The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-10
THE MAGIC OF INDIA. Not a Bit More Wonderful Than That of the
 Occident. TRICKS OF WIZARDS There Is None of Them That American Conjurers
 CannotDo.
TRICKS OF WIZARDS

@Cl1AAVI0Os
 Charles Bertram, the English conjur CT, made three trips to India, where he studied the tricks for which the Indian jugglers have long been famous. He came back with the opinion that trav- elers had exaggerated their skill.
 T have no hesitation in saying he said to a friend on his last visit to this country, that after seeing 176 differ ent Hindoo con1urers, who were gath cred in various parts of the country by the different rajahs before whom per formed, there is not single trick which the Indians perform that the European or American magicians can not do as well and even better.
 "They are clever at swallowing long chains, which are made to clink in their stomachs, and skillful at swallow ing swords, eating fire, chewing glass and encircling the body with redhot chains, but they are really no more adept at these things than the ordinary freaks and human salamanders that play the dime museum circuit.
 'As for the rope trick, the throwing Up of a rope into the air, up which a man or hoy chambers hand over hand and is seel no more, all that l can say is-moonshine, There is no such trick.
 During my tours of the far east asked for that special trick, and not single soul did I find who could do it or who had even seen it. I heard of men who had heard of others who had seen 1t, but could get no direct evil dence.
 "All that I could discover about it from the Indians themselves was voiced by one man, who said to me in his curious English. All in imagina- ton, all in travellers tales. I've been all over India looking for tricks. 1 Would not I have that if could get 1 it2'
 "There Is rope trick that the Indian jugglers do ard which is very dex- 1 trous. It consists in taking coil of rope several feet long, tossing 1t into the air and balancing it on the open palm. Tha robe, however, has a very thin wire running down the middle So as to enable 1t to remain stiff for nine or ten seconds, during which it Is bal anced and that is how that trick is dore, although great deal of delicacy Is involved in throwing the rope up with the exact amount of force to Straighten out the coils, for anything a shade under or oyer would interfere with the success Of the feat, which al Its best is only juggling interlude.
 'The other tNc great tricks of the Hindoos are the basket trick and thu mango tree trick. Tn the first trick 2 boy Is put into a basket sword i: passed through t In various directions and the boy Is seemingly killed, whil, later on he appears either from tn basket or else is discovered some dis tanoe away, rerhaps up tree. n "The sec,e! Is simple. The basket i peculiarly shaped, being much large at the bottom than at the top. Ther, is plenty of rccm in the bottom of tn, basket for 0 wlry Hindoo lad to cur round 1t eelwise. The performer II driving the sword through the baske takes excellent care to miss the boy although to the spectators 1t seems al If the sword penetrated every part o the basket. 'H
 "The mango trick Is even more sim pie, and the reports of travellers tha they had witnessed with their own eye
 the growth of the tree is as absurd a
 their tales of fIlndoo lads who c..inl up ropes and disappear la Jack ant
 the Beanstak in thin air. The mang
 tree is really a small twig, not nor than eighteen inches high, which l
 deftly 3stroduced into can of dir while the latter is being covered wit a cone made of cloth and bamboo.
 "The most startling trick I saw il
 the far east was performed by men
 dicant in the Malay peninsula Whil waiting for the mango tree to grow he did a few Hlndoo hanky pank wrinkles.
 He took little ball of rough cottoI about the size of walnut and threy 1t to woman who formed one of tn
 party that were assisting him, Tn
 jerk unraveled about three yards, an, she broke the end off and kept tn . ball.
 "The con1urer placed the end whici he held into his mouth, and by dee breath the cotton flew into his mouth l and he appeared to chew it. Then h . borrowed a penknife from me and wit the big blade made motion as If h t l would stab himself in the throat, tn } woman preventing him with a rathe l artistic stimulation of horror and ex Q citement.
 Presently she turned her back. an . the man seized the opportunity { t plunge the knife into his abdomen g That part of the trick he did so realis e tically that I confess I felt rather fain y He then put his hand under the loos c linen shirt he was wearing and bega g to draw out the piece of cotton.
 When he had thrown out nearly a
 much as the length of the piece ths
 had been broken off he lifted his shil slightly and showed the end of the co . ton aa0arently lmbedded in the ski e He then took the knife and moved 'e upward against the skin as if he wei
 pressing out the last bit of threa Is | which was tingAd with red as if wi