Barbour County index., 1910-08-24

besides these, however, were circuses
and theaters, dancing performances
and acrobats.
There was one show which made
but little outside clamor. But the no
ment that we saw its placarding we
hurried to pay the entrance fee and
entered. 1t was an enclosure open to
the air of heaven; the brilliant lights
to which we had been accustomed
were lacking here; few gas-jets en-
phasized the darkness. There was
lurid light from two bonfires blazing
on the ground, over one Of which a
great caldron Of water was boiling. A
fair crowd had gathered, perhaps $50
persons, really filing all the available
space for spectators. Beside a few
coolies who were assisting in the
preparation, the performers before us
were four white-robed priests of the
old religion. We were about to witness
the famous 'miracles,"-once purely
religious possibly, now frequently a
show in which there still fingers a
considerable amount of religious fer
vor and devotion. Percival Lowell, Of
course, has described them adequate
ly, and many less able writer has
described them since. There may be
an element of craft and deception in
the whole performance, but it is al
ways interesting, and we were glad of
our first opportunity to witness it.
First, is the sword ladder, the least
interesting of the four; the priest who
was to perform the miracle and an
assistant, after tedious preparation,
advanced to the front of the ladder,
which consisted of wooden sides, in
which were set six or seven sharp
swords. The audience had already had
demonstration of the sharpness of
their edges; one sword had been passed
from hand to hand, that all might see
and feel. With the assistant, the per-
former engaged In earnest prayer, ac-
companied by the strange finger-twist-
ing so characteristic of many oriental
ceremonies. At the close of all these
preparations the priest mounted the
ladder firmly, step by step, on the
sharp edges of the swords. Arrived
at the summit he called for a she'll
then descended. This act caused no
great enthusiasm, and indeed seemed
rather commonplace.
The next was more striking The
priest was a gentle-faced, bearded,
long-haired enthusiast. Stating to the
audience his purpose, he stood be-
fore them on a platform and made
strange passes with his open hands
from his shoulders down the sides of
his trunk to his thighs; curious trem-
ors passed through his body and
his fingers went through the strange
twistings. He then seized a large
needle and with the utmost delibera-
ton thrust 1t through the f1eshy por-
tion of his upper right arm. The act
would have been startling enough if 1t
had been done hurriedly; as it was,
the flesh of the spectators crept with
the deliberateness of the perform
ance. A second was thrust through
the same arm with the same delibera-
ton; a third was thrust through the
thick muscle Of the left arm, and
fourth; fifth was thrust through the
lobe of the right ear. This was done
with not the least appearance of pain
Meantime the assistants had been
piling wood under the caldron of boil
ing water. The performer this time
was strong and healthy man, with
none of the air of dreamy abstraction
which had marked his predecessor.
Standing on the same platform before
the audience, he proceeded to make
some rotary movements with his open
hands. He too, played, with the fin
ger-twistings. Meantime the water
had been thoroughly stirred-prob-
ably to demonstrate to the audience
that it was hot throughout-the priest
then seized two great boughs, heavy
with leaves, and advanced to the cal
dron, from which the cover had been
removed; he was stripped to the
waist; dipping the boughs into the
thoroughly boiling liquid, he brought
out great quantities of 1t upon them
and splashed it thoroughly over his
head and shoulders, and upon his
chest and back. This he kept up ac-
lively until two-thirds of the water,
certainly, had thus been used.
Public interest, however, was now
centered in the preparation for the next
and final act, the f1re-walk. The as
sistants brought forward chips and
light kindling; this was carefully laid
over space upon the ground some
four or five feet wide by perhaps IL
feet in length.
After the whole space had been COW
cred with this lighter stuff. heavier
kindling and small logs of firewood
were carefully placed. All was then
lighted and hot Goals from the neigh
boring fires thrown into every chink.
The needle-sticker, with fans in both
hands, ran along the sides of the
wood bed thus laid, and blew the Goals
into blaze. Soon the whole space
was a roaring fire. When 1t was at
its height, two priests walked along 1t,
throwing salt into the flames. We had
eYnectad. that this wOuld dpadon Tho