My memory supplies various instances of the success of this stratagem; a circumstance not to be wondered at, when we consider the almost incredible perfection to which leger-de-main, the tour de passe-passe, and gymnastic exhibitions, are brought in India. I shall offer a few of the feats displayed by these people, observing, that, with regard to drawing yards of thread from the noses and ears of spectators; cutting their turbans into pieces, and joining them again; changing eggs to chickens, and mango-stones into growing bushes, bearing the ripe fruit, making pigeons lay eggs, &c.; all such are considered as mere common-place deceptions, confined to the lower orders of this class of vagabonds.
The passing a sword-blade, of about two feet in length, and two inches in breadth, down the gullet, so as to be distinctly felt by the application of a hand to the operator’s stomach, is certainly the most extraordinary part of the exhibition. In this, there is no deception whatever; the sword is entire, and firmly fixed to the handle; while its solidity is such as to remove all doubt regarding pliancy or evasion in any mode: all we can say of it is, that the practice is adopted at an early age; and that the implement used is gradually encreased, from a small rattan to that above described.
As to vaulting, the number of somersets, and capers, made, with seeming facility, while bounding over the backs of elephants, or of camels, placed side-by-side, are truly astonishing! Throwing spears at each other, and catching them under the arms, while in the act of mission, mutually, cannot but cause both dread and surprize: the accuracy with which this is constantly done, seems to preclude all admiration at the skill of the celebrated William Tell.
Jumping through a frame that supports several, perhaps a dozen, of tulwars, (cutlasses,) of which the edges are remarkably sharp, and which appear to preclude the passage of a man’s body through the little interval left among their points, must be viewed with admiration; as must also the running bare-foot along a piece of cloth, perhaps ten yards in length, that is supported, at about a foot from the ground, by several men, each of whom holds, under the cloth, a sharp tulwar, of which the edge is turned upwards: the astonishing agility with which this is performed, absolutely requires to be seen ere it can be duly appreciated!
Some curious performances in balancing are worthy of notice: of these, the stringing, and unstringing, of eggs, is, perhaps, the most extraordinary. A man balances, on his head, a kind of platter, projecting, perhaps, six inches every way, of rather a conical form, (inverted,) and furnished all around with draw-loops of, perhaps, a foot in length, and about two inches asunder: their whole number may amount to twenty, or more. On his left arm he bears a basket, containing as many eggs as there are loops attached to the platter.
Using one foot for a pivot, he keeps moving round by the aid of the other, so as make about ten revolutions in a minute, and, while in motion, successively takes the eggs from the basket, and, with his right hand only, puts each into a loop, drawing it tight, so as to retain the egg firmly in an equipoised state.
In this manner he strings all the eggs, and again unstrings and re-places them in the basket; he always moving the same way. When the whole are strung, the music quickens its time considerably, and the operator, conforming to the change, accelerates his pace in proportion, until the velocity acquired by the eggs is such, as to occasion their whirling on a level with the platter.
I consider this to be the most arduous of all the exercises in that branch which depends, principally, on delicacy and caution. If we consider how many chances of failure exist, whether from a slip of the foot, a want of attention to the due elevation of the elbow, the aptness of the unemployed loops to become entangled, the giddiness to be apprehended from turning full half an hour, with such speed, always the same way, and the possibility of allowing a newly-laden loop to fall into its place too suddenly, and the same in withdrawing it, when about to take out the egg; all these are certainly points very difficult to compass, or to avoid, and entitle the artist to unlimitted approbation.
I observe, in Cordiner’s Description of Ceylon, some feats of the jugglers in that island noticed as being beyond compare; but I cannot conceive any thing more dexterous than that operation, so common in Bengal, of balancing a bamboo ladder, about fifteen feet in length, on a man’s chin, and allowing a well-grown lad, or a young woman, to ascend to the summit, by winding in and out between the steps, (which barely admit the body to pass,) and ultimately to descend, head foremost, in the same manner, after balancing, horizontally, with extended arms and legs, on either standard of the ladder. I have often wondered what the man’s chin could be made of!!!
Swarming up a stout bamboo pole, of full twenty feet long, balanced on a man’s hip, or shoulder, and descending again, by first attaching to the summit by the toes, and measuring a whole length downwards, the back being against the bamboo; then turning the opposite way, and thus, in alternate succession; always appeared to me equally dangerous and astonishing. To perform this, a man must possess unconscionable strength in his toes and ankles: the first slip would infallibly be the last!