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man could not dare to commit a deliberate murder in the broad eye of day, and before so many
witnesses; still the whole thing was appalling.
"The blood ran in streams from the basket; the child was heard to struggle under it; her groans
fell horridly upon the ear; her struggles smote painfully upon the heart. The former were
gradually subdued into a faint moan, and the latter into a slight rustling sound; we seemed to
hear the last convulsive gasp which was to set her innocent soul free from the gored body, when
to our inexpressible astonishment and relief, after muttering a few cabalistic words, the juggler
took up the basket: but no child was to be seen. The spot was indeed dyed with blood; but there
were no mortal remains, and, after a few moments of undissembled wonder, we perceived the
little object of our alarm coming towards us from among the crowd. She advanced and saluted
us, holding out her hand for our donations, which we bestowed with hearty good-will; she
received them with a most graceful salaam, and the party left us, well satisfied with our more
than expected gratuity. What rendered the deception the more extraordinary was, that the man
stood aloof from the crowd during the whole performance,-- there was not a person within
several feet of him."
On another occasion, our author witnessed some clever tricks performed by Indian conjurors
before a rajah and the European visitors at his court, the more remarkable of which he describes
as follows:-- "One of the men, taking a large earthen vessel, with a capacious mouth, filled it
with water and turned it upside down, when all the water flowed out; but the moment it was
placed with the mouth upwards, it always became full. He then emptied it, allowing any one to
inspect it who chose. This being done, he desired that one of the party would fill it; his request
was obeyed. Still, when he reversed the jar, not a drop of water flowed, and upon turning it, to
our astonishment, it was empty.
"These and similar deceptions were several times repeated; and so skilfully were they managed
that, although any of us who chose were allowed to upset the vessel when full, which I did many
times, upon reversing it there was no water to be seen, and yet no appearance of any having
escaped. I examined the jar carefully when empty, but detected nothing which could lead to a
discovery of the mystery. I was allowed to retain and fill it myself, still, upon taking it up, all was
void within; yet the ground around it was perfectly dry, so that how the water had disappeared,
and where it had been conveyed, were problems which none of us were able to expound. The
vessel employed by the juggler upon this occasion was the common earthenware of the country,
very roughly made; and in order to convince us that it had not been especially constructed for
the purpose of aiding his clever deceptions, he permitted it, to be broken in our presence; the
fragments were then handed round for the inspection of his highness and the party present with
him.
"The next thing done was still more extraordinary. A large basket was produced, under which
was put a lean hungry Pariah female dog; after the lapse of about a minute, the basket was
removed, and she appeared with a litter of seven puppies. These were again covered, and, upon
raising the magic basket a goat was presented to our view. This was succeeded by a pig in the
full vigour of existence, but which, after being covered for the usual time, appeared with its
throat cut; it was, however, shortly restored to life under the mystical shade of the wicker
covering. What rendered these sudden changes so extraordinary was that no one stood near the
basket but the juggler, who raised and covered the animals with it. When he concluded, there
was nothing to be seen under it; and what became of the different animals which had figured in
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Lives of Conjurors--Chapter X
this singular deception was a question that puzzled us all.
"A man now took a small bag full of trap-balls, which he threw one by one into the air, to the
number of thirty-five; none of them appeared to return. When he had discharged the last, there
was a pause of full a minute; he then made a variety of motions with his hands, at the same
time grunting forth a kind of barbarous chant; in a few seconds, the balls were seen to fall, one
by one, until the whole of them were replaced in the bag; this was repeated at least half-a-dozen
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