The leader., 1901-09-18
An Indian -
Cakir's Trick
Magic which o British officer
Expiains by Hypnotisfn. - -


A n OFFICER of the British army
~ who served in India with the
Seventh and the Fourteenth hussars
is spending a few weeks in New York.
The other day some friends were
talking with him about India and his
experiences there, and the converse
ton turned to Indian fakirs and their
wonderful performances.
"These fellows do perform some ex-
traordinary tricks" said the British
officer, but, extraordinary as they
are, the tricks are not so fearfully
wonderful as some of the stories OF
them which are brought away from
India by the tourists who learn all
about India and its people in the
course of few weeks sojourn in
some of the coast towns.
"As a matter of fact, the greatest
of the fakirs are never seen in the
towns and cities. Their religion and
superstition will not permit them to
wander from their native haunts, and
only those who have travelled or lived
in the widest and most remote parts
of India have witnessed the perform
ance of the really great tricks of the
fakirs.
"You must remember at the out
set that the real thing, to use an
Americanism, in the way of Hindoo
fakir is man of secrets and of
strange hibits. He loves, or affects
to love, solitude, and he works upon
the superstition of his fellows in per-
forming what are regarded by the
other Hindoos as sure-enough mir
acles. He lives in comparative seclu-
sion, existing on heaven knows what.
"Of course, at every opportunity he
EFFORTS whatever he may from his
fellows, but that is not much. And,
only for a venturesome foreign hunt
er that he may now and then perform
and get any considerable backsheesh.
In his native state he is the filthiest
human being l ever clapped my eyes
on, and by long habit he has fallen
into a chronic state of weirdness, so
\ to speak.
report travels much more rapidly
than one would suppose in the noun
tains of India, and once a party of
foreign sportsmen or travellers APP
pears in the up-country, fakir is not
long in striking the spoor, and he
keeps to it until he comes up with
the strangers. At such times the
fakir usually travels with small boy
and dirty bag filed with a promis-
cuous tumble of nuts, shells, trick
THE first time ever met a no-dis-
count fakir was in wild, unfre-
quented part of India, where two 9TH
er officers of the regiment, an army
surgeon and myself had gone on a
hunting trip. We had spent the day
beating for tiger, which got away,
and had returned to camp tired and
out of sorts. Taking an early dinner,
for we were horribly hungry, we sat
down outside the tent to smoke our
cheroots.
Suddenly, just before shutdown, we
noticed an uncanny-looking person
coming toward us, grinning like a
black devil, salaaming at every step
and mumbling something which none
of us could understand. We knew,
of course, that our visitor was one
of the mountain fakirs, and we calm
ly waited for him to proceed to bust
ness.
''As he put down his bag with great
elaboration, the boy accompanying
him curled himself up on the ground
and seemed to be paying attention to
nothing in particular. After little
the old codger produced, seemingly
from nowhere, ball of ordinary cot
ton string, which had once been
white, such string as shopkeepers or
dinarily use to tie up light parcels
with.
"The mans hair was gray and his
hide was as black a. Erebus. He wore
dirty turban and loin cloth, which
two articles constituted his apparel
The boys outfit was no less elaborate.
AFTER tossing the ball of string
about for awhile-it was about the size
of billiard ball-he threw it high into
the air, retaining the free end of the
string in his hand. Up and up and up
went the ball, growing smaller and
smaller the higher it travelled, until it
disappeared from sight altogether. To
all appearances it had sailed up until
it reached the nearest stratum of
was the mightiest ball throwing we
had ever seen and was quite sufficient
to attract our attention to anything
that the old boy might subsequently
do-and that was just what he wanted.
"As soon as the bah had disappeared,
4 the fakir let go the free end of the
string and there We had line of cot
ton Irvine extending from about five
feet from the ground up to the Lord
knows where. When the old man
found that the ball remained in the
air, refusing absolutely to come down,
no matter how wildly he gesticulated
or how loudly he yelled at it, he was
apparently much annoyed.
HE tugged and tugged at the cord,
but he couldn't pull the ball out of
space. and as an evident last resort,
Ne called the boy. told him to climb the
cord and bring the ball down. Then
we saw the spectacle of a boy ~ or
~ years old, climbing hand over hand.
up line Of cotton Irvine about the size
ef . large pin.
up and pp. higher and higher. the
urehin WENT climbing as a sailor
climbs rope. until be, too. had dis
appeared behind the slouds which hid
the bell. When last we saw him, he
looked g - }ust about as big as the
~ IA uhen II disappeared.
~ 1oQp q the urchin disappeared,