Year: 1870

BY CARLETON.


ONE morning when l was in India
heard the beating of a drum and the
equeaking ofa fageolet under my window.
1t was not inspiring music. The drum
mer did not play with such spirit as some
of the boys played who went into the
army, and the f1ageolet had an unpless.
ant squeak to it. l was too weary with
travelling and too tired of sightseeing to
look out and see what was going on. Be-
sides it was very hot day, and the mer
curry in the thermometer was UP to one
hundred and ten in the shade. had my
coat, vest, stockings and shoes of, and
was lying on couch with q pI7lkd going
backward and forward few inches
above my face. Do you ask what
punka is? 1t is great fan. India is
very warm country in summer, and the
Europeans and few Americans who live
there are obliged to resort to many ex-
pedients to keep c1ol. The Hindoos be.
ing natives of the country, can bear the
heat; but foreigners from cooler climes
wilt like a cabbage plant after being
transplanted on hot June morning.. One
OF their contTivances for keeping cool is
the punka, or fan. IL is heavy frame
covered with cotton cloth and suspended
by ropes from the ceiling, SO that it can
be swung just over your bed when you
are asleep, or above the table when you
are at dinner, or q little above your head
when you are writing or reading. All
Europeans living in India have punkas
in their houses--in bedrooms, parlors,
dining rooms, and IN their stores. When
you go to church on Sunday you will see
one swinging backward and forward over
the minister's head while he is preaching;
another over the singers, and dozen over
the heads of the people. They are kept
in motion by Hindoo boys who stand or sit
outside of the house, and who keep pulling
cord that goes through hole in the wall,
and is attached tC a frame of the punka
There are two pullers to each punka
who take turns through the day and night
Another contriVsLce is a tanning mill,
placed outside Of the house under the
piszzs, with long spout entering win.
dow. Two men take turns at the
crank, blowing wind into the build
ing. If they did not raise the wind
in some way it would be almost
impossible for foreigner to live there
during the hot months of the year. The
punks was going over my head and the
puller was keeping time with the drum
mer, when my Bindoo landlord, with a
great white turhan on his head nearly as
large IS bushel basket, looked into my
room and said, "Don't you want to see
the jugglersG" Certainly" had heard
great deal about them and wanted to
see them very much, and went out and sat
upon the veIanda whlle thejugglers went
through their performances. There were
three or four persons in the party who all
made low bow and then sat down on
the ground. They were snake charmers
as well as j1gglers. They sat in row,
one beating the drum, another playing
the fageolet, while third had an ans
conds wound around one arm, and around
his neck. The anaconda was about twelve
feet long, aud its wide, fiat head was
raised two or three feet above that of the
Hindoo. II opened its mouth, ran out its
tongue, and flashed its eyes and twisted
its head about in such snaky way that l
did not like the look of him at all A
fourth had large, greenish snake wound
round his ARA. One OF the charmers
made low, clucking sound, and the slimy
creature unwound himself, crswled down
to the ground and started for the veranda
TO make our acquaintance. When he was
almost up to our feet, the charmer made
a different cluck, and the snake, after Civ
ing hiss and running out its red. foTked
tongue, and flashing its fiery eyes, went
back and coiled himself once more around
the fellows arm. There were two large
earthen jars upon the ground, and now,
as the charmer made another cluck, two
cobras raised their heads above one of the
vessels. The bite of the cobra is very
deadly. The poison strikes instantly
through the system, paralyzes it, and
brings on death very quickly.


The charmer made whispering noise
and they came creeping over the sides of
the jar and wound themselves in coils
upon the ground just as sailor coils
rope upon the deck of the ship. There
they were with their heads nearly foot
above the centre Of the coil, waving them
backward and forward with their mouths
wide open, and the two sharp fangs in
their upper i1w exposed, their eyes fash
ing and their tongues in motion. Cobra
de Capella is Portuguese word, meaning
hooded snake, and it is sometimes calieo
the "hooded snake" because it has sort
of hood upon its head. The charmer
struck at them with his fingers, aud they
struck back again. When they are en-
ragged they show their anger by putting
up their hoods, by Kissing, flashing their
eyes, and striking at everything near
them. AS the Charmer continued to
plague them they became very wratbful.
How their eyes flashed How their
tongues went And what Kissing they
maze They seemed angry enough TO
strike their tormentor dead. They are
very slow motioned, and as there was no
danger that they would get at us, we sat
and watched them with composure, be-
sides we knew that the charmer had them
under perfect control; for when they
were as angry as they could be, he gave q
low whistle which Gained them in mo-
ment and sent them back into the jar.
Then the charmer put his hand into an
other vessel and took out q dozen or more
great scorpions. Their sting causes ex,
cruciating pain--tar worse than that OF
hornets. These were as large as some OF
the crabs that live along our Ocean shores,
and were ugly looking cresturesi but he
handled them as calmly ss II they were
clnary birds, or white mice, or any other
harmless thing. He hung them upon his
ears, upon his bare arms as ii they Were
bracelets, and the creatures never thought
of harming him. 1t was wonderful to see
the power OF these charmers over such
yenomous creatures. There are some
men in the world who ere endowed by
nature with .emarkable power over the
| lower order of creation.


But these jugglers could do some very
clever tricks-some that would puzzle
you COMPLETELY, They have one trick