ALCHEMY 107 



charm will be broken. It is almost needless to say 

 that when the twenty days have expired both silver 

 and alchemist have disappeared. 



Some alchemists proceed in a more scientific manner. 

 They melt a lump of lead or copper in the presence of 

 their patron, and from it they do really appear to 

 extract a small lump of gold. Confidence in their 

 powers thus established, they obtain money from their 

 patron to almost any extent. 



Some years ago, when in another district, I saw the 

 operation of extracting the gold performed in my 

 presence and also in that of the doctor of the station, 

 who attended to witness it. The performance took 

 place in the verandah of my house, the time being 

 before breakfast. The alchemist was a Mahomedan, 

 an elderly man, tall, and, like most Mahomedans, 

 possessing much dignity of manner. He brought 

 with him a variety of apparatus — a pair of small tongs, 

 several diminutive clay cups, and, what most excited 

 our curiosity, the life-sized model of a duck, very 

 roughly constructed of copper. The model was hollow, 

 and at the end of the beak there was a very small, 

 round hole. 



The alchemist placed all these things on the floor of 

 the verandah ; then he requested that a " nand," a large, 

 deep earthenware pan, might be sent for, and also an 

 " angetee," or small, portable iron fireplace. The nand 

 was brought, and, at the alchemist's desire, was filled 

 with water fresh from the well, and a charcoal fire was 

 lighted in the "angetee." These preparations completed, 

 the alchemist produced from his waistband a small 



