THE INDIAN SANDS
In its simplest form this trick consists in putting some silver sand into a bowl of water and taking it out—perfectly dry. But the trick in that form is hardly worth doing and certainly not worth the trouble involved in its preparation.
An important additional effect is produced by using sands of three colours—red, white, and blue. The white sand is not really white, but the natural colour of the sand. In this case, not only does the conjurer take out the sand perfectly dry, but he takes out the sand of the colour named by the audience.
This is a trick which depends largely for its effect upon the showmanship of the performer, for unless the audience are thoroughly convinced that the bowl of water is what the conjurer says it is and nothing more—an ordinary bowl nearly filled with ordinary water—and unless the audience are further convinced of the fact that the sands of different colours are poured into the bowl and are thoroughly stirred up into the water they will not be properly surprised when the conjurer comes to the climax of the trick.
Therefore, the conjurer should lead off by giving the bowl out for examination. The bowl can be either of glass, metal, or china. The trick is most effective, I think, when a glass bowl is used; it should be a large flat bowl.
The different sands should be placed in bags, the red sand being in a red bag, and so on.
If the conjurer uses a glass bowl he should have the water in a large glass jug. He leads off by holding up the bowl for inspection; then he gives it out for examination. If he is performing in a room he should have a box or some kind of stand on the table, so that everyone can see the bowl during the whole of the performance.
Having received the bowl back again the conjurer pours in the water, and he should take note beforehand of the actual quantity required. If there is too much water some of it may get splashed over the brim during the performance of the trick, and if there is too little the trick is not sufficiently effective; besides, with a little water the trick is more difficult.
The conjurer then picks up the red bag and pours out the sand, a little at a time, on to his other hand; he should take care to let the audience see that he has nothing concealed in his hand at the beginning of the trick, and in pouring out the sand he should work slowly so that the audience see that he pours out nothing else but sand. While he is doing this he should hold his hand over the bowl, because some of the sand will drop off his hand into the water. There will naturally be quite a little mound of sand on his hand when the bag is empty. He then tips the sand into the bowl and stirs it slightly. The dye will colour the water.
He proceeds to empty the other two bags in the same way, taking great care to let the audience see that the bags contain nothing but sand and that he places nothing else in the water. At the end of these proceedings the water will be thoroughly coloured.