Evening star., 1896-03-07

| only man who has ever succeeded in doing
| anything with them They struck recently
| in New York, all hut the faithful Nathoo
| and so Mr.. ROOD concluded to go out of the
| BUSH ess.
That is why he happens to be in Boston
at present, and the other evening at 2Sl
| Columbus avenue he removed the veil from
Indian occultism for the benefit of a GLOBE
| artist and reporter.
First Nathoo performed the tricks, and
| after he had left the room Mr.. Rood re-
peated them and showed the hocuspocus in
| each.
Mr.. Rood says that the reason why the
| Hi docs are such expert palmsters is that
| their hands formed unlike those of any
| other human beings, the base of the thumb
| being SO large and high that they can hold
| any article in the palm. from a pea to an
egg, without contracting a muscle, SO that
when the back of the hand is turned to-
ward you it is impossible to see tia. any
| article is concealed in the palm.
The Turban Trick.
The first performance was one that has
always been &. poser to the amateur Jug
| gler. 1t was the famous trick tf cutting
| and burning the turban. Only in this case
| the turban Was very long strip of muslin
|. cloth.
| inches long from cne end. Then the strip
| was folded. and he appeared to cut through
| the folds, thus making three or four pieces
| Of the strip
| In reality, however. as Mr.. Rood snbse-
| quently showed, he only cut off a small
| piece of each end. But in order to accom-
| plish this he gave the cloth a twist which
brought the enc in the desired position to
| he removed.
AS the small pieces were cut off they
| were secured by knot, which gave the
Cloth the apI earance of having been cut
| into three or four distinct parts The
| pieces were deftly rolled into a ball, palm
ed and finally dropped into Nathoos bag in
! moment when the spectators attention
| is attracted elsewhere.
| Then the ends of the cloth are set on
| fire, apparently, altho olgh they are held in
| such a manner that in reality it is only the
| little pieces that are burned.
| When the cloth is unrolled it is of course
found to be intact. and no one ever thinks
| of measuring 1t to see whether it has lost
| any of its length.
Then came the ''lota" or water trick. in
| which small metal vessel, looking some
| thing like a cuspidor, seemed 10 contain
| an endless amount of water.
| The deception is caused by a partition
| around the inside of the ''lota" O). which
has a small hole at the bottom to allow the
water to pass through. and when the YES
| sci is Upside down the water remains
! around the side. By blowing through a
very small hole drilled in the side (at y.
Nathoo could cause a fount ain-like flow
| from the mouth Of the vessel
Mr.. and Mrs. Rood then held an ordinary
! corn trick on ANY old sheet will do" said
Mrs. Rood In an aside, when Nathoo seemed
dissatisfied with piece of black cloth
| He then threw some dried raw corn upon
! the sheet. and taking the "suplee" which
| somewhat resembles a dustpan, he began
| stirring the corn. all the while repeating his
| incantatons.
| Apparently the corn began to pop. and Mr..
| Rood subsequently showed that Nathoo's q
| 'sIplee" had double bottom (2). by onenine
which the nicely popped corn which had
| previously been placed there came out upon
the sheet.
/ Ma
| cess of this trick.
| Miracle Explained.
| He then treated his spectators to the mi
raculous appearance of two live rabbits. and
this is the explanation of the miracle:
Two rabbits were placed in a small cloth
Rag d). loosely tied therein and put on the
| floor. The small basket GO was then placed
| before Nathoo, who put upon it his rahmsa-
| nee, or god, made out of cloth and leather.
| ana resembling a cross between crocodile
and bootjack.
This little god is very ef1icacious in Hindoo
| cccultism. and should never be left out
| After putting it on the basket, Nathoo
spread small cloth over both, and then,
| after chanting a hymn, he removed the
basket with lis left hand, with the cloth
| still over it, and while calling attention to
| the fact that the rahmsamee is still there.
deftly picks up the bag containing the rab-
| bits with the hand which holds the basket.
bringing them around in front of him.
| quickly removes the rabbits from the bag.
| places them under the basket throws aside
the cloth in which the bag is concealed,
hits the basket and astonishes his specta-
tors with the sight OF the rabbits.
| The hubble bubble, or Hindoo boat mys-
l terry. came next. This is not trick, ex-
| actly. but a very good illustration of the
| natural action of air and water, which grea +
| ly puzzled Mr. Rood for a long time An or
| binary cocoanut shell is followed out from
a small aperture at the eye, having a hole
about one-sixteentn of an inch in diameter
| and about two inches from the aperture.
| chair rung about two inches in circum-
| ference and eight inches long has a hole
| one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter drilled
| lengthwise through the center Figure !
| represents small boat eighteen inches long
| about five inches wide and two inches deep'
| with a small hole bored through the side
| ear the bottom Figure 0. A small seat ba r
| is at one end. in which is drilled hole large
| enough to allow the chair rung to fit tightly.
The cocoanut is first filled with water and
a finger is kept over the hole in the side.
Then one end of the chair rung is inserted
| You don't drink cocoa