Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-04-05

marvellous. In my Indian travels
have seen them do things that are be-
You'd the explanation of any but the
priests. When one hears of such
things as man throwing a rope into
the air and then, without the slight
est appearance of anything to climb
on going up after it, he is apt to be
skeptical, but | have seen things Just
as marvellous.
THE priests of India are scientific
men who have studied their art for
years, not for money gains, but for the
sake of their religion. They are taken
good care of for their entire lives and
study and delve into the mysteries of
science with the fervor of religious
fanatics. OF course, when their tricks
are learned it is found that the sim
plest scientific principles are be-
meath them all. What We learn as
youths in school about the siphon and
the sucker and other fundamental
tricks in physics, they put to the most
startling uses.
For instance, in the northern part
mother of the god Buddha. where
great throngs go to worship. In the
temple there is a statue of the mother
with the child god in her arms.
Around the mother there is a great
chalice into which runs steady
stream of water. The superstition
about the statue is that it is impossible
for the water even to touch the feet
of the god. The water will flow into
the chalice and fill it clear up to the
feet Of Buddha, and then it will sud
denly begin to sink down to the bot
tom of the cup. The chalice is con-
stantly filled-and empted in this, way,
and the people think that there is a
magical power in the god. OF course,
1t is nothing more than a trick per-
formed by a siphon within the statue,
but for centuries the priests have
made the populace believe in the
divinity of Buddha through it.
There is no doubt that the Hindoos
have found out the secret of many
laws of nature unknown to us. For
centuries they have known things
which for centuries to come we may not
know. Things are occurring there
constantly that battle the English Of
ficers and all efforts to bride and
threaten the secrets out of the Hindoos
have utterly failed. The British have
spnt every effort to find out how the
priests perform some of their mys-
teries, but it looks very much as
though they would never know. Every
once in a while we discover something
wonderful in science, which has been
known for ages in India 1t Is not very
many years ago that we would have
thought the idea of wireless telegraphy
preposterous, but since Marconi's dis
covery it does not seem so strange
The Hindoos, however, have a sys-
TEN of secret communication that Is
more battling than wireless telegraphy.
spent every effort to find out how the
with each other for miles and miles,
but by what means is not known to
any but themselves.
"Outbreaks and instructions in the
most distant parts would be talked OF
in the southern part Of the country,
among the coolies even, for days be-
fore the British would receive notice
of them. Communication seemed to
come with the rapidity of thought, and
is wrapped in the utmost mystery.
During the insurrection in Afghan
istan | was at Calcutta. Col. Roberts
was in charge OF the British forces
suppressing the uprising, and, OF
course, the greatest concern was felt
at Calcutta regarding the war. One
of these strange occurrences took
place at this time. On the very day
that the instruction was broken by
Roberts and fully two days before the
British received information of the
fact the Hindoo merchants on the
bazaars OF Calcutta were talking of the
victory of the British. Even the low
est coolies knew all about the sup
preston of the Instruction. Before
the British officers could be informed
of the fact a pony express had to
travel fully two days from the seat OF
the war to the nearest telegraph wire.
and the entire distance was fully 1000
miles
This strange power of commune
cation has been noticed time and time
again. When there is an uprising
among any part of the tribes it has
been noticed that the trees in all parts
of the empire will be marked with a
red spot, 1t seems to be done in all
parts of the country at the same time.
and is probably sign among the
Hindoos BY their mysterious power
of communication the news is sent to
every corner,