JUGGLERS. 
165 
no one stood near the basket but the juggler, who 
raised and covered the animals with it. When he 
concluded, there was nothing to be seen under it ; 
and what became of the different animals which had 
figured in this singular deception, was a question that 
puzzled us all. 
A man now took a small bag full of brass balls, 
which he threw one by one into the air, to the num- 
ber of thirty-five. None of them appeared to return. 
When he had discharged the last there was a pause of 
full a minute ; he then made a variety of motions 
with his hands, at the same time grunting forth a 
kind of barbarous chant ; in a few seconds, the balls 
were seen to fall, one by one, until the whole of them 
were replaced in the bag : this was repeated at least 
half a dozen times. No one was allowed to come 
near him while this interesting juggle was performed. 
A gaunt-looking Hindoo next stepped forward, and 
declared he would swallow a snake. Opening a box, 
he produced a Cobra de Capello not less than five 
feet long, and as big as an infant’s wrist. He stood, 
however, apart, at some distance from us, and, like 
his predecessor, would not allow any person to ap- 
proach him, so that the deception became no longer 
equivocal. He then, as it appeared to us, took the 
snake, and putting its tail into his mouth gradually 
lowered -it into his stomach, until nothing but the 
head appeared to project from between his lips, when, 
with a sudden gulp, he seemed to complete the dis- 
gusting process of deglutition, and to secure the odious 
reptile within his body. After the expiration of a 
few seconds, he opened his mouth and gradually drew 
