240 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



succeeded in making the opposite or corresponding 

 muscles act differently from each other ; and while one 

 side of his face was merry and laughing, the other was 

 full of sorrow and in tears. At one moment he was tall, 

 thin, and melancholic, and after passing behind a screen 

 he came out "bloated with obesity and staggering with 

 fulness." M. Alexandre possessed the same power over 

 his face and figure, and so striking was the contrast of two 

 of these forms, that an excellent sculptor, Mr. Joseph, has 

 perpetuated them in marble. 



This new acquirement of the ventriloquist enabled him, 

 in his own single person and with his own single voice, to 

 represent upon the stage a dramatic composition which 

 would have required the assistance of several actors. 

 Although only one character in the piece could be seen at 

 the same time, yet they all appeared during its perform- 

 ance, and the change of face and figure on the part of 

 the ventriloquist was so perfect that his personal identity 

 could not be recognised in the dramatis personce. This 

 deception was rendered still more complete by a par- 

 ticular construction of the dresses, which enabled the 

 performer to reappear in a new character after an interval 

 so short that the audience necessarily believed that it was 

 another person. 



It is a curious circumstance that Captain Lyon found 

 among the Esquimaux of Igloolik ventriloquists of no 

 mean skill. There is much rivalry amongst the pro- 

 fessors of the art, who do not expose each other's secrets, 

 and their exhibitions derive great importance from the 

 rarity of their occurrence. The following account of one 

 of them is so interesting that we shall give the whole of 

 it in Captain Lyon's words. 



" Amongst our Igloolik acquaintances were two females 

 and a few male wizards, of whom the principal was 

 Toolemak. This personage wr.s cunning and intelligent, 



