UNCANNY AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2294, 12 January 1900, Page 6

UNCANNY AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

One need not go to the realms of space, or time, or figures, to meet with the incomprehensible. One of the best known writers on occultism, Jacolliot, has left an account of certain thines he saw during his official sojourn in India,which, as they seem to defy explanation, may fairly be classed amongst things incomprehensible. The performer was a fakir whom he accidentally met, and who required some persuasion before he would exhibit feats,which, he continually affirmed, were the woik of other Intelligencies. On some sticks fixed upright in flowerpots were placed some leaves from a tree, with holes in each sufficiently large to make them fall to the level of the mould. Standing at a considerable dis tance, the fakir made a gesture with his hand. A slight breeze seemed to pervade the room, then the leaves quivered and gradually worked upwards on the sticks. Jacolliot placed himself between the flowerpots and the operator.placed the sticks in the flooring, and adopted every means he could imagine to frustrate any trickery, but nothing he did made any difference to the movement of the leaves. The more familiar feat of the seemingly supernatural growth of flowers was utterly eclipsed by another instance, vouched for by the same narrator. His own servant brought him a score or so of seeds from which he selecetd and marked one. The fakir planted it in a pot of earth, muttered some words over it, and fell into a sort of trance which lasted about 30 rtinutes. He then awoke, uncovered the pot, and discovered a seedling two or three inches high. Jacolliot examined it and found it had sprung from the seed which he had marked. With a touch of a peacock's feather the fakir depressed a balance of a common weighiug machine in daily use in the household, though in the other was a weight of twelve stooe, and with a distant motion of his hand he made shavings of wood to sink or move in water. Still more marvellous is the description of the manner in whk-h this veritable Eastern wizard was able to net at defiance the law of gravity. On this occasion when leaving the room, he paused on the threshold, folded his arms, and, by a simple act of volition,raised himself from the floor and remained poised in the air for some minutes. I

Many others since the time of the French savant have related similar marvels. Some of theae have been explained after a fashion, and imitated with more or less fidelity. The famous basket trick is a case in point,and the seeming mystery is explained by the converging of two mirrors which produce the illusion of a vacant space beneath the basket. But in a chance rencontre on the plains or at 3ome resting place in the jungle there are neither mirrors nor Btage, often, indeed, not a basket.. A cloak is thrown over the crouching boy, the performers are on the arid soil itself, around them in a circle are the spectators, cynical, critical, on the alert to detect subterfuge or collusion. And yet, when the theatrical stabbing aud blood flow is ended, and the cloak removed, the seeming victim is not there, but he is by a neighbouring bush or tree some yards distant on the plain. Marvellous again was the following, where " Under the noon day sun, in sight of all the people, the ' mystic ' deed was done."' The conjuror gathered his audience round him in a circle on the grass. Then he threw upwarda coil of ribbon which unwound as it rose, till, at a height of some 50ft., a bird seized it and carried the end out of sight into a cloud. And then down the ribbon came gliding a snake, a dog. a living baby. Then the conjuror let go the end of the ribbon, which forthwith melted into space. It iB interesting to find that nearly 300 years ago professors of occult art were not unknown in Merrie England, if we may take the incidents related in an old ballad of t lie time as a narration of facts which actually happened. At the country seat of Sir Thomas Knyvet Christmas festivities were at full height:— The board is deck't, and the napery, fair As the unsunned snowflake, is spread out with carc. And the dais is furnished with stool and with chair And plate of orfevrie costly and rare. And all was going merrily as the proverbial marriage bell, when one of the guests, a gentleman from wicked, fashionable, distant London, proposed to amuse the company with a little performance of his own. He procured an acorn—the resemblance to the fakir's magic flower-forcing achievements is very remarkable—and, more magorum, handed it round for inspection. Then— In the presence of them all. In the middle of the hall, He set down the acorne plaine. The result was as speedy as astounding. Before the bewildered company could fortify themselves by draining a single cup of wine, a stately oak reared itself in their midst, stretching its bows to walls and rafters, and clustering with acorns, some brown, some black. Presumably, the company had arrived at that stage in their feasting which is characterised by a sort of philosophical stolidity, for after having admired the mysti cal tree for a time, they reflected that it was very well, but, after all, supper vas the great thing, and the tree was decidedly in the way. A couple of servants were ordered to £ew it dowD, which, after some exertion, they did, but utterly failed to move it an inch. All present lent their assistance, but it was no good; the inert- mass defied their utmost efforts. Then the jbligiag stranger, the innocent cause af all this disturbance, came to the resuce. Opening the door, he " summoned " a pair of goslings which were iUtsidc, and the sagacious birde forthwith waddled off with the ponderous trunk. This feat, it must be admitted, "goes one better " than the most startling recorded of Eastern wizards, and, as it stands, is clearly in '.he foremost ranks of thiugf, incomprehensible.