Of the jugglcr, but he performed his feat |
In four processes, and between each he |
shook out his chuddcr, or muslin wrapper,
50 that 1t passed for an instant between |
the spectators and the plant The writer
had no doubt then and has no doubt now
that this was done not to conceal anything,
but to distract attention momcntarilyi
that the first leaf the upgrowth Of leaves,
the dwarf mango and the mango on 1t
were all of wax or other carefully made
imitation, and that the whole miracle"
was marvelously rapid sleight Of hand.
There was nothing In II at all which Mr..
Maskelyne could not do, for the juggler,
though he had no sleeves, had turban,
and the performance was decidedly less in
explicable than ono carried through by
French jugglcr in the hall Of the Hotel de
la Poste at Geneva. This performer put
3 franc piece of the year 1865 on plate
promised to replace 1t by any franc piece
asked for and did replace It by franc
piece Of the first republic while 20 pairs
OF eyes were staring at the plate. Tho
writer, who held the plate and furnished
the first franc piece was certain that he
had never taken his eyes of the coin, and
WINS OF course n mere victim TO his foolish
certainty. His attention had been dis
tracted, as in the case of the mango,
though by some infinitely more delicate
method.
In the case of the sitting in air the
writer has no certainty. The performer,
woman, certainly seemed to defy the laws
Of gravitation, sitting two feet from the
ground in open sunlight with her wrist on
the hilt of an ordinary sword. 1t is posi-
BILE, however, lightly ms she was dressed,
that she was sitting in n loop of wire at
tached to the sword hilt, and she certain
| ly never breathcd We believe the explana-
ton to consist in long practiced habit of
holding the breath, which, as we have
been told, lightens the body, and in some
art of remaining absolutely motionless for
| a certain number of seconds 1t was the
opinion Of professional man present that
| the woman was In n trance, Tut there was
| certainly nothing miraculous about the
feat, though it seemed at the moment
nearly inexplicable.
As to the third trick-the vanishing
the writer is certain a juggler stepped at
| Madras on to the deck of Peninsular and
Oriental company's steamer and offered the
company assembled, who were lounging
about highly bored by the old method Of
coaling 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
deck and told his wife to lie down. The
young woman, who may have weighed
seven stone, but more probably six, lay
down, and her husband placed over her a
shallow fiat basket, with 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.
Unfortunately the writer, essentially an
awkward man, in stepping back stepped
on the edge of the "frail" and heard a lit
tie cry of pain. The whole thing had been
piece of superb acting. The young wom-
an had learned to hook herself with her
fingers and prehensile toes into the strong
matwork forming the top of the frail, and
the husband, a slight but powerful man.
had learned to lift her as If he were lifting
nothing 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
the total absence of machinery, could not
be explained away.
There remain other miracles" at least
still to be explained. One is the self in
ternent practiced by some Brahmans, who
are revered us saints in consequence. The
writer has never seen this, but he inquired
into 1t once very carefully at Benares cross
examining, among Others the well known
English Pundit, DIR. Ballantyne, to whom
no native told lies, and he has no doubt
that ON two or three occasions old Brah-
mans have descended into a prepared grave
or underground cell and have remained
there for 40 days at least without apparent
means Of obtaining food or drink and with
no arrangement for the natural evacua-
tions.
How that feat is performed he has nc
idea. 1t cannot be IA mere trick, for the
whole business has been watched by Euro.
peans, and it cannot be u mere case OF
> heightened abstinence like the one shown
at the aquarium and in Italy, for though
as medical records show, human being
can survive without food for an astonish
ing length of time-a convict at Ipswich
was more than 40 days dying-he cannot
survive without water. He goes mad, tc
begin with. The only possible, or rather
the only probable, explanations, therefore
are that few Brahmans know of a drul
which induces protractod catalepsy-a con
, ceivable solution-or that no Brahman per
forms the feat who cannot like the Colone
Townshend of 100 years ago, will himsel
into cataleptic trance and repeat this a.
often as his vitality will admit. 1t is
very wonderful performance, worth NOR
attention than it has received, but it is
| inf I nndnn Snanfatpr