MODERN MIRACLES. 193 



plete subjection of the moral and mental faculties of the adept to 

 the will of his superior, but also, as it would seem, in a change of 

 the vital processes and a suspension of the ordinary conditions of 

 bodily existence, which give him immunity from pain and enable 

 him to inflict upon himself wounds that would be fatal to common 

 mortals. 



At Paris the performance took place every evening at nine 

 o'clock in the upper story of the Moorish ca/e, in the Rue du 

 Caire, of the Oriental quarter. Four 'A'issavidya, with their sheik, 

 squatted in Eastern fashion on a carpeted platform, in the center 

 of which stood a brazier of burning coals. The exhibition began 

 with a monotonous sing-song, the burden of which was the in- 

 vocation of 'Aissa and Allah, accompanied by a sort of tambourine 

 or tom-tom edged with bells. The music was at first slow and 

 rather low, but soon went faster and grew louder, until it rose to a 

 fearful howl and furious din. At this juncture one of the fakirs 

 sprang up and, throwing off his upper garment, began to dance 

 with his hands on his hips, his head bent forward, and his eyes in- 

 tently fixed on the sheik. This dance, called Ishdeb, became at 

 every moment wilder and the swaying motion of the dancer's body 

 more violent, until he fell down in a fit of exhaustion, foaming at 

 the mouth and his eyes in a " fine frenzy rolling." In this state of 

 ecstasy he is supposed to be possessed by the spirit of 'Ai'ssa and 

 thereby rendered invulnerable to the sharpest weapons and proof 

 against the deadliest poisons. We may add that Soliman at Berlin 

 prepared himself for the ordeal of fire and sword, not by music 

 and dancing, but by burning a powder and inhaling the smoke, 

 which, however, did not produce any perceptibly stupefying or 

 exhilarating effect upon him. He is a member of the order of 

 Saadi, founded in 1335 by Saadeddin Jebari. Each order seems to 

 have its own method of procedure in this respect, which forms a 

 part of its secret science. 



In a short time the fakir had sufficiently recovered from his 

 trance to stand up, and, when the sheik pointed to the brazier, he 

 thrust his hand into it, seized some of the live coals, blew them 

 till they emitted sparks, bit off pieces of them, as one would bite 

 an apple, and eagerly ate them up. He then went to a large 

 prickly cactus, which was standing on the platform, plucked a leaf 

 armed with strong spines, bit off a piece, and swallowed it. With 

 equal avidity he crunched and consumed thin sheets of glass. 

 Fragments of the cactus and the glass were handed to the specta- 

 tors, who examined them and convinced themselves that they were 

 really the substances they were represented to be. An attendant 

 brought in a shovel, the iron part of which was red-hot, so that a 

 bit of paper thrown upon it flashed at once into flame. The fakir 

 took the wooden handle of the shovel with his right hand, placed 



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