He Did So, Climbing By The
Thong, And We Lost Sight Of Him Also!
The conjuror then called to him
three times, but getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a
great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also!
By and bye he
threw down one of the boy's hands, then a foot, then the other hand, and
then the other foot, then the trunk, and last of all the head! Then he
came down himself, all puffing and panting, and with his clothes all
bloody, kissed the ground before the Amir, and said something to him in
Chinese. The Amir gave some order in reply, and our friend then took the
lad's limbs, laid them together in their places, and gave a kick, when,
presto! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us! All this
astonished me beyond measure, and I had an attack of palpitation like that
which overcame me once before in the presence of the Sultan of India, when
he showed me something of the same kind. They gave me a cordial, however,
which cured the attack. The Kazi Afkharuddin was next to me, and quoth he,
'Wallah! 'tis my opinion there has been neither going up nor coming
down, neither marring nor mending; 'tis all hocus pocus!'"
Now let us compare with this, which Ibn Batuta the Moor says he saw in
China about the year 1348, the account which is given us by Edward Melton,
an Anglo-Dutch traveller, of the performances of a Chinese gang of
conjurors, which he witnessed at Batavia about the year 1670 (I have
forgotten to note the year). After describing very vividly the basket-
murder trick, which is well known in India, and now also in Europe, and
some feats of bamboo balancing similar to those which were recently shown
by Japanese performers in England, only more wonderful, he proceeds:
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