I have here thrown together the result of several visits to the
diamond-mines, to avoid the necessity of returning again and again,
after the manner of our traveller himself, to the same spot; and shall
now accompany him through Surat to Agra and Delhi. Having returned to
Surat with his jewels, and advantageously disposed of a part of them in
that city, he departed with the remainder for the capital. At Baroche,
in Guzerat, he witnessed the astonishing performances of those jugglers
whose achievements have been the wonder of travellers from the days of
Megasthenes down to the present moment, and in a barbarous age might well
justify the faith of mankind in the powers of magic. The first feat they
performed was to make the chains with which their bodies were encircled
red-hot, by means of an immense fire which they had kindled, and the
touch of these they bore without shrinking, or seeming to feel any thing
beyond a slight inconvenience. They next took a small piece of wood,
and having planted it in the earth, demanded of one of the bystanders
what fruit they should cause it to produce. The company replied that
they wished to see _mangoes_. One of the jugglers then wrapped himself
in a sheet, and crouched down to the earth several times in succession.
Tavernier, whom all this diablerie delighted exceedingly, ascended to the
window of an upper chamber for the purpose of beholding more distinctly
the whole proceedings of the magician, and through a rent in the sheet
saw him cut himself under the arms with a razor, and rub the piece of
wood with his blood. Every time he rose from his crouching posture the
bit of wood grew visibly, and at the third time branches and buds sprang
out.—The tree, which had now attained the height of five or six feet,
was next covered with leaves, and then with flowers. At this instant an
English clergyman arrived: the performance taking place at the house of
one of our countrymen, and perceiving in what practices the jugglers
were engaged, commanded them instantly to desist, threatening the
whole of the Europeans present with exclusion from the holy communion
if they persisted in encouraging the diabolical arts of sorcerers and
magicians. The zeal of this hot-headed son of the church put a stop to
the exhibition, and prevented our traveller from beholding the crowning
miracle. The peacock, which is found in a state of nature in all parts of
Hindostan, was at that period peculiarly plentiful in the neighbourhood
of Cambay and Baroche, and its flesh when young was considered equal to
that of the turkey.—Being exceedingly wild and timid, it could only be
approached by night, when many curious arts were put in practice for
taking it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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