Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1899 — Indian Magicians Not Clever. [ARTICLE]

Indian Magicians Not Clever.

The Indian conjurers are not very •lever. They offer no new tricks and no wonderful ones. Their counterparts in China are many times more deft, audacious and original. The trick of rousing a mango tree to grow in the presence of a crowd is the most vaunted thing the Indians do, and that I failed to see, through it is practiced by many of these vagabonds. Several persons who have witnessed it told us that it is worked beneath a cloth or sack and that it seems as 4' it might easily, be done by drawing a small young plant from the performer’s clothing and setting It up in the dirt under the covering. The so-called tree Is usually but a few inches—at the inostafoot—in height. However, against the reports of such skeptics we must weigh the testimony of many famous travelers. * * * Nearly all the conjurers we saw were also snake charmers. Their work with serpents is extremely interesting, even aft. r one learns how harmless are their snakes. The reptiles are carried in baskets and bags and are of all sizes. * * • The cobras are best worth watching. • • * Usually a mongoose is put out to fight a cobra, but the ferretlike animal is not only spiritless, but remains so. I never saw or heard of anything come from such a combat except once, at Delhi, when the conjurer was not looking and a large serpent killed and half swallowed the mongoose. And the most interesting thing about that was the noise of the owner’s lamentation.—Harper’s Magazine.