He also swallowed an egg without cracking it, or even nails and pebbles, which he caused to resound, by striking his stomach with his fist. These tricks were the result of a peculiar formation in the mountebank’s throat, but, if he had lived among the Aïssaoua, he would assuredly have been the leading man of the company. Or what would the Arabs have said had they seen the conjurer who passed a sword right through his body, and when thus spitted, also thrust a knife into either nostril up to the handle? I witnessed this feat, and others have probably done the same. This trick was, in reality, so terrifying, that the public would implore the man to leave off; but without troubling himself about their cries, he would reply, speaking frightfully through his nose, “that it did hib no harb,” and sing in this singular voice the “_Fleuve du Tage_,” which he accompanied on a guitar. I could not endure the sight of this trick, and would turn my head away in horror when the troubadour drew out the sword, and begged us to notice that it was stained with blood. Still, on reflection, I was certain the man could not really pierce his stomach thus, and that there must be some trick concealed. My love of the marvellous made me desire to know it; hence, I applied to the _invulnerable_, and on condition of a certain sum, and promises not to use it, he sold me his secret. I may, in my turn, communicate it to the public without asking from them the same promise. The trick is, however, rather ingenious. The performer was very thin--an indispensable quality for the success of the trick. He pressed in his stomach very tightly with a waist-belt, and produced the following result: the vertebral column being unable to bend, served as a support, and the intestines gave way and fell in about half the space they originally occupied. The mountebank then substituted for the suppressed part a card-board stomach which restored him to his original condition, and the whole being concealed beneath a flesh-colored _tricot_, appeared to form part of his body. On either side, above the hips, two ribbon rosettes hid the apertures by which the sword-point would go in and out, these openings being connected by a leathern scabbard which led the weapon securely from one end to the other, while, in order to produce the blood, a sponge filled with a red liquid was placed in the middle of the sheath. The knives in the nostrils were a reality. The _invulnerable_ was very pug-nosed, which allowed him to draw the cartilage of the nose up prior to the introduction of the knives. I possessed the necessary physical qualifications for the sabre trick, but none for that of the knives. I did not attempt the first, much less the second. By the way, I may remark that, when a lad, I used to perform two _miracles_, which might be useful to the Aïssaoua, if they were ever told of them. I will explain them here.