IJVZ>IA AND ITS NATIVE PRINCES. 
71 
they all saw that, although the Goussain had 
then been suspended by the feet for some 
hours, his face was calm, that he spoke with- 
out difficulty, and certainly appeared to feel 
no inconvenience; when they asked him 
how he had managed to accustom himself 
to that position, he answered that God had 
given him this power as an evidence of his 
sanctity. Of course it would have been 
difficult to obtain any other explanation. 
For more than a month this holy man re- 
mained thus suspended like a ham during 
the greater part of each morning, and gained 
by it a good round sum. The rajah, how- 
ever, never came to see him. 
Still another type of these religious en- 
thusiasts and beggars M. Rousselet en- 
countered at Bhopaul. These fakirs go 
about entirely naked, except a strip of 
cloth around their loins, and announce 
their presence by a series of lamentable 
cries while they dance a mournful kind of 
dance. In the midst of their contortions 
they brandish about long, sharp poniards 
of peculiar shape and ornamented with little 
charms of steel. From time to time one of 
these enthusiasts thrusts the poniard into his 
body, for the most part striking his chest, 
his arms, or his thighs. He keeps up these 
stabs until, to calm his apparent madness, 
the by-standers have thrown him a goodly 
number of coin. These unfortunates, stream- 
ing with blood, were hideous to look upon, 
and M. Rousselet’s sympathies with them 
were excited not a little until Houssein 
Khan, who accompanied him, satisfied him 
that the daggers which they flourished so 
furiously, and which they thrust into them- 
selves so recklessly, were purposely so made 
with rounded points that it was almost im- 
possible for them to inflict serious wounds. 
Besides, the fakirs were careful to strike 
themselves always in parts which were not 
vital, and the wounds they made were sel- 
dom more than skin deep. 
A much more pleasing performance, and 
one which might perhaps better have been 
mentioned in connection with the exploits 
of the jugglers, is the “ egg dance.” This 
is not, as one might expect from the name 
given it, a dance upon these fragile objects. 
It is executed in this wise: The dancer, 
dressed in a corsage and very short skirt, 
carries a willow wheel of moderate diameter 
fastened horizontally upon the top of her 
head. Around this wheel threads are fast- 
ened, equally distant from each other, and 
at the end of each of these threads is a slip 
noose, which is kept open by a glass bead. 
Thus equipped, the young girl comes toward 
the spectators with a basket full of eggs, 
which she passes around for inspection to 
prove that they are real, and not imitations. 
The music strikes up a jerky, monotonous 
strain, and the dancer begins to whirl around 
with great rapidity. Then, seizing an egg, 
she puts it in one of the slip nooses, and, 
with a quick motion, throws it from her in 
such a way as to draw the knot tight. The 
swift turning of the dancer produces a centrif- 
BoTAN ICAL 
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