1 however, that at all events they fully appreciated other worldly
2 pleasures. They did not like to hear this statement, implying
3 that the f jueer was a debauchee. Several complaints had. how¬
4 ever, been made of him, on which account llunjeet Sing intended
5 to banish him from Lahore. He anticipated the intention, by
6 eloping with a Katrany (woman of a Hindoo caste) to the
7 mountains, v here he died, and was burned according to the
8 custom of the country. Ilis elopement with this woman may
9 serve as a. proof (in contradiction to other statement 1 .) that
10 he was neither an eunuch nor a hermaphrodite.
11 Doubtless, it is a difficult task, and not within the power of
12 every one to acquire the sic ill necessary for the perfoi manCe of
13 this experiment,and thore who do succeed must undergo a long
14 arid continual practice of preparatory measures. I. was informed
15 that such people have their frvennhtm Ungues cut and eutbcly
16 loosened, and that they get their tongue prominent, drawing and
17 lengthening it by means of rubbing it with butter mixed with
18 some pellilory of Spain, in order that they may he able to lay¬
19 back the tongue at the time they arc about to stop respiration,
20 so as to cover the orifice of the hinder.part of the fosses nuaales,
21 and thus (with other means for the same purpose, which I
22 shall mention) keep the air shut up in the body and head*.
23 Novices, in trying the experiment, shut their eyes, and press
24 them with their fingers, as ah-o the cavities of the errs and
25 nostrils, because the natural warmth of the body might cause
26 such an expansion of the endowed gas as otherwise to produce,
27 by the violence of its pressure, a rupture of some of those delicate
28 organs not vet. accustomed by practice to endure it. I his, I
29 am told, is especially the case with the eyes arid the tympan
30 of the ear. For the lictter acquisition of this power, they are
31 accustomed to practice the holding of the breath for a long
32 period. They swallow a small strip of linen, in order to
33 cleanse the stomach, and by a tube draw a quantity of water
34 through the juhi . into the intestines to rinse them. This is
35 • A simitar process is explainin some ot the Smytlopaduu, in the
36 article or. •• Ktua-trlmythe,’' or the mtcfcaninn of tlie ventriloquists..