When she had completed it, she held one end, while I took the other and walked across the room, stretching it out to its full length, between three and four yards, so that all could see it; and while it was so held, the controlling spirit shut off the light, showing that the lace was brilliantly illuminated. Bertha then gathered it in, rolled it up and dematerialized it on my shoulder, the light remaining on my coat for nearly a minute after the lace had entirely disappeared. These things are not new; they are as old as the history of man, and are of common occurrence in India at the present time. They have no possible connection with what is known as sleight-of-hand, or legerdemain. Louis Jacolliot, Chief Justice of Chandenagur, French East Indies, in his able work on Occult Science in India, thus points out the difference:-- "Every European has heard of the extraordinary skill of the Hindoo Fakirs, who are popularly designated under the name of Charmers or Jugglers. They claim to be invested with supernatural powers. Such is the belief of all Asiatic people. When our countrymen are told of their performances, they usually answer, 'Go to the regular magicians; they will show you the same things.' "To enable the reader to appreciate the grounds of this opinion, it seems necessary to show how the Fakirs operate. The following are facts which no traveller has ventured to contradict:-- "_First._--They never give public representations in places where the presence of several hundred persons makes it impossible to exercise the proper scrutiny. "_Second._--They are accompanied by no assistant, or confederate, as they are usually termed. "_Third._--They present themselves in the interior of the house, completely naked, except that they wear, for modesty's sake, a small piece of linen about as large as the hand. "_Fourth._--They are not acquainted with goblets, or magic bags, or double-bottomed boxes, or prepared tables, or any of the thousand and one things which our European conjurers find necessary. "_Fifth._--They have absolutely nothing in their possession save a small wand of seven knots of bamboo, as big as the handle of a pen-holder, which they hold in their right hand, and a small whistle, about three inches long, which they fasten to one of the locks of their long, straight hair; for, having no clothes, and consequently no pockets, they would otherwise be obliged to hold it constantly in the hand. "_Sixth._--They operate, as desired by the person whom they are visiting, either in a sitting or standing posture, or, as the case may require, upon the marble, granite, or stucco pavement of the veranda, or upon the bare ground in the garden.