NORTHERN OCEAN 229 



forwards three times, he hauled it up again, and ran into the 1771. 

 conjuring-house with great precipitation. This he did to all 

 appearance with great ease and composure ; and notwithstand- 

 ing I was all attention on the occasion, I could not detect the 

 deceit ; and as to the reality of its being a piece of wood that 

 he pretended to swallow, there is not the least reason to doubt 

 of it, for I had it in my hand, both before and immediately 

 after the ceremony. 



[216] To prevent a variety of opinions on this occasion, and 

 to lessen the apparent magnitude of the miracle, as well as to give 

 some colour to my scepticism, which might otherwise perhaps 

 appear ridiculous, it is necessary to observe, that this feat was 

 performed in a dark and excessively cold night ; and although 

 there was a large fire at some distance, which reflected a good 

 light, yet there was great room for collusion : for though the 

 conjurer himself was quite naked, there were several of his 

 fraternity well-clothed, who attended him very close during 

 the time of his attempting to swallow the board, as well as at 

 the time of his hauling it up again. 



For these reasons it is necessary also to observe, that on 

 the day preceding the performance of this piece of deception, 

 in one of my hunting excursions, I accidentally came across 

 the conjurer as he was sitting under a bush, several miles from 

 the tents, where he was busily employed shaping a piece of 

 wood exactly like that part which stuck out of his mouth 

 after he had pretended to swallow the remainder of the piece. 



The shape of the piece which I saw him making was this, \/y ; 

 which exactly resembled the forked end of the main piece, the 

 shape of which was this, I | | \:^. So that when his 



attendants had concealed the main piece, it was easy for him 

 to stick the small point into his mouth, as it was reduced at 

 the small end to a proper size for the purpose. 



[217] Similar proofs may easily be urged against his 

 swallowing the bayonet in the Summer, as no person less 



