228 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. were sickly, the doctors undertook to administer relief; par- 

 ovem er. ^jj,^^j^j.jy ^q qj-^^ man, who had been hauled on a sledge by his 

 brother for two months. His disorder was the dead palsey, 

 which affected one side, from the crown of his head to the 

 sole of his foot. Besides this dreadful disorder, he had some 

 inward complaints, with a total loss of appetite ; so that he 

 was reduced to a mere skeleton, and so weak as to be scarcely 

 capable of speaking. In this deplorable condition, he was laid 

 in the center of a large conjuring-house, made much after the 

 manner as that which has been already described. And that 

 nothing might be wanting toward his recovery, the same man 

 who deceived me in swallowing a bayonet in the Summer, now 

 offered to swallow a large piece of board, about the size of a 

 barrel-stave, in order to effect his recovery. The piece of 

 board was prepared by another man, and painted according to 

 the direction of the juggler, with a rude representation of 

 some beast of prey on one side, and on the reverse was painted, 

 according to their rude method, a resemblance of the sky. 



[215] Without entering into a long detail of the prepara- 

 tions for this feat, I shall at once proceed to observe, that after 

 the conjurer had held the necessary conference with his invisible 

 spirits, or shadows, he asked if I was present ; for he had 

 heard of my saying that I did not see him swallow the bayonet 

 fair ; and on being answered in the affirmative, he desired me 

 to come nearer ; on which the mob made a lane for me to 

 pass, and I advanced close to him, and found him standing 

 at the conjuring-house door as naked as he was born. 



When. the piece of board was delivered to him, he proposed 

 at first only to shove one-third of it down his throat, and then 

 walk round the company afterward to shove down another 

 third ; and so proceed till he had swallowed the whole, except 

 a small piece of the end, which was left behind to haul it up 

 again. When he put it to his mouth it apparently slipped 

 down his throat like lightning, and only left about three 

 inches sticking without his lips ; after walking backwards and 



